Opinion ID: 429693
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Swain Incident.

Text: 4 On December 3, 1980, Swain, Rexall's data processing manager, met with eleven office employees to discuss the union representation campaign. Swain told the employees of the terms and conditions under which Rexall's production and maintenance employees, who were unionized, worked. Specifically, he pointed out that the unionized workers' contract prohibited sympathy strikes, required employees to punch in and out on timeclocks, and subjected them to an attendance control program under which absences and tardinesses were grounds for disciplinary action by Rexall against individual employees. Swain made it clear to the employees that he was only describing the terms of the unionized workers' contract, not threatening them with its terms or implying that such terms would automatically or inevitably apply to the office workers if they voted for union representation. 5 The Board held, contrary to the ALJ, that Swain's remarks to the eleven employees did not constitute an unfair labor practice. Swaine's [sic] statements were expository in nature, the Board wrote, and, as such, fell squarely within the ambit of speech protected by section 8(c) of the Act. 265 N.L.R.B. at p. 15. 6 Immediately after his meeting with the eleven employees, Swain was approached by one of the eleven, Sherry Gillham, who had questions about the attendance control provisions of the production and maintenance workers' contract. Swain and Gillham examined the provisions together, and Gillham came to the conclusion that, had the provisions been in effect among the office workers, Gillham's record of absenteeism would justify her discharge under the contract. Swain specifically denied Gillham's allegations that he remarked that the attendance control program was of special concern to her because of her record of absences, and that he told her she would be discharged for absenteeism if the Union won the election. Even though the ALJ discredited Gillham's testimony generally, and credited Swain's, he held that Swain had impliedly threatened that Gillham would be discharged under the attendance control program if the office workers elected union representation. The Board affirmed without discussion the ALJ's finding of an unfair labor practice. 7 We reverse. At the group meeting immediately prior to the conversation with Gillham, Swain made it clear to those present, Gillham among them, that his description of the production and maintenance workers' contract terms was not a threat that similar terms would become part of the office workers' contract if they elected to be represented by the Union. Rather, Swain emphasized that all terms and conditions of employment would be negotiable with Rexall if the Union became the employees' bargaining agent. The Board held these remarks to be protected employer speech, and therefore not a violation of the Labor Act. 8 We regard Swain's conversation with Gillham as an extension of his earlier discussion with the assembled employees. In the circumstances, we believe that Swain's earlier comments that all terms and conditions would be negotiable if the Union won the election impliedly carried over to the immediately subsequent conversation with Gillham. In the absence of any credible evidence that Swain retracted or negated his earlier comments when he discussed the attendance control program with Gillham, we cannot agree that Swain threatened Gillham with discharge. Swain's failure explicitly to reiterate to Gillham in their private conversation what he had just told the assembled workers--that all terms and conditions of employment would be subject to negotiation if the Union won the election--does not rise to the level of an unfair labor practice. 9