Bendix Aviation Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 22, 1944

54 N.L.R.B. 808 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of ECLIPSE AVIATION-PIONEER INSTRUMENT DIVISION,
BENDIx AVIATION CORPORATION and AIRCRAFT WORKERS UNION OF
NEw JERSEY, INC.
Case No. 2-R-4340.Decided January 22, 1944
Cassels,-Potter & Bentley, by Mr. E. H. Cassels, of Chicago, Ill.,
Mr. Andrew. Ormasby, of Teterboro, N. J., and Mr. David Irving, Jr.,
of Paterson, N. J., for the Company.
Mr. George F. Losclae, of Hackensack, N. J., and Mr. Armand R.
Dufour, of Hasbrouck Heights, N. J., for the Union.
Mr. Robert S'ilagi; of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND ,
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by Aircraft Workers Union
of New Jersey, Inc., herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Eclipse Aviation-Pioneer Instrument Division, Bendix
Aviation Corporation, Teterboro, New Jersey, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Cyril W. O'Gorman, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Hackensack, New Jersey, on November 29,
1943. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All
parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues. 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
I. ITHE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Bendix Aviation Corporation, a Delaware corporation, maintains
its principal office in South Bend, Indiana, and carries on its operations
54 N. L. R. B., No. 122.
808
ECLIPSE AVIATION-PIONEER INSTRUMENT DIVISION 809
through 11 divisions located throughout the country. This proceed-
ing is concerned solely with the division known as the Eclipse Avia-
tion-Pioneer Instrument Division which has its main. office in
Teterboro, New Jersey. Said division is engaged in the manufacture
of aircraft instruments and accessories. During the year prior to No-
vember 1, 1943, the division purchased raw materials consisting chiefly
of magnesium and steel, valued in excess of $1,000,000, 90 percent of
which was shipped to it from points located outside the State of New
Jersey. During the same period of time the division's sales of finished
products exceeded $1,000,000 in value, of which approximately 90 per-
cent was shipped to points outside the State of New Jersey. The
division is completely engaged in the manufacture of materials for
war purposes. .
The Company concedes that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Aircraft Workers Union of New Jersey, Inc., an unaffiliated labor
organization, admits to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Pursuant to a consent election agreement entered into by the Com-
pany, the Union, and International Union, United Automobile, Air-
craft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW-CIO),'
an election was held on June 8, 1943, which the Union won. There-
after, the Company and the Union commenced negotiations for a col-
lective bargaining agreement. Although the consent election agree-
ment excluded timekeepers from the list of employees eligible to vote
in the election, the Union nevertheless demanded that timekeepers
be added to the agreed unit. Upon the Company's refusal to nego-
tiate any contract except upon the basis of the agreed unit, the Union
filed its petition herein seeking to have the timekeepers added to the
unit agreed upon in the consent election. ° On November 15, 1943,
the parties executed a contract covering the employees in the agreed
unit, the Union, however, reserving its rights with respect to rep-
resenting the timekeepers by advising the Company that the status
of timekeepers would be held in abeyance pending the determination
of the Board.
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 unit hereinafter found appropriate!
' UAW-CIO was not represented at the present proceedings.
2 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 71 application -for-membership
cards, 65 of which bore apparently genuine original signatures and corresponded with the
names of persons listed on the Company's pay roll of October 27, 1943, which contained the
names of 106 employees in the appropriate unit. The cards are variously dated between
January 1942 and October 1943.
810 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
- 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
As indicated above, the parties signed a contract on November 15,
1943, covering all hourly paid employees of the Company, but exclud-
ing, among others, all clerical employees, employees of the accounting
department, and timekeepers. - The Union seeks to expand its contract
unit of production and maintenance employees by including time-
keepers therein. Alternatively, should the Board find that time-
keepers are not properly a part of said unit, the Union seeks to rep-
resent them in a separate unit. The Company opposes the inclusion
of the timekeepers in the broad production and maintenance unit, but
has no objection to the establishment of a separate unit on their
behalf.
The Company employs approximately, 100 timekeepers who are
scattered throughout the various plants comprising the division.
Timekeepers work in close association with counters. Both types of
employees keep records showing the time each production employee
spends in the plant and the volume of production, as well as other
records showing the time at which work was commenced and finished
on certain jobs. Some of these records are made by the timekeepers
and others are made from records submitted to the timekeepers by
the counters. Timekeepers ordinarily remain at their desks while
counters circulate throughout the plant. Ih general, counters make
up' the initial records pertaining to the -quantity of items produced'
and the time necessary to produce them, while timekeepers collate
such material. In certain plants of the division, no counters are
employed and the timekeepers at those places perform all the work
relating to keeping time and records of production. Whenever a
vacancy exists in a timekeeper's position, it is usually filled by pro-
moting a counter. Although both timekeepers and' counters are on
the accounting department pay roll and both are hourly paid, counters
are included in the present contract unit, whereas timekeepers are ex-
cluded. For a period of about 2 years prior to November 15, 1943,
timekeepers had been included in the Union's contracts covering pro-
duction and maintenance employees. The Company insists upon its
present position because it claims that a complete agreement between
.the parties with respect to the exclusion of timekeepers had been
reached after full discussion at the time the consent election agreement
was signed. The Company further points to the fact that of the dozen
separate divisions which it operates throughout the country, only one
functions under a contract in which timekeepers are included in the
ECLIPSE AVIATION-PIONEER INSTRUMENT DIVISION 811
production and maintenance unit. In addition, the Company relies
upon several recent cases 3 before the Board involving certain of its
,other divisions wherein timekeepers were excluded from units estab-
lished for production-and maintenance employees. In view of the fact
that timekeepers are a borderline group who have been frequently
excluded from units of production and maintenance employees,4 and
who are generally excluded from such units in the other divisions
of this Company, we see no reason to alter the disposition of this
category of employees affected by the consent election agreement. We
shall, therefore, establish a separate unit for the timekeepers.
We find that all timekeepers of the Company, at its Eclipse Avia-
tion-Pioneer Instrument Division, excluding the chief timekeeper,
assistant chief timekeeper,5 and any 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.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
""e shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees - in the appropriate unit 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.
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 Relations
Act, ad pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Eclipse Aviation-
Pioneer Instrument Division, Bendix Aviation Corporation, Teterboro,
New Jersey, 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
8 See Matter of Julien P Frieze and Sons, Division Bendix Corp, 47 N L R. B. 43;
Matter of Bendta Aviation , Ltd., 52 N. L R. B 1182: and Matter of Bendix Aviation Cor-
poration (Philadelphia Division ), 53 N L R. B. 869
See Matter of General Motors Corporation (Eastern Aircraft Division , Baltimore
Plant ), 52 N. L R. B. 954; Matter of General Motors, Eastern Aircraft, Trenton Division,
51 N L R B. 1366; Matter of Todd Shipyards Corporation ( Hoboken Division), 51
N. L. It. B. 1211, and Matte of United As, craft Products , Inc., 41 N. L. R. B. 501.
5 The parties agi ee and we find that the supervisory employees mentioned above should
be excluded from the unit
I
812 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
for the Second 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 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 em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present them-
selves 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 election, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by Aircraft Workers of New Jersey, Inc., for
the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.