Detrex Corporation

National Labor Relations Board - Unpublished Board Decisions

Mar 17, 2021

08-RC-269611 (N.L.R.B. Mar. 17, 2021)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BEFORE THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DETREX CORPORATION
Employer
and Case 08-RC-269611
UNITED STEEL, PAPER AND FORESTRY,
RUBBER, MANUFACTURING, ENERGY,
ALLIED INDUSTRIAL AND SERVICE
WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION,
AFL-CIO-CLC
Petitioner
ORDER
The Employer’s Request for Review of the Acting Regional Director’s Decision
and Direction of Election is denied as it raises no substantial issues warranting review.1
1 In denying review of the Acting Regional Director’s direction of a mail-ballot election,
we note that the direction of a mail-ballot election is consistent with the concerns
articulated in Aspirus Keweenaw, 370 NLRB No. 45 (2020), which sets forth the
guidelines and parameters applicable to determining the propriety of a mail-ballot
election under the current circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic. Under those
guidelines, a Regional Director does not abuse his or her discretion by directing a mail-
ballot election if the 14-day trend in the number of new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in
the county where the facility is located is increasing, or the 14-day testing positivity rate
in the county where the facility is located is 5 percent or higher. See Id., slip op. at 5, 8.
Further, “the 14-day period should be measured from the date of the Regional Director’s
determination, or as close to that date as available data allow.” Id., slip op. at 5, fn. 20.
At the time of the Acting Regional Director’s decision, the 14-day trend of cases in
Ashtabula County, Ohio, where the Employer’s facility is located, was increasing, and
the 14-day testing positivity rate was over 5 percent.
In addition, the Employer has made an unsubstantiated claim that the Acting
Regional Director delayed the decision “until a two-week period of Covid-19 results
satisfied the Director’s desire of holding a mail ballot election.” On careful examination
of her decision and the relevant State and county Covid-19 positivity rates, we are
satisfied that the Employer’s contention is without merit.
Chairman McFerran agrees to deny review of the Acting Regional Director’s mail-
ballot determination for the reasons given in her separate opinion in Aspirus. She
further agrees, however, that setting aside the election at this point would be inefficient
and unfair to the unit employees, and that, even under the majority opinion in Aspirus,
2
LAUREN McFERRAN, CHAIRMAN
MARVIN E. KAPLAN, MEMBER
JOHN F. RING, MEMBER
Dated, Washington, D.C., March 17, 2021.
the Acting Regional Director’s decision should be affirmed based on the statistics set
out above.