Vernon Calhoun Packing Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 18, 1959

122 N.L.R.B. 1532 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

1532 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
our Decision and Direction of Election herein, constitutes a tradi-
tional toolroom department appropriate for severance, and that an
election was not directed among only the employees therein solely
because of the misapprehension that department 31 was also a tool-
room. However, we have found that department 31 is not a tool-
room, and the record fails to establish that there are any other tool-
rooms at this plant which have employees who should appropriately
be included in a unit with the employees in department 42.5 In these
circumstances, we find the employees in department 42 may consti-
tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act, and that sufficient
cause has not been shown why the voting group should not be
amended as proposed in the Board's notice heretofore issued; ac-
cordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the description of the voting group in
which an election was directed in the Decision and Direction of
Election be, and it hereby is, amended to read as follows : All em-
ployees in the tool manufacturing department (department 42) at
the Employer's Pomona, California, missile plant, excluding all other
employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
5 Although there are several toolmakers , as well as employees of other classifications
similar to those of employees in department 42, assigned to other departments , including
department 31, the existence of such employees in department 31 and other parts of the
plant does not, as the Board has held, affect the appropriateness of the toolroom unit.
The Gemex Corporation, 120 NLRB 46 ; Kinnear Manufacturing Company, 109 NLRB
948; Procter f Gamble Manufacturing Company, 109 NLRB 315, 317.
Vernon Calhoun Packing Company, Inc., Petitioner and Local
103, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of
North America, AFL-CIO. Case No. 16-RM-166. February 18,
1959
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CERTIFICATION
OF RESULTS OF ELECTION
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued by the
Board on August 15, 1958,1 an election by secret ballot was con-
ducted on September 12, 1958, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate by the Board. At the close
of the election, the parties were furnished a tally of ballots which
showed that of approximately 61 eligible voters, 67 cast ballots, of
which 24 were for, and 34 were against, the Union. There were 9
1 Unpublished.
122 NLRB No. 175.
VERNON CALHOUN PACKING COMPANY, INC. 1533
challenged ballots, a number insufficient to affect the results of the
election.
Thereafter, the Union filed timely objections to conduct affecting
the results of the election. In accordance with the Rules and Regu-
lations of the Board, the Regional Director investigated the objec-
tions and on November 26, 1958, issued and served on the parties his
report on objections, in which he found the objections to be without
merit and recommended they be overruled. Thereafter, the Union
filed timely exceptions to the Regional Director's report, and a sup-
porting brief.2
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Members Rodgers, Jenkins, and Fanning].
The Board has considered the objections, the exceptions and brief,
and the entire record in the case, and finds as follows :
The Union objected to the election on the grounds, in substance,
that:
(1) On July 14, 1958, the Employer discharged Hugh Hall,
informing him that he was seen riding with a union representa-
tive and that he was having too much to do with the union.
(2) All employees were told that they were to have nothing
to do with the union and if they did they would be discharged.
(3) On about July 14, 1958, Superintendent George Hutchin-
son stated to the employees of the Kill Floor that Hugh Hall
had been discharged because he was seen with a union man and
the same would happen to anyone who was seen with, or had
anything to do with, the union.
(4) On about September 11, 1958, the Employer advised its
employees at a meeting to vote "NO" at the election to be held
on September 12, 1958.
(5) The Employer intends to take disciplinary action against
the employees who voted in favor of the union. Leanord [sic]
Scoggins, foreman of the Kill Floor, offered to buy the names
of the employees who had attended a meeting held by the union
and those who had joined the union.
(6) On or about September 15, 1958, four employees, three of
whom were Elvin Green, Kenneth Griffin, and Willie Huckaby,
were discharged. The Employer informed the discharged em-
ployees that they were going to get rid of all of the employees
who had voted for the union.3
The Regional Director found as to the objection described in (4),
that the meeting took place more than 24 hours before the election,'
2 Prior to issuance of the report on objections , the Employer filed "Reply of Employer
and Petitioner to Objections of Union to Election."
3 This objection was submitted as an amendment to the other objections.
4 See Peerless Plywood Company, 107 NLRB 427 , and Verson Manufacturing Co.,
114 NLRB 1297 , 1299, which control this issue. We find no merit to the Union's con-
tention that the Peerless Plywood rule has been misapplied.
1534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and that the employees were advised they could vote any way they
wanted to and their jobs would not be affected thereby. As to this
objection, and as to all the other objections, the Regional Director
found in the course of his investigation no probative evidence in
support thereof.b Accordingly, he recommended they be overruled.
Having considered the objections, the Regional Director's report,
and the exceptions thereto, we find in agreement with the Regional
Director that the objections do not raise substantial and material
issues with respect to the conduct of the election. Accordingly, the
objections are hereby overruled. As the Union has not secured. a
majority of the valid votes cast in the election, we shall merely
certify the results thereof.
[The Board certified that a majority of the valid ballots was not
cast for Local 103, Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Work-
men of North America, AFL-CIO, and that said organization is not
the exclusive representative of the Employer's employees in the unit
found appropriate.]
" Specifically , the Regional Director found that no objectionable conduct affecting the
results of the election had occurred between August 15, the date of the Decision and
Direction of Election , and September 12, the date on which the election was held. See
F. W. Woolworth Company, 109 NLRB 1446 . We have fully considered and find no merit
In the Union 's request that the Board overrule the cutoff doctrine in the Woolworth case,
supra, which holds that only alleged objectionable conduct occurring after the date of
the decision and direction of election in a Board -ordered election will be considered.
The Union asserts in Its brief that the evidence it submitted In support of the objections
and pending unfair labor practice charges provides grounds to set aside the election. As
above noted , the Regional Director found otherwise , and we agree , so far as concerns
such evidence relating to the objections which was timely submitted and disclosed In the
Regional . Director's Investigation , The Union does not allege further evidence which
would not be foreclosed by the Woolworth cutoff rule.
It appears, in any event, that the discharge of Hall took place prior to the Woolworth
cutoff date, and that the discharges of Green , Griffin , and Huckaby did not occur until
September 15, 1958 , 8 days after the election , and therefore could not have affected the
results of the election.
Mistletoe Operating Company and Building Service Employees,
Local 245, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Cabe No. 16-RC-44. Feb-
ruary 19, 1959
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Evert P. Rhea,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case the Board finds :
1. The Employer is a partnership of M. Murray McCune and
Gordon A. McCune, and is engaged in the business of real estate
management in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1957 the Employer entered
122 NLRB No. 161.