Tampa Transit Lines, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 19, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 1494 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of TAMPA TRANSIT LINES, INC., EMPLOYER and TRANSPORT
WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC-458
SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 19, 1949
On June 24,194 9, pursuant to the Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion 1 issued by the Board 2 on June 1, 1949, an election by secret ballot
was conducted in the above-entitled matter under the direction and
supervision of the Acting Regional Director for the Tenth Region
(Atlanta, Georgia). At the conclusion of the election the parties
were furnished with a Tally of Ballots which shows that there were
approximately 189 eligible voters and that 186 ballots were cast, of
which .114 were for the Petitioner, 70 were for the Intervenor,3 and 2
were challenged.
Thereafter, on June 29, 1949, the Intervenor filed objections to the
conduct of the election and to conduct affecting results of the election.
The Acting Regional Director for the Tenth Region investigated the
issues raised by the objections, and on August 3, 1949, issued his
Report on Objections. He found that the objections did not raise
substantial and material issues with respect to the election and recom-
mended that the Board overrule the objections. As no exceptions
were filed to the Acting Regional Director's report within the time
provided therefor, the Board adopted the report of the Acting
Regional Director and, in overruling the Intervenor's objections,
found that they raised no substantial or material issues as to the elec-
tion. This Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representa-
tives issued August 15, 1949.4 However, the Board subsequently
1 83 N. L. R. B. 1017.
2 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel
[Members Houston, Reynolds and Murdock].
8 Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.
* Unpublished.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 230.
1494
TAMPA TRANSIT LINES, INC. 1495
learned that, because of extenuating circumstances, the Intervenor
had not been able to file exceptions to the Acting Regional Director's
Report on Objections. For such reasons, on August 23, 1949, the
Board set aside and revoked the aforesaid Supplemental Decision
and Certification of Representatives.
To the Report on Objections the Intervenor has now filed excep-
tions, in which it contends that the facts contained in the report are
incorrect in part, and incomplete, and therefore, do not "tell the
whole story."
The burden of the Intervenor's exceptions relates to the Acting Re-
gional Director's finding that the activities of two employees during
the election period were not of such grievous nature as to warrant set-
ting aside the election.
The first employee, W. E. Newburg, after voting earlier, appeared at
the polling place, apparently drunk, with his young son and requested
that his son be given a ballot. The observers and the Board represent-
ative conducting the election considered his request a joke, and every-
one laughed. He left the voting place without further incident. The
Intervenor objects because a spirit of levity is attached to the incident,
and asserts that the tolerance on the part of the Board representative
was improper conduct of the election and so is an unfair labor practice.
We certainly cannot attach an unfair labor practice to the event.
Though such conduct is not condoned, it cannot be said that it consti-
tuted interference with the rights of other voters.
Later that day, Newburg visited a restaurant on the opposite side
of the street from the voting place. While there, he was abusive in
language and conduct both inside the restaurant and outside. He fol-
lowed an official of the Intervenor outside the restaurant and attempted
to get into his automobile. He never, however, returned to the voting
area. The parties had not agreed to abstain from electioneering on
the day of the election, but only after the Intervenor had refused to
agree to any such proposal.
The second employee, John Contreras, appeared at the polling place
five times, four of which times he appeared drunk. With the exception
of the last visit, he remained a short time only, leaving the polls with-
out incident. The last time Contreras engaged in a conversation with
one of the observers for about 10 minutes. He was loud and used pro-
fanity, and, at the insistence of the Board representative, was taken
away and not seen again until after the polls closed. One or two eli-
gible voters came to the polls to cast their votes during this incident.
Contreras said nothing to them concerning their preference.
1496 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Intervenor repeats its charges that the actions of Newburg and
Contreras had the "full approval" of the Petitioner's representative,
that it was "planned strategy," and that there was "constant consulta-
tion and contact" with the representatives. Intervenor maintains that
the Petitioner's representatives were fully aware of these acts, and did
nothing to stop them, and that, therefore, they became a party to such
acts. No evidence appears, or was offered, which supports the charge
of such a concert of activity.
Although we have on occasion set aside an election where statements
and conduct made during the voting day were of such threatening and
abusive nature as to be coercive in character, we fail to see that the
conduct of the two employees in question was in fact coercive, or that
their actions prevented the free choice of bargaining representatives
among the employees in the appropriate unit. We find, therefore, that
there was no substantial interference with the conduct of the election.
Upon the basis of the foregoing, we find that the Intervenor' s objec-
tions do not effectively raise substantial and material issues with re-
spect to the conduct of the election. Accordingly, we hereby overrule
the Intervenor's Exceptions to the Acting Regional Director's Report
on Objections, and adopt the Acting Regional Director's findings and
recommendations therein. As the Petitioner has secured a majority of
the valid votes cast, we shall certify it as the collective bargaining rep-
resentative of the employees in the appropriate unit.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Transport Workers Union of America,
CIO, has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees
at the Tampa, Florida, operations of Tampa Transit Lines, Inc., in
the unit heretofore found appropriate, as their representative for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a)
of the Act, as amended, the said organization is the exclusive represent-
ative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining
with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other
conditions of employment.