Show Industries, Inc.

SHOW INDUSTRIES 687 Show Industries, Inc. and General Warehousemen, Local 598, International Brotherhood of Team- sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 21- RC-18569 ,September 7, 1990 DECISION AND ORDER REMANDING FOR HEARING BY CHAIRMAN STEPHENS AND MEMBERS CRACRAFT AND OVIATT The National Labor Relations Board, by a three- member panel, has considered objections to an election held November 30, 1989, and the Regional Director's report recommending disposition of them The election was conducted pursuant to a Stipulated Election Agreement The corrected tally of ballots shows 110 for and 61 against the Peti- tioner, with 8 challenged ballots, an insufficient number to affect the results The Board has reviewed the record in light of the exceptions and bnefs and has adopted the Re- gional Director's findings and recommendations, except that it finds that Objections 1 and 4 raise substantial and matenal issues of fact warranting a heanng 1 ORDER IT IS ORDERED that a hearing be held before a duly designated hearmg officer for the purpose of receiving evidence to resolve the issues raised by Employer's Objections 1 and 4 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the designated heanng officer shall prepare and serve on the par- ties a report containing credibility resolutions, find- ings of fact, and recommendations to the Board as to the disposition of these objections Withm 14 days from the date the report issues, either party may file with the Board in Washington, D C, eight copies of exceptions Immediately on the filing of 'In remanding Objection 1 for hearing, we apply the standard set forth in Polymers Inc. 174 NLRB 282 (1969), enfd 414 F 2d 999 (2d Cu 1969), cert denied 396 U S 1010 (1970), that is, whether there was a rea- sonable possibility of tampering with the ballot box Contrary to our dis- senting colleague, we are not prepared to make a judgment as to whether the evidence warrants setting aside the election until we ascertain all the relevant facts exceptions, the party filing them shall serve a copy on the other parties and shall file a copy with the Regional Director If no exceptions are filed, the Board will adopt the recommendations of the hear- ing officer IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that this proceeding IS remanded to the Regional Director for Region 21 to arrange the hearing MEMBER OVIATT, dissenting Regarding Objection 1, the undisputed facts show that in the course of the election, after one of two polling periods, the car in whose trunk the sealed ballot box was being transported was in- volved in a senous automobile accident Although John Hatem, the Board agent dnving the car, was injured, he directed a second Board agent, Glen Caddick, who had followed in another car, to re- tneve the box and continue with the election Find- ing the box damaged, Caddick taped two 4-inch cracks in the box and placed it on the seat of his unlocked car There it remained unattended for at least 5 minutes while Caddick Went to an adjacent area to telephone his supervisor When he returned to the accident scene, Caddick spoke again to Hatem (who by this time was in an ambulance), gave the police a report of what had happened, and then continued m his car to the polling place, where he advised the Employer's attorney and the Petitioner's representative what had transpired The election continued with the damaged box, but the Employer's attorney refused to sign the tally of ballots Despite the valiant efforts of the two Board agents to assure, in an emergency situation, that the election continue in a timely and proper manner, I would set aside the election results and conduct a second election That the ballot box remained unat- tended by a Board agent for more than just a moment and was damaged to the extent that it had large cracks in it is sufficient, in my opinion, to raise the question of the mtegnty of the election process in this case To protect that process, the Board must be assiduous in avoiding even the ap- pearance that the Board's election procedures were compromised Because, in my view, the undisputed facts require overturning the election results, I would not order a hearing in this case 299 NLRB No 101