General Cable Corp.

Ins the Matter of GENERAL CABLE CORPORATON and UNITED RUBBER WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION 208. Case No. R- 650.Decided July 11, 1941 Jurisdiction : electrical wire and cable manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question. Com- pany failed to reply to union's request for exclusive recognition ; contract with rival union entered into subsequent to petitioner's claim to representation, no bar. to, election necessary. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em- ployees including boiler attendaints, but excluding office and supervisory employees and watchmen. Mr. M. A. Kent, of New York City, and Mr. Warren H. Jones, of Buffalo, N. Y., for the Company. Mr. Hugh Thompson and Mr. Charles E. Lanning, both of Buffalo, N. Y., for the United. Mr. Walter Rettke, of Buffalo, N. Y., for the Independent. Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On May 28, 1941, United Rubber Workers of America, Local Union 208, herein called the United, filed with the Regional Director for the Third Region (Buffalo, New York) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees„of. General Cable Corporation, Buffalo, New York, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re- lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On June 10, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. 33 N. L. R. B., No. 66. 328 GENUR'AL CABLE CORPORATION 329 On June 11, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the United, and Cablecraft Independent Vertical Union, herein called the Independent, it labor organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on June 17, 1941, at Buffalo, New York, before Peter J. Crotty, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Com- pany, the United, and the Independent were represented and partici- pated 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 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. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY General Cable Corporation, a New Jersey corporation, operates a plant at Buffalo, New York, where it is engaged in the manufacture of electrical wire and cable. From June 1, 1940, to May 31, 1941, the Company used raw materials at its Buffalo plant valued in excess of $250,000, approximately 50 per cent of which were shipped to it from points outside the State of New York. During the same period, the Company manufactured products at its Buffalo plant valued in excess of $500,000, approximately 50 per cent of which were shipped by it to points outside the State of New York. The Company admits for the purposes of this proceeding that it is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act. - II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Rubber Workers of America, Local Union 208, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It admits to membership employees of the Buffalo plant of the Company. Cablecraft Independent Vertical Union is an unaffiliated labor or- ganization admitting to membership employees at the Buffalo plant of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On May 24, 1941, the United wrote to the Company claiming to represent a majority of the employees at the Buffalo plant and re- 330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD questing exclusive recognition. The Company did not reply to this re- quest. The Company has had exclusive contracts with the Independent since 1937. The last contract was signed on June 2, 1941, to be effective July 1, 1941. It is-apparent that the contract between the Company and the Independent does not constitute a bar to a present 'determina- tion of representatives inasmuch as it was entered into subsequent to the United's claim to represent a majority., A statement of the Regional Director, introduced in evidence, shows that the United represents a substantial number of employees in the unit which it alleges is appropriate.2 We find a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. IT. 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 upon the several States and tends to lead'to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The United and the Independent agreed at the hearing that the appropriate unit should consist of all production and maintenance employees at the Buffalo plant of the Company, including boiler attendants, but excluding supervisory and office employees and watch- men. The only controversy with respect to the unit concerns the boiler attendants. The Company desires that they be excluded from the unit. - The Company employs four boiler ,attendants who are licensed engineers and in charge of the -Company's boilers. They are paid on an hourly rate, the same as the production and maintenance em- ployees in the plant. We find that the boiler attendants should be included in the appropriate unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Buffalo plant of the Company, including boiler attendants, but excluding office and supervisory employees and watchmen, constitute 1 Matter of California Wool Scouring Company and Textile Workers Organizing Com- mittee, 5 N. L. R. B. 782. 2 The Regional Director reported that the United presented 292 membership cards to him. No check of these cards was made with a pay roll of the Company. There are approxi- mately 477 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. As stated above, Cablecraft has an exclusive contract with the Company. GENERAL CABLE CORPORATION 331 a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that such unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The United seeks to be certified on the basis of the record, claiming that it represents a majority of the employees at the Buffalo plant of the Company and that the Independent is not a bona fide labor organization. There is no evidence in the record upon which the United could be certified and there is no issue concerning the bona fides of the Independent properly before us in this proceeding. We find that the question concerning representation can best be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot. We shall direct that the employees of the Company eligible to vote in the election shall be those in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the Direction hereinafter. , Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CoNCLusIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of General Cable Corporation, Buffalo, New York, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. All production and maintenance employees at the Buffalo plant of the Company, including boiler attendants, but excluding super- visory and office employees and watchmen, constitute a unit appro- priate 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 Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with General Cable Corporation, Buffalo, New York, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible; but not later 332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Third Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela- tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all production and maintenance employees at the Buffalo plant of the Company who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including boiler attendants, employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory and office employees, watchmen, and employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by United Rubber Workers of America, Local Union 208, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organi- zations, or by Cablecraft Independent Vertical Union, for the pur- poses of collective bargaining, or by neither.