Bendix Aviation Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 21, 1942

39 N.L.R.B. 81 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of BENDIX PRODucTS DlvlsioN or BENDIX AVIATION
CORPORATION and PATTERN MAKERS LFLaoui OF NORTH AMERICA,
SOUTH BEND ASSOCIATION, AFFILIATED WITH THE A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-3026. Decided February 01, 194,2
Jurisdiction : automobile and aircraft parts manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal to accord union recognition until certified by the Board ; election nec-
essary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : election' directed among pattern
makers to permit them to determine whether or not they desire to constitute
a separate unit or remain a part of an industrial unit
Mr. Marvin A. Heidt, of South Bend, Ind., for the Company.
Mr. Joseph A. Padway, by Mr. Henry Kaiser, of Washington, D. C.,
and Mr. Roy E. Rogers, of Hammond, Ind., for the League.
Mr. Oliver A. Switzer, of South Bend, Ind., for the U. A. W.
Mr. Charles W. Schneider, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 21, 1941, Pattern Makers League of North America, South
Bend Association, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
herein called the League, filed with the Regional Director for the
Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Bendix Products Division of Bendix Aviation Cor-
poration,) South Bend, Indiana, herein called the Company, and
requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur-
suant to Section 9 (c)' of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat.
449, herein called the Act. On September 8, 1941, the National Labor
Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules-and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered
x As amended at the hearing with respect to the name of the Company.
39 N. L. R B, No 18.
81
82 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct
it, and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On September 9, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the- Company, the
League, and also upon Bendix Local No. 9, United Automobile,
Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, C. I. 0.,
herein called the U. A. W., a labor organization claiming to represent
employees directly affected by the investigation.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on September 17, 1941,
at South Bend, Indiana, before Lester Asher, the Trial Examiner
duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company, the
League, and the U. A. W. -were represented by counsel or duly
authorized representatives and participated in the hearing. Full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues, was afforded all
parties. During the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made
several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of
evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Exam-
iner, and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to notice duly served upon the parties, a hearing for the
purpose of oral argument was held before the Board in Washington,
D. C., on November 13,'1941. The League and the U. A. W. were
represented by counsel and participated in the argument. The U.
A. W. filed a brief which the board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Bendix Aviation Corporation, of which the Bendix Products Di-
vision is a part, is a corporation organized under the laws of the
State of Delaware. The Bendix Products Division has its principal
office and plant in South Bend, Indiana, where it is engaged in the
manufacture, sale, and distribution of automobile and aircraft parts
consisting principally of carburetors, brakes, and parts therefor.
Between January 1 and September 1, 1941, the Bendix Products
Division purchased raw materials consisting of steel, zinc, brass,
aluminum, scrap iron, coal, oil, salt, acid, sand, brick, and lumber,
totaling approximately 52,232,000 pounds, of which about 13,952,000
pounds were obtained from sources outside the State ofI Indiana.
During the same period the Division manufactured, sold, and dis-
tributed finished products weighing approximately 29,274,000 pounds.
Of the total volume of goods produced during'that period, approx-
i
BENDIX AVIATION CORPORATION 83
imately 22,486,000 pounds were shipped to points outside the State
of Indiana. The Division employs over 7,000 persons.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Pattern Makers League of North America, South Bend Associa-
tion, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Bendix Local No. 9, United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricul-
tural Implement Workers of America, is a labor organization affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has consistently refused upon request, to recognize
the League as collective bargaining representative of the Company's
pattern makers; without certification by the Board.
Both unions submitted evidence that they represent a substantial
number of employees within the unit alleged by the' League to be
appropriate.2
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tends to lead to-labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The League claims that a unit composed of the pattern makers
and apprentices, but excluding supervisors, and checkers and lay-out
men who are not pattern makers, is appropriate for the purposes
2 The League submitted to the Regional Director 10 undated membership cards, all
bearing apparently genuine original signatures , which were the names of persons on the
Company's August 6, 1941 , pay roll . The August 6 pay roll showed 14 employees in the
unit alleged by the League to be appropriate.
The U. A. W. submitted to the Regional Director a "certified list of the names of dues-
paying members" employed in the League 's unit This list contained 10 names, of which
3 are noted as delinquent and 1 as having paid no dues . All 10 are the names of persons
on the August 6 pay roll.
Six of the names on the August 6 pay roll are claimed as members by both unions.
From testimony adduced at the hearing , it appears that six employees within the
- League's unit resigned their membership in the U. A. W. on July 1, 1941.
84 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
,of collective bargaining. The U. A. W. contends chat such a unit is
inappropriate for the reason that the appropriate unit is plant-wide.
The Company takes no position with reference to the dispute.
So far as appears from the record, the first labor organization
among the Company's employees was a Federal Union which was
chartered by the American Federation of Labor on July 28, 1933.3
From September 1933 to October 1, 1935, when the Federal trans-
ferred its affiliation to the C. I. O. and became the U. A. W., the
Company dealt with the Federal as the bargaining representative of
its members only in a unit covering substantially all the Company's
hourly paid employees.4 Thereafter the Company bargained with'
the U. A. W., also for members only. Up to ,that time, except for
an apparently short-lived 'Employees Association, no other labor
organization appeared in the plant.
In 1936, however, the League began to organize pattern makers in
the South Bend area. Several of the Company's pattern makers
joined and became charter members of the South Bend Association,
which was chartered by the League on October 1, 1936. Rogers,
District Secretary-Treasurer of the League, testified that by the
summer of 1937 a majority of the Company's pattern makers were
members of the League.
On June 28, 1937, the U. A. W. filed a petition for certification
as bargaining representative of the Company's hourly-paid employees,
with certain exceptions. Hearings were held on this petition from
August 2 to August 4, 1937. The League was not served with notice
of the proceedings. Some weeks after those hearings, a representa-
tive of the League appeared at the Regional Office of the Board to
file a petition requesting separate representation for the pattern
makers, at which time (the League contends) it received its first
knowledge of the proceedings. The petition which the League then
filed 'was subsequently dismissed without hearing.,'
On September 16, 1937, the Board, on the basis of a pay-roll check
by the Company and the U. A. W., certified the U. A. W. as exclu-
sive representative of the hourly paid employees of the Company,
including apprentices, factory clerks, and time checkers, but exclud-
ing other clerical workers and supervisory employees.s This unit
included the pattern makers.
3 See Matter of Bendix Products Corporation and Local 9, International Union, Unitea
Automobile Workers of America, 1 N L R. B 173 -
4 The Company issued unilateral memoranda and statements of policy embodying agree-
ments reached as a result of this bargaining, but apparently no bilateral signed contracts
resulted
, January 12, 1938, Matter of Bendix Products Corporation and Pattern Makers' Asso-
ciation of South Bend Case No XIII-R-153.
6 Matter of Bendix Products Corporation and International Union, United Automobile
Workers of America, Bendix'Local No 9, 3 N L R. B 682
BENDIX AVIATION CORPORATION 85
However, there is no definite evidence in the record before the
'Board of any exclusive bargaining agreement between the Company
and • the U. A. W. until September 11, 1939, when a contract was
signed recognizing the U: A. W. as exclusive representative of all
hourly paid employees, excluding superintendents, foremen, assistant
foremen, time-study, administrative office and salaried employees.
This contract was renewed on November 15, 1940, effective for 1 year
and to continue thereafter until either party should give 60 days'
notice of a desire to amend it.
In the meantime, on August 13, 1938, the League filed another peti-
tion for certification which was dismissed on October 7, 1939, after
hearing,7 and on July 21, 1941, it filed the present petition.
During this entire period the League maintained its identity as a
labor organization in the plant, and resisted the efforts of the U. A. W.
to secure additional membership in the pattern-makers group.
Pressure was brought to bear in the fall of 1937 on 7 com-
pany pattern makers who were not U. A. W. members, to force
them to join that union, and League members were escorted
to work by plant, police. Despite a similar occurrence in 1939
they continued to maintain their affiliation with the League, and
persistently demanded separate representation. Prior to the sign-
ing of each contract,with the U. A. W. the League objected to
the inclusion of the pattern makers in the agreements. On Septem;
ber 2, 1939, in a letter to the Company, the League stated that it was
informed that the U. A. W. had called a strike to secure a closed-
shop contract; protested the negotiation of such an agreement; and
denied that the pattern makers were participating in the strike.
Again, on December 11, 1939, the, League mailed to the Company a
petition signed by 9 of the Company's 13 pattern makers requesting
that the Company meet with the League as their bargaining repre-
sentative. In an accompanying letter the League repeated its
demand for recognition. In addition, there were other demands for
bargaining recognition each year up to the present time. The Com-
pany refused every such request. Despite the refusal of recognition,
Heidt, the Company's Director of Industrial Relations, had a num-
ber of conferences with Conrad, a pattern maker employed by the
Company and also business agent of the League, with respect to cer-
tain grievances of pattern makers 8 Although the U. A. W. insists
that such negotiations did not constitute bargaining, and contends
that Conrad had a personal interest in some of the grievances, Con-
4 Matter of Bendnx *Products Corp. and Pattern Makers Association of South Bend, 15
N. L R. B 965.
8 Heidt stated at the hearing that although he conferred with Conrad on a number of
occasions with reference to pattern makers' grievances , Conrad was recognized only as an
individual and not as a representative of any group of pattern makers.
86 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
rad's activities resulted in improved conditions for other pattern
makers than himself., As a consequence of one of his discussions with
the Company, a wage differential between wood and metal pattern
makers which had been established by the Company with the consent
of the U. A. W., was discontinued. Conrad's intervention also pre-
vented the lay-off of 1 of the men. He was consulted with reference
to supplying pattern makers and with reference to starting wages,
and even with respect to personnel problems among the pattern
makers.
In view of all the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the
considerations are sufficiently balanced to make the desires of the
pattern makers themselves controlling in our determination of the
type of unit through which they shall bargain.9 The history of em-
ployee organization within the • Company, the 1937 certification of
the U. A. W. as the representative of the industrial unit, the 1939
dismissal of the League's petition for a separate pattern makers' unit,
the U. A. W.'s exclusive bargaining contract with the Company, and
the benefits which the pattern makers and other employees have
received alike as a result of U. A. W. bargaining, all indicate the
appropriateness of an industrial unit including the pattern makers.
On the other hand, the industrial unit was established without the
acquiescence of the pattern makers and without notice to the League.
The League had filed its first petition for certification 1° prior to the
time the U. A. W. obtained its first exclusive recognition contract.
Furthermore, the League had maintained and even extended its mem-
bership among the pattern makers for nearly 5 years despite the lack
of formal recogntion. The pattern makers have resisted strong pres-
sure to abandon the League and to join the industrial unit and have
made unceasing efforts to secure separate representation. All these
circumstances are strongly persuasive of the appropriateness of a
separate unit of pattern makers.
Accordingly we shall direct an election among the pattern makers
and apprentices of the Company to determine whether they desire to
be represented by the League or by the U. A. W. or by neither. If
the majority of these employees chooses the League, they shall con-
stitute a separate unit for bargaining purposes; if a majority chooses
the Industrial, the petition will be dismissed and the pattern makers
will remain a part of the industrial unit.
'Matter of Globe Machine and Stamping Company and Metal Polishers Union, Local
No. 3, et at., 3 N. L. R. B . 294; see Matter of The Maryland Dry Dock Company and
Baltimore Assn. Pattern Makers, Pattern Makers' League of North America , 23 N. L. R. B.
917; Matter of General Electric Company and Pattern Makers' League of North America,
A. F L, 29 N. L. R. B. 162; Matter of Sullivan Machinery Company and International
Union, United Automobile Workers of America, C. I. 0, 31 N. L. R. B . 749; Matter of
Mullins Manufacturing Corporation and Pattern Makers League of North America, 31
N. L. R. B 532; Lakey Foundry and Machine Company and Pattern Makers Association
of Muskegon, 34 N. L. R. B 677
10 November 4, 1937.
BENDIX AVIATION CORPORATION 87
The League has requested 'exclusion of checkers and `lay-out men
who are not pattern makers. It appears that there is but one such
checker and lay-out man. He is engaged' in checking sample cast-
ings. Since the' record discloses that he is not a pattern maker and
is not eligible for membership in- the League, he will be excluded
from the election unit. The League also requested the exclusion
of supervisors and in accordance with our usual practice we shall .
exclude supervisors from the voting unit.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has.
arisen can best be resolved by an election'by secret ballot. We shall
direct that the employees of the Company eligible to vote in the
election shall be those in the appropriate unit employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of
Election, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction. -
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSION OF, LAW
A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Bendix Products Division of Bendix Avia-
tion Corporation, South Bend, Indiana, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
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-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 2,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Bendix Products Division, of Bendix Aviation Corporation,
South Bend, Indiana, 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 Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) act-
ing in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations,
among all pattern makers and pattern-maker apprentices who were
employed by the Company during the pay-roll period immediately
88 DECISIONS 'OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees
who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation; or in the active military service or training of the
United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding checkers and
lay-out men who are not pattern makers, and 'supervisory employees,
.and those who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to de-
termine, whether they desire to be represented by Pattern Makers
League of North America, South Bend Association, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, or by Bendix Local No. 9, United
Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
Mr. GERARD D. REILLY concurring :
I concur in the foregoing decision. In 1937,11 when the Board first
determined the unit appropriate for collective bargaining by em-
ployees of the Company, the League, although it had membership
among the Company's pattern makers, received no notice of the pro-
ceeding and was not a party -thereto. At the hearing before the
Board in that case the parties were agreed that the appropriate unit
should include all hourly paid employees among whom were the pat-
tern makers. The appropriateness of a separate unit of pattern
makers was not in issue. In 1939,12 when the Board considered a
petition for a separate unit of pattern makers, the majority opinion 13
calling attention to the original determination of the unit dismissed
the petition ipso facto. In other words, there was no discussion of
the merits of a separate craft unit for pattern makers.
While I am not convinced by the record -in the instant case that the
Board erred in its prior decisions holding that a plant unit was the
appropriate one for collective bargaining in this particular Division
of Bendix Aviation Corporation, I concur in the result reached by
my colleagues.
Therefore, this is the first case-in which the Board has considered
the respective contentions of the advocates of craft and industrial
unionism in this plant. , -
Under such circumstances, I think the Board should reexamine the
issue, considering such factors as the prevailing custom in the indus-
11In the Matter of Bendix Products Corporation and International Union, United Auto-
mobile Workers of America, Bendix Local No. 9, 3 N. L R. B 682.
1' In the Matter of Bendix Products Corp. and Pattern Makers Association of South Bend,
15 N. L R. B. 965 ,
13 In a dissenting opinion, Chairman Madden disagreed with the dismissal on the ground
that the facts warranted an election giving the pattern makers their choice of bargaining,
either through their craft representatives or the representatives of the U A W , pursuant
to the doctrine of Globe Machine and Stamping Co. and Metal Polishers Union, Local No. 3,
et al., 3 N . L. R. B. 294.
BENDIX AVIATION CORPORATION 89
try, the history of previous collective bargaining, and other relevant
matters. See Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company (Shipbuilding
Division), et al 14 In this case, the, facts presented are too closely
balanced to pronounce a judgment in favor of either contention. I
therefore concur with the course the majority has adopted in letting
the pattern makers themselves determine whether they wish to be
represented by the organization designated by the entire plant unit
or to bargain through their own craft representatives.
" 33 N L R. B. 1064.
In the Matter of BENDIX PRODUCTS DIVISION OF BENDIx AVIATION COR-
PORATION and PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH
BEND ASSOCIATION, AFFILIATED WITH THE A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-3026
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
March, 28, 1942
On February 21, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board issued a
Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceedings.'
Pursuant to the Direction of Election, an election by secret ballot was
conducted on March 12, 1942, under the direction and 'supervision of
the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois),
among the pattern makers, and pattern-maker apprentices, but exclud-
ing checkers and lay-out men who are not pattern makers, and also
excluding supervisory employees, of Bendix Products Division of
Bendix Aviation Corporation, South Bend, Indiana, herein called the
Company. On March 13, 1942, the Regional Director, acting pursuant
to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, issued an Election Report,
copies of which were duly served upon the parties. No objections to
the conduct of the ballot or the Election Report have been filed by any
of the parties.
As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Number eligible------------------------- -------------------- 13
Number of ballots cast--------------------------- 13
Number of blank ballots_____________________________________ _0
Number of void ballots______________________________________ 0
Number of ballots challenged ( not opened ) -------------------- 0
Number of valid ballots counted ------------------------------ 13
Number of valid ballots necessary for majority ---------------- 7
Number of valid ballots cast for Pattern Makers League of North
America, South Bend Association A. F. L------------------- 10
139 N. L. R. B. 81.
39 N. L . R. B., No. 18a.
90
BENDIX PRODUCTS DIVISION 91
Number of valid ballots cast for Bendix Local No. 9, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America, C. I 0------------------------------------------ 3
Number of valid ballots cast for neither----------------------- 0
Upon the basis of the entire record, the Board makes the following :
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The pattern makers and pattern-maker apprentices employed at
the South Bend, Indiana, plant of the Company, excluding checkers
and lay-out mdn who are not pattern makers, and also excluding super-
visory employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. Pattern Makers League of North America, South Bend Associa-
tion, affiliated with, the American Federation of Labor, has been desig-
nated and selected by a majority of the employees in the unit described
in paragraph 1, above, as their representative for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining, and is the exclusive representative of all such
employees within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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,
49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and 9, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
IT IS IIEdiEBY CERTIFIED'that Pattern Makers League 'of North Amer-
ica, South Bend Association, affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, has been designated and selected by_a majority of the pattern
makers and pattern-maker apprentices of Bendix Products Division
of Bendix Aviation Corporation, South Bend, Indiana, but excluding
checkers and lay-out -men who, are not pattern makers, and also exclud-
ing supervisory employees, as their representative for the purposes of
collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, Pattern Makers League of North America,
South Bend Association, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the
purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages,
hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.
U.