Hudson Motor Car Co.

In the Matter of HUDSON MOTOR CAR COMPANY and AMALGAMATED PLANT PROTECTION LOCAL 4114, UAW-CIO Case No. R-&511 .Decided September 3, 1943 Beaumont, Smith & Harris , by Mr. Albert E. Meder, of Detroit, Mich.,'for the Company. Maurice Sugar and N . L. Smokier, by Messrs., N. L. Smokier and Irving E. Griffeth, both of Detroit , Mich., for the Union. Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition duly filed by Amalgamated Plant Protection Local #114, UAW-CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of Hudson Motor Car Company, Detroit, . Michigan , herein called the Company , the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Max Rotenberg, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Detroit, Michigan, on June 10, 1943. The Company and the Union appeared , participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross- examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed . All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Hudson Motor Car Company, a Michigan corporation, is engaged almost exclusively in the manufacture of raw materials and equipment for the United States Government. For this purpose the Company owns and operates the following manufacturing and/or assembly 52 N. L. R. B., No. 59. 399 400 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONIS BOARD plants in the State of Michigan with which we are concerned herein : (a) Jefferson plant, located in Detroit, (b) Charlevoix plant, located in Detroit, (c) Gratiot plant, located in Detroit, and (d) United States, Naval Ordnance plant, located at Centerline .1 Approximately 50 percent in value of the raw materials, and finished and partially finished materials used by the Company at the afore- mentioned plants, and over 90 percent, in value of the finished and partially finished products of the Company are transported in inter- state commerce. In view of the foregoing we find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Amalgamated Plant Protection Local #114 is a labor organization chartered by International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, herein called the Inter- national, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION By letter dated May 10, 1943, the Union requested the Company that it be recognized as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's plant-protection employees engaged at each of the four plants operated by the Company. The Company did not reply to this letter. Thereafter, on May 12, 1943, the Union filed the petition in this proceeding. The Company is currently'operating under a collective bargaining agreement with the International and its Local #154, which covers "all hourly rate employees in all of the plants of the Company." In- asmuch as the plant-protection employees receive a salary, they are not included within the purview of the contract. The Company contends that by reason of this contract between the Company and the International and Local #154, the Union is estopped from seeking to represent the employees herein involved. We do not agree with this contention, and find that said contract between the Company and the International and Local #154: does not estop the Union from representing these employees if they desire that it act for them, and that the contract does not constitute a bar to a present determination of representatives.' 1 All the property at this plant , including the-land, buildings , equipment, and raw ma- terial are the property of the United States Navy. However, the Company operates this plant under prince contracts with and direct supervision of the Navy. 2 Matter of Federal Motor Truck Company, 50 N L R . B. 214, and cases cited therein. HUDSON MOTOR CAR COMPANY 401 A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.3 We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union contends that a unit consisting of all plant-protection employees, including patrolmen, patrol women, escorts, fire marshals, and first-aid instructors at the Jefferson, Charlevoix, Gratiot, and United States Naval Ordnance plants of the Company, excluding the chief, captains, lieutenants, sergeants, fire chiefs, assistant fire chiefs, investigators and confidential clerks, constitute an appropriate unit. The Company, without disputing the scope of the unit except insofar. as it includes first-aid instructors, contends that such a unit is not one that is appropriate within the meaning of the Act. This conten- tion is based upon the following arguments : (a) plant-protection employees are part of the supervisory and management groups, and are therefore not employees within the meaning of the Act; (b) because they are militarized, they are not employees within the mean- ing of the Act; (c) it is contrary to public policy to include plant- protection employees within the protection of the Act, and a certi- fication of a bargaining representative for these employees would not effectuate the policies of the Act or be consistent with the national war effort' All of these arguments have been advanced in other cases and have been found untenable.6 No facts or arguments are presented here which would warrant departing from our prior de- cisions; accordingly, the Company's contentions are rejected. There are two first-aid instructors -employed by the Company, who are attached to the plant-protection department. Their duties are to 'instruct employees of the Company in first-aid work as outlined by the American Red Cross, which takes up approximately 22 percent of their time ; to read and pass on correspondence received in the form of character references, employment references, police records, and 3 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 251 application cards, of which 250 contained apparently original signatures Two hundred and twenty-seven of the latter contained the names of persons appearing upon the Company 's pay roll of April 1943, which pay roll contained 505 names in the appropriate unit 4In addition , the Company argues that the contract hereinabove referred to estops the Union from representing these employees we have already disposed of this argument in Section III, above 5 Matter of Federal Motor Truck Company, supra. Matter of Drava Corporation, 52 N L R. B. 322. 1 402 DECIiS[IONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD other correspondence that passes between the Investigation Depart- ment of the Company and the public in general which consumes 65 percent of their time; for the balance of their work week these employees are used in other duties, such as relieving patrolmen and assisting firemen in cases of emergency. The salary of a first-aid instructor is $10 a month more than that of the patrolmen, but he normally exercises no supervisory duties. The record discloses that both these employees have, on several occasions, acted as patrol- men, and the chief of the plant-protection department testified that he would have no hesitancy in having these employees fill in purely plant-protection work whenever necessary. The Company contends that these' employees should be excluded; the Union would include them. Although the first-aid instructors are part of the plant- protection department and perform many duties closely related to those of other employees in the department, we are of the opinion that the major portion of their time is spent at work which is functionally different from that of the usual plant-protection em- ployee, and we shall therefore exclude them. We find that all plant-production employees, including patrolmen, patrol women, escorts, and fire marshals, at the Jefferson, Charlevoix, Gratiot, and United States Naval Ordnance plants of the Company, excluding the chief, captains, lieutenants, sergeants, fire chiefs, assistant fire chiefs, investigators, confidential clerks, and first-aid instructors, as well as all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em- ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay- roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue' of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re- lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby HUDSON MOTOR CAR COMPANY 403 DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Hudson Motor Car Company, Detroit, Michigan, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States Who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex- cluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Amalgamated Plant Protection Local #114, affiliated with Inter- national Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Im- plement Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining. 549875-44-vol. 52-27