Kaolin Mushroom Farms, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Bd.

• Decision Date: 10 November 1997
• Parties: KAOLIN MUSHROOM FARMS, INC., Petitioner, v. PENNSYLVANIA LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent.
• Court: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court

Page 1110

702 A.2d 1110

KAOLIN MUSHROOM FARMS, INC., Petitioner, v. PENNSYLVANIA LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Respondent.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 5, 1997.

Decided Nov. 10, 1997.

Brian F. Jackson, Harrisburg, for petitioner.

Peter Lassi, Harrisburg, for respondent.

Arthur N. Read and Samuel L. Spear, Philadelphia, for intervenor, Kaolin Worker's Union.

Before DOYLE and PELLEGRINI, JJ., and MIRARCHI, Jr., Senior Judge.

DOYLE, Judge.

Kaolin Mushroom Farms, Inc. (Kaolin) appeals from an order of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB or Board) certifying the Union de Trabajadores de Kaolin, also known as the Kaolin Workers' Union (Union), as the exclusive bargaining representative for certain employees of Kaolin and dismissing Kaolin's post-election objections to the representation election held on May 27, 1993.

Kaolin is a Pennsylvania corporation that is engaged in the production and harvesting of mushrooms, with its principal place of business in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Kaolin owns and operates three mushroom farms in the Chester County, Kennett Square area, and a great number of its employees are "migrant farm workers." These employees vary in ethnic background from Hispanic to Vietnamese to Cambodian, and a large percentage of Kaolin's employees are of Hispanic origin and speak only Spanish.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On April 6, 1993, Kaolin filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Board in which it alleged that the Comite de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrcolas (CATA) ¹ committed unfair labor practices in violation of Sections 6(2)(a), (b) and (e) of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act (PLRA). ² On April 16 1993, the Board issued a complaint and notice of hearing on the charge and scheduled a hearing for May 21, 1993.

On May 3, 1993, two representatives and members of the Union filed a Petition for Representation with the Board, seeking to represent certain full-time and regular part-time workers employed by Kaolin. On May 11, 1993, the Union also submitted a request filed pursuant to Section 7(c) of the PLRA, 43 P.S. § 211.7(c), that an expedited election occur within twenty days.

On May 21, 1993, the Board ordered and directed that an election by secret ballot occur on Thursday, May 27, 1993. The Board's Order and Notice of Election further provided that the election would be held in three phases: from 4:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. at Kaolin's Alpine farm in Landenberg; from 7:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the utility shed at Kaolin's facility in Kennett Square; and from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the cafeteria at the Kennett Square facility. The Board's Order and Notice of Election included sample ballots printed in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Khmer, ³ and Kaolin duly produced and posted the order, notice and ballots as required by the Board.

The representation election was conducted on May 27, 1993, by two Board election officials, Theresa McGeehan and Timothy Tietze. Two hundred sixty-three (263) individuals cast ballots in the election, with one hundred twenty-four (124) cast in favor of union representation, one hundred one (101) votes cast for "No Representative," and thirty-eight (38) votes initially challenged and uncounted.

Following the election, the parties entered into a stipulation of facts with respect to PLRB jurisdiction and the challenged ballots. ⁴ Subsequently, on July 6, 1993, the hearing examiner issued an order styled as "Order Determining Appropriateness of Unit and Providing for Canvassing and Counting of Impounded and Certain Challenged Ballots." Pursuant to this order, seven of the thirty-eight challenged ballots were resolved, six of which were cast for the Union and one which was cast for "No Representative."

On July 20, 1993, Kaolin filed and served objections to the election and subsequently filed and served amended post-election objections on July 22, 1993. Before the Board, the objections upon which Kaolin's challenge to the election was based included the following: unremedied unfair labor practices committed by CATA which formed the basis of the charges filed by Kaolin on April 8, 1993; the fact that "Kaolin's observers noticed on several occasions two or more persons occupying the balloting area"; the inefficacy of the Spanish interpreter present during the election; the thirty to forty-five minute delay in the commencement of voting at the Kennett Square facility; ⁵ and the presence of the press around the polling area. (Amended Post-Election Objections; R.R. at 45-64.) Kaolin requested that, on the basis of these objections, the Board set aside the previous election and direct and order a new representation election.

The Board held hearings between August 9, 1993, and June 2, 1994, during the course of which the unfair labor practice charges, filed by Kaolin against CATA on April 6, 1993, were consolidated with Kaolin's post-election objections. The hearing examiner issued a Proposed Decision and Order on April 5, 1995, in which he addressed the unfair labor practice charges filed against CATA and found, inter alia, that CATA had a complete defense pursuant to Section 10 of the Act ⁶ because Kaolin had also engaged in unfair labor practices. ⁷ However, the hearing examiner, although dismissing the majority of Kaolin's post-election objections, sustained Kaolin's objections relating to the inadequacy of the Spanish interpreter present during the election (discussed below) and ultimately concluded that the election should be set aside.

The remaining challenged ballots were opened, canvassed and counted on March 8, 1996, and, on March 12, 1996, the Board issued an Order Directing Remand to Board Representative in which it found as a fact that the final tally of ballots cast in the election was 140 ballots cast in favor of the Union, 102 ballots cast for "No Representative," and one remaining challenged ballot. ⁸ The Board amended the hearing examiner's Proposed Decision and Order by setting forth "amended and additional findings of fact" in its Order Directing Remand to Board Representative and declined to set aside the election, reasoning that Kaolin failed to establish that the alleged improper conduct affected enough votes to have an impact on the outcome of the election.

On March 22, 1996, the Board issued a Nisi Order of Certification in which the Board certified the Union as the exclusive bargaining representative of Kaolin's mushroom laborers. ⁹ On June 11, 1996, the Board issued a Final Order in which it made its prior Nisi Order of Certification final and dismissed Kaolin's post-election exceptions. This appeal ensued. ¹⁰

On appeal, Kaolin argues that the Board erred as a matter of law by refusing to set aside the representation election and order a new election, and by certifying the Union as the exclusive bargaining representative on the basis of what its contends was a "tainted" election. Specifically, Kaolin argues that the Board should have ordered a new election because the following "procedural irregularities" tarnished the "laboratory conditions" necessary for the employees to express their free and fair choice in the election: (1) because the Spanish interpreter appointed by the Board was so incompetent that she was incapable of communicating election procedures to an electorate that understood virtually no English and was "largely illiterate" in both Spanish and English; (2) because certain voters who lacked identification were improperly disenfranchised of their right to vote in the representation election; (3) because the methods employed by the Board to verify the identity of certain voters created the impression that the secrecy of the election was being compromised; (4) because the Board failed to adequately control the polling areas by permitting electioneering, allowing a member of the press to be in the polling area with a camera for approximately twenty seconds, and, in some instances, permitting two voters to be in a voting booth at the same time, resulting in coercion and further compromising the secrecy of the election; and (5) because the election was tainted by certain unfair labor practices committed by CATA seven to eight weeks prior to the election.

II. ANALYSIS

As an initial matter, we note that Kaolin in its brief places much emphasis on the fact that the hearing examiner ultimately concluded that, "[n]otwithstanding the margin of victory, the provision of an inadequate Spanish interpreter is a serious blow to the laboratory conditions which requires that a new election must be held." (Proposed Decision and Order, 4/5/95, at 100; R.R. at 168.) However, this fact is of little consequence for appellate purposes, because it is the order and findings of the Board, and not those of the hearing examiner, which are subject to appellate review by this Court. See Gioia v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 661 A.2d 34 (Pa.Cmwlth.1995). As we stated in Xilas v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, 65 Pa.Cmwlth. 18, 441 A.2d 513 (1982):

Section 8(b) of the PLRA, 43 P.S. § 211.8(b), provides that a hearing regarding an unfair labor practice charge be conducted 'before the Board, or any member or designated agent thereof,' and section 8(c), 43 P.S. § 211.8(c) requires that testimony taken at such a hearing be reduced to writing and filed with the Board. Section 8(c) specifically provides that, based upon such testimony, the Board shall determine whether or not an unfair labor practice has been committed and 'shall state its findings of fact.' We believe that this language clearly designates the Board as the ultimate finder of fact with the discretion to evaluate the credibility of the witnesses based upon the testimony in the record. In this regard, the role of the Board as fact finder is similar to that of the Unemployment Compensation Board of Review which is permitted to resolve credibility issues and to make findings without being bound by a referee's disposition of those...