General Armature & Manufacturing Co.

In the Matter of GENERAL ARMATURE & MANUFACTURING COMPANY and DISTRICT 50, UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA Case No. 6-R-1341 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER October 04,1946 On August 21, 1946, pursuant to the Decision and Direction of Election issued herein by the Board on July 22, 1946 ,1 an election by secret ballot was conducted under the direction and supervision,of the Regional Director for the Sixth Region among the employees in the unit found appropriate in the Decision. Upon completion of the election, the Regional Director issued and duly served upon the parties a Tally of Ballots. The Tally shows the following results : Approximate number of eligible voters ----------------------------- 408 Void ballots----------------------------------------------------- 1 Votes cast for United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, CIO, herein called the CIO----------------------------- 170 Votes.cast for District'50, United Mine Workers of America, herein called the UMW----------------------------------------------- 98 Votes cast against participating labor organizations ---------------- 92 Challenged ballots----------------------------------------------- 11 On August 22 and 30, 1946, the Employer filed with the Regional Director objections to conduct affecting the results of the election. Thereafter, in accordance with the Board's Rules and Regulations, the Regional Director conducted an investigation and issued and duly served upon the parties a Report on Objections, dated-September 5, 1946.. In his report, the Regional Director 'recommended that the Employer's objections be overruled. Subsequently, the Employer filed a brief in the nature of exceptions to this report and recom- mendation. The Employer, in its objections and in its brief, alleges in sub- stance that : (1) The Board erred in permitting the CIO to intervene at the original hearing, inasmuch as the CIO's motion to intervene '69 N. L. R B 768. 71 N. L. R. B., No. 61. 413 414 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD was patently "false and fraudulent," and was supported by an inade- quate showing of interest; (2) the CIO, in its campaign, circulated literature containing falsifications intended to mislead, deceive, and, in certain instances, coerce the employees, and distributed cartoon's intended to "[hold] up to ridicule the executive officer of the [Em- ployer]"; and (3) the CIO and the UMW coerced the employees by circulating reports that failure to vote for the union concerned would result in plant shut-downs. We find no merit in these objections. With respect to objection (1), we are of the opinion that the alleged error in granting the CIO's motion to intervene at the original hearing fails to constitute a rele- vant ground for objecting to the conduct or results of the election herein. As to objection (2), the literature and cartoons in question were clearly in the nature of campaign propaganda and, as the Board stated in Matter of Maywood Hosiery Mills, Inc.: 2 "Absent violence, we have never undertaken to police union organization or union cam- paigns, to weigh the truth or falsehood of official union utterances, or to curb the enthusiastic efforts of employee adherents to the union cause in winning others to their conviction." And, with respect to objection (3), we find it unnecessary to pass upon this contention, inasmuch as the Regional Director reports that the Employer failed to submit any evidence in support thereof. Accordingly, on the basis of the entire record in the case, including the Employer's objections, the Regional Director's Report on Objec- tions, and the Employer's exceptions thereto, and in conformance with the foregoing conclusions, we find that the Employer's objections raise no substantial or material issue-with respect to the conduct or results of the election and the objections are hereby overruled. Inasmuch as the results of the election are inconclusive, we shall, in accordance with the request of the CIO, provide for the conduct of a run-off election in order to resolve the question concerning representa- tion.3 We shall, therefore, remand the case to the Regional Director for further appropriate action. ORDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this case be, and it hereby is, remanded to the Regional Director for the Sixth Region, who shall proceed in accordance with Section 203.56 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4. MR. JAMES J. REYNOLDS, JR., took no part in the consideration of the above Supplemental Decision and Order. 2 64 N. L R B 146, at 150. ' Although the UMW has requested that the Board use a current pay roll in determining eligibility to vote in the run-off election , we see no reason for departing from our usual practice