General Motors Corp.

In the Matter of ALLISON DIvIsIoN, GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION and UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O. Case No. 11-R-835.-Decided January °L, 1948 Messrs. Harry S. Benjamin, Jr., and Henry M. Hogan, of Detroit, Mich., for the -Company. Messrs. Walter D. Romine and George Stahl, of Indianapolis, Ind., for the UAW. Mr. George Pilkiewicz, of Indianapolis, Ind., for the MESA. Mr. Sidney Grossman, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF, TIIE CASE Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Automobile, Air- craft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the UAW, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Allison Division, General Motors Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro- priate hearing upon due notice before William O. Murdock, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 20, 1945. The Company, the UAW, and the Mechanics Educational Society of America, C. U. A., herein called the MESA, appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and' cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling upon the Company's motion to dismiss the petition on the ground that the pro- posed unit is inappropriate. For the reasons set forth in Section IV, infra, the motion is denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : 65 N. L. R. B., No. 22. 92 ALLISION DIVISION, GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 93 General Motors Corporation is a Delaware corporation with prin- cipal business offices in New York City and Detroit, Michigan. For business reasons, it functions through several unincorporated divisions, one of which is the Allison Division, which maintains and operates plants in Indianapolis, Indiana. In excess of 50 percent of the value of goods and materials used in the manufacturing and processing operations at the Allison Division is secured from sources outside the State of Indiana. In excess of 50 percent of the value of the com- pleted goods and materials processed and manufactured at the Allison Division eventually reaches points outside the State of Indiana. Sub- stantially all of the goods and materials processed and manufactured by the Allison Division are sold or delivered to the United States Government. The Company admits that it is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. Mechanics Educational Society of America, affiliated with the Con- federated Unions of America, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The UAW and the MESA have each requested recognition of the Company as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's employees. The Company refused to accord them recogni- tion until they have been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear- ing, indicates that the UAW and the MESA each represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' I The Field Examiner reported that the UAW submitted 40 applications for membership, of which 38 bore dates between May and July 1945, and 2 were undated , and that there are 55 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. The applications were not checked against a company pay roll. At the hearing, the MESA submitted 15 membership application and authorization cards, of which 14 bore dates subsequent to April 1, 1945, and 1 was undated. The UAW's contention that the MESA's showing of interest is insufficient and does not serve to dis- close that such interest was secured prior to the filing of the CIO's amended petition herein is without merit. 94 .DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 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. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The UAW and the MESA request a unit consisting of all hourly rated technicians at Plant 10 of the Company's Allison Division, excluding clerical and supervisory employees. The Company does not disagree with the specific composition of the unit, but contends that a unit confined to the technicians at Plant 10, apart from those in other plants of the Allison Division, is inappropriate.2 Plant 10 was established during the early part of 1945 as a modi- fication center for Army airplanes. It functions under separate su- pervision at a distance of several miles' from the other plants of Allison Division. Its activities are largely experimental in character and are unrelated to the work performed in the remaining plants. Because of their special skills, most of the technicians at Plant 10 have been recruited from company plants outside the Division. Although the technicians at Plant 10 enjoy similar working conditions and re- ceive the same benefits as other hourly rated technicians elsewhere in the Allison Division, there is no interchange between them and those of the other plants. In support of its contention that a unit of technicians confined to Plant 10 alone is inappropriate, the Company urges that other groups of Allison Division employees are represented by labor organizations. on a division-wide basis.3 Although the his- tory of collective bargaining among other employees of the Company demonstrates the feasibility of bargaining on a broader basis, the UAW and the MESA have confined their organizational efforts to the hourly rated technicians at Plant 10. Inasmuch as these employees function as a separate homogeneous group, and in view of the limited extent of organization,4 we are of the opinion that the hourly rated technicians at Plant 10 may constitute an appropriate unit.5 2 Although the parties agreed that the unit shall consist of all hourly rated employees not now represented by the UAW, it appears from the record that a more accurate descrip- tion of the unit sought is that set forth above, inasmuch as technicians are the only hourly rated employees at Plant 10 not presently represented by the UAW. 8 As a result of elections held in Matter of General Motors Corporation, Allison Division, 57 N. L. R. B. 1283, the UAW represents the production and maintenance employees and another affiliate of the C. U. A. represents the timekeepers in all plants of the Allison Divi- sion. The UAW also represents plant-protection employees throughout the Division. See Matter of Gaylord Bros., Inc., 64 N. L. R. B . 1350, and cases cited therein. The Company, in urging the appropriateness of a division -wide unit, maintains that the pattern of collective bargaining generally throughout its operations precludes finding appropriate a unit confined to but one plant. However , a summary survey of representation cases involving various operations of the Company , decided by the Board since 1942, dis- closes that in numerous instances single -plant units have been found appropriate , either with agreement or without opposition on the part of the Company. See, e. g , Matter of General Motors .Corporation, Delco Products Division (Plant D ), 57 N. L. R. B. 1491,'59 ALLISON DIVISION, GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 95 • We find that all hourly rated technicians at Plant 10 of the Com- pany's Allison Division, excluding clerical employees and all super- visory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, disci- pline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effec- tively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em- ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay- roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec- tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION 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 Rela- tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Allison Division, General Motors -Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) days from the date of this Direction, under the direc- tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Eleventh Re- gion, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit or been N. L. R. B. 1210 ; Matter of Delco Remy Division, General Motors Corporation, 53 N. L. R. B. 110; Matter of Fisher Cleveland Aircraft Division, General Motors Corporation, Plant No. 2, 52 N. L. R. B. 1291 ; Matter of Buick Motor Division, General Motors Corporation, 40 N. L. R. R. 825 ; Matter of General Motors Corporation, Frigidaare Division, 37 N. L R. B. 616. See also , Matter of Frigidaare Division , General Motors Corporation, 48 N L. R. B. 1404, 54 N. L It. B. 55, where, as here, organization had been confined to certain employees in a single plant by an affiliate of the same labor organization as that which represented other groups in the plant on a division -wide basis, and the Board , upon issue raised, found single-plant units appropriate. 679100-46--vol. 65-8 96 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be rep- resented by the United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Imple- ment Workers of America, C. I. 0., or by the Mechanics Educational Society of America, C. U. A., for the purposes of collective bargain- ing, or by neither.