Chrysler Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 15, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 649 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of CHRYSLER CORPORATION (DE Solo-WARREN AVENUE
PLANT), EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMO-
BILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA,
UAW-CIO, PETITIONER
Case Yo. 7-RC 358.-Decided February 15, 194.9
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor'Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization, affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of
the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit ; the determination of representatives :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all maintenance and power-
house employees at the Employer's De Soto-Warren Avenue plant, ex-
cluding all supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer contends
that a unit limited to maintenance and powerhouse employees is inap-
propriate, and objects to the establishment of any unit at this time
because of the possibility that production operations at this plant
may be initiated in the future.
The plant is presently being used by the Employer exclusively for
storage and warehouse purposes. It has been used for such purposes
* Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 117. 649
650 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
since May 14,1946, the date on which the Employer acquired the plant.
The record fails to indicate that the Employer has any immediate
or definite plans for starting production at this plant. Under these
circumstances, we can perceive no reason for not directing an imme-
diate election among the maintenance and powerhouse employees
presently employed.,'
We find that maintenance and powerhouse employees at the Em-
ployer's De Soto-Warren Avenue plant, excluding all supervisors as
defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.2
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region, and subject
to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft &
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW-CIO.
1 Under circumstances almost identical to those existing here, the Board, in an earlier
proceeding involving this same plant and categories of employees, rejected the Employer's
contention that production expansion possibilities made a unit consisting of maintenance
and powerhouse employees inappropriate In that proceeding, the Board directed an
immediate election for such employees. Matter of Chrysler Corpoi ation, 73 N L R B 217.
Subsequently, the Board on May 19, 1947, dismissed the petition in this earlier proceeding
(Case No. 7-R-2413) because no collective bargaining representative was selected at the
election.
2 The Petitioner has been certified as the bargaining representative of the production
and maintenance employees at the Emplo}er s De Soto-Wyoming plant, located about one-
half mile from the plant involved in the present case At the hearing, the Petitioner
requested that if the employees involved in the instant proceeding select the Petitioner
as bargaining representative in any election directed by the Board, the unit should be
permitted to become part of the unit in the De Soto-Wyoming plant. The Employer ob-
jected to this request. On the basis of the present record. we are unable to determine the
appropriateness of a single two-plant unit. However, if the Petitioner should win the
election directed herein and obtain a certification for the De Soto-Wairen avenue plant,
we will consider an appropriate motion to consolidate such certification with the one
involving the De Soto-Wyoming plant.