Chicago Flexible Shaft Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 22, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 848 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of CHICAGO FLExIBLE SHAFT COMPANY and DISTRICT
50, UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA
Case No. 13-R-.3812.-Decided February 02, 1945
Mr. Clarence J. Uhlir, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. Charles K. Ka f atra,
of'Danville, Ill., for the Company.
Messrs. Odus Hughes and Ralph MeCaslin, of Danville, Ill., for
District 50.
Mr. T. Louis Majors, of Chicago, Ill., for the U. E.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CA SE
Upon petition duly filed by District 50, United Mine Workers of
America, herein celled District 50, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Chicago Flexible Shaft Company, Westville, Illinois, herein called the
-Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Gustaf B. Erickson, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Danville, Illinois, on January
30, 1945. At the commencement of the hearing, the Trial Examiner
granted a motion of United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of
America, C. I. 0., herein called the U. E., to intervene. The Company,
District 50, and the U. E. appeared, participated, and were afforded
full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.- During the course
of the hearing the U. E. moved to dismiss the petition. The Trial
Examiner reserved ruling thereon. The motion is hereby denied.
District 50 moved to exclude the U. E. from the ballot in the event
the Board directs an election. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling
thereon. The motion is hereby granted for the reasons stated in Sec-
tion V, infra. 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.
60 N L. R B., No. 142.
848
CHICAGO FLEXIBLE SHAFT COMPANY 849
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Chicago Flexible Shaft Company has its principal offices at Chicago,
Illinois. We are here concerned with its plant'at Westville, Illinois,
where it is engaged in the manufacture of electric irons. Over 50
percent of the materials used at its Westville plant is shipped to the
Company from points outside the State of Illinois. Since August
1944 the ' Company ,sold products from its Westville plant valued in
excess of $700,000, over 50 percent of which was shipped to points
outside the State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
District 50, United Mine Workers of America, is a labor organiza-
tion, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On December 6, 1944, District 50 requested the Company to recog-
nize it as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the
employees at the Westville plant of the Company. The Company
refused this request until such time as District 50 is certified by the
Board.
On April 22, 1944, the Company and the U. E. entered into an
exclusive collective bargaining contract covering the employees at the
Chicago plant of the Company. The U. E. contends that the contract
constitutes a bar to the instant proceeding. At the time the U. E.
entered into the contract with the Company, the Wesville plant was
not yet in existence; that plant was started during August 1944. All
employees at the Westville plant were recruited from in and around
Westville, and with the exception of two supervisory employees none
of them were transferred from the Chicago plant. At no time have
the employees of the Westville plant been advised of the Chicago
contract, nor have the terms of that contract been applied at the West-
ville plant. In view of the above facts and our finding in Section IV,
infra, that the employees at the Westville plant constitute a separate
unit, we conclude that the contract does not constitute a bar to a deter-
mination of representatives at the Westville plant.
628563-45-vol 60-55
850 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that District 50 represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be
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
District 50 urges that all employees at the Westville plant of the
Company, excluding office, clerical, and supervisory employees, con-
stitute an appropriate unit. The only controversy with respect to the
unit concerns watchmen. District 50 would include them in the unit,
while the Company and the U. E. would exclude them.
The Company employs one watchman who is neither armed, uni-
formed, nor militarized. The record discloses that the watchman
spends 7 out of 8 working hours daily firing boilers and performing
janitorial work. We shall include him in the unit.
We find that all employees of the Company employed at its West-
ville, Illinois, plant, including watchmen, but excluding office and
clerical employees and all 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
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by means of 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.
District 60 contends that the U. E. should not be accorded a place on
the ballot. Although afforded several opportunities to do so, the
U. E. did not present any' evidence of representation among the em-
ployees at the Westville plant and its representatives stated at the
hearing that it had no such representation. Accordingly, we shall not
accord it a place on the ballot.
'The Field Examiner reported that District 50 presented 40 membership application
cards. There are approximately 50 employees in the appropriate unit. The U. E. did not
present any evidence of representation among the employees at the Westville plant.
CHICAGO FLEXIBLE SHAFT COMPANY 851
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,
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 repre-
sentatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Chicago
Flexible Shaft Company, Westville, Illinois, 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,
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 Reg-
ulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately 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 election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented,
by District 50, United Mine Workers of America, for the purposes
of collective bargaining.