Haffner-Thrall Car Co.

In the Matter of A. J. THRALL, W. C. HAFFNER AND M . E. TFrRALL, PARTNERS , D/B/A HAFFNER-THRALL CAR COMPANY and UNITED CON- STRUCTION WORKERS, AFFILIATED WITH UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA Case No. 13-R-2875 SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER I December 29, 19.45 Pursuant to the Board's Decision and Direction of Election issued herein on April 24, 1945,1 an election by secret ballot was held on May 22, 1945, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois). Upon the conclusion of the election, a Tally of Ballots was furnished the parties in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of the Board. The Tally shows that of the approximately 25 eligible voters, 24 cast valid votes, of which 11 were for the Union and 13 against.2 On May 24, 1945, the Union filed objections to the results of the election alleging, inter alia, that the Company had, prior to the elec- tion, interfered with, restrained, and coerced the employees in viola- tion of rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act. On July 11, 1945, the Regional Director issued a Report on the Union's objections find- ing that the Company's conduct before the election raised material and substantial issues with respect to the election. No exceptions to this Report were filed by either party. Concurring in the finding of the Regional Director, the Board, on September 14, 1945, directed that a hearing be held on the Union's objections. Pursuant to notice duly served upon the parties, a hearing on the objections was held on October 30, 1945, at Chicago Heights, Illinois, before R. N. Denham, Trial Examiner. The Company and the Union appeared and participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to produce evi- ' 61 N L R. B. 703. 2 The initial Tally served on the parties following the election showed 11 votes for the Union, 11 votes against and 2 challenged ballots. On August 17, 1945, the Board directed that the challenged ballots be opened and counted. The results given above include the count of the challenged ballots. 65 N L. R B No. 15. 679100-46-vol 65-6 63 64 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD dente bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACT The credible evidence adduced at the hearing establishes the following : 1. The Union commenced organizing the Company's employees in December 1944. Learning of the Union's efforts shortly thereafter and believing that Knaack, a veteran employee, -%i as a leader in these activities, A. J. Thrall, one of the partners, questioned Knaack con- cerning the Union on two separate occasions in January and February 1945. In summary, Thrall accused Knaack of being the "head" of the Union, asked why the men wanted a union and what they expected to "get out of it," and suggested that the men form a company union if they desired union representation. 2. On the pay day before the election, the Company's night watch- man, James Saylors, who could neither read nor write, entered Thrall's office to receive his salary check. During a short conversation which ensued, Thrall showed Saylors a union application card and asked if the latter had signed a similar card. Saylors replied that his wife had signed one for him. Thrall then said, "You will be sorry for signing the card." Thrall also asked one or two other employees if they had signed un ion application cards. 3. About a week before the election, the Company's foreman said to Saylors, "Be sure and vote against the election. We have been good to you and be sure you vote against it." 4. On the day before the election, W. C. Haffner, another partner, went through the plant interrogating individually about half of the employees while they were engaged at work. Haffner's questions and comments to each individual employee were not identical although they followed a somewhat similar pattern. He asked employees if they had ever belonged to another union and if so, whether they had de- rived any benefits from such membership. He requested their opin- ions concerning the Union and argued that a union in so small an establishment would not be effective. He referred to the allegedly generous manner in which the Company had treated its employees. To at least two employees, he said, "Boys, we don't want a union here." Although Haffner contended that his activities on the day before the election were directed entirely to persuading the employees to vote in the election regardless of how they voted, his conduct reveals that he was actually engaged in pressing a vigorous campaign against the Union. HAFFNER-THRALL CAR COMPANY 65 An election in a representation proceeding serves its true purpose only if the conditions surrounding the election are such that the employees are enabled to register their free and untrammeled desires as to representation. Accordingly, where events preceding the election make impossible the exercise of that free choice, the Board will annul the election.' In the present proceeding, the Company through its partners and agents, created an atmosphere of intimidation about the election which rendered impossible the securing of a free and uncoerced vote on the choice of a bargaining representative. Particularly in- timidating was the procedure which Haffner adopted in his campaign against the Union. In seeking out employees while at work for individual persuasion, Haffner was engaging in a subtle form of co- ercion more potent than an employer's address to a forced audience of his employees, a practice which the Board has condemned in a similar context of interference with employee self-organization 4 Accordingly, because the election held on May 22, 1945, was not a free election within the Board requirements, we shall sustain the Union's objections and annul the election. When the Regional Director advises us that the time is appropriate, we shall direct a new election among the Company's employees. ORDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the election held on May 22, 1945, among the employees of Haffner-Thrall Car Company, Chicago Heights, Illinois, be, and it hereby is, vacated and set aside. 3 See Matter of Thompson Products , Inc., 57 N. L R B 925 ; Matter of Chapman De- hydmator Company, 53 N. L R. B. 344; Matter of General Motors Corporation, 46 N. L. It. B 574. "See Matter of Wennonah Co tton Mills Company, Inc., 63 N. L R . B. 143 ; Matter of Thompson Products , Ina, 60 N L. R B 1381.