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Id
350
Title
Smithers Tire & Auto Testing of Tex., Inc.
Date
30/07/1992
Country
UNITED STATES (North and Central America)
Adjudication body
National Labor Relations Board
Case number
308 N.L.R.B. 72
Main themes
Workplace relations and contracts 4
Type of expression
7
Decision direction
Contracts expression
Outcome note
Election set aside and new election ordered
Summary
During an election period, a Union representative remarked on another employee’s black eye by saying “This is what happens when you cross us,” in front of a supervisor. The argument by a National Labor Relations Board member (dissenting) that the remark was “ambiguous, was made in jest, and was a spontaneous reaction” to the black eye was considered “pure speculation and counterintuitive”, especially as this was not an explanation given by the Union representative. The Board found that this remark constituted a threat, which along with others, required the setting aside of the union election results.