NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

VII PRINCIPLES ESTABLISHED 141
they could reasonably expect to return to the company's employ.
Similarly, in Matter of Unit Cast Corporation, 81 the Board adopted
a pay-roll date which would include the names of a large number of
workers subsequently laid off but who were, nevertheless, considered
by the company as only temporary lay-offs and were allowed to retain
their seniority rights. 82 On the other hand, in Matter of The
International Nickel Company, In,c., 83 the eligibility date was selected
with reference to the fact that prior thereto 200 employees had been
permanently laid off and their names removed from the pay roll.84
The selection of an eligibility date has also been affected by seasonal
fluctuations in production and in the number of employees. Here,
again, the Board has developed the principle of basing the eligibility
to vote upon the likelihood of the seasonal employees of one season
being employed during the succeeding season. Thus, in Matter of
National Distillers Products Co., 85 the peak months of production
were found to be October, November, and December. In discussing
the factors which influenced its determination of eligibility, the
Board said:
Most of the seasonal employees are women who do not often find other employment
during the year. The Company gives preference to them when additional
employees are needed. Approximately 80 percent of the seasonal employees
of 1 year are employed during the peak period of the succeeding
year. It is evident that seasonal employees who have worked for any substantial
length of time during a peak season are likely to be reemployed at
some future date, and accordingly have an interest in conditions of employment
which might be agreed upon during the year even though not employed
at the particular time the agreements are made. That interest entitles them
to participate in the selection of representatives.
We hold that all employees in the appropriate unit whose names appear on
the pay-roll records of the Company during any 4 weeks in the months of
October, November, and December 1937, are entitled to participate in the
selection of representatives."
In Matter of New York Handkerchief .Company, 87 the Board
adopted the date of the hearing as the eligibility date so as to exclude
certain seasonal employees who had, prior to that date, been em-
• Matter of Unit Cast Corporation and Steel Workers Organizing Committee, 7
N. L. R. B. 129.
" See also Matter of Diamond Iron Works and United Electrical Radio Machine
Workers of America, Local 1140, 6 N. L. It. B. 94, where the Board held that 24 men
who were laid off after the eligibility date which was selected had acquired a seniority
status which would give them preference when the company needed more men and were,
therefore, eligible voters.
ss Matter of The International Nickel Company. Inc. and Square Deal Lodge No. 40,
Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of North America, through Steel
Workers Organizing Committee, 7 N. L. R. B. 46.
" See also Matter of Union Lumber Company and Lumber cf Sawmill Workers Union
Local 2826. 7 N. L. R. B. 1094, in which eligibility was based on the pay roll period
next preceding the date of the hearing since the Board found that persons who were laid
off prior thereto, had no definite expectancy of reemployment. In Matter of Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and. Motion Picture Producers Assn., et al.. and Screen Writers'
Guild, Inc.. 7 N. L. It. B. 662. the Board held that "there exists no definite expectancy
of regularly recurring employment of a screen writer with the employer for whom the
screen writer previously performed services. It must be concluded, therefore, that only
those screen writers actually employed by the Companies may be considered to be employees
of the respective Companies * •. Inasmuch as screen writers frequently shift
their employment from one Company to another, it is desirable to select a date for
determining eligibility which will most closely reflect the employment situation at the
time of the election. Eligibility to vote in the electidns will, therefore, be extended to
screen writers within the appropriate unit employed by the Companies on the date of
the issuance of the Direction of Elections * *."
• Matter of National Distillers Products Co. and United Distillery Workers of N. A.,
Local No. 484. affiliated with Committee for Industrial Organization, 5 N. L. R. B. 862.
" See Matter of Alabama Drydock cf Shipbuilding Co. and Industrial Union or Marine
and Shipbuilding Workers of America, Local No. 18. 5 N. L. R. B. 149, where because of
the constant fluctuation and rotation of employment, the Board adopted the pay rolls of
the company for a given 4 months' period.
87 Matter of New York Handkerchief Company and International Ladies Garment Workers
Union, Local No. 76, 5 N. L. R. B. 703.