Southdown Sugars, Inc.

1 14 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD such approval .' It has also held that it will not interfere with the exercise of this power unless the Regional Director acted in an arbitrary or capricious manner .2 In view of the facts and circumstances outlined above, particularly the invalidation of the original election because of the Employer' s misconduct and the intervening substantial expansion of the unit, we find that the Regional Director did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in withdrawing his approval of the consent agreement and in refusing to hold a second election based on the original eligibility date . For the same reasons, we find that it will best effectuate the policies of the Act to order an election with a current voting eligibility date provided below and thus make available the franchise to all the present employees concerned in the selection of a bargaining representative .3 Accordingly, we deny the Employer' s request that the September 8, 1953, eligibility date prescribed in the consent agreement for the original election be adopted." [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] Member Beeson took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. ' Section 102.54 of Board Rules and Regulations ; Knox Corporation, 104 NLRB 789. 2 The Welch Grape Juice Company, 96 NLRB 214; McMullen Leavens Company, 83 NLRB 948, 955. 3United Aircraft Corporation , 103 NLRB 878. 4 Had the Regional Director not withdrawn his approval of the consent agreement , he would not have been precluded from holding a new election thereunder with a current eligibility date. Merrimac Hat Corporation, 85 NLRB 329, 332; McMullen Leavens Company , supr.. SOUTHDOWN SUGARS, INC. and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH THE CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 15-RC-981. March 30, 1954 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES On November 17, 1953, pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued by the Board on August 27, 1953,' an election by secret ballot was conducted under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region among the employees of the Employer in the unit found appropriate by the Board . Upon the conclusion of the election , the parties were furnished a tally of ballots, which showed that of 396 valid votes cast, 186 were for and 182 were against the Petitioner and 28 were challenged . There were 2 void ballots . The challenges were sufficient in number to affect the results of the election. On 'Not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders. 108 NLRB No. 17. SOUTHDOWN SUGARS, INC. 115 November 23 , 1953, the Employer filed timely objections to conduct which it alleged interfered with the election . After an investigation the Regional Director , on February 10, 1954, issued and duly served upon the parties his report on objections and challenged ballots, finding the objections to be without merit and recommending that they be overruled , that the challenges to 26 ballots be sustained , and that it was unnecessary to make a recommendation as to the remaining 2 challenges as they were insufficient in number to affect the results of the election. In view of these findings and recommendations, the Regional Direc- tor recommended that the Petitioner be certified as the exclu- sive representative of the employees in the appropriate unit. The Employer timely filed exceptions to the Regional Director's report on objections. In its objections , the Employer alleged that its employees' freedom of choice in the election was impaired because of vio- lence and threats of violence which occurred before the election in connection with a strike involving agricultural sugar-cane field workers , which lasted from October 15 to November 9, in which the Petitioner and refinery employees in the appropriate unit participated sympathetically . The Regional Director found that there was only one incident of violence during the strike, and that the Petitioner was in no way responsible for such con- duct . He also found that the last threat of violence --made to employees for working during the strike -- occurred on October 26, 1953. Finding that neither the strike violence nor the threat of violence to nonstrikers could be attributed to the Petitioner and that they were, in any event, too remote in time to affect a free choice in the election , the Regional Director recommended that the objections be overruled. The Employer excepts generally . We agree with the Em- ployer ' s contention that it is immaterial whether the violence and threats of violence can be attributed to the Petitioner. 2 The issue before the Board is whether the election was conducted under such circumstances and under such conditions as were conducive to the sort of free and untrammeled choice of repre- sentatives contemplated by the Act . Here, all the conduct, which the Regional Director found possibly occurred , related directly to the strike which began on October 12, 1953, and ended November 9 , 1953, almost 2 weeks before the election. On October 15 , when the Petitioner and certain of the refinery workers struck in sympathy, the Employer obtained a temporary restraining order enjoining the Petitioner , which consented thereto, and all members from inducing , encouraging, or co- ercing other employees of the Employer to refuse to work for the Employer at its factory . The Employer consented to the dis- missal of this restraining order on October 30. Under these 2 Diamond State Poultry Co., 107 NLRB 3 (which the Regional Director distinguished in his report on the ground of the character and timing of the alleged interfering conduct herein). 1 16 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD circumstances we believe thatthe alleged conduct, which related directly to the strike rather than to the election, was too remote to have probable effect upon the election.3 We therefore find that the alleged conduct did not create such a general atmos- phere of confusion or fear as to render impossible or improb- able the rational, uncoerced selection of a bargaining represent- ative. As we find that the Employer's exceptions to the Regional Director's report do not raise substantial or material issues respecting the conduct of the election,4 we shall overrule the objections. As it appears from the tally of ballots that the Petitioner has secured a majority of the valid votes cast in the election, we shall certify the Petitioner as the bargaining representa- tive of the employees in the appropriate unit. [The Board certified United Packinghouse Workers of America, affiliated with the CIO, as the designated collective- bargaining representative of the employees of the Employer in the unit found appropriate in the Decision and Direction of Election herein.] Member Beeson took no part inthe consideration of the above Supplemental Decision and Certification Representatives. 3Cf. Bloomingdale Brothers, Inc., 87 NLRB 1326, and cases cited in footnotes 9 and 10. 4Accordingly, we deny the Employer's motion for oralargument and alternative request for remand for further hearing on the strike conduct. MANGEL'S OF LITTLE ROCK, INC. and RETAIL CLERKS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, LOCAL UNION NO. 1583, AFL, Case No. 32-RC-570. March 30, 1954 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND DIRECTION Pursuant to a Decision and Direction :if Election issued by the Board herein on December 15, 1952,1 an election by secret ballot was conducted on January 10, 1953, under the supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region, among the employees in the unit found appropriate by the Board. Following the election a tally of ballots was furnished the parties. The tally shows that of approximately 19 eligible voters, 7 voted for the Petitioner, 6 voted against the Petitioner, and 4 voted under challenge. On January 15, 1953, the Employer filed objections to conduct affecting the results of the election. The Regional Director investigated the objections and the challenged ballots, as the 'Not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders. 108 NLRB No. 27.