Howard Aircraft Corp.

In the Matter of HOWARD AIRCRAFT CORPORATION and INTERNA- TIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT 108 Case No. R--5502.-Decided July 16, 1943 Stearns d McBride, by Mr. L. M. McBride, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company. i Mr. Lee J. Fitzpatrick, of Aurora, Ill., for the I. A. M. Meyers & Meyers, by Mr. Ben Meyers, of Chicago, Ill., for the U. A. W. Mr. Robert E. Tillman, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition duly filed by International Association of Machin- ists, District 108, herein called the I. A. M.,1 alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of Howard Aircraft Corporation, St. Charles, Illinois, here- in called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro- vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert Drake, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Chicago, Illinois, on May 29 and Jane 3, 1943. The Company, the I. A. M., and United Auto- mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the U. A. W., 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 : 1 The Board , having taken notice of the withdrawal of the I. A. M. from the American Federation of Labor, has herein dropped all reference to the A. F. of L. from the title of the I . A M., although such reference appears in the record of the case. 51 N. L. R. B., No. 77. 386 4 HOWARD AIRCRAFT CORPORATION FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 387 Howard Aircraft Corporation, an Illinois corporation, has its gen- eral offices in Chicago, Illinois, and operates a plant in Chicago, and one in St. Charles, Illinois,2 at both of which it is engaged in the manu- facture and sale of aircraft and aircraft parts. During the year 1942 substantial tonnages of materials, representing more than one-fourth the Company's total purchases of materials, were shipped to the plants from points outside the State of Illinois. During the same period substantial tonnages of, finished products, representing more than one- fourth the Company's total output, were shipped from the plants to points outside the State of Illinois. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED International Association of Machinists, District 108, is a labor or- ganization admitting to membership employees of the Company. United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It admits to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On April 14, 1943, the I. A. M. requested the Company to recognize it as the collective bargaining representative of employees in the Com- pany's St. Charles plant. The Company refused the request on the grounds that it had no evidence of the I. A. M.'s majority claim, and it considered a unit confined to the St. Charles plant to be inappropriate. A statement of the Trial Examiner made at the hearing indicates that the I. A. M. represents a substantial number of employees in each of the two units hereinafter found to be 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. 2 Hereinafter, whenever the St. Charles plant is mentioned, reference is had to the plant located 31/a to 4 miles east of St . Charles, and not to a small welding plant located in St. Charles. 3Referrinq to the production and maintenance unit, the Trial Examtiner stated that the I. A M submitted to him 240 authorization cards, all bearing apparently genuine original signatures, and that 150 of the cards bore names of persons whose names appeared on the Company 's pay roll for May 23 , 1943, which listed 416 employees , in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate . 'Referring to the guard unit, the Trial Examiner stated that the I A. M. submitted to him 25 cards , and that 23 of the cards bore names of persons whose names appeared on the afore-mentioned pay roll which listed 51 guards at the St. Charles plant. 540612-44-vol. 51-26 388 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS The principal unit issue presented in this proceeding is whether the employees of the Company's plants should be combined in a multiple plant unit or should be split into two or more plant-wide units. The Company contends that its two principal plants and all its subsidiary plants should compose a single multiple plant unit. The I. A. M. and the U. A. W. both oppose such a single unit, the former petitioning for a unit of employees of the St. Charles plant and its so-called "satellite" plants, and the latter requesting the Board not to include the Chicago plant in any unit at this time.' The I. A. M. and the Company agree that the production and main- tenance unit should comprise all production and maintenance em- ployees, including gang leaders and janitors, but excluding guards sworn into the auxiliary military police, foremen, supervisors, pilots, and office and clerical employees. The sole dispute on inclusion of specified categories of employees in this unit concerns inspectors whom the I. A. M. would include and the Company would exclude. The Company's Chicago plant is located approximately 331/2 miles from its St. Charles plant. Within a radius of 14 miles of the latter plant are a number of small plants or shops, housed in garages and other small buildings, which presently are, or in the near future will be, engaged in producing parts or performing other functions in aid of the manufacturing processes at the St. Charles plant.' There is support in the record for the Company's contention that the production and maintenance employees of all its plants constitute a single appropriate unit. Thus, the manufacturing processes of the two principal plants and the "satellite" plants are highly integrated. Managerial control over the entire series of operations is rapidly being centered, at the St. Charles plant, as are the accounting and other service departments. Finally, there have been transfers of employees from Chicago to St. Charles, although the number is unspecified. On the other hand, there are several factors which support the I. A. M.'s contention that the Chicago plant employees should not be included in the appropriate unit. Thus, the jurisdiction of the petitioning I. A. M. local is roughly confined to the area in which the St. Charles plant and its "satellites" are located; it does not extend to Chicago. The I. A. M. has made no effort to organize the Chicago * In 1942, the U. A. W. filed a petition for an investigation and certification of repre- sentatives of employees of the Company 's Chicago plant. This petition was subsequently withdrawn . In the instant proceeding, the U. A. W. entered an appearance merely to state its position . It is not presently seeking certification. 6Reference is had to the following facilities of the Company : a welding plant at the Judd garage in St. Charles ; a welding plant in North Aurora ; a welding plant, a sheet- metal plant, and an upholstery plant in E;gin ; two storage and touch-up garages in west Chicago ; a storage and touch-up garage in Glen Ellyn ; and a shop at Geneva. HOWARD AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 389 plant.- Instead, the record indicates that organization there has been carried on by a rival union, the U. A. W. The Company has no history of collective bargaining relations on a company-wide basis. The two labor organizations appearing in this proceeding have been organizing the employees upon the basis of separate plant-wide units, and there is no labor organization contending for a larger unit. Finally, the distance between the two principal plants must be considered. We are persuaded by these latter factors that the appropriate unit should not include the employees of the Chicago plant. The Company employs a number of inspectors.6 It is their function to examine incoming materials to ascertain whether they meet with specifications, and to examine the work of production employees at all stages of production. The Company contends that its inspectors perform a managerial function, and therefore, are not properly a part of a production and maintenance unit. In previous Decisions we have included non-supervisory inspectors in production and maintenance units.7 None of the Company's inspectors has power to hire or dis- charge except the chief inspectors, and all are hourly paid. We find, therefore, that the inspectors, excluding the chief inspectors, should be included in the production and maintenance unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Com- pany's St. Charles, Illinois, plant and its "satellite" plants, including gang leaders, janitors, and inspectors, but excluding guards sworn into the auxiliary military-police, pilots, office and clerical employees, foremen, and any other 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. The I. A. M. further petitions for a separate unit of guards.8 The Company agrees with the I. A. M. that guards sworn into the auxil- iary military police comprise an appropriate unit. Since the only dispute as to the guard unit relates to the multiple plant unit issue which we have resolved above, we find that all guards sworn into the auxiliary military police at the Company's St. Charles, Illinois, plant and its "satellite" plants, excluding supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such ac- tion, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar- gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 8In addition, the Army and Navy have inspectors. Such inspectors are not intended to be included in the discussion on inspectors. 'Matter of The Lehon Company, 34 N L R. B. 313; and Matter of Nineteen Hundred Corporation, 32 N. L. R. B. 327, and cases cited therein. 8 The I. A. M.'s petition was amended at the bearing to seek a separate unit of guards. 390 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by means of elections by secret ballot. The Company indicated at the hearing that the peak employment at its St. Charles plant would probably not be reached until January 1944. It indicated further, however, that the pay roll would be expanded 150 percent within 60 days of the hearing. At such a rate of increase, over half the total anticipated number of employees will have been hired by July 29, 1943. We shall direct, therefore, that those eligible to vote shall be the employees in the appropriate units who were em- ployed during the first full pay-roll period in August 1943, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in our Direction of Elections. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective, bargaining with Howard Aircraft Corporation, St. Charles, Illinois, elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than forty,-five (45) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the units found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the first full pay-roll period in August 1943, in- cluding those employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and in- cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre- sent themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by District 108, International As- sociation of Machinists, 9 for the purposes of collective bargaining. ° The I. A. M. expressed a preference at the hearing that its name appear on the ballot as set forth in the Direction of Elections.