Opinion ID: 390845
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Misrepresentations

Text: 16 In this proceeding the Company raises two independent grounds for requiring a hearing: the Union's alleged misrepresentations and its improper inducements to eligible employees. With regard to the Union's alleged misrepresentations, the Company presses upon us the impropriety of the Union's charge that the Company had (o)ffered $10 hourly to (a) pro-union man to campaign against (the) union. The Board assumed arguendo that this charge was false, but, as the Board recognized, not every misrepresentation made in the course of a campaign requires the setting aside of the election. A certain degree of inaccuracy and ambiguity is recognized as indigenous to campaign propaganda, Baumritter Corp. v. NLRB, 386 F.2d 117, 120 (1st Cir. 1967), because (p)rattle rather than precision is the dominating characteristic of election publicity, Olson Rug Co. v. NLRB, 260 F.2d 255, 257 (7th Cir. 1958). We generally rely upon the parties themselves to correct inaccurate, untruthful statements, for when opposing parties publicly debate the merits of their positions we may confidently leave to the common sense of the voters the appraisal of the positions. Linn v. United Plant Guard Workers, 383 U.S. 53, 60, 86 S.Ct. 657, 661, 15 L.Ed.2d 582 (1966). Nevertheless, where a misrepresentation arises under circumstances which effectively preclude the voters from ascertaining its falsity, we do not hesitate to set aside the result of the representation election. 17 The principal factors which guide our inquiry into the effect of the misrepresentation are well-known and are derived from the Board's decision in Hollywood Ceramics Co., 140 N.L.R.B. 221, 224 (1962). 5 These factors are (1) whether the other party had adequate opportunity to reply and correct the misrepresentation; (2) the extent to which the declarant could reasonably be viewed by the employees as being in a position to know the facts; (3) the ability of the employees to evaluate the statement on the basis of their own independent knowledge of the facts; and (4) the influence it might reasonably have had upon the employees. Henderson Trumbull Supply Corp. v. NLRB, supra, 501 F.2d at 1229. The Board found that, even if the Union's bribery charge was false, the election would not have to be set aside under these standards and, hence, refused to direct an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the charge was false. We now review whether that refusal to order a hearing exceeded the Board's discretion. 18 The Company argues persuasively that it did not have a reasonable opportunity to reply to the Union's misrepresentation. The Company stated that it first learned of the misrepresentation on December 18, 1979, the day before the election. It is unlikely that the Company could have replied adequately before the election. Time would have been needed to learn the specifics behind the Union's charge, check their accuracy, and issue a denial. Even had this process been completed, the Company might well have been unable to contact all of the voters. Some of them may not have been at the plant that day and, under the Board's own rules, the Company could not order its employees to attend a meeting held for the purpose of rebutting the Union's charge. Such a captive audience meeting held by an employer within twenty-four hours of an election constitutes a per se ground for setting aside an election won by the employer. Peerless Plywood Co., 107 N.L.R.B. 427, 429 (1953). Thus, the Company has demonstrated by prima facie evidence that it did not have an adequate opportunity to respond to the misrepresentation. The second and third factors of the Hollywood Ceramics test are also satisfied. The employees could reasonably have expected that the Union's charge was directly based on testimony from the employee who was offered the bribe and, since the charge did not specify which employee was bribed, the employees could not independently investigate the charge's truthfulness. 19 Therefore, the Board's refusal to order a hearing must rest on the basis that the false charge did not have a significant influence on the employees and, hence, on the election. The Board characterized the misrepresentation as immaterial, reasoning that the allegation of bribery was wholly unrelated to wages and benefits or any other overriding issue in the campaign. Rather, the thrust of the Union's statement (was) that the Company strongly opposed the Union and was willing to wage a vigorous campaign to keep the Union out, a fact presumably already known by the Company's employees. NLRB Brief at 16. We reject this view of the effects of the Union's charge. The Union charged that the Company had stooped to bribery in order to win the election. An employee undecided about Union representation who believed the charge to be true might well be indignant enough at this underhanded tactic to show his protest at the polls by voting for the Union. He might feel a greater need for a union to protect him against his unscrupulous employer. Furthermore, the entire credibility of the Company's campaign might be undermined by the implication that a Company supporter had been bribed. Thus, the fourth factor of the Hollywood Ceramics test is satisfied and, assuming that the charge was false, the election would have to be set aside. We shall discuss our disposition of the petition following our review of the Company's claim that the Board improperly refused to direct an evidentiary hearing into whether the Union offered financial and job-related inducements to eligible employees. 6