A. O. Smith Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 30, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 981 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of A. O. SMITH CORPORATION-PACIFIC COAST WELDING
DIVISION , EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOILER-
MAKERS , IRON SHIPBUILDERS & HELPERS OF AMERICA , LOCAL 92,
A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. 21-RC-43-3.-Decided November 30,1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing of-
ficer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production, maintenance, and
repair employees of the Employer, excluding inspectors working out
of the engineering office or laboratories, office, clerical and professional
employees, guards and supervisors. The Employer agrees with the
Petitioner's contention as to the unit. The Intervenor, United Elec-
trical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, CIO, urges that the
proposed unit is inappropriate because it fails to include the employees
1 United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, CIO, has not complied with
section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act, but was permitted to intervene because of its
present contract covering the employees involved herein . The Intervenor does not contend
that this contract is a bar to the present proceeding.
*Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 146.
981
982 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the A. O. Smith Electrical Manufacturing Company, hereinafter
called the Electrical Company.
The Employer, a division of the A. O. Smith Corporation of Mil-
waukee, is located adjacent to other wholly owned subsidiaries of its
parent company,2 in Los Angeles, California. There is no centralized
control of these plants. Each, including the Employer, has its own
Board of Directors, which determines the policies for its respective
corporation.3 The action taken by a subsidiary's Board of Directors
as to labor relations and other matters does not have to be approved
by the Board of Directors of the parent corporation. The Manager
of Industrial Relations of the parent corporation may make recom-
mendations, but his recommendations are not binding on the subsidiary
corporations.
The Employer was formerly part of the Electrical Company. On
May 1, 1948, the assets and property of the Electrical Company's
Welding Division were transferred from that Company to the A. O.
Smith Corporation of Milwaukee, and this Division was put under
separate management. Since that time there have been no transfers
of employees between the Electrical Company and the Employer.
Electrical Company employees, however, have performed work for
the Employer on a contract basis, and this work is billed as if an
outside contractor had done the work. Separate bank accounts were
established for the Employer on May 1, 1948; separate accounting
books and records are kept; different accountants handle the business;
and there is separate management personnel for the employees of each
company.
The personnel of the Employer is composed of persons who had
been employees of the Electrical Company's Welding Division, who
were transferred to the Employer's pay roll on May 1, and new em-
ployees hired by the Employer since May 1. The work, working
conditions, and supervision of these employees after May 1 remained
the same as it had previously been.
On August 20, 1947, the Electrical Company and the Intervenor
executed a contract which covered all employees of that company,
including the employees of its Welding Division. At the time of the
reorganization on May 1, 1948, the Intervenor was notified of the
transfer in ownership of the Welding Division, and an oral agreement
extended the benefits of the contract with the Electrical Company
to the transferred employees of the Employer. This contract expired
on August 20, 1948. When a new contract covering employees of the
R The subsidiaries are the Smith Meter Corporation , the A. 0 Smith Electrical Manu-
facturing Company, both California corporations , and the A. 0. Smith Corporation.
8 Some members of the Boards of Directors of the individual corporations are also
members of the Board of Directors of the parent corporation.
A. 0. SMITH CORPORATION 983
Electrical Company was negotiated, the employees of the Employer
were specifically excluded from that contract, and separate negotia-
tions were held simultaneously for the Electrical Company's em-
ployees and for the Employer's employees.
Under all the circumstances and particularly in view of the fact
that the Electrical Company and the Employer are separate func-
tional and corporate entities, and also of the fact that the Intervenor
itself excluded the Employer's employees from its contract negotia-
tions with the Electrical Company, we are persuaded that the prior
bargaining history is no longer controlling and that a unit confined
to the employees of the Employer is appropriate. 4
Upon the entire record, we find that all production, maintenance,
and repair employees of the A. O. Smith Corporation-Pacific Coast
Welding Division, Los Angeles, California, excluding inspectors
working out of the engineering office or laboratories, office, clerical
and professional employees, guards and supervisors, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 5
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended,
among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph
numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, in-
cluding employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but ex-
cluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not
entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to
be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders & Helpers
of America, Local 92, A. F. of L.
' Matter of The James Hanley Company , 79 N. L. R. B. 929. Cf. Matter of Bonita
Ribbon Mills and Brewton Weaving Company, 79 N. L. R. B . 1462; Matter of Roanoke
Mills Company , 76 N. L. R. B. 195.
5 We shall not place the Intervenor on the ballot inasmuch as it has not complied with
Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act.