N.L.R.B. v. Gulf States Canners, Inc.
| Decision Date | 07 December 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-1162,78-1162 |
| Citation | 585 F.2d 757 |
| Parties | 100 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2016, 85 Lab.Cas. P 10,943 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. GULF STATES CANNERS, INC., Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Elliott Moore, Deputy Assoc. Gen. Counsel, Marjorie Gofreed, Supervisor, Christopher Katzenbach, Atty., John S. Irving, Gen Counsel, John E. Higgins, Jr., Deputy Gen. Counsel, Carl L. Taylor, Assoc. Gen. Counsel, N.L.R.B., Washington, D. C., for petitioner.
Jolly, Miller & Milam, Paul O. Miller, III, James R. Lockard, Jackson, Miss., for respondent.
Charles M. Paschal Jr., Director Region 15, N.L.R.B., New Orleans, La., for other interested party.
On Application for Enforcement of an Order of the National Labor Relations Board.
Before COLEMAN, CLARK, and RUBIN, Circuit Judges.
On December 9, 1976, the employees of the Gulf States Canners, Inc., facility in Clinton, Mississippi, voted to determine whether the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local No. 891, should serve as their collective bargaining representative. The Union won the election by a vote of twenty to sixteen. Gulf Canners filed timely objections to the conduct of the Union during the pre-election period, but the National Labor Relations Board (the Board) rejected these arguments and certified the Union as the exclusive bargaining agents of Gulf Canners employees. The Union requested Gulf Canners to conduct contract negotiations with it, and the Company refused, claiming that the Board had erred in overruling its objections to the election. The Union then filed a complaint charging Gulf Canners with unfair labor practices as a result of this refusal. The Board, acting without a hearing, accepted the Union's arguments and ordered Gulf Canners to conduct contract negotiations with the Union. The Board has applied for enforcement of this order.
Gulf Canners initially asserted numerous instances of misconduct on the part of the Union, but has raised only one objection in this enforcement proceeding. Gulf Canners claims that certain payments the Union made to Gulf Canners' employees vitiate the election results. The record shows that, prior to the election, the Union provided approximately $24 worth of gasoline to one Gulf Canners' employee in the voting unit and $6.88 worth of gasoline to another. The Union claimed the purchases of gasoline were to compensate for fuel consumed in traveling to the Union's meetings. The Board, adopting the findings of its regional director, held that, regardless of whether the purchases were as gifts or for reimbursement of expenses, they did not warrant setting aside the election.
In reaching his determination on this issue, the regional director concluded that the election results must stand unless Gulf Canners shows that the Union, in making the gifts, intended to influence the outcome of the election. Gulf Canners argues that the regional director erred in applying this intent test. We agree.
This court has held that union elections should be conducted under laboratory conditions and that an election must be invalidated upon a finding of a substantial breach in those conditions. NLRB v. Handy Hardware Wholesale, Inc., 542 F.2d 935, 938 (5th Cir. 1976), Cert. denied, 431 U.S. 954, 97 S.Ct. 2675, 53 L.Ed.2d 271 (1977); Home Town Foods, Inc. v. NLRB, 416 F.2d 392, 396 (5th Cir. 1969). Unlawful acts will taint an election if those acts "interfered with the employees' exercise of free choice to such an extent that they materially affected the results of an election." NLRB v. Sumter Plywood Corporation, 535 F.2d 917, 920 (5th Cir. 1976) (quoting NLRB v. Golden Age Beverage Co., 415 F.2d 26, 30 (5th Cir. 1969) ), Cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1092, 97 S.Ct. 1105, 51 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977).
The intent test is inconsistent with the logic behind these holdings. The effects of an act intended to influence an election may be so minimal that the outcome remains unaffected. Conversely an unintentional act may have such a deleterious effect on the conduct of an election that the result does not reflect the voters' free will. In determining...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
N.L.R.B. v. Claxton Mfg. Co., Inc., 79-1527
...activity, when considered as a whole, either tended to or did influence the outcome of the election. NLRB v. Gulf States Canners, Inc., 585 F.2d 757, 759 (5th Cir. 1978); Home Town Foods, Inc. v. NLRB, 416 F.2d 392, 397 (5th Cir. 1969). Such a showing is particularly difficult to make where......
-
Washington Public Emp. Ass'n v. Community College Dist. 9, 4535-II
...court remand the case to the administrative agency with instructions to apply the appropriate legal standard. See NLRB v. Gulf State Canners, Inc., 585 F.2d 757 (5th Cir. 1978); Blackman-Uhler Chemical Div., Synalloy Corp. v. NLRB, 561 F.2d 1118 (4th Cir. 1977); NLRB v. Mosey Mfg. Co., 595 ......
-
Methodist Home v. N.L.R.B.
...turns on the reaction to the incident by the employees who were entitled to vote at the impending election. N. L. R. B. v. Gulf States Canners, Inc. (5th Cir. 1978) 585 F.2d 757, 759. 5 An issue of "state of mind" whether it be that of Welfare, or of Prince or of Brown or of Ulmer or of the......
-
Mount Pleasant Community School Dist. v. Public Employment Relations Bd.
...control over an employee. Although we subscribe to the objective test of evaluating the notice and its effect, NLRB v. Gulf States Canners, Inc., 585 F.2d 757, 759 (5th Cir.1981), we note that the testimony made clear the notice was not perceived by members of the organization as an implied......