Opinion ID: 739079
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Promise of the Biggest Party in Texas

Text: 7 Trencor complains that the Union offered conditional inducements to win employee support in the election. The day before the election, Union agent Bill Fears told employees that if the Union won the election, it would host the biggest party in the history of Texas, and that the Union would buy all the food and beer. Trencor primarily relies on NLRB v. Lou Taylor, Inc., 564 F.2d 1173 (5th Cir.1977), and Crestwood Manor, 234 NLRB 1097, 1978 WL 7316 (1978) to argue that such conditional inducements render the election invalid. 8 In Lou Taylor, this court enforced a Board order in which the announcement of a company's annual Christmas party in an employer's campaign speech the day before the election was found to be illegal. 564 F.2d at 1175. The company president promised that there would be a Christmas party and that the employees would be paid for the time spent at the party and for the holiday. Id. An administrative law judge and the Board found, and this court affirmed, that the announcement improperly influenced the employees' choice despite the fact that the employer customarily gave its employees a Christmas party. Id. The election was invalidated notwithstanding the overwhelming rejection of the union. Lou Taylor, Inc., 226 NLRB 1024, 1030 n. 10, 1976 WL 7543 (union received only 38 of 223 votes cast). 9 In Crestwood Manor, the Board invalidated an election because of a union's promise to hold a one hundred dollar raffle for employees if the union won the election. 234 NLRB at 1097. The Board stated that: 10 The Employer argues that since the Petitioner's raffle was conditioned upon Petitioner's prevailing in the election, the Hearing Officer correctly concluded that it was a promise of benefit which requires setting aside the results of the election. We find merit in the Employer's contention.... If we were not to so find, we might well envision future elections in which employers and unions alike might be tempted to promise employees all sorts of inducements--raffles, prizes, vacation trips, or whatever--if their side won the election. Such an intrusion into the election process would be highly undesirable. 11