General Electric Co.

618 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the election and for issuance of a supplemental report thereon. The parties to this proceeding may file exceptions to the Regional Direc- tor's supplemental report, pursuant to Section 102.69 of the Board's Rules and Regulations, as amended.] MEMBER JENKINS took no part in the above Decision and Remand to Regional Director. General Electric Company, Wiring Device Department and Inter- national Union of Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers, IUE, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 1-RC-8749. October ^8, 1966 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF SECOND ELECTION Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent election executed on January 11, 1966, an election by secret ballot was con- ducted on January 26, 1966, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for Region 1 among the employees in the appro- priate unit. At the conclusion of the election, the parties were fur- nished with a tally of ballots which showed that of approximately 235 eligible voters, 225 cast ballots, of which 29 were for, and 189 against, the Petitioner, and 7 ballots were challenged. Thereafter, the Petitioner filed timely objections to conduct affecting the results of the election. In accordance with the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Regional Director conducted an investigation and, on March 10, 1966, issued and duly served upon the parties his report and objections in which he recommended that objection numbered 7 be sustained, and that the election be set aside and a new election be held. He recommended that all other objections be overruled. Thereafter, the Employer and the Petitioner filed timely exceptions to the Regional Director's report. Upon the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, and it will effectuate the purpose of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent cer- tain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of the employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sec- tions 9(c) (1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 161 NLRB No. 55. GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 619 4. The parties stipulated , and we find, that the following employees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain- ing within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act. All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's plants at 337 Thames Street and at Commercial Wharf, Newport, Rhode Island , excluding office clerical employees , professional employees , guards , and supervisors as defined in the Act, and excluding all other employees. 5. The Board has considered the Petitioner 's objections , the Re- ,ional Director's report, and the exceptions of the Employer and the Petitioner thereto, and , for the reasons set out below , adopts the Regional Director's recommendation that the election be set aside and a second election be directed. The record shows that Plant Manager A. J. Gizzi told the employ- ees 2 days before the election that there could be no campaigning within 24 hours before the election. The statement was to the effect that "By law, neither the company nor the union is allowed to hold meetings, distribute campaign material , or contact employees 24 hours before the election. In others words tomorrow is a silent day." The Board's Peerless Plywood rule of course does not impose any restrictions on the distribution of literature within 24 hours of an election, and the plant manager's statement , an obvious reference to that rule, was therefore an erroneous interpretation of Board law. However, its mischief lies not so much in being a misrepresentation of some material fact having relevant bearing on terms and condi- tions of employment, as found by the Regional Director , but in being an unwarranted interference with an employee 's right to receive all lawful communications reasonably concerned with the election. The statement, coming as it did from one of management 's higher offi- cials, could reasonably have been taken at face value by the employ- ees and led to their rejection of literature attempted to be distributed by Petitioner or other employees during the important hours imme- diately preceding the election. The statement, in our opinion , there- fore constituted an improper interference in the election and justifies our setting the election aside. Cf., N .L.R.B. v. Babcock cC Wilcox Company, 351 U.S. 105. [The Board set aside the election conducted herein on January 26, 1966.] [Text of Direction of Second Election omitted from publication.] MEMBER JENKINS took no part in the above Decision and Direction of Second Election.