LANCASTER HOSPITAL WINS CASE : NLRB RULES AGAINST UNION.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Daily News Staff Writer

A National Labor Relations Board official has rejected a union's accusation that Lancaster Community Hospital engaged in unfair labor practices.

Hospital administrators were justified in refusing to allow union officials to use the cafeteria for 12 hours for an election of a union bargaining team, and an investigation produced no evidence that union representatives were followed or stalked, as the union had charged, the official said.

``As a result of the investigation, it does not appear that further proceedings on the charges are warranted,'' NLRB regional director James J. McDermott wrote in a letter released Friday by a hospital attorney.

A union spokesman could not be reached for comment.

In February, officials of the Hospital and Service Employees Union Local 399 charged the hospital with engaging in unfair labor practices, saying the hospital interfered with an election for a union bargaining team in the hospital cafeteria.

The union charged that the hospital threatened workers with discipline to keep them from participating in the Jan. 31 election, and ``stalked'' and threatened to arrest a union representative who was manning the vote table.

In his statement of reasons why he dismissed the case, dated April 29, McDermott said holding an election in the cafeteria was not consistent with its normal use, and said the hospital offered to accommodate the election elsewhere.

The union held its election Feb. 4 at the hospital without incident, he said.

McDermott said the hospital was within its rights to issue a memo threatening employees with discipline if they participated in the cafeteria election, because the union had no statutory right to conduct it.

The union produced no evidence to substantiate the allegation that its representatives were followed or stalked, McDermott said.

The hospital has battled with the union in the past.

In 1979, hospital workers voted for union representation but contract negotiations didn't start for four years, after the hospital's legal challenges to the union vote were rejected by an appeals court, officials said. No contract has yet been signed.

In 1994, the NLRB charged the hospital with violating federal labor law by interfering with a demonstration by hospital workers and photographing pickets during a rally.

The case was settled in 1995 after the hospital agreed to refrain from such conduct in the future and to post a notice alerting employees to the resolution, officials said.