SunSteel, LLC

National Labor Relations Board - Unpublished Board Decisions

Aug 4, 2020

19-RC-261739 (N.L.R.B. Aug. 4, 2020)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
SUNSTEEL, LLC
Employer
and Case 19-RC-261739
IRON WORKERS DISTRICT COUNCIL
OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, AFL-CIO
Petitioner
ORDER
The Employer’s Request for Review of the Regional Director’s Decision and Direction of
Election is denied as it raises no substantial issues warranting review. The Employer’s Request
for Immediate Stay of the Mail Ballot Election is denied as moot.1
JOHN F. RING, CHAIRMAN
MARVIN E. KAPLAN, MEMBER
WILLIAM J. EMANUEL, MEMBER
Dated, Washington, D.C., August 4, 2020.
1 In denying review, we note that the Board’s decision in San Diego Gas & Electric, 325
NLRB 1143, 1145 (1998), recognizes that Board elections should, as a general rule, be
conducted manually and specifies well-settled guidelines for determining whether a mail-ballot
election would normally be appropriate. We agree with the Regional Director that, under normal
circumstances, this would almost certainly not be an election where a mail ballot would be
considered. But in San Diego Gas & Electric, the Board also recognized that “there may be
other relevant factors that the Regional Director may consider in making this decision” and that
“extraordinary circumstances” could permit a Regional Director to exercise his or her discretion
outside of the guidelines set forth in that decision. Id.
In finding that a mail-ballot election is warranted in this case, we rely on the extraordinary
circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Board will continue to consider
whether manual elections should be directed based on the circumstances then prevailing in the
region charged with conducting the election, including the applicability to such a determination
of the suggested protocols set forth in GC Memorandum 20-10. Under the circumstances
presented in this case, however, we are satisfied that the Regional Director did not abuse his
discretion in ordering a mail-ballot election here.
The Board is open to addressing the normal criteria for mail balloting in a future appropriate
proceeding.