American Seating Co.

800 DECISIONS- OF NATIONAL LABOR -RELATIONS BOARD result from the election."' If dither group selects no bargaining agent, the Regional Director shall issue a certificate of results of election to such effect. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this volume.] 's Although the AFL has petitioned for an over-all unit, in the event group 1 votes for the CIO and group 2 votes for the AFL, the latter will be certified as the bargaining repre- sentative for group 2 unless it informs the Regional Director that it does not wish to repre- sent the employees of group 2 alone. AMERICAN SEATING COMPANY and PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, GRAND RAPIDS ASSOCIATION, AFL, PETITIONER . Case No. 7-RC-IX. March 04, 1952 Decision and Order Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Emil C. Farkas, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Ast, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel -[Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of- the Act. - 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain employees of the Employer." 3. No 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, for the following reasons : The Petitioner seeks to sever the Employer's patternmakers from the existing production and maintenance unit represented by the In- tervenor. The Employer asserts its current contract with the Inter- venor, signed July 1, 1950, and effective from that date, as a bar to this proceeding. The Petitioner contends that the contract is not a bar because it is of indefinite duration. With respect to this contention, it is clear that the contract is not for an indefinite term, but for a 3- year period with provision for automatic renewal thereafter on a yearly basis in the absence of a valid termination notice from either party. As the record fails to establish that contracts for 3-year terms are customary in the seating industry, of which the Employer is a part, 'Intervention was granted to International Union, United Automobile , Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America , UAW-CIO, herein called the Intervenor: 98 NLRB No. 123. F AMERICAN SEATING COMPANY 801 we find that the current contract is of unreasonable duration. How- ever, in accordance with our usual practice in such cases, we shall permit the contract to constitute a bar during the first 2 years of its term.2 Because less than 2 years have elapsed since the effective date of the contract, the petition has been prematurely filed and is barred, unless the contract is prevented from operating as a bar because the union-security provisions contained therein may be invalid. The Petitioner does not specifically challenge the validity of the union-security provisions in the contract. However, as the contract is urged as a bar to an immediate, election, we shall examine these pro-, visions to determine whether they exceed the limited form of union- security agreement permitted by Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act. On November 10, 1949, the Board conducted a union-security au- thorization election among the Employer's employees which was won by the Intervenor. No agreement, however, incorporating union- security provisions was signed until July 1, 1950. The contract exe- cuted on that date included the following union-security provisions : 4. Subject to the exception set forth below, all employees on the payroll of the Company covered by this contract shall as a condition of continued employment become and remain members of the Union in good standing for the term of this contract. All employees hired hereafter shall as a condition of continued employment become and remain members in good standing of the Union no later than thirty (30) days after the initial date of employment. The following exception shall be observed : Any employee on the payroll of the Company as of the date of this contract who has religious objections to Union membership, shall not be required- to become and remain a member in good standing of the Union, but shall be required in lieu thereof, to pay into the welfare fund of Local No. 135 monthly, such sums as he would have paid as membership dues to the Union had he become and remained a member. Such payments into said welfare fund upon authorization to the Company by the individual employees involved may be made by deductions from their pay checks in substantially the same manner as dues may be deducted pursuant to this contract. Under the caption "Subject to Labor-Management Relations Act," paragraph 53 of the contract further provides the following : This contract is subject in all respects to the provisions of the Labor-Management Relations Act, as it may be amended from time to time, there being no intent in this contract to limit or 2 Cushman'8 Sons, Inc., 88 NLRB 121. 802 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD abridge in any manner the rights and privileges extended by said Act. Any requirement of Federal Law, regulation, or presiden- tial executive order which supersedes any of the provisions of this contract shall be followed by the Company and the Union irre- spective of the provisions of this contract. Although a construction of paragraph 4 of the contract, without reference to any other part of the contract, permits a conclusion that employees who were employed when the contract became effective but whb were not then members of the Intervenor were not accorded the statutory 30-day grace period in which to become members, we are con- vinced that a reading of the contract as a whole compels a construction consistent with legality.3 Paragraph 53, which provides that the contract is subject in all respects to the Act, incorporates by reference into the contract the grace periods required by Section 8 (a) (3) in valid union-security agreements. Thus, when paragraph 4 is read in conjunction with paragraph 53, it becomes evident that the contract accords all employees, old and new, the statutory 30-day grace period in which to become members of the Intervenor 4 We are satisfied, therefore, that the contract in this respect meets the requirements of the Act. As to the requirement in paragraph 4 that religious objectors who do not become members pay to the Intervenor sums equivalent to dues, the Board has ruled that closed-shop agreements providing for "sup- 'port money" payments did not violate the proviso to Section 8 (3) of the Wagner Act.5 As the precise language of the .8 (3) proviso in the Wagner Act was continued in the amended Act a with certain added qualifications not pertinent here, and because the legislative history of the amended Act indicates that Congress intended not to illegalize the practice of obtaining support payments from nonunion members who would otherwise be "free riders," 7 we find that the provision for support payments in the instant contract does not ex- ceed the union-security agreements authorized by the Act. There appearing to be no infirmity in the Employer's contract with the Intervenor to prevent its operation as a bar, we shall grant the employer's motion to dismiss the petition on the ground of contract bar. - a See Williston on Contracts, revised edition , Section 618. "'Primary rules of inter- pretation. The writing will be read as a whole, and every part will be interpreted with reference to the whole ; and if possible it will be so interpreted as to give effect to its general purpose." Cf. Kimble Glass Division, Owens-Illinois Glass Company, 96 NLRB 640. Public Service Company of Colorado, 89 NLRB 418. 6 Section 8 (3) of the Wagner Act contained the following proviso : "Provided, That nothing in this Act . . . shall preclude an employer from making an agreement with a tabor organization . . . to require, as a condition of employment, membership therein... . 7 See Senator Taft's statement on the Senate floor, May 9, 1947, 93 Cong. Rec. 5088. See also Senator Taft's statement at 93 Cong. Rec. 3959, and Report No 986, of the Joint Com- mittee on Labor Management Relations, 80th Cong. 2nd Sess. ( 1948 ), p. 52. PHOENIX MANUFACTURING COMPANY Order 803 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. PHOENIX MANUFACTURING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 4-RC-1353. Mardi 24, 1952 Decision and Order Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Julius Topol, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej- udicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of the Employer. 3. The Employer and the Intervenors herein, International Brother- hood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers of America (herein called the International), and its Local No. 506 (herein called the Local), contend that their current contract, which expires on June 30, 1952, operates as a bar to the instant petition. The Petitioner urges that the contract is not a bar because of (a) a schism within the Local, and the Local's defunctness, (b) an illegal union-security clause, (c) checkoff provisions which violate Section 302 of the Act, and (d) the termination date. We find no merit in the petitioner's contentions. As to the schism and defunctness issues, the record shows that on November 11, 1951, at a special meeting of the Local called for the purpose, which was attended by 45 out of approximately 148 mem- bers, a resolution was presented to the effect that the Local disaffili- ate from the International and affiliate with the Petitioner. The resolution was carried by a vote of 37 to 8. However, it does not appear that the dissident members who attended the November 11 meeting have, since that date, sought a charter from, or functioned as a group affiliated with, the Petitioner. Moreover, since November 11 the Local has continued as formerly to function as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Employer's employees. Thus, it has held several meetings, and at one of them the membership, with- out a dissenting vote, authorized it to make the per capita tax pay- ment to the International for the month of November; it has also 98 NLRB No. 135.