Opinion ID: 567686
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Threat to blackball employees

Text: 17 The Company contended that Union agents threatened employees with the loss of employment opportunities if they failed to support the Union in the election. One employee stated that he heard a Union steward tell a group of employees that, if the Union did not win the election, the Union would blackball the employees from working in any union shops in the area. The employee named two other unit employees who were present and a non-unit employee and another unit employee who he thought might have been present at the time. The employee who indicated that he overheard the steward's statement also stated that he did not tell any other employees that the steward made the alleged threat. Another employee stated that he heard a rumor from other employees that if the Union lost the election, the employees would be blackballed from working in other union shops in the Chicago area. That employee also stated that no one from the Union ever told him that it would blackball employees if it lost the election. 18 In overruling this objection, the Board assumed that the union steward was an agent of the Union. But the Board found that the statement regarding blackballing did not constitute objectionable conduct because the threat was made approximately two months prior to the election, the threat was never renewed, and the threat was never disseminated among unit employees. See Respondent's App. at 27. In short, the Board determined that the Company did not present evidence of enough misconduct to warrant an evidentiary hearing; substantial evidence supports this determination. As the Board noted, there was a considerable period of time between the steward's statement and the election, 4 and the Company failed to show that the threat was ever renewed near the time of the election. 5 Moreover, the alleged threat does not appear to have been disseminated. 6 Substantial evidence thus supports the Board's decision to overrule this objection.