General Motors Corp.

In the Matter of GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, ELECTRo-MOTIVE DIVISION, PLANT No. 3,1 EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORK- ERs OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 8-RC-368.-Decided April 7,1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.2 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel.* Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. In accordance with a stipulation of the parties, we find that the following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : All production and maintenance employees, and mechanical em- ployees in the engineering department shops'at Plant No. 3, Cleveland, Ohio, excluding employees in the sales, accounting, personnel, and industrial relations departments, confidential employees, time-study ' The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing. *Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray. 2 The Employer 's request for oral argument is denied inasmuch as the record, in our opinion, adequately presents the issues and position of the parties. 82 N. L. R. B., No. 101. 876 GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 877 men, plant protection employees (except maintenance patrolmen or fire patrolmen), all chief engineers, and shift operating engineers in power plants, designing (drawing board), production, estimating, and plan- ning engineers, draftsmen and detailers, physicists, chemists, metal- lurgists, artists, designer-artists, and clay plaster modelers, timekeep- ers, technical school students, indentured apprentices, technical or pro- fession employees who are receiving training, kitchen and cafeteria help, all office and clerical employees, guards, professional employees, superintendents and assistant superintendents, general foremen, fore- men, and assistant foremen, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act. 5. The determination of representatives : The Employer contends that an election at the present time would be premature, and asserts that the Board should defer the election until July 1, 1949, at the earliest. The Employer commenced opera- tions at its Cleveland plant in September 1948, and since that date has been engaged in the production of 1000 horse power Diesel elec- tric switcher locomotives. The production of a multiple type Diesel electric switcher locomotive, known as the "cow and calf" began in February 1949.3 In April 1949, the Employer will begin production of 600 horse power switcher engines; and in October 1949, the Em- ployer will start manufacturing a general purpose Diesel locomotive. At the time of the hearing the Employer employed approximately 600 employees. As a result of the expanded production schedule for switcher engines, the number of employees is expected to increase at the rate of approximately 100 per month until the latter part of June or July 1949, at which time it will reach a total of about 1,200. Start- ing in October 1949, approximately 300 additional employees will be required for the manufacture of the general purpose locomotive. By January 1950, the Employer expects to have a total pay roll of approximately 1,500 employees. The record discloses that the Employer's plant is currently in pro- duction and that 85 percent of the machinery and equipment required- for the manufacture of switcher locomotives is already installed and' in operation. It shows also that of the 60 job classifications estab- lished for the switcher engine program the Employer already has 42' on its pay roll; and that the increase in the number of employees will be, for the most part, expansions of classifications already in existence. Moreover, it appears that the present complement of the plant con- stitutes a substantial and essentially representative proportion of the 9 Twenty of these units are at present under construction and are scheduled for delivery during March 1949. Production of these units will then be suspended until July 1949, after which time the schedule for the manufacture of the "cow and calf" appears to be somewhat indefinite. 878 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD contemplated working force. Under these circumstances and upon the basis of the entire record in the case, we see no reason for depart- ing from our usual policy of directing an immediate election' DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, includ- ing employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to rein- statement, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, or by American Federation of Labor, or by neither. 4 American Enka Corporation (Lowland ), 80 N. L. R. B. 298.