Cataract, Inc.

CATARACT, INC Cataract, Inc. and United Association of Journey- men and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe- fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 33-RC- 2993 28 February 1985 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF SECOND ELECTION BY CHAIRMAN DOTSON AND MEMBERS HUNTER AND DENNIS The National Labor Relations Board has consid- ered objections to an election held 31 August 1984 and the hearing officer's report recommending dis- position of them. The election was conducted pur- suant to a Stipulated Election Agreement. The tally of ballots shows 13 for and 8 against the Peti- tioner, with I challenged ballot, an insufficient number to affect the results. The Board has reviewed the record in light of the exceptions and brief, and adopts the hearing of- ficer's findings and recommendations only to the extent consistent with this decision. Contrary to the hearing officer's recommendation to overrule the Employer's Objection 4, we find that the Petition- er's offer of a reduced initiation fee was proscribed under the Supreme Court's decision in NLRB v. Savair Mfg. Co., 414 U.S. 270 (1973).1 It is undisputed that, in connection with the so- licitation of authorization cards, employee Michael Ryan, an executive board member of Plumbers Local 81, informed employees that there would be i In view of our disposition of Objection 4, we find it unnecessary to pass on the hearing officer's recommendations on Objections 1, 2, and 3 The Employer has excepted to some of the hearing officer's credibility findings The Board's established policy is not to overrule a hearing offi- cer's credibility resolutions unless the clear preponderance of all the rele- vant evidence convinces us that they are incorrect Stretch-Tex Co, 118 NLRB 1359, 1361 (1957) We find no basis for reversing the findings 741 a $50 initiation fee "for organizational purposes for this site . . . for this one time organizational drive." He also told employees "any local is al- lowed to set the fee . . . and a fee could go up at any time." At no time in any oral or written state- ments to employees did the Petitioner define the term "organizational purposes" or "organizational drive" or specify to all employees that the reduced fee was available for a period of time after the elec- tion. 2 The Board has found a union's waiver of initi- ation fees for such periods of time as "organization- al drives" to be ambiguous and subject to the inter- pretation by employees as applying only to the period before the election.3 It is also well settled that any ambiguity must be resolved against the party who used the ambiguous term.4 Therefore, we find that the statements of the Pe- titioner linked the availability of a reduced initi- ation fee to joining the Petitioner before the elec- tion, thereby constituting an impermissible induce- ment to employees. See Crane Co., 225 NLRB 657, 659 (1976); NLRB v. Aladdin Hotel, 584 F.2d 891 (9th Cir. 1978). In light of the foregoing, we find merit in the Employer's Objection 4, and we shall set aside the election and direct a second election in the appro- priate unit. [Direction of Second Election omitted from pub- lication.] 3 Although Alfred Sciadmi, an officer and national representative of the Petitioner, stated at union meetings , in connection with a discussion of the $50 initiation fee, that no employee would be expected to pay any money to the Petitioner until an agreement had been negotiated with the Employer, only about 15 of the 23 unit employees attended these meet- ings 3 Equitable Construction Co, 266 NLRB 668 (1983) The ambiguity contained in terms like "organizational drives" or "purposes " is accentu- ated here by Ryan's comments to the effect that the local union could raise initiation fees "at any time," including presumably before or after the election 4 See Inland Shoe Mfg Co, 211 NLRB 724, 725 (1974) 274 NLRB No. 113