Opinion ID: 390053
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Coercive Union conduct

Text: 24 Spring City alleged several specific instances of Union conduct during the election campaign which it claims were sufficient to warrant an evidentiary hearing on its charge of Union coercion. A subsequent investigation by the Regional Director uncovered other potentially coercive acts. The Regional Director nonetheless overruled Spring City's second objection. We review briefly the evidence reflected by the record. 25 An affidavit by Dorothy LeFountain, an office clerk at Flagstaff, related an incident which occurred sometime in mid-April, 1979. LeFountain observed two men, one of whom wore a jacket bearing the Union insignia, enter the plant during working hours and begin inspecting employee time cards. The two men ignored LeFountain's request that they leave, until other male employees intervened. LeFountain was not sure whether cutting room employees could overhear the conversation. LeFountain was not a member of the proposed bargaining unit. 26 A pair of affidavits by employee Josie Vasquez, a member of the bargaining unit, related a series of attempts by union adherents to persuade her to vote for the union. Three weeks prior to the election, employees Maria Hamet and Leonora Rivas came to her home, accompanied by a Union organizer. The organizer allegedly charged the company with cheating the employees, and told Vasquez that the Union could get the company to pay vacation time and sick leave. After a discussion with the organizer, Vasquez accepted a proffered authorization card and some union literature, but immediately threw both in the trash in the presence of the organizer. On June 23, another employee told Vasquez that the company had lied about the Deming closing, but the subject was dropped at Vasquez' request. On June 26, Hamet again came to Vasquez' home and attempted to enlist the aid of her husband and her brother in recruiting her to the Union cause. On June 28, the day of the election, Vasquez was greeted by the same Union representative, who told her that she had to take a card that was offered. When Vasquez refused the card, the organizer's male companion told Vasquez to cool it. Vasquez also stated that every day during the week immediately before the election, someone would place union literature at her work station. 27 An affidavit by Fern Luna, a quality control supervisor at Flagstaff, stated that on June 27 she observed through a glass door several Union organizers who were handing out campaign literature to employees leaving the plant at the close of the work day. Luna observed one man whom she believed to be a Union organizer hold a camera up to his eye as if he were taking pictures of everyone who was leaving the plant. She also observed at about the same time one Union organizer attempt to hand literature to a female employee who ignored the organizer. Rather than give up, the organizer persisted and began walking backwards in front of the employee, blocking her path when she attempted to pass. The organizer did not relent until the employee crossed the street. 28 Rick Jones, a cutting room supervisor, stated that on June 26 he observed several Union organizers passing out literature at the end of the shift. The resulting congestion forced the departing employees to exit four or five abreast. One female organizer had a camera in her hand and made several motions as if to take pictures of the employees. Jones stuck his head out the door and asked the organizers to step back to the public driveway and off company property. While the organizers complied, Jones reported that they almost immediately returned to their original position five to six feet away from the exit doors. Fifteen minutes later, an employee approached Jones and asked if Jones could get those damned people away from the door. Jones related that on five or six different occasions that week he asked the organizers to step back, and that each time they would resume their original positions after he left. 29 Salomon Castillo, Flagstaff plant manager, described in general terms the pattern of literature distribution. Beginning approximately two months before the election, anywhere from two to five organizers would position themselves on company property approximately six feet in front of the doorway. The organizers at first appeared approximately twice a week. As election time grew nearer, the organizers showed up on an almost daily basis. Sometimes the delay in leaving the plant would last up to five minutes because of the congestion resulting from the organizer's activities. Castillo also asked the organizers to step back a few feet to the public driveway on several occasions, only to have his request ignored after he left. On June 24, as he was leaving the plant with two company officials, Castillo was sarcastically asked by one of the female organizers if she was on company property. Apparently, some unit employees were near enough to have overheard the organizer's comments. The affidavit of Josie Vasquez corroborates Castillo's observation of considerable congestion and delay caused by literature distribution. 30 Irene Espino, a sewing room supervisor at Flagstaff, related that an employee approached her approximately two weeks prior to the election and asked if she could leave via the rear entrance so as to avoid the organizers and their literature. Espino replied that she could not because the rear entrance was reserved for truck loading only. No other employee complained to Espino. 31 Spring City argues that these affidavits raise substantial and material issues of fact regarding Union coercion of employees. Spring City contends that the acts described individually and collectively demonstrate coercive action on the part of the Union. According to Spring City, the Union's distribution methods were more serious than a simple trespass. Spring City cites the instances wherein certain employees complained of the Union's activities, and the incident wherein one employee's path was blocked as she walked from the plant to the street as evidence of the coercive impact which the Union campaign tactics carried. Spring City also cites a number of other incidents, including the taking of employee pictures as they left, and further points to the Union's misuse of its subpoena power. We have considered the record and each of the incidents, and find no merit to Spring City's contentions. 32 An objecting party who claims that campaign tactics in a representation election were so coercive as to require overturning the election faces a heavy burden. The question is whether the coercive conduct so influenced potential voters that a free choice by employees was impossible. N.L.R.B. v. Masonic Homes of California, supra, 624 F.2d at 90. The critical element which is lacking in Spring City's presentation is evidence that any employee felt so coerced by the Union's activities that he or she was unable to exercise a free choice at the polls. 33 None of the activities alleged was so inherently intimidating that we are free to presume coercive effect. The record reflects an election campaign marked by Union conduct which was uniformly aggressive, sometimes overbearing, and occasionally obnoxious. The Union's tactics did not, however, involve any violence, threat of violence, or vandalism. No overt threat of reprisal appears in the record, and we find no subtle threats implied. This is not a case such as N.L.R.B. v. Masonic Homes, supra, wherein employee fears of union reprisal appeared in the record, nor a case such as N.L.R.B. v. Hale Manufacturing, 602 F.2d 244 (2d Cir. 1979), wherein, on the day of the election, an act of violence was directed toward an employee who had made remarks disparaging the union. That many of the employees at Spring City found the Union's tactics distasteful and irritating is clear. The recorded, however, is devoid of any indication of intimidation. The only affidavit authored by a unit employee, that of Josie Vasquez, discloses no feeling of coercion. While the taking of employee photographs might in some instances rise to an implied threat of reprisal, we see no evidence here to support such a conclusion. In sum, we find that none of the individual incidents appearing in this record would have justified overturning the election. 7 34 We also reject Spring City's argument that the Union's disregard of its requests to stay off company property demonstrated to the employees the company's inability to stand up to the Union. No evidence suggests that any employee so viewed the incidents. Also, Spring City offers no explanation why it was powerless to stop the Union from trespassing. There is similarly no merit to Spring City's contention that the alleged misuse of subpoenas at the unit determination hearing also put the company in a bad light in front of the employees. 35 Finally, we reject Spring City's argument that the cumulative impact of each of the incidents alleged requires us to find improper coercion. We heed the admonition of Melrose-Wakefield Hospital Assn. v. N.L.R.B., 615 F.2d 563 (1st Cir. 1980) that totality arguments in this context should be approached cautiously. The First Circuit requires detailed evidence of the pattern the activity formed and its influence on the election. Id. at 570. There certainly was no such detailed showing here. We decline to hold that the aggregation of the Union's legal, if not entirely ethical, activities indicated any degree of employee coercion. 36 We hold that the Regional Director did not abuse his discretion in overruling Spring City's objections without an evidentiary hearing.