Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 19, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 631 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ALLIS-CHALMERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY and
UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA,
LOCAL 239, CIO
Case No. 1-R-2380.-Decided April 19,1945
Mr. W. J. McGowan, of Milwaukee, Wis., for the Company.
Mr. Donald Tormey, of Boston, Mass., for the Union.
Mr. Harold M. Humphreys, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America, Local 239, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the represen-
tation of employees of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company,
Boston, Massachusetts, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Robert, E. Greene, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Boston, Massachusetts, on March 23, 1945. The Company and the
Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full op-
portunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rul-
ings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with
the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, a Delaware corporation
has its principal office and place of business at West Allis, Wisconsin.
It is generally engaged in the manufacture of machinery of various
types, and maintains manufacturing plants in La Crosse, Wisconsin ;
61 N. L. R. B., No. 95.
631
632 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Springfield, Illinois; Oxnard, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
Norwood, Ohio; La Porte, Indiana; and Boston, Massachusetts. This
proceeding involves only the Company's Boston, Massachusetts, plant,
at which it normally manufactures oil breakers, air blast breakers, and
switchgear. At the present time, however, the Company is engaged
in the manufacture of switchgear and war equipment, more than 60
percent of its production being of the latter type. In its Boston plant,
the Company uses raw materials consisting of steel, brass, copper and
wood, and numerous other miscellaneous articles, valued at more than
$2,000,000 annually, of which approximately 80 percent is shipped to
the plant from points outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The Company's annual sales of finished products at its Boston plant
are valued at more than $4,000,000, of which approximately 65
percent is shipped to points outside the Commonwealth of Mas-
sachusetts. The normal employment at the Boston plant is ap-
proximately 708 employees.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local
239, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant .recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the alleged appropriate unit.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
Pursuant to a written agreement, the Union, for some time, has been,
recognized by the Company as the collective bargaining representative
of the production and maintenance employees of the Boston plant,
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 18 application for member-
ship cards ; that the names of 17 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the
Company's pay roll of March 3, 1945 , which contained the names of 24 employees in the
alleged appropriate unit ; and 1 hat the cards were dated in February 1945.
ALLIS-CHALMERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY 633
excluding, inter alia, inspectors. The Union pow seeks to enlarge the
scope of the contractual unit by adding inspectors, employees who com-
prise Inspection Department R-28 of the Boston plant. Opposing the
Union's position, the Company contends that inspectors are charged
with duties of a supervisory nature and are identified with
management.
The employees sought merely perform functions entailing inspec-
tion duties which cannot be characterized as supervisory or managerial
in nature. In a prior proceeding involving inspectors of the Com-
pany's La Porte plant, employees whose functions are similar to those
of the inspectors here concerned, we concluded that they could properly
be added to an existing contractual unit covering production and main-
tenance employees.2 We perceive no reason to find otherwise with
regard to the inspectors of the Boston plant.
We agree with the parties that the chief inspector is a supervisory
employee within the meaning of our customary definition and, accord-
ingly, he will be excluded. One of the inspectors, Joseph P. Lamb,
frequently substitutes for the chief inspector, in the latter's absence,
and assumes all of his duties on such occasions. The Company requests
Lamb's exclusion, and the Union takes a contrary position. We are of
the opinion that Lamb possesses sufficient indicia of supervisory au-
thority to warrant his exclusion.
We find no merit in the Company's contention that August W.
Hallvardson, Joseph Vento, and Louise M. Martin are supervisory
employees. At the hearing, witnesses for the Company testified that
their duties are those of group leaders or key employees, and that they
all work under the direct supervision of the chief inspector. The
record does not reveal that they possess authority effectively to recom-
mend a change in the status of any other employees. In accordance
with the desire of the Union, we shall include them.
We shall direct that an election by secret ballot be held among
all inspectors employed by the Company in Inspection Department
R-28 of its Boston, Massachusetts, plant,3 excluding the chief in-
spector and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such action,' who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and
additions set forth in the Direction. In the event a majority of these
employees select the Union as their bargaining representative, they
thereby will have indicated their desire to be bargained for together
° See Matter of A1138-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, 54 N L. R. B 1303.
Hallvardson , Vento, and Martin, as above noted , are included as inspectors.
* Lamb, as indicated above, is excluded as a supervisory employee.
684 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
with the employees now • represented by the Union by virtue of itg
agreement with the Company.-'
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 Relations Act, and
pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DmEcTEn that, as part,of the investigation to ascertain represent-
atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Allis-Chalmers
Manufacturing Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 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 First Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among the employees in the voting group described in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who
did not work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in
the Armed forces of the United States who present themselves in per-
son at the polls, but excluding 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, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America, Local 239, CIO, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
" The Company would exclude from participation in the election a regular part-time em
ployee named Fate, a cooperative school student who works as an inspector on alternate
weeks He shall be eligible to vote See General Petroleum Corporation of California,
56 N. L. R. B. 1366.