The Delta-Star Electric Co.

In the Matter of THE DFLTA-STAR ELECTRIC COMP ANY and UNITED- AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 740 , AFFILIATED WITII THE- AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR Case No. R-3236.-Decided December 10, 1941 Jurisdiction : high voltage electric equipment manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re- fusal to grant recognition because of doubt as to majority and inability to agree on unit; election necessary Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em- ployees, including timekeepers and plant clerks, but excluding foundry em- ployees, patternmakers, truck drivers, and supervisory, clerical, and office employees Mr. Stephen M. Reynolds, for the Board. Fyffe"cC Clark, by Mr. Albert J. Smith, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company. 111r. Joseph, M. Jacobs and Mr. Philip D. Goodman, of Chicago, Ill.., for the Union. Miss Marcia Hert mark, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On October 6, 1941, and October 9, 1941, respectively, United Auto- mobile Workers of America, Local 740,1 affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition and an amended petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of The Delta-Star Electric Company, Chicago, Illinois, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur- suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On October 22, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 1 The Union was incorrectly designated in the petition as Local 477. 37 N. L. R. B., No. 74. 459 460 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela- tions 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. On October 22, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing and on October 25 a notice of postponement, copies of which were duly served' upon the Company and the Union. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on November 3, 1941, at Chicago, Illinois, before Will Maslow, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company, the Union and the Board were represented and participated 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 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 I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The Delta-Star Electric Company is an Illinois corporation en- gaged at Chicago, Illinois, in the manufacture of high-voltage elec- tric equipment. In the manufacture of its products the Company uses steel and malleable iron, porcelain insulators, copper, plastic products, oil circuit breakers, and material for steel-mill powerhouses. During 1940 the Company purchased about $900,000 worth of such products, 85 per cent of which was shipped to it from points outside the State of Illinois. During the same period the Company's sales totalled approximately $2,000,000. About 90 per cent of the products sold was shipped outside the State of Illinois. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED United Automobile Workers of America, Local 740, is a labor or- ganization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On or about September 17, 1941, the Union requested that the Company recognize it as the sole collective bargaining representative of its employees. The Company refused to grant such recognition DELTA-STAR ELECTRIC COMPANY 461 because of its doubt that the Union represented a majority of the employees and because it did not! agree that the unit claimed by the Union was appropriate. A statement by the Regional' Director, introduced in evidence, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em- ployees' in the unit which it contends is appropriate.2 We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. 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 flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union desires a unit composed of production and maintenance employees, excluding foundry employees, pattern makers, truck drivers, and supervisory, clerical, and office employees. The Com- pany desires a unit composed of production and maintenance em- ployees, excluding supervisory, clerical, and office employees, but took no position at the hearing as to the exclusion of foundry em- ployees, pattern makers and truck drivers. The only disagreement between the parties concerns 12 employees listed on the Company's pay roll as clerical, who are timekeepers and plant clerks, and whom the Union wishes to include. The Company desires to exclude them as representatives of management. The Company's operations are carried on in a group of 8 build- ings, many of which are contiguous, and in a foundry which is about 4 blocks from these buildings. There are, in the foundry, about 70 employees who are molders, core makers, and grinding- wheel operators, and also 10 or 12 pattern makers. Although there is a general interchange between employees in the 8 buildings, there is no such interchange between them and the foundry, and the foundry is under 'the supervision of a different superintendent than the rest of the buildings,. Employees of the foundry are on a sep- 2 The Regional Director's statement shows that 277 authorization cards were submitted to him by the Union Of this number 269 bore apparently genuine, original signatures The Company refused to submit a pay roll prior to the hearing and, at the hearing, waived the necessity for a comparison of the Union 's cards with its pay roll There aie about 470 employees in the unit sought by'the Union -462 DECISIONS .OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ,crate pay roll. The molders and the pattern makers are highly skilled employees and receive considerably more salary than the rest ,of the employees . In view of the above facts, we shall exclude the -foundry employees and-pattern makers from the unit. There. are only 2 truck drivers employed by the Company. They do no production work, and according to the Company's,president, =are members of another labor organization. We shall exclude them from the unit. In connection with the exclusion of supervisory employees, the Union desires the exclusion of 20 sub-foremen . The Company took no position concerning these employees. We shall exclude them as -supervisory employees. The timekeepers and plant clerks mentioned above are listed on the Company's regular shop pay roll, are paid an hourly wage, do no job rating, and do not receive the bonus which is generally -received by supervisory employees of the Company. They work at desks throughout the plant. Although these employees do no direct production work, they are clearly more closely related to the produc- tion employees than to the office employees.' The fact that the Com- pany lists them on the shop pay roll is an indication that it considers them in connection with the production workers. Since they do no job rating and since they are not considered supervisory in relation to the bonus, we find that their functions are not those of manage- ment. We shall include them in the unit, We find that all production and maintenance employees of the 'Company, including timekeepers and plant clerks, but excluding foundry employees, pattern makers, truck drivers, and supervisory, -clerical, and office employees, constitute a unit appropriate 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 will effectu- -ate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DLTERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen ,can best be resolved by holding an election by secret ballot. The Com- pany and the Union agreed that a current pay roll shall be used to determine those eligible to vote. Persons eligible to participate in the election shall be the employees in the appropriate unit who were em- ployed by the Company during the pay-roll period next preceding the -date of this Direction, subject to the limitations and additions herein- after set forth in the Direction. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire .record in the case, the Board makes the following : DELTA-STAR ELECTRIC COMPANY CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 463 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of The Delta-Star Electric Company, Chicago, Illinois, 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- of the Company, including timekeepers and plant clerks, but excluding foundry em- ployees, pattern makers, truck drivers, and supervisory, clerical, and office employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col- lective 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 Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with The Delta-Star Electric Company, Chicago, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) 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 9, of said rules and Regulations, among all production and maintenance employees of The Delta-Star Electric Company, including timekeepers and plant clerks, who were employed 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 or in the active military service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding foundry employees, pattern makers, truck drivers, and supervisory, clerical, and office employees, and employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Automobile Workers of Amer- ica, Local 740, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.