The Electric Auto-Lite Co.

In the Matter of THE ELECTRIC AUTO-LITE COMPANY, EMPLOYEI, and LAMP WORKERS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ASSOCIATION, PETITIONER Case No. 9-RCD83. Decided November 18, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Harold V. Carey, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear- ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 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 member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray]. 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 certain em- ployees 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.2 4. The appropriate unit; the determination of representatives: The Employer is engaged in manufacturing automobile lamps, auto- mobile fuel pumps, and refrigerator liquid containers at its Lockland, Ohio, plant, the only one of its several plants that is involved in this 1 Metal Polishers , Buffers, Platers and Helpers International Union , AFL, hereinafter referred to as the Metal Polishers ; the International Association of Machinists , hereinafter referred to as the IAM ; the Metal Trades Department, A. F. or L., hereinafter referred to as Metal Trades ; and International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, hereinafter referred to as the UAW-CIO, were per- mitted to intervene at the hearing. 2 Metal Polishers intervened solely for the purpose of opposing the inclusion in the unit of polishers , buffers , platers, their apprentices and helpers . The Metal Polishers contends that its contracts with the Employer covering the above -named employees bar a determina- tion of representatives for them at this time, thereby compelling the exclusion of these employees from any unit the Board may herein find appropriate. As we shall exclude the polishers , buffers , platers , their apprentices and helpers for other reasons, hereinafter set forth, we find it unnecessary to pass upon the validity of the Metal Polishers' contracts with the Employer at this time. 87 NLRB No. 29. 129 130 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD proceeding. In August 1948, the Employer discontinued operations at its Spring Grove Avenue (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Kings Mills (Ohio) plants, transferring the entire operations of those two plants, including employees, to the Lockland plant. The Employer presently employs approximately 3,000 production and maintenance employees at its new plant. The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of certain production and maintenance employees. It would exclude from the unit those pro- duction employees (polishers, buffers, platers, and their apprentices and helpers) currently represented by the Metal Polishers, and those maintenance employees for whom the TAM was certified by the Board in June 1949. The Petitioner would also exclude certain fringe groups hereinafter named, and all professional, office, and clerical employees, guards, and supervisors within the meaning of the Act. The TAM and the Metal Trades agree with the Petitioner on the proposed unit. The Metal Polishers takes no position upon the proposed unit other than to oppose the inclusion of the employees represented by it. The UAW-CIO, however, contends that the unit sought is inappropriate and that the only appropriate unit is one embracing all production and maintenance employees at the Em- ployer's Lockland plant, excluding professional, office, and clerical employees, guards and supervisors. The Employer takes a neutral position .3 The UAW-CIO contends that the only appropriate unit is one which would also include the approximately 500 employees currently bar- gained for by the Metal Polishers and the approximately 500 em- ployees for whom the TAM was certified in June 1949. It also con- tends that the shop clerks (checkers and time-study employees) and all employees in the water distribution department and waste water treatment department should be included in the unit. We find that the appropriateness of a plant-wide unit is not properly before us at this time, as the UAI17-CIO has not made an adequate showing of representation among such employees. It is necessary for an inter- vening labor organization which seeks a unit appreciably larger than that sought by the Petitioner to file a separate petition covering its proposed unit, or to make an administrative showing of interest to the Board which would justify the processing of the petition for the larger proposed unit 4 The UAW-CIO has not made such a showing. We do not, therefore, have before us a valid request for a plant-wide unit. Accordingly, we find it necessary to determine only whether the unit 3 All parties agreed that the employees in the engineering department , lunchroom, and hospital should be excluded from the unit. ' T. C, King Pipe Company, et al., 74 NLRB 468; Boeing Airplane Co., et al ., 86 NLRB 368. THE ELECTRIC AUTO-LITE COMPANY 131 proposed by the Petitioner, with its several exclusions, is appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.. The employees represented by the Metal Polishers: The Metal Polishers bargained for the polishers, buffers, platers,'and their ap- prentices and helpers, when employed at the Spring Grove Avenue .and Kings Mills plants. As heretofore noted, upon the discontinuance of the latter plants all employees, including those represented by the Metal Polishers, were transferred to the present plant. The Metal Polishers has continued to represent the same unit of employees at the Lockland plant that it bargained for at the Spring Grove Avenue and Kings Mills plants. There are approximately 500 employees in the Metal Polishers bargaining unit. The employees represented by the Metal Polishers constitute a recognized bargaining unit of craft employees in the industry.5 Although we would normally establish a separate -voting unit for these employees, permitting them to indicate whether they desired to be bargained for in a separate unit or as a part of a larger unit, we shall not do so in this case because the Petitioner does not seek to include them in its proposed unit. The employees covered by the IAM's certification: On June 16, 1949, following three consent elections won by the IAM, the Board certified the IAM as the bargaining representative for all boilerhouse' and power plant employees, excluding operating engineers, profes- sional employees, guards, and supervisors; 6 all tool, die, jig, and fixture makers, machinists and all machinists' apprentices and helpers, excluding professional employees, guards, and supervisors; ° and all maintenance employees in the construction and maintenance depart- ment, equipment maintenance department, shop power vehicle depart- ment, and auto-truck department, excluding operating engineers, professional employees, guards, and supervisors.8 There are approxi- mately 500 employees covered by the foregoing certifications. As the IAM's certification of the above-listed employees is less than 4 months old, we shall exclude them from the unit herein found appropriate. The fringe groups: The Petitioner, the IAM, and the Metal Trades would exclude, and the UAW-CIO would include, shop clericals and employees in the water distribution and waste water treatment departments. (1) Shop clericals. There are between 40 and 50 shop clericals, composed of checkers and time-study employees. Sixty percent of the checkers work in the office with other clerical employees and perform clerical work only. We shall exclude these checkers inasmuch as they 5The Electric Anto-Lite Company, 76 NLRB 1189, and cases therein cited. 6 Case No, 9-RC-485. 7 Case No. 9-RC-487. 8 Case No, 9-RC-486. 877359-50-vol. 87-10 132 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD are properly a part of the office clerical employees . The remaining 40 percent work in the several production departments, physically check- ing the finished products. The 16 or more checkers, working in the production departments physically counting the finished pieces, are factory clerical employees whom we customarily include in a produc- tion and maintenance unit when requested by a party to the proceeding. Accordingly, we shall include them in this case. The record does not disclose the number of time-study employees or the nature of their duties. We are unable, upon the record before us, to determine the appropriate unit placement for these employees. We shall, therefore, permit them to vote subject to challenge at the election.9 (2) Water distribution department. There are six employees in this department. It is the function of the water distribution depart- ment to purify and chemically treat the more than 4,000,000 gallons of water which the Employer daily uses in its plant operations. The purification and treating of the water is an automatic operation, requiring two employees on each of three shifts to adjust and main- tain various pressure controls . The Employer classifies these em- ployees as semi-technical employees. We perceive no reason for ex- cluding these employees from the unit which the Petitioner is seeking inasmuch as their interests are closely allied with those of other maintenance employees whom the Petitioner does seek to include. We shall therefore include the water distribution department em- ployees in the unit. . (3) Waste water treatment department . There are three employees in this department. It is the function of the department to. treat the waste water in a manner somewhat similar to that involved in the water distribution department. The duties performed by these three em- ployees, one on each shift , are similar to those performed by the employees in the water distribution department. For the reasons indicated above, we shall likewise include the waste water treatment department employees in the unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Lockland , Ohio, plant, including factory clerical em- ployees, but excluding office clerical employees, tool, die, jig, and -fixture makers, machinists, and their apprentices and helpers, all maintenance employees in the construction and maintenance, shop power vehicle, and auto-truck departments , boilerhouse and power plant employees , operating engineers, metal polishers , buffers, platers, and their apprentices and helpers , and all professional employees, guards, and 'supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit ap- R. H. Macy tf Co., Inc., 81 NLRB 186. THE ELECTRIC AUTO-LITE COMPANY 133 propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION io 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, 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, including 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 rein- stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Lamp Workers Collective Bargaining Association, Metal Trades Department, AFL, International Association of Machinists, or Inter- national Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Im- plement Workers of America, CIO, or none. 10 Any participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and approval thereof by, the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.