St. Joseph Riverside Hospital

ST JOSEPH RIVERSIDE 721 St. Joseph Riverside Hospital and Northeast Ohio Public Employees, District Council 78, American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 8-RC-9655 June 11, 1976 DECISION ON REVIEW AND CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING AND JENKINS On December 22, 1975, the Acting Regional Di- rector for Region 8 issued a Supplemental Decision, Order, and Direction of Second Election in the above-entitled proceeding in which he sustained the Petitioner's Objection 3 to conduct affecting the re- sults of the election, and directed that a second elec- tion be conducted I Thereafter, in accordance with Section 102 67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, the Employer filed a timely request for review of the Acting Regional Director's supplemental decision on the ground that, in sustaining Objection 3, he depart- ed from precedent and made factual findings which were clearly erroneous By telegraphic order, dated January 29, 1976, the request for review was granted and the second elec- tion was stayed, pending decision on review Howev- er, the Board deferred final decision thereon pending disposition of the Petitioner's Objection 4, and re- manded the case to the Regional Director for ruling on said objection 2 No briefs were filed on review Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel The Board has considered the entire record in this case, with respect to the issues under review, and makes the following findings Petitioner's Objection 3 alleged that the Em- ployer's selection of Sister Anna-Marie Fisher, an Order nun working at the hospital, as one of its elec- i The tally of ballots for the election showed that, of approximately 347 eligible voters, 311 cast ballots, of which 121 were cast for the Petitioner, 10 for the Intervenor, Service Employees International Union Local Union No 627, AFL-CIO (hereinafter referred to as the Intervenor), and 170 against participating labor organizations There were 10 challenged ballots which were insufficient to affect the results of the election The Acting Regional Director overruled Objections 1 and 2 and found it unnecessary to rule on Objection 4 2 Following the Board's remand of the case to the Regional Director for the purpose of investigating Objection 4, the Petitioner withdrew its Objec- tion 4, April 8, 1976 Lion observers was improper under Board precedent and grounds for setting the election aside The Employer was founded by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary There are 13 Order nuns who work at the hospital and hold ownership in the non- profit corporation as long as they work at the hospi- tal as a member of the Order The Acting Regional Director found, in agreement with Petitioner, the nun in question was closely identified with the Em- ployer and was in fact a coowner of the hospital by virtue of being one of a small number of sisters who comprise the hospital's nonprofit corporate structure He concluded, therefore, that a person so closely identified with the Employer may not act as an elec- tion observer because she would influence the out- come of the election We do not agree The record shows that, at the preelection confer- ence held the day before the election, the Employer designated Sister Anna-Marie Fisher as one of its ob- servers In attendance at this conference were repre- sentatives of the Petitioner, the Intervenor, and the Petitioner's attorney All the parties were well aware of her status as a member of the corporation, but no objections were made at that time to her serving as an observer Indeed, it appears that there was no ob- jection raised to Sister Anna-Marie Fisher's serving as an observer for the Employer until the Union filed its formal objections with the Regional Director Un- der all the circumstances, including the fact there is no claim that said observer engaged in any overt act designed to affect the election results, we find, con- trary to the Acting Regional Director, insufficient basis to warrant setting aside the election based on her designation as an observer, and we therefore overrule Objection 3 3 Accordingly, as all of the Petitioner's objections have been overruled, or with- drawn, and the tally of ballots shows that a majority of the valid ballots were against representation by either Union, we shall certify the results of the elec- tion CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS OF ELECTION It is hereby certified that a majority of the valid ballots have not been cast for either Northeast Ohio Republic Employees, District Council 78, American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, or Service Employees International Union, Local No 672, AFL-CIO, and that said la- bor organizations are not the exclusive representative of the employees in the unit found appropriate with- in the meaning of Section 9(a) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended 3 Delmar Gardens Inc, 198 NLRB 309, 311 (1972) 224 NLRB No 117