All Steel Welded Truck Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 22, 1941

31 N.L.R.B. 191 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of ALL STEEL WELDED TRUCK CORPORATION and INTER-
NATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMoBILE WORKERS or AMERICA,
AFFILIATED WITH THE C. I. O.
Case No. R-2401.-Deckled April 22, 1941
Jurisdiction : material handling equipment manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord union recognition ; employees whom Board held were tem-
porarily laid off eligible to participate in the election ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees, and the truck driver, excluding clerical, engineering, and supervisory
employees.
Mr. Edward S. Foltz, Jr., of Rockford, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Thomas A. Keegan, of Rockford, Ill., for the Union.
Mr. Harold Weston, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 28, 1941, International Union, United Automobile
Workers of America of the C. I. 0., herein called the Union, filed
a petition with the Regional Director for the, Thirteenth Region
(Chicago, Illinois) alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of All Steel Welded
Truck Corporation, Rockford, Illinois, herein called the Company,
and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49
Stat. 449, herein called-the Act. On March 8, 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.
On March 10, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union.
Pursuant to the notice,- a hearing was held on March 15, 1941, at
31 N. L. It. B:, No. 33.
-191
IN
192 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL' LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Rockford, Illinois, before Charles F. McErlean, the Trial Examiner
duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company and
the Union were represented by counsel and participated in the hear-
ing. 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 Ex-
aminer and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board make the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
All Steel Welded Truck Corporation, a Delaware corporation
with its principal office, and place of business at Rockford, Illinois,
is engaged in the manufacture of material handling equipment.
During 1940, the Company purchased raw materials valued at ap-
proximately $35,000, about 12 per cent of which were received by
the Company front sources outside the State of Illinois. During the
same period, the Company's sales amounted to approximately $100,000
in value, about 50 per cent of which were shipped by the Company
to points outside the State of Illinois.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, is a
labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organi-
zations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Although the Union has by letter dated February 24, 1941, notified
the Company of its claim to majority representation and requested
recognition and collective bargaining conferences, the Company has
neither bargained with the Union nor expressed any willingness to
do so. At the hearing there was introduced in evidence a report
of the Regional Director which shows that the Union represents a
substantial number of employees 'in the unit which it alleges to be
appropriate.' -
' The Union submitted to the Regional Director ' application and authorization cards
signed by 34 of the 38 employees whose names appear on the Company ' s facto] y pay roll of
March 3, 1941 Of the cads submitted , 13 were dated February 1941, while the remainder
were undated.
ALL STEEL WELDED TRUCK CORPORATION 193
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
1
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 and the Company, agree, and we find, that production
and maintenance employees and the truck driver are within, and that
supervisory employees should be excluded from, the appropriate unit.
The Union would exclude, and the Company include, clerical and
engineering employees. Clerical and engineering employees of the
Company have not been admitted to membership in the Union, nor
does it appear- that such employees have designated the Union as
their representative. Pursuant to the Board's usual practice and
upon the entire record, we find that clerica12 and engineering
employees 3 should be excluded from the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees, and the
truck driver, excluding clerical, engineering and supervisory em-
ployees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that said unit will insure to the 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
We find that the question which has arisen concerning representa-
tion can best be resolved by the holding of an election, by secret ballot
and we shall so direct.
The parties are in dispute as to the determination of an eligibility
date. It is the Union's position that eligibility should be determined
as of February. 17, 1941, the day the Company was first notified by
the Union of its claim of majority representation and of its request
for recognition- and collective bargaining negotiations. The Com-
z Matter of Southern California Gas Company and Utility Workers Organizing Committee,
Local No 132, 10 N. L. R. •B. 1123.
8 Matter of Jamestown Steel Partition Company and Local 309, United Electrical, Radio d
Machine Workers of America, 29 N L R. B 116
194 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
pany urges that only men regularly in its employ prior to January
1, 1941, should be eligible to participate in the election. During the
past 2- years the number of production and maintenance employees
has varied considerably. At the time of the hearing there were 10
such employees; during.the first half of 1940 there were 12; and
in the second, about 20 to 26. In January and February 1941, 20
new men were added to meet, according to the Company, the demands
of a special order. By March, after the order had been satisfied,
these new ' men had been laid off. In all but one or two instances,
these lay-offs were made according to seniority. Harry Clark, presi-
dent' of the Company, testified that the competent men laid off will
be recalled as business warrants it. The Union contends that these
employees laid off should be entitled, to vote in the election. The
Company opposes the Union's contentidn. We are of the opinion
that these employees have been laid off temporarily and that they
have a sufficiently continuing interest in the wages, hours, and work-
ing conditions of employees of the Company to entitle them to par-
ticipate in the election. We shall follow our usual practice and direct
that the employees of the Company eligible to vote in the election
shall be those in the appropriate unit 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.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board make the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAw
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of All Steel Welded Truck Corporation, Rock-
ford, Illinois, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7)-of the Act.
2., All production and maintenance employees, and the truck driver,
excluding clerical, 'engineering, and supervisory employees constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the 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, and pursuant to Article III; Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations--Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
ALL STEEL WELDED TRUCK CORPORATION 195
A
DIRECTED that , as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with All Steel Welded Truck Corporation, Rockford , 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 of
Election , under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor 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, and the truck driver, of All Steel Welded
Truck Corporation, Rockford, Illinois, who were employed by it
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction , including employees who did not work during said pay-
roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active mili-,
tary service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid
off, but excluding clerical , engineering , and supervisory employees,
and employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause,
to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Inter-
national Union, United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
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