Pillsbury Co.

226 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Larkwood Farms, a Division of the Pillsbury Company and Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, District Union No. 405, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 10-RC-7725 August 26, 1969 DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS OF ELECTION BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND ZAGORIA Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent election, an election by secret ballot was conducted on April 18, 1969, under the supervision of the Regional Director for Region 10, among the employees in the stipulated unit. At the conclusion of the balloting, the parties were furnished with a tally of ballots, which showed that of approximately 241 eligible voters, 231 cast ballots, of which 94 were for, and 130 against, the Petitioner, and 7 were challenged. The challenged ballots were not sufficient in number to affect the results of the election. 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 investigated the objections and, on May 28, 1969, issued and duly served upon the parties his Report on Objections, in which he recommended that Petitioner's Objection 2 be overruled; and that Objection 1 be sustained, the election set aside, and a second election directed. Thereafter, the Employer filed timely exceptions to the Regional Director's Report, and a brief in support thereof. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The following employees, as stipulated by the parties, constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All production employees, maintenance employees, sanitation employees, warehouse employees and janitors employed by the Employer at its Guntersville, Alabama, facility, but excluding all office clerical employees, technical employees, quality assurance laboratory employees, professional employees, buyers, salesmen, truck drivers, chicken catchers, egg handlers, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. 5. The Board has considered the Regional Director's Report and the Employer's exceptions and brief, and makes the following findings:' With regard to Objection 1, investigation revealed that the Employer's observer at the election, while stationed at the checking table wore a hat with the words "Vote No" on the side facing toward the voters and away from the Board agent. The Regional Director found that this conduct constituted electioneering which interfered with the election. We do not agree with the Regional Director. Although Board instructions direct observers not to wear or display buttons and other insignia in the polling place, it has been held that the wearing of prounion insignia by union observers does not in itself constitute interference with an election.' The question for determination here is whether the wearing by an employer observer at the polls of a hat which bears an antiunion inscription warrants a different conclusion. We do not think so.' As the Board stated in Western Electric Company, Inc., 87 NLRB 183, 185, "the identity of election observers, as well as the fact that they represent the special interests of the parties, is generally well known to the employees." The identity and special interests of employer observers may not reasonably be presumed to be less well known than that of the union observers. We are of the opinion that the impact on the voters is not materially different whether the observers wear prounion or antiunion insignia of this kind. Moreover, we do not consider this type of conduct to constitute the kind of electioneering at or near the polling place which affects the results of an election. Nor is there any indication that the Employer's observer refused to obey a specific order by the Board agent to remove the insignia. In all the circumstances, therefore, we find that the action of the Employer's observer did not constitute interference with the employee freedom of choice. Accordingly, we find no merit in Objection 1. As we have overruled the objections to the election and as the tally of ballots shows that the Petitioner did not receive a majority of the valid ballots cast in the election, we shall certify the results of the election. 'In the absence of exception thereto, we adopt, pro forma, the Regional Director's recommendation that Objection 2 be overruled. 'Electric Wheel Co, 120 NLRB 1644 'Cf Delaware Mills. Inc., 123 NLRB 943 178 NLRB No. 38 LARKWOOD FARMS, A DIV OF THE PILLSBURY CO. 227 CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS District Union No. 405, AFL-CIO, and that said It is hereby certified that a majority of the valid labor organization is not the exclusive representative votes has not been cast for Amalgamated Meat of the employees in the appropriate unit within the Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, meaning of Section 9(a) of the Act.