Bendix Aviation Corp.

BENDIX PRODUCTS DIVISION 1137 Order IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. BENDIX PRODUCTS DIVISION, BENDIX AVIATION CORPORATION and- INTERNATIONAL UNION7 UNITED PLANT GUARD WORKERS OF AMER- ICA, AND AMALGAMATED PLANT GUARD LOCAL No. 7, U. P. G. W. A., PETITIONERS. Case No. 13-RC060. February 6,1953 Decision and Order Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Allen P. Haas, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The motions to dismiss by the Employer and Intervenor, which the hearing officer referred to the Board, are hereby granted, for reasons set forth in paragraph numbered 3, below. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. Bendix Aviation Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is engaged in the manufacture of aircraft fuel systems and landing gear components and automotive brakes, vacuum power devices per- taining to brakes for heavy and passenger vehicles, and automotive power-steering devices and other vehicular motor parts. The Employer does not manufacture complete autos and is not a subsidiary of an automobile manufacturer. It sells brakes to automobile man- ufacturers 1 and competes with automobile manufacturers who also produce such parts.2 It is the sole producer of a vacuum power device for brakes of passenger vehicles, supplying that product to certain automobile manufacturers.3 It sells aircraft components to General Motors Corporation and the U. S. Air Forces. The corporation has five divisions in different parts of the country, including Bendix Aviation Corporation, in South Bend, Indiana, involved herein. The Employer annually purchases and sells over $1,000,000 worth of goods outside the State of Indiana. The Employer admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 1 Including General Motors Pontiac, Oldsmobile , and Chevrolet Divisions ; Ford Motor Company ; Nash Motor Company ; Packard Motors ; Hudson Motor Company ; Kaiser- Fraser Motor Company ; Willys Motor Company. 2 Including General Motors Morraine Division, which manufactures brakes ; Chrysler, which manufactures its own brakes ; Budd Wheel Company ; Kelsey -Hayes ; Wagner Elec- tric Company. 8 Packard, Lincoln , and Oldsmobile Division of General Motors. 102 NLRB No. 114. 1138 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of the Employer. 3. The alleged question concerning representation : The Intervenor, Bendix Industrial Police Association, was certi- fied by the Board on November 13, 1939, as the exclusive representa- tive in a plant-guard unit. On October 9, 1950, the Intervenor and the Employer entered into their first 5-year contract, paralleling the contracts in the production and maintenance unit and the tool design unit, represented by the UAW-CIO. The Employer and the Inter- venor contend that this contract is a bar, being for a reasonable period of time in view of the practices within a substantial portion of the automobile and automotive parts industry.' The Petitioner contends that the contract is not a bar because it has been in effect for more than 2 years.5 The Employer manufacturers automotive component parts; its chief competitors as well as customers are automobile manufacturers. Under these circumstances, we think it patent that a considerable portion of the industry, in which the Employer's operations must be included, is covered by contracts of similar terms Therefore, we do not consider the present 5-year term unreasonable.' Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition herein. Order IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 4 The Employer's director of industrial relations testified that the division follows the automobile and automotive parts industries , modeling its contracts , both in duration and substance , after the contracts of its customers and competitors , principally automobile manufacturers and Budd Wheel Company, all of whom negotiated their first 5 -year con- tracts in 1950. 6 See Bendix Products Division, Bendix Aviation Corporation , 98 NLRB 1180 , footnote 2. In support of this contention the Petitioner introduced evidence concerning the contract terms in some 48 firms, located in Indiana , Michigan , and Ohio, having contracts with the Petitioner for units of guards . As the majority of these firms do not properly belong within the automotive components parts industry , we do not consider the evidence relevant to the present question. 9 The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics includes "automotive parts" under "automobile" in its analyses . Moreover, there are a substantial number of 5,year contracts in the "other machinery & fabricated metal products" industry. ' See General Motors Corporation, Detroit Transmission Division , 102 NLRB 1140 Contrary to the petitioner's contention , we do not require that all contracts of any indi- vidual employer , or more than a substantial portion of the contracts within the industry, be for the same duration . See Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company, 102 NLRB 1135.