Unibilt Industries, Inc.

UNIBILT INDUSTRIES Unibilt Industries, Inc. and Miami Valley Carpen- ters District Council of Dayton, Ohio, affiliated with United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Join- ers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 9- RC-14724 28 February 1986 DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVE BY MEMBERS DENNIS, JOHANSEN, AND BABSON The National Labor Relations Board, by a three- member panel, has considered objections to an election held 18 July 1985 and the Regional Direc- tor's feport recommending disposition of them. The election was conducted pursuant to a Stipulat- ed Election Agreement. The tally of ballots shows 20 for and ' 19 against the Petitioner, with no chal- lenged ballots. ' The Board has reviewed the record in light of the exceptions and brief, and absent exceptions pro forma adopts the Regional Director's recommenda- tion that Objections 1 and 2 and the portion of Ob- jection 3 dealing with the Board agent's conduct during the election be overruled. We do not, how- ever, adopt the recommendation to set aside the election because a foreign language ballot was not provided for a voter. Having overruled the Em- ployer's objections, we shall issue a certification of representative. A Vietnamese worker, employed for 7 years, en- tered the lunchroom voting area during the elec- tion to fill out his timecard. The Board agent in- formed him that if he did not intend to vote, he must leave the election area. The employee did so. The Regional Director's investigation revealed that the employee was not fluent in English and did not understand the agent's verbal directive, but did un- derstand the - agent's motioning that he should leave. The Regional Director, in recommending that the election be set aside, found that the em- 825 ployee was not afforded an opportunity to learn the purpose of and to obtain information concern- ing the election by means of the posted notices of election and that no foreign language ballot had been prepared for him which would allow him to cast his ballot intelligently if he chose to vote. Contrary to the Regional Director, we find that the election should not be set aside. Thus, neither party to the election notified the Regional Director that bilingual materials were necessary. It is the parties' responsibility to notify the Board that bilin- gual election materials are needed. Magic Pan, Inc. v. NLRB, 627 F.2d 105 (7th Cir. 1980), enfg. 244 NLRB 630 (1979); Wicks Forest Industries, 227 NLRB 299 (1976); Alamo Lumber Co., 187 NLRB 384 (1970), enfd. 455 F.2d 607 (5th Cir. 1971). Having employed the worker for 7 years, the Employer was in the best position to know of the need for foreign language election materials. The Employer's failure to advise the Board of the need cannot constitute grounds for a new election. Magic Pan, supra, 627 F.2d at 108.1 CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVE IT is CERTIFIED that a majority of the valid bal- lots have been cast for Miami Valley Carpenters District Council of Dayton, Ohio, affiliated with United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, AFL-CIO and that it is the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the employ- ees in the following appropriate unit: All full-time production and maintenance em- ployees including truck drivers employed by the Employer at its 4671 Poplar Creek facility, excluding all office clerical employees, profes- sional employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. 1 The investigation revealed conflicting testimony concerning the em- ployee's intention to vote In view of our decision, we find it unnecessary to resolve the conflict. 278 NLRB No. 117