Bakewell Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 31, 1943

48 N.L.R.B. 916 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the'Matter of.BAKEWELL MANUFACTURIS7G Co. and 'INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LODGE No. 311, AFL
Case No. R-497I.-Decided,March 31, 1943
Jurisdiction : aircraft parts manufacturing industry.
Practice and Procedure : petition dismissed when there was no appropriate unit
within its scope ; proposed unit confined to two of three plants of 'the company
found inappropriate.
Mr. E. L. Searle, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Roscoe V. Ickes, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Union.
Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
., DECISION
AND,
ORDER_
STATEMENT OF-THE CASE
Upon a second amended petition duly filed by International Asso-
ciation of Machinists, Local No. 311, AFL, herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of 'Bakewell Manufacturing Co., Los
Angeles, California, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing before Charles
M. Ryan, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Los Angeles,
California, on February 26, 1943. The Company and the Unions ap-
peared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be JZeard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi fence
bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Subsequent to the hearing, the Company filed a motion to reopen the
hearing. The motion is hereby denied for reasons hereinafter stated.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE, COMPANY
Bakewell Manufacturing Co., a 'copartnership, has a principal place
of business in Los Angeles, California, where it has three plants, the
48 N L. R. B.. No. 104.
916
-.BAKE^WELL 'MANUFACTURING' ^CO. - __ - : 917
only ones involved in-this proceeding, and-where it is engaged in the
manufacture of, aircraft parts, machine tools, and machine tool parts.
During the calendar year ending December 31, 1942, .the, Company
purchased for use at its Los Angeles plants, raw,material valued -ap-
proximately at $750,000, of which more than 10 percent was obtained
from points outside the State of California. During the,same period,
the Company's sales of finished products from its Los Angeles plants
amounted in value to approximately $3,000,000, of which about one-
half represented aircraft parts sold to aircraft corporations located
in Los Angeles and engaged in the production of water materials, the
remaining half consisting of machine tools and parts, 75 percent of
which was shipped to. points outside the State of California.' The
Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Association of Machinists, Lodge No. 311, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company:
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE.UNIT
The Union contends that the appropriate unit should consist of all
machinists, production and maintenance employees, stockroom.. em-
ployees,, inspectors, and truck drivers working at two, plants of the
Company located on 14th Street in the city of Los Angeles and exclud-
ing office, clerical, and supervisory employees with the right to hire
and discharge, plant guards and all employees working at the Com-
pany's third plant located on_ Santa Fe Avenue.. Although the Com-
pany is in agreement with the classification's of employees sought' to
be included and excluded by the Union, it urges that the employees
of the Santa Fe Avenue plant should be included within the appropri-
ate unit. - 1 ' . - -
The business of the Company was -formerly conducted under one
roof, but was divided into 3 separate plants due to necessary expansion
and lack of space at the original location. The 3 pl"ant"s ate situated
close together, the 2 on 14th Street-.being on opposite sides;0,the
-street. and a block and a half distant from the plant on- Santa Fe
'Avenue. " While the products manufactured at the 14th Street plants
can at present be completed without the aid of the Santa` Fe Avenue
plant, a change in the Company's business, contemplated-in- further-
ance`,of war„ production, would. require'the.use of -the heavier machinery
located'at"the-Santa Fe Avenue plant in conjunction with-that now
egis'ting',at the 14th Street plants. There is substantially no difference
in the type of work done at the various -plants of the Company, the
918 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
work in all cases being machine work. Undisputed evidence was
introduced by the Company to the effect that the same wage rate
exists for each classification of employees without regard to the plant
in which they are working and that all are paid on an hourly basis.
The employees in all 3 plants are equally eligible to membership in
the Union, which, though it has effectively organized only the 14th
'Street plants, has also attempted to organize the Santa Fe Avenue
-plant and has obtained therein a present membership of some 35 -
employees in a total of 119 employees at this plant within the classifica-
tions agreed upon as the appropriate unit. In addition, it appears not
only that there is a single personnel office covering employment at
a ll of the Company's plants, but also that there is but 1 pay roll and 1
accounting department to service all departments of the Company:
Moreover, in its first amended petition for certification, the Union
expressly requested an appropriate unit covering the same employees in
all plants of the Company.
Because of the similarity of operations and employee functions at
the Santa Fe Avenue plant to those of the other plants, its inter-
dependence as to personnel and management, and the fact that the
Union has not only partly organized the Santa Fe Avenue plant, but
at one time admittedly sought to include the employees in this plant
within the appropriate unit, we find that the unit requested by the
Union is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.'
in view of this finding, the Company's motion to reopen the hearing
is denied, since the evidence which would be adduced pursuant
thereto is immaterial to the present decision.
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition
is inappropriate, as stated in Section III, above, «,e find that no ques-
tion has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the
Company in an appropriate bargaining unit.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above-findings of fact,-and the entire record
in the case, the Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation
and certification of representatives of employees of Bakewell Manu-
facturing Co., Los Angeles, California, filed by International Associa-
tion of Machinists, Lodge No. 311, AFL, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
1 See Matter of Sears Roebuck it Co . and United Wholesale it Warehouse Employees of
New York Local 65, 010, 35 N. L R B 1036 Matter of The Lima Kenton Grocery Coin-'
piny and Local Union No 308, International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Stable-
men it Helpers (AFL), 29 N L R B 85, see also Matter of Sears Roebuck it Company
and Local Union 18, United Retail , Wholesale it Department Store Employees of America,
CIO, 45 N. L. R. B. 961. .