V. LaRosa & Sons, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 27, 1958

121 N.L.R.B. 671 (N.L.R.B. 1958)

V. L.ROSA & SONS, INC. 671
election because both Petitioners have showings of interest in the
broader unit sufficient to warrant an election.7
We therefore find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the' Act': -
All production and maintenance employees, including the platform
employees, sewing machine -operators and piece workers at the Em-
ployer's New York, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey, plants,
but excluding office clerical employees, sales help, guards, executives,
and supervisors within the meaning of the Act .8
[The Board vacated the Decision and Order dated June 4, 1958.]
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
1 The direction of election herein for the two-plant unit renders moot the appeal by the
International Union of the RC-Petitioner from the Regional Director 's dismissal of the
petition seeking an election in the identical unit in Case No. 2-RC-9347 ( formerly Case
No 22-RC-165 ) Accordingly , we hereby sustain the Regional Director 's dismissal of
the petition in Case No 2-RC-9347, and we also deny the RC-Petitioner 's request to
consolidate the petition in Case No . 2-RC-9347 with the petition in Case No . 2-RC-9241
in this proceeding.
e The composition of the unit is substantially as agreed upon by the parties.
V. LaRosa & Sons, Inc. and Local 492, American Bakery & Con-
fectionery Workers International Union , AFL-CIO, Petitioner.
Case No. 4-RC-3569. August °27, 1958
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF
REPRESENTATIVES
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election 1 issued on May
27, 1958, an election by secret ballot was conducted on June 19, 1958,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Fourth Region of the National Labor Relations Board among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate by the Board. Following the
election, the parties were furnished a tally of ballots which showed
that 76 valid ballots were cast of which 40 were cast for Local 492,
Bakery & Confectionery Workers International Union of America,
the Intervenor, and 35 were cast for Petitioner. One ballot was cast
against the participating labor organizations and there were no void
or challenged ballots.
On June 24, 1958, the Petitioner filed a timely objection to the elec-
tion and conduct affecting the results of the election alleging as
follows :
The employees eligible to vote were precluded from exercising a
free choice because the official Board Ballot listed the Petitioner
1 Not published
121 NLRB No. 81.
672 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
as Local 492, American Bakery and Confectionery Workers Inter-
national Union, AFL-CIO despite the fact that the Petitioner
had filed its petition as American Bakery and Confectionery
Workers International Union, Local 492, AFL-CIO Since the
intervening Union is known as Local 492, Bakery and Confec-
tionery Workers International Union of America and appears as
such on the Ballot, confusion resulted among the employees eli-
gible to vote and many employees voted for Local 492, Bakery and
Confectionery Workers International Union of America who in-
tended to vote for Local 492, American Bakery and Confectionery
Workers International Union, Local 492, AFL-CIO
In support of this objection the Petitioner attached three identical
affidavits from employees who aver that they mistakenly marked their
ballots for the Intervenor because of the confusion caused by the same
Local number preceding the names of the Unions In accordance
with the Rules and Regulations of the Board, the Regional Director
conducted an investigation of the objection and on July 17, 1958, is-
sued and served upon the parties his report on objections in which he
recommended that the objection be overruled Thereafter, the Peti-
tioner filed timely exceptions to the Regional Director's report, and
urged that this recommendation be overruled and the election set aside
on the basis of the conduct set forth in its objection The Petitioner
also alleged that 17 of the voters are Puerto Ricans who can neither
speak nor write English and that they should have had the benefit of a
ballot printed in Spanish
Pursuant to the provisions of 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has dele-
gated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel
[Members Rodgers, Bean, and Jenkins]
The investigation by the Regional Director indicated that notices of
election were posted in the plant sufficiently in advance of the election
for all eligibles to familiarize themselves with the respective choices on
the ballot The Petitioner's designation on the official ballot not only
followed the Board's Direction of Election, but also appears un-
ambiguous since other than Local number the names of the unions are
clearly dissimilar In a previous case in the Region involving the
same unions, the Petitioner filed, a motion with the Board specifically
requesting that it be designated on the ballot as, "American Bakery
and Confectionery Workers International Union, Local 492, AFL-
CIO," and this motion was granted However, the Petitioner raised
no issue in the above case about the Local's number preceding the name
of the Union until after the election The investigation also revealed
that the Petitioner campaigned at the plant for several months prior to
the election and presumably the employees were thereby familiarized
with the identities of the competing unions No voter requested aid
from the Board agent to read or interpret the ballot, and all observers
PAULA SHOE CO., INC. 673
signed the certification on conduct of election. Accordingly, the Re-
gional Director found that the Petitioner's designation did not confuse
the eligibles and that all eligibles were given full opportunity to cast
ballots for whichever union they wished.
The Board has held in prior schism cases that the use of the same
numerical designation by two competing locals would not confuse
the voters in an election .2 The instant case differs from prior cases
only in that here it is the seceding local which is objecting rather than
the original local. As to the language used on the ballots, the Re-
gional Director has broad discretion in determining the method by
which an election shall be conducted and the Board generally inter-
cedes only when there is an abuse of such discretion.' There is no
evidence indicating that the Regional Director acted arbitrarily or
capriciously in having the ballots in English rather than Spanish, or
that the problem was in fact raised prior to the election. The desig-
nated observers certified that the election was fairly conducted and
there is no indication that the voters were unduly rushed or handi-
capped in casting their ballots.
Accordingly, we agree with the Regional Director's conclusion
that the Petitioner's objections raise no substantial and material
issues with respect to the election and, following his recommendation,
we hereby overrule them. As the tally of ballots shows that a major-
ity of the valid votes have been cast for Local 492, Bakery & Con-
fectionery Workers International Union of America, we shall certify
it as the collective-bargaining representative in the appropriate unit.
[The Board certified Local 492, Bakery and Confectionery Work-
ers International Union of America, as the collective-bargaining rep-
resentative of the employees of the Employer in the unit found
appropriate.]
2 See, e g, International Harvester Company, East Moline Works, 108 NLRB 600, 605;
Radio Corporation of America, 89 NLRB 699, 701. ,
Manchester Knitted Fashions, Inc., 108 NLRB 1366.
Paula Shoe Co., Inc. and Union de Trabajadores de Muelles y
Ramas Anexas de Ponce, P. R., Local 1903 , UTM-IBL-AFL-
CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 24-RC-1090. August 27,1958
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
On May 27, 1958, pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon
consent election, an election by secret ballot was conducted under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Twenty-fourth Region among the employees in the agreed appro-
121 NLRB No. 83. 1
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