American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 6, 1943

51 N.L.R.B. 96 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of AMERICAN RADIATOR & STANDARD SANITARY CoRPo-
RATION, PITTSBURGH WORKS and PETER DEMIcO , ANDREW LUCAS,
STANLEY KUSLOWSKI, LONNIE CIINNINGHAM, S. LOWE, GEORGE
NOVAOOVITCH , RICHARD ZIESE , & HARRY A. SHERMAN , ESQ., KNOWN
AS EMPLOYEES COMMrrTEE OF EIGHT
Case No. R-5547.-July 6, 1943
Mr. Arthur Wool f olk, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Messrs. Harry A. Sherman, Andrew Lucas, and Peter Demke, of
Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Committee.
Mr. David Scribner, of New York City, for the United.
Mr. Joseph E. Gubbins, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND -
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Employees Committee of Eight, un-
affiliated, herein called the Committee, alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of American Radiator & Standard Corporation, Pittsburgh Works,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice before Henry Shore, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 18, 1943. The Company, the
Committee, and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of
America, affiliated with the C. I. 0., herein called the United, ap-
peared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. At the commencement of the hearing, the
Committee made a motion to disqualify the Trial Examiner on the
grounds of prejudice and pre-judgment of the case. The Trial
Examiner reserved ruling for the Board. The record warrants no
I The name of the Company was erroneously designated as "American Radiator & Standard
sanitary Manufacturing Company, Woods Run Plant" in some of the formal papers, all of
which were corrected by amendment at the hearing.
51 N. L. R. B, No. 24.
96
AMERICAN RADIATOR & STANDARD SANITARY CORPORATION 97
finding that the Trial Examiner was biased or conducted himself in a
manner prejudicial to the interest of the Committee or any other
party in the proceedings. The motion is hereby denied. The Trial
Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file
briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record, in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation is a Dela-
ware corporation with its principal office in New York City. The
Company operates warehouses, manufacturing plants, and sales
offices in various States of the United States. This proceeding is
concerned with its Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, plant where it is en-
gaged in the manufacture of steel castings for the United States
Government. For the year 1942, the Company purchased raw mate-
rials for use at its Pittsburgh plant having an approximate value of
$1,200,000, approximately 50 percent of which was purchased from
sources located outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Dur-
ing the same period it manufactured products valued at approxi-
mately $2,782,000, of which 75 percent was shipped to points outside
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Company admits that it
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Employees Committee of Eight, unaffiliated, and United Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, are labor organizations admitting to
membership employees of- the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Committee as the exclusive
representative of the Company's employees until such time as the
Committee is certified by the Board.
On October 23, 1941, the United was certified by the Board as the
bargaining representative of the employees of the Company and,
shortly thereafter, entered into a contract with the Company which
was to be in effect until May 1, 1943, and to continue from year to
year thereafter unless either party gave written notice 30 days in
advance of expiration of its desire to alter or annul the agreement.
98 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The-United did give notice to the Company of its desire to change
the agreement, and neither the Company nor the United regards the
agreement as a bar to this proceeding.
A statement made by the Trial Examiner during the hearing and
a statement prepared by the Regional Director, introduced in evi-
dence, at the hearing, indicate that the Committee and the United
represent a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter
found,to be appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in substantial accordance with a stipulation of the parties,
that all production and maintenance employees at the Company's
Pittsburgh Works plant, excluding clerical employees (except plant
clerks), guards, foremen, and supervisory employees with authority
to•hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action," con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in said
Direction.
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-
I
s The Regional Director 's statement shows that the Committee submitted a petition bear-
ing 568 signatures , of which 554 appear to be genuine original signatures and are the names
of persons whose names are on the Company 's pay roll of May 13, 1943; there are 919 em,
ployees in the appropriate unit. The petition was signed on May 6 and 7, 1943 The United
submitted to the Trial Examiner 242 application -for-membership cards , 234 of which bear
apparently genuine signatures , and 185 of which bear names of persons whose names are
on the Company 's pay roll of May 13 , 1943. Two hundred and thirty -three of the cards
were dated between June 7 and 17 , 1943, and 9 were undated.
3 This is substantially the same unit which the Board found to be appropriate in the
Matter of American Radiator if Standard Sanitary Corporation, 35 N. L R . B. 172, decided
September 4, 1941, with the exception that guards are now excluded in view of the fact
that they are sworn in as auxiliaries of the War Department.
AMERICAN RADIATOR & STANDARD SANITARY CORPORATION 99
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DniuvrED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with American Radia-
tor & Standard Sanitary Corporation, Pittsburgh Works, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, 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 Direc-
tor for the Sixth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10,
of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed 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 temporarily laid off, and
including employees in the armed forces of the United States who
present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they
desire to be represented by Employees Committee of Eight, or by
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, affiliated
with the C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
540(112-44--S