Clippard Instrument Laboratory, Inc.

In the Matter of CLIrPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY, INC., E.rrLOYER and LODGE 789, DISTRICT 34 OF INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , PETITIONER Case No. 9-RC-313 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND DIRECTION October 7, 19419 Pursuant to the Decision and Direction of Election 1 issued on March 30, 1949, an election was conducted in this proceeding on April 27, 1949, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Ninth Region among the employees in the unit heretofore found appropriate. At the close of the election, a Tally of Ballots. was furnished each of the parties in accordance with the Board's. Rules and Regulations. The tally shows that 7 valid ballots were cast for the Petitioner, 15 valid ballots were cast against the Petitioner, and that 55 ballots were challenged. No objections to the conduct of the election. were filed within the time provided therefor. As the challenged ballots were sufficient - in number to affect the results of the election, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to the Board's Rules and Regulations, investigated the issues raised by the challenges, and on July 18, 1949 , issued his Report on Challenged Ballots, recommending that the challenges to 5 ballots be sustained,. and that the challenges to 50 ballots be overruled and the ballots opened and counted. On July 25, 1949, the Employer filed exceptions: to part of the Regional Director's report. The ballots of Helen Luehrman, 1TVilda Morgan, Brooksie Miller,. Marie Leist, Marjorie Godby, and Hattie McGaha The Regional Director recommended that the challenges to the, ballots of Luehrman, Morgan, Miller, Leist, and Godby be sustained; and that the challenge to McGaha's ballot be overruled and that here ' 82 N. L. It. B. 533. 86 N. L. R. B., No. 56. 424 CLIPPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY, INC. 425 ballot be opened and counted. No exceptions to these recommenda- tions having been filed by either the Petitioner or the Employer, we hereby adopt the Regional Director's findings and recommendations .concerning these ballots. The remaining 41 challenged ballots The Employer manufactures radio and television parts at its Cin- •cinnati, Ohio, plant. The petition herein was filed on November 8, 1948, on which date there was approximately 207 employees in the .appropriate unit. In the latter part of November and in the early part of December 1948, there was a strike at the Employer's plant. During the months of January, February, and March 1949, before the .issuance of the Board's Decision and Direction of Election, the Employer laid off 115 employees, and from November 8, 1948, to March i915,1949,67 other employees had either quit or been discharged. There were approximately 25 employees actually working on the eligibility date, March 25, 1949. Forty-nine of the 115 laid-off employees .attempted to vote at the election on April 27, 1949; they were chal- lenged by the Employer. Within the 6 weeks following the election, the Employer recalled 31 of these 49 employees. The Employer challenged the 49 voters in question on the ground that they were permanently separated from its employ by the election date. The Union asserts, however, that these individuals had the status of temporarily laid-off employees. The Regional Director accepted the Union's contention and found that the 49 individuals were eligible voters. In laying off the 115 employees the Employer sent each of them the letter set forth below.2 However, in the latter part of March 1949, the Employer advised these employees as follows : Since many of our former employees have called personally or by phone to ask when they could expect to come back to work, we thought that it would be only fair to write to each of you to let you know what the situation is. 2 DEAR : Due to a reduction in manufacturing schedules by our customers we 'must reduce our working force. You will be laid off at the end of your shift today. We -are unable to say when we will have work for you again. However, please give below the -address where we can reach you if we want you to return to work. You must let us know if your address changes while you are laid off, otherwise we cannot be responsible for reaching you. When we do call you, you must report within 3 days, or we must assume .you have quit. If, while you are laid off, you take another permanent job, or if for some reason you do not want us to call you back to work , let us know immediately. Sincerely yours, THE CLIPPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY, INC. I acknowledge the above notice of lay-off and I agree to notify you as requested if I change address Or do not wish to return to work. Signed -- ------------------ 426 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD By a careful trade survey made last week, we find that the indus- try has greatly overestimated potential demand and has produced far more than can be sold in some time to come. In our position as a supplier of parts, this means that it will be many months before there can possibly be any pick-up in demand that cannot be filled by our present working force. For those reasons, and with considerable regret, we inform you that you should endeavor to obtain employment elsewhere as we are no longer carrying you on our payroll. This reaffirms the position we took with reluctance at the time of your separation. The Employer asserts, in support of its contention that the individ- uals in question were permanently separated from employment by virtue of the March 1949 letter, that it normally reaches its lowest level of employment in July of each year and that it had no expectation, when it sent out these letters in March, of reaching its former level of production. The Employer attributed its increased production and the hirings after the election to strenuous sales efforts and improve- ments in production and to price reductions, necessitated by increas- ingly competitive conditions. The employee status and voting eligibility of the 49 individuals involved depend on whether on the election date they had a reasonable expectation of fitither employment.3 In resolving this issue the con- tinuation of the individuals in question on the Employer's pay roll, while relevant, is not conclusive. The first letter clearly indicated that the employees were temporarily laid off and had a reasonable expecta- tion of further employment. The second letter did not dispel this ex- pectation; it did not indicate that the employees should not continue to inform the Employer of change of address, or changes in employ- ment status of a desire not to be recalled, as the earlier letter had re- quested. In fact the second letter specifically reaffirmed the position which the Employer took at the time of the original lay-off. Our conclusion that, at the time of the election, the 49 voters in question did have a reasonable expectation of further employment, is verified by the fact that 31 of these employees were actually recalled within 6 weeks after the election. We accordingly find that the 49 voters who were challenged had the status of temporarily laid-off employees who were eligible to vote. We shall therefore overrule the challenges to the 49 ballots and, in accordance with the Regional Director's recommendation, shall direct that such ballots be opened and counted. B Matter of Ozark Dam Constructors, 77 N. L. R. B. 1136; Matter of Glenn L. Martin Company, 74 N. L. R. B. 546. CLIPPARD INSTRUMENT LABORATORY, INC. 427 DIRECTION IT is h EREBY DIRECI9ED that, the Regional Director for the Ninth Region shall, pursuant to the Rules and Regulations of the Board set forth above, within ten ( 10) days from the date of this Direction, open and count the ballots cast by Hattie McGaha and by each of the em- ployees listed on Appendix A, attached hereto, and thereafter prepare and serve upon the parties to this proceeding a Supplemental Tally of Ballots. MEMBERS REYNOLDS and MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above Supplemental Decision and Direction. APPENDIX A Nancy Ayers Etta Ball Viola Vernabe Betty Byrum Anna Carr Inez Carr Patricia Casey Laura Chambers Lois Coy Janet DeZarn Lorine Elam Stella Ellison Ruth Garrett Margaret Grant Alberta Green Lou Hall Amanda Harris Minnie Hatter Betty Hennies Vernel Johnson Louise Jones Irene Kidd Opal Kincer Amelia Latscha Nelus Lykins Cassie Marshall Ruby Miller Truie Neal Jeannette O'Nan Mildred Parrott Marie Patton Elveda Perry Wilma Prater Lorraine Rammage Delta Rethorford Pauline Richards Mary Ruch Ida E . Schmidt Grace Scott Julia Springer Gladys Stansbery Marguerite Summers Betty Taylor Nora Vanover Evelyn Vickery Ira Wade Elizabeth Webster Carolyn White Malfrey Wright