Bell Aircraft Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 22, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1352 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of BELL AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, ORDNANCE DIVISION
and UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT
WORKERS of AMERICA (UAW-CIO)
Case No. 1-R-86.-Decided May 20, 1945
Mr. Robert A. Gaffney, of Niagara Falls, N. Y., and Messrs. Bryant
H. Prentice and William D. Robertson, of Burlington, Vt., for the
Company.
1-Vitt d Cammer, by Abraham Levin, Esq., of New York City, for
the Union.
Mr. Benj. E. Cook, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Automobile, Air-
craft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW-CIO),
herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Bell Aircraft
Corporation, Ordnance Division, Burlington, Vermont, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before John W. Coddaire, Jr.,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Burlington, Vermont, on
March 27, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and partici-
pated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing
are free frpm prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties
were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
61 N. L. R. B., No. 218.
1352
BELL AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 1353
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY
Bell Aircraft Corporation is a New York corporation. It operates
plants at Marietta, Georgia, Buffalo, New York, and Burlington, Ver-
mont. The Burlington plant, the only one involved in this proceeding,
is engaged in the manufacture of gun mounts and other ordnance
material. During the calendar year 1944, the Company's purchases
of raw materials exceeded in value $2,000,000, 75 percent of which was
shipped from points outside the State of Vermont. For the same
period the Company sold finished products in excess of $10,000,000,
all of which was shipped to points outside that State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers
of America, 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 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
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
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
The Union requests that all employees in the Production Control
Department, including the lead dispatcher, but excluding the chief
dispatcher and those employees it currently represents,2 and all em-
ployees in the Inspection Department, including group leaders, crib
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 173 cards , all of which bore
apparently genuine original signatures ; the Company 's pay roll was not checked ; the cards
were dated June, July, August, October , November, and December 1944, and January 1945
' As the result of a consent election held on February 1, 1944, the Union was selected as
bargaining representative of a unit composed of all production and maintenance employees.
which included therein the following employees of the Production Control Department
junior and senior dispatchers, truck operators. material handlers. and material counters.
1354 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
attendants, and laboratory technicians, but excluding clerical em-
ployees and the head of the laboratory, be included in the production
and maintenance unit it currently represents. It further contends
that the employees of the Timekeeping Department, including the
lead timekeepers, but excluding the chief timekeeper and the assistant
timekeeper, constitute a separate appropriate unit. The Company
contends that the inspectors should constitute a separate appropriate
emit because of their identity with management, and that the time-
keepers and the Production Control employees should be included in
a unit comprising all clerical employees of the Company.3
Production Control Department: This department records the
progress in production operations through the entire plant. As pre-
viously indicated, all employees of this department except the chief
dispatcher, the lead dispatcher, stenographer, secretaries, typists, and
group leaders are already included in the existing production and
maintenance unit. Although the employees in this department are
separated by a partition from the other employees in the plant, they
all work on the same floor. Since the employees now sought by the
Union are in the same department, and have the same working condi-
tions and supervision as those Production Control employees already
included in the production and maintenance unit, we see no reason
why these employees may not also be included therein.4 We shall,
however, permit the preference of the Production Control employees
to determine whether or not they shall be added to the existing unit
of production and maintenance employees, and to that end shall order
a self-determination election. If at such election these employees
select the Union, they will have thereby indicated their desire to be
included in a unit with the production and maintenance employees,
and the Union may accordingly bargain for them as a part of such
unit.,,
Group leaders: The Union would include and the Company exclude
the group leaders in the Production Control Department. Since the
evidence discloses that group leaders supervise employees engaged in
the scheduling and releasing of material and have authority to hire
and discharge such employees, we shall exclude them.
Inspection Department: There are approximately 100 inspectors.
It is their duty to inspect parts produced by the production workers.
While they are responsible for the quality of the work and in certain
instances have authority to shut down the'machines, they do not super-
vise production employees in the sense that they have the power to
hire, discharge, lay off, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in their
3 There is no established clerical unit
4 See Matter of Goodman Manufacturing Company , 58 N L R B 531
See Matter of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, La Porte Works, 54 N. L R B.
1303
BELL AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 1355
status.e We have frequently held that inspectors having duties sim-
ilar to those here involved may participate in collective bargaining,
and have included them in units with production and maintenance
employees.7 No sufficient reason here appears why the inspectors may
not be so included. We shall, however, as in the case of the Produc-
tion Control employees, permit the preference of the inspectors to
determine whether or not they shall be added to the existing unit of
production and maintenance employees, and to that end shall order
a self-determination election. If, at such election, these employees
select the Union they will have thereby indicated their desire to be
included in a unit with the production and maintenance employees,
and the Union may accordingly bargain for them as a part of such
unit.,,
Timekeeping Department: The employees in this department per-
form the customary duties of timekeepers. About 40 percent of their
time is spent in the plant securing information regarding employees'
attendance and hours of employment. The remainder of their time
is devoted to clerical work at their office desks. The Board has fre-
quently found that timekeepers can constitute an appropriate unit for
collective bargaining and there are no circumstances here presented
to justify a departure from such a well established practice .9
We find that all timekeepers at the Company's plant in Burlington,
Vermont, including the lead timekeepers but excluding the chief time-
keepers and assistant timekeepers 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, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
We shall direct elections among employees in the timekeepers' unit
set forth above and among the following Production Control and
Inspection employees who were employed during the pay roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
(1) All employees of the Production Control Department, includ-
ing lead dispatchers and clerical employees but excluding all produc-
tion and maintenance employees, junior and senior dispatchers, mate-
rial handlers and material counters, group leaders, chief dispatchers,
and all or any other supervisory employees with authority to hire,
6 See Matter of Dortch Stove Works , Inc., 58 N . L R B 431 ; Matter of Industrial Rayon
Corporation , 56 N. L . R. B. 547.
7 See Matter of All's -Chalmers Manufacturing Company, La Poste Works , 54 N L R B.
1303.
8 See footnote 5, supra
9 See Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company , Shipbuilding Division ( Hoboken Yards), 59
N L. R B. 1376 , Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company, Shihbuildinq Division (Boston
Yards ), 60 N L. R. B. 203.
1356 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR . RELATIONS BOARD
promote, discharge , discipline , or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees , or effectively recommend such action;
(2) All Inspection Department employees , including laboratory
technicians , crib attendants , group leaders , and lead inspectors but
excluding all clerical employees , head of the laboratory , foremen,
subforemen , and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, discharge , discipline , or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees or effectively recommend such action.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Bell Aircraft
Corporation , Ordnance Division , Burlington , Vermont, elections 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, in the unit of timekeeping employees and the Production Con-
trol Department and Inspection Department groups described 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 and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elections, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Interna-
tional Union , United Automobile , Aircraft & Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, (T?AW-CIO), for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
MR. JOHN M. HouSTON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections.