Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company

0 In the Matter Of WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COM- PANY and UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 724, AFFILIATED WITH THE CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS Case No. R-1411.-Decided August 5, 1939 Electric Equipment Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Represeuta- tives: controversy concerning representation of employees,: rival organizations; doubt as to representation of majority because of conflicting claims of rival unions; prior consent election no bar to present determination in view of lapse of time since consent election-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: hourly paid employees, excluding supervisors , i. e., assistant foremen and fore- men, clerical employees , designing engineers , tool designers , draftsmen, time- study employees ,, and. policemen ;, stipulation . as to-Representatives: proof of choice : membership in union ; signature of cards authorizing union as bargain- ing agency ; substantial doubt as to choice of majority of employees-Election Ordered Mr. Bernard Bralove, for the Board. Mr. William E. Miller, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company. Mr. Edwin Beal, of Delaware, Ohio, for the United. Meredith d Meredith, by Mr. Harry R. Meredith, of Lima, Ohio, for the L. W. E. A. Mr. Parker Bailey, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On April 10, 1939, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local No. 724, herein called the United, filed with the Acting Regional Director for the Eighth Region (Cleveland, Ohio) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of . employees of Westinghouse Elec- tric & Manufacturing Company,- Lima, Ohio, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of repre- sentatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 'Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On May 4 the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant .to 14 N. L. R. B., No. 20. 263 190935-40-vol. 14-18 264 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Acting Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On May 16 the Acting Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which, with annexed copies of said petition, were duly served upon the Company and its counsel, upon the represent- ative for the United herein, and upon Lima Westinghouse Em- ployees Association, Inc., herein called the L. W. E. A., a labor organization purporting to represent employees directly affected by the investigation. On May 22 the L. W. E. A. duly filed its motion with the Acting Regional Director, requesting leave to intervene in these proceedings. On May 23 the Acting Regional Director entered a ruling granting said motion. Copies of said Ruling on Motion to Intervene were duly served upon the Company and its counsel, upon the representa- tive for the United herein, and upon the L. W. E. A. On May 25 the Acting Regional Director by telegraphic communication duly notified the Company and its counsel, the representative for the United herein, and counsel for the L. W. E. A., of the postponement of the hearing upon the petition until further notice. On May 27 an amended petition for an investigation and certifica- tion of representatives was duly filed by the United with the Acting Regional Director. On June 13 the Acting Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which, with annexed copies of said amended petition, were duly served upon the Company and its coun- sel, upon the representative for the United herein, and upon the L. W. E, A. Pursuant to said notice, a hearing was held on June 22 and 23 at Lima, Ohio, before Henry W. Schmidt, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, and the L. W. E. A. were 'represented by counsel, and the United was repre- sented by its international representative. All of said parties par- ticipated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on the motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to ap- plication duly made by the United and by the L. W. E. A. subse- quent to the hearing, leave was granted by the Board to said parties for the filing of briefs, and such briefs were duly filed on July 27. The Board has considered said briefs as a part of the record. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 265 Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company is a Pennsyl- vania corporation. having headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Plants of the Company are located in California, Maryland, Massa- chusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Plants of company subsidiaries are located in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. The Company has and transacts business through sales offices, agent-jobbers, service shops, and warehouses in various cities throughout the United States, as well as abroad. These proceedings are concerned solely with the plant of the Com- pany hereinafter referred to as the Lima plant, located at Lima, Ohio. The Company engages at its Lima plant in the manufacture of fractional horsepower motors, which it sells. On the basis of purchases of raw materials used in said plant in the course of manu- facture for 1938, approximately 40 per cent of such raw materials came from within the State of Ohio and approximately 60 per cent from other States. Approximately 95 per cent of the finished prod- ucts of said plant are shipped from the plant in the regular course of business to points outside the State of Ohio, and approximately 5 per cent to points within the State of Ohio. During the year 1938 the total amount of purchases and sales at said plant was approxi- mately $5,000,000. The total business of the Company during 1938 amounted to approximately $137,000,000. The Company employed at the Lima plant during the week of May 6, 1939, 1,258 persons, in- cluding supervisors, salaried employees, and other employees. H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local No. 724, is a labor organization chartered by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The United admits to its membership all hourly paid employees of the Company and excludes clerical help, draftsmen, foremen, and assistant foremen. Lima Westinghouse Employees Association, Inc., is a labor organi- zation incorporated under the laws of Ohio, admitting to its mem- bership "the actual employees of the Lima plant or plants of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company," 1 and excluding foremen. It has no national affiliation. ' This language is quoted from the Code of Regulations of the L. W. E. A. 266 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On July 30, 1937, a consent election was conducted under the direc- tion and supervision of the Acting Regional Director for the Eighth Region, among the employees of the Lima plant, to determine whether said employees desired to be represented by the United or by the L. W. E. A. for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Com- pany in regard to wages, hours of service, and other conditions of employment. The ballot taken resulted in the L. W. E. A. receiving a majority of the votes cast. The unit in which the election was held consisted of all hourly rate employees of the Lima plant, with the exception of all supervisors, foremen, assistant foremen, clerical workers, watchmen, and salaried employees. Since the consent elec- tion, the Company has recognized and dealt with the L. W. E. A. as the sole collective bargaining representative of all employees within said unit. In December 1938 the United began a campaign among the Lima plant employees to have itself designated as their representative for purposes of collective bargaining regarding hours, wages, working conditions, and other matters of collective bargaining. It distributed certain cards to the employees providing for such designation, and revoking any previous authorization given to any other organization to act as representative for collective bargaining purposes. Such cards•wvere signed by employees as- more particularly hereinafter set forth. Shortly thereafter, the L. W. E. A. likewise distributed cards of similar import to the employees, which also were signed by em- ployees as stated below. The campaign of the United continued dur- ing the spring of 1939. Early in April 1939 the United requested the Company to recognize that labor organization as the exclusive bar- gaining agency for all hourly paid employees of the Lima plant, ex- cluding certain classifications. With respect to this request, the Com- pany took the position that a question concerning representation of these employees had arisen, in that the United and the L. W. E. A. each then claimed to be the exclusive bargaining representative of these employees. The Company stated that the question was one which the Board should determine. We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of employees of the Company. Since the afore-mentioned consent elec- tion was held nearly 2 years ago, the results thereof constitute no bar to an investigation and certification of representatives at the present time. 2 S See rn the Matter of Todd-Joh nson. Dry Docks Inc. and Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America , Local No . 29, 10 N . L. R. B. 629. . WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING Co\IPANv 267 IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the. operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free floe of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT At the hearing the Company, the United, the L. W. E. A., and the Board stipulated and agreed, for the purposes of these proceedings, that all hourly paid employees of the Company, exclusive of super- visors, i. e., assistant foremen and foremen, clerical employees, design- ing engineers, tool designers, draftsmen, time-study employees, and policemen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We see no reason for finding inappropriate the unit to which the parties have thus stipulated and agreed. The unit accords substantially with the unit we have found to be appropriate in other cases involving employees in this industry,3 and is also substantially the same unit in which the consent election of July 30, 1937, was held: We find that the hourly paid employees of the Company at its Lima plant, exclusive of, supervisors, i. e., assistant foremen and f ore- men, clerical employees, designing engineers, tool designers, drafts- men, time-study employees, and policemen, constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectu- ate the policies of the Act. VI. TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Company, the United, the L. W. E. A., and the Board stip- ulated and agreed, and we find that the total number of employees within the appropriate unit during the pay-roll period ending April 8, 1939, was 1,017. The evidence shows that a substantial number of employees within the appropriate unit have designated, by member- 9In the Matter of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company and United Elec- trical & Radio Workers of America, Local No. 601, International Brotherhood of.Electrical Workers, and Employees Representation Plan of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. 3 N. L. R. B . 1; In the Matter of National Electric Products Corporation and United Electrical and Radio Workers of America, Local No . 609, 3 N . L. It. B. 475; In the Matter of the Triplett Electrical Instrument Company, The Diller Manufacturing Company, doing business under the firm name and style of Readrite Meter Works and United Electrical and Radio Workers of America, Local No . ? 14, 5 N . L. It. B. 835. 268 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ship application, authorization card, or otherwise, the respective or- ganizations here involved to represent them in collective bargaining; and further, that a substantial number of employees in the unit have designated both organizations as such representative within a com- paratively short period of time. Under these circumstances we are satisfied, and find, that an election by secret ballot is the most satis- factory way of resolving the question concerning representation which has arisen.4 Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in these proceedings, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, Lima, Ohio, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The hourly paid employees of the Company, exclusive of super- visors, i. e., assistant foremen and foremen, clerical employees, design- ing engineers, tool designers, draftsmen, time-study employees, and policemen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act. 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 Rela- tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, it is hereby DIRECTED that,, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Com- pany, Lima, Ohio, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within twenty (20) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director or Acting Re- gional Director for the Eighth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all hourly paid em- ployees of the Lima plant of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing 'In the Matter of Star Woolen Co. and Cohoes Knit Goods Workers Union No. 2.15111, A. P. of L., 9 N. L. R . B. 1178; see also In the Matter of The Cudahy Packing Company and United Packinghouse Workers of America, Local 21 of the Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 13 N. L. R. B. 526. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 269 Company, who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of this Direction,, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation, and employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding all persons who have quit or have been discharged for cause since that date, and further excluding all supervisors, i. e., foremen and assistant foremen, clerical employees, designing engineers, tool designers, draftsmen, time-study employees, and policemen, to determine whether they desire to be represented by. United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local No. 724, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or by Lima Westinghouse Employees Association, Inc., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. MR. EDWIN S. SMITH took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. 5 Although the parties stipulated and agreed at the hearing to a pay-roll date, we are of the opinion that the current pay roll of the Company should be used for the election which we have directed herein.