Air Reduction Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 19, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1486 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of AIR REDUCTION SALES COMPANY OF AIR REDUCTION
COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYER AND PETITIONER and INTERNATIONAL
UNION OF ELECTRICAL , RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS, CIO , AND LOCAL
707, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ELECTRICAL , RADIO & MACHINE
WORKERS, ,CIO, UNION and UNITED ELECTRICAL , RADIO & MACHINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, AND LOCAL 707, UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO
& MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, UNION
Case No. 8-RM-32.Decided May 19, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed a hearing was held before Philip Fusco,
hearing officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Styles].
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. All parties agree that International Union of Electrical, Radio
& Machine Workers, CIO, herein called the IUE, and United Elec-
trical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, herein called the UE,
are labor organizations. However, the IUE contends that the UE's
affiliate, Local 707, herein called Local 707-UE, is not a labor organi-
zation, and, conversely, the UE disputes the status of the IUE's affili-
ate, herein called Local 707-IUE, as a labor organization.
Local 707-UE is an amalgamated local, representing employees in
a number of plants in the Cleveland area. It was formerly affiliated
with the CIO through its parent, the UE. On November 2, 1949, the
TJE's affiliation with the CIO terminated. On November 27, 1949,
at a membership meeting of Local 707-UE, a majority of the em-
ployees present voted to disaffiliate from the UE and to seek affiliation
89 NLRB No. 199.
1486
AIR REDUCTION SALES COMPANY 1487
with the CIO. Thereafter, this group received a charter from the
IUE. Under the name of Local 707, International Union of Elec-
trical, Radio & Machine Workers, CIO, it then complied with the
filing requirements of the Act and notified the Employer of its
claim to representation. Three of the four union stewards at the
Employer's plant and all the former officers of Local 707-UE have
continued to serve in the same capacity in the new union.
Local 707-UE has represented the Employer's employees for a
number of years. Following the disaffiliation meeting of November
27, 1949, it has continued to function through newly elected or ap-
pointed officers. Its last meeting, held on March 15, 1950, was attended
by six employees.
Upon the foregoing facts and the record as a .whole we are satisfied
that both Local 707-IUE and Local 707-UE exist for' the purpose
of admitting employees to membership and of dealing with the Em-
ployer on matters relating to wages and other working conditions?
Accordingly, we find that International Union of Electrical, Radio &
Machine Workers, CIO, and its affiliate Local 707, and United Elec-
trical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, and its affiliate Local
707, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
3. The question concerning representation :
On April 1, 1948, the UE and Local 707-UE executed a contract
with the Employer covering the employees involved herein. The
agreement was to be effective until April 1, 1950, and thereafter from
year to year in the absence of an appropriate 90-day termination
notice. Local 707-UE contends that this contract is a bar to a present
determination of representatives. The IUE argues that the contract
is not a bar because it was terminated in accordance with its terms,
and on the further ground that Local 707-IUE is the successor to
the contractual rights of Local 707-UE. The Employer is neutral
and at the hearing stated that, as it does not know which union
represents its employees, it is unwilling to bargain with either Local
707-IUE or Local 707-UE.
As more fully set forth in Section 2 above, Local 707-IUE grew
out of, and is staffed by, substantially the same officers and stewards
as the older Local 707-UE. On the basis of substantially the same
facts as shown here, the Board has held that a contract between the
Employer and the preexisting bargaining representative is not a bar
to an immediate election for the purpose of resolving a question con-
I Sperry Gyroscope Company, 88 NLRB 907.
1488 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cerning representation.2 As a result of the intraunion split revealed
.by the record in this case, each of two contending unions challenges
.with some show of right the other's claim to representative status.
The normal bargaining relationship between the Employer and the
UE has become a matter of confusion, because of the events described
above, and the relationship between them can no longer be said to
promote stability in industrial relations. To treat the contract as
a bar to a present redetermination of representatives would seriously
.impede rather than encourage the practice of collective bargaining
.which the Act was designed to foster and protect. We therefore be-
lieve that the conflicting claims to representation of the two labor
organizations involved can best be resolved by an election.
We find, therefore, that the contract between the UE and the Em-
ployer is not a bar to this proceeding.3
A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The parties agree to the composition of a production and mainte-
nance unit, except with respect to the assistant shipping manager,
whom the Employer would exclude as a supervisor or office clerical
employee. The IUE and UE would include him in the unit. The
record shows that although this employee performs some manual labor,
he spends the greater part of his time at a desk in the distribution
department where he performs clerical duties. He takes the place
of the shipping manager in the manager's absence. In this capacity
he may hire, discharge, or discipline production employees. As assist-
ant shipping manager he may, and on occasion does, effectively recom-
mend discipline of production workers. It is clear, and we find, that
the assistant shipping manager is a supervisor within the meaning of
the Act. We shall therefore exclude him.
We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees of the Employer's three
plants in Cleveland, Ohio, located at 1210 West 69th Street, 1331
Chardon Road, and 1402 East 222d Street, excluding office and clerical
employees, truck drivers, truck driver's helpers, the assistant shipping
manager, professional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
2 Boston Machine Works Company , 89 NLRB 59.
8 In view of our finding herein , we deem it unnecessary to pass upon the IUE 's further
contention that the contract is not a bar because it was terminated in accordance with its
terms and because Local 707-UE Is not a party thereto.
AIR REDUCTION SALES COMPANY
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 4
1489
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 super-
vision 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, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by
International Union of Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers, CIO,
Local 707, or by United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers of
America, Local 707, or by neither.5
* The UE requested that any election directed herein be held simultaneously with other
elections involving this same union in cases now pending before the Board {General Electric
Co., Cases Nos. 5-RM-114, et al.). As no persuasive reason appears for departing from
our established custom, we will follow the usual practice , leaving the date of the election
herein to the discretion of the Regional Director.
6 Either participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.