Chrysler Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 30, 1941

33 N.L.R.B. 927 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of DODGE BROTHERS DIVIsIoN-CHRYSLER CoRPORATIoN
and SOCIETY OF DESIGNING ENGINEERS CHAPTER #201-F. A. E.
C. T.-C. I. O. -
In the Matter of CHRYSLER CORPORATION and SOCIETY OF DESIGNING
ENGINEERS CHAPTER #201-F. A. E. C. T.-C. I. O.
Cases Nos. R-663 and R-2664.-Decided July 30, 1941
Jurisdiction : automobile and airplane parts manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of questions:
dispute as to appropriate units ; refusal to accord union recognition until it
is certified by the Board ; elections necessary.
Units Appropriate for Collective bargaining : ( 1) Dodge Unit : tool , die, and
fixture engineers , designers , follow-up men, tool trouble men ; engineering
record clerks included over Company's objection ; executives and supervisory
employees excluded ; (2) Chrysler Unit: employees engaged in lay-out, draft-
ing, clay modeling , blackboard lay-out, designing , checking and detailing ;
employees engaged in corresponding duties in aviation division included
over Company's objection ; executives and supervisory employees excluded.
Larkin, Rathbone d Perry, by Mr. John D. Leary, of New York
City, for the Company.
Mr. Jack N. Tucker, of Detroit, Mich., for the Union.
Mr. Armin Uhler, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On March 27, 1941, Society of Designing Engineers Chapter
#201-F. A. E. C. T.-C. I. 0., herein called the Union, filed with
the Regional Director for the Seventh Region (Detroit, Michigan)
a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees in the Dodge Brothers
Division-Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, herein called
the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives, pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On April 18,
1941, they Union filed a similar petition with respect to employees
in the Passenger Car Body Engineering Division of the Company
at Detroit, Michigan. On June 9, 1941, the National Labor Rela-
33 N. L R. B., No. 166
927
928 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tions Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered
investigations with respect to each of the petitions and authorized the
Regional Director to conduct them and to provide for an appropriate
hearing-upon due notice, and, acting pursuant to Article III, Section
10: (c) (2), of said Rules and Regulations, further ordered that the
two cases be consolidated.
On June 12, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union,
and upon International Union, United Automobile Workers of
America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations."
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on June 23, 1941, at Detroit,
Michigan, before Robert J. Wiener, the Trial Examiner duly desig-
nated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company and the Union
were represented by counsel 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. In the course of the hearing the Union moved to amend
its petitions regarding its claims concerning the appropriate units.2
The Trial Examiner granted the motion and the Union thereupon
filed amended petitions which were admitted in evidence by the Trial
Examiner over the Company's objections. During the course of the
hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on other motions
and objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed
the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial
errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On July 24, 1941, the Company moved the Board to correct the
transcript of the record herein in certain respects. The Board has
examined the requested corrections and finding them to be immaterial
to the decision of the case hereby grants the motion. The corrections
are hereby made a part of the record.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Chrysler Corporation, a Delaware corporation with its principal
office in Detroit, Michigan, is primarily engaged in the manufacture
and sale of automobiles, parts, and accessories. In recent times it
has also undertaken the manufacture of airplane parts under defense
contracts. The Company maintains manufacturing plants in the
1 This organization did not appear at the hearing.
2 The scope of the amendments is set forth below in Section V.
DODGE -BROTHERS DIVISION-CHRYSLE'R CORPORATION 929'
States of Michigan, Indiana, and California. This proceeding con-
cerns only employees of the Company in the Master Mechanics' Divi-
sion of its Dodge Main Plant and in the Passenger Car- Body Engi-
neering Division, at Detroit, Michigan.
The raw materials used by the Company at ' its plants annually
approximate in value $240,000,000, and - the value of its finished
products is approximately $625,000,000 per year. Approximately 45
per cent of the materials used and approximately 75 per cent of the
products manufactured at its plants are transported in interstate
commerce. .
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Society of Designing Engineers, Chapter #201-Federation
of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians is a labor organi
zation affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company in the above-described
divisions at Detroit, Michigan.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 1, 1941, and on April 1, 1941, respectively, the Union-
requested the Company to recognize it as the exclusive representative
of certain employees in the Master Mechanics' Division of the Dodge
Main Plant and of certain employees in the Passenger Car Body
Engineering Division of the Highland Park plant of the Company.
On March 12, 1941, and on April 15, 1941, respectively, the Company
informed the Union that it had no evidence that the Union rep-
resented a majority of the employees in question, and therefore re-
fused the Union's request for recognition. Two reports prepared
by the Regional Director and introduced in evidence show that the
Union represents a substantial number of employees in each of the
units found below to be appropriate.3
We find that questions have arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
UPON COMMERCE
We find that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I, above, have a close, intimate, and substantial
'The Regional Director reported that applications for membership in the Union and
dues records of the Union had been submitted to him and that the names appearing on
the application for membership cards correspond to a substantial number of names listed _
on the Company 's pay roll for the month of May 1941 , covering employees in each of the
units alleged to be appropriate by the Union.
930 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and,
tend to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. TFIE APPROPRIATE UNITS
Dodge Unit
The Union contends that the tool, die, and fixture engineers,
designers, follow-up men, tool trouble men, and engineering record
clerks in the Master Mechanics' Division of the Company's Dodge
Main Plant, but excluding executives and supervisory employees,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining.4 The Company agrees that,such a unit is appropriate ex-
cept that it insists that the engineering record clerks, because of
the clerical nature of their duties, should be excluded from the unit.
The duties of the engineering record clerks, whom the Company
seeks to exclude, make them intermediaries between the tool, die,
and fixture engineers on one hand and the designers on the other
hand. Engineers in the division determine from blue prints of car
parts the type of tools to be used in the production of the car parts.
They then turn over the blue prints, together with requests for
changes in tools, fixtures, or dies to the record clerks who, in turn,
record the requested changes and transmit the blue prints with the
requests for changes to the tool designers. Once the designer has
added to the blue print the necessary tool or die design, he returns
the blue print to the record clerk for recording. The duties of the
engineering record clerks are, therefore, different from those of the
ordinary file clerks who are charged with placing and keeping draw-
ings in the proper files. Engineering record clerks must have a
technical knowledge which enables them to read blue prints correctly.'
They are paid at a higher rate than ordinary file clerks, although'
their pay is considerably less than that of designers. Record clerks
work under similar conditions in the same room with the tool, die,
and fixture engineers. We shall include them in the unit.
We find that the tool, die, and fixture engineers, designers, fol-
low-'Up men, tool trouble men, and engineering record clerks in the
Master Mechanics' Division of the Company's Dodge Main Plant, ex-
cluding executives and supervisory employees, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find further
that such a unit will insure to the employees of the Company in the,
Master Mechanics' Division of its Dodge Main Plant the full benefit
of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining; and
otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. , ' _ '
• The unit claimed by the union' in its original petition did not include tool trouble men,
DODGE BROTHERS DIVISION-CHRYSiLE'R CORPORATPON 931
Chrysler Unit
The Union contends that the employees engaged in lay-out, draft-
ing, clay modeling, blackboard lay-out, designing, checking and detail-
ing in Departments 448, 449, 498, 497, 495, 468, 452, and 51 of the
Company's Passenger Car Body Engineering Division, but excluding
executives and supervisory employees and those employees in De-
partment 51 who are stationed at the Company's West Warren Avenue
Plant, constitute an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining.5 The only dispute with respect to the 'unit concerns De-
partment 51. It is the Company's contention that the appropriate
unit should not include Department 51.
Department 51 has recently been created and is known as the
Aviation Division. The work of the Aviation Division consists of
designing airplane fuselage parts. There are approximately 26 or' 27
employees in the Aviation Division, about 21 of whom are stationed
at Highland Park, while 5 or 6 of them are located at the Com-
pany's West Warren Avenue Plant. The nature of the work, the rates
of pay, and hours of work in Department 51 are the same as in the
other departments which are concededly within the unit. Some 8 to
10 men have been transferred to this department from Departments
448 and 449, both of which the parties agree are within the unit.
These men are lay-out men and detailers experienced in surface draft-
ing and therefore especially suited to the work in the Aviation Divi-
sion. The transfer of these men from Departments 448 and 449 to
the new Department 51 took place subsequent to the filing-of the peti-
tion in the Chrysler case. The five or six men in Department 51 lo-
cated at the West Warren Avenue Plant whom the Union seeks to
exclude from the unit are liaison men who facilitate the production of
bomber fuselage parts at the West Warren Avenue Plant. We shall
include all employees in Department 51 in the unit.
We find that the employees of the Company at its Passenger Car
Body Engineering Division engaged in lay-out, drafting, clay model-
ing, blackboard lay-out, designing, checking, and detailing in De-
partments 448,449,498,497,495,468, and 452, and all such employees in
Department 51, whether stationed at Highland Park or at the Com-
pany's West Warren Avenue Plant, excluding executives and super-
visory employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining. We find further that such a unit will insure to
the employees of the Company in its Passenger Car Body Engineering
Division the' full benefit of their right to self-organization and to
collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
5Tlie-unit claimed by the Union in its original petition did not include Departments 497.
468, and 51.
450122-42-vol 33-60
932 -DECISIONS - OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS I.-B.OARI)i
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF' REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the questions which have arisen concerning representa-
tion can best be resolved by, and we shall accordingly direct, elections
by secret ballot. We shall direct that the employees of the Company
eligible to vote in the elections shall be those in the appropriate units
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of the Direction of Elections herein, subject to such limita=
tions and additions as are set forth in the Direction hereinafter.
• Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire rec-,
ord in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Dodge Brothers Division of Chrysler Cor-
poration and of Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
2. All tool, die, and fixture engineers, designers, follow-up men,
tool-trouble men, and engineering record clerks in the Company's
Master Mechanics' Division of its Dodge Main Plant, excluding execu-
tives and supervisory employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the,
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
3. All employees in the Company's Passenger Car Body Engineer-
ing Division engaged in lay-out, drafting, clay modeling, blackboard
lay-out, designing, checking and detailing in Departments 448, 449,
498, 497, 495, 468, and 452, and all such employees in Department 51,
whether stationed at Highland Park or at the Company's West War-
ren Avenue Plant, excluding executives and supervisory employees,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
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
Relations Act, 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 investigations authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Dodge Brothers Division of Chrysler Corporation and with
Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, elections by secret ballot.
DOW D BROTHERS DIVISION-CHRYSLER CORPORATION 933
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervi-
sion of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject
td Article III,- Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among those
employees of the Company who fall within the groups indicated below
who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of our Direction of Elections, including em-
ployees 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 executives
and supervisory employees and employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by the Society of Designing Engineers, Chapter #201,
Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians, affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes
of collective bargaining :
(a) All tool, die, and fixture engineers, designers, follow-up men,
tool trouble men, and engineering record clerks in the Master Me-
chanics' Division of the Company's Dodge Main Plant;
(b) All employees in the Passenger Car Engineering Division of
the Company who are engaged in lay-out, drafting, clay modeling,
blackboard lay-out, designing,, checking, and detailing in Depart-
ments 448, 449, 498, 497, 495, 468, and 452 and all such employees in De-
partment 51, whether stationed at Highland Park or at the Com-
pany's West Warren Avenue Plant.