National Labor Relations Board v. Vista Hill Foundation, D/B/A Vista Hill Hospital

The National Labor Relations Board petitions this Court for enforcement of its order directing respondent Vista Hill Hospital (Hospital) to collectively bargain with the Service Employees International Union (Union). The Hospital concedes that it has refused to bargain with the Union, but contends that the Union should not have been certified as an exclusive bargaining unit due to alleged irregularities in the representation election. Unless the Hospital can prevail before this court in its challenge to the validity of the election, its admitted refusal to bargain constitutes a clear violation of Section 8(a)(5) and (1) of the National Labor Relations Act (Title 29, United States Code, Sections 158 (a)(5) and (1)), 1 and the Board is entitled to enforcement of its order. NLRB v. Heath Tec Division/San Francisco, 566 F.2d 1367, 1369 (9th Cir. 1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 832 , 99 S.Ct. 110 , 58 L.Ed.2d 127 (1979).

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On November 22, 1977, the Union filed a representation petition with the Board seeking certification as the exclusive bargaining representative of specified employees of the Hospital. Thereafter, the parties entered into a Stipulation for…

dissenting:

I respectfully dissent.

I believe that the “laboratory conditions” required in representative elections were violated by the union observer. See Michem, Inc., 170 NLRB 362 (1968); In re General Shoe Corp., 77 NLRB 124 , 127 (1948).

The affidavit of Erma Roseblock describing the six conversations she overheard between Mark Collins, the union observer at the election, and employees waiting to vote was uncontroverted. During one of the two conversations, in which Collins was asked by voters regarding his position as the union representative if the union were elected, about three or four other employees were in the voting line; during the other such conversation there were two or three other voters. This means that a total of five to seven other persons, besides the ones immediately talking with Collins, in all probability heard the colloquies, and if they were partial to Collins were influenced to vote for the Union. In an election as close as this one was, the NLRB panel’s conclusion that such communications did not warrant setting aside the election was error.

The chat between Collins and Arlene Mason about the weather, about how glad Collins was that Mason was…

639 F.2d 479 106 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2058 , 90 Lab.Cas. P 12,459 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD, Petitioner, v. VISTA HILL FOUNDATION, d/b/a Vista Hill Hospital, Respondent. No. 79-7262. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted April 2, 1980. Decided Dec. 15, 1980. Rehearing Denied Feb. 27, 1981. Richard B. Bader, Washington, D. C., for petitioner. James Allen Bowles, Hill, Farrer & Burrill, Los Angeles, Cal., argued, for respondent; Edwin H. Franzen, Los Angeles, Cal., on brief. Application for Enforcement of an Order of the National Labor Relations Board. Before CHOY and ALARCON, Circuit Judges, and SOLOMON, * District Judge. ALARCON, Circuit Judge: 1 The National Labor Relations Board petitions this Court for enforcement of its order directing respondent Vista Hill Hospital (Hospital) to collectively bargain with the Service Employees International Union (Union). The Hospital concedes that it has refused to bargain with the Union, but contends that the Union should not have been certified as an exclusive bargaining unit due to alleged irregularities in the representation election. Unless the Hospital can prevail before this court in its challenge to…