Clohecy Collision, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 12, 1969

176 N.L.R.B. 616 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

616 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Clohecy Collision, Inc. and Joseph R. O'Neill,
Petitioner and Mechanics' Motor City Lodge No.
698, International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers , AFL-CIO. Case 7-RD-807.
June 12, 1969
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
BROWN AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before National Labor Relations
Board Hearing Officer Lucian J. Henry on February
18, 1969 . By direction of the Regional Director, the
Hearing Officer issued an Order transferring this
case to the Board for decision . Thereafter, the
Petitioner filed a brief.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a
three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error . They are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case , including the
brief filed by the Petitioner , the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act , and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner , an employee of Clohecy
Collision , Inc., hereinafter called Collision , asserts
that the Union, a labor organization , is no longer
the bargaining representative , as defined in Section
9(a) of the Act, of the employees designated in the
petition.
3. The Petitioner seeks to decertify the Union as
the representative of the estimators , painters,
bumpers , parts drivers, and porters employed by
Collision at its body shop in Redford Township,
Michigan . The Union , on the other hand , contends
that the petition should be dismissed because the
unit sought is not coextensive with the existing
certified bargaining unit, and therefore, is not
appropriate for decertification.
In 1954 Clohecy Pontiac, Inc., herein called
Pontiac , opened business in Detroit as an
automobile dealership and repair garage. The stock
of Pontiac is owned 74 percent by Tom Clohecy, 25
percent by Arthur Moran, and 1 percent by Pat
Moran . Pontiac employs mechanics and porters. In
1959, Clohecy Collision, Inc., herein called
Collision , opened a body repair and paint shop at a
location 4 to 5 miles distant from Pontiac. This
shop employs body workers and painters, and the
stock is owned 50 percent by Tom Clohecy and 50
percent by Arthur Moran . Clohecy and Moran serve
176 NLRB No. 83
as members of the Board of Directors of both
corporations, but each corporation has a third board
member . Although engaged in separate enterprises,
the two corporations do business with each other in
arm's length transactions . Approximately 80 percent
of the business performed by Collision comes off the
street and the remaining 20 percent is performed for
Pontiac. Supervision of the employees in the two
shops is separate , the corporations are separately
managed , and except for occasional deliveries by
porters from one shop to the other, there is no
interchange between the two groups of employees.
Each shop has its own steward , and the employees
of Collision are paid on a commission basis while
those at Pontiac are compensated on a flat-rate
basis. Collision does avail itself of the office
machinery of Pontiac for payroll purposes, but it
also reimburses Pontiac for this service.
On April 21, 1967, the Regional Director for
Region 7 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in Case 7-RC-7950,' in which he found
appropriate a unit consisting of the employees of
both Pontiac and Collision.2 The multiplant unit
found appropriate by the Regional Director was in
accord with a stipulation of the parties, and no
contention was made by any party for separate
units, even though at that time Pontiac and
Collision were separate corporations , occupied
separate locations, and were engaged in different
phases of the automobile repair business. On May
29, 1967, following an election , the Union was
certified as the collective-bargaining agent of the
employees in the multiplant unit.
The parties commenced contract negotiations in
July or August 1967. During the course of the
second bargaining session , the Employer ' s counsel
suggested that, in view of the separate corporations
involved , the bargaining should be limited initially
to Pontiac, and upon completion of this contract,
bargaining for Collision be undertaken . The IAM
representative agreed. The bargaining then resumed
for Pontiac alone , and continued until the end of
December. This was followed by two bargaining
sessions relating to Collision. On February 20, 1968,
the parties entered into a 3-year contract covering
the mechanics and other classifications at Pontiac.
On April 1, 1968, the parties entered into a 1-year
contract covering the bumpers, painters , and other
classifications at Collision. The employees of
Collision took no part in the negotiations for
Pontiac, and vice versa. On January 30, 1969, the
Not published in NLRB volumes.
'The unit consists of all Service Department employees employed by the
Employer at its Detroit , Michigan , places of business located at 22520 and
22541 Grand River Avenue and 20536 Inkster Road , including mechanics,
mechanic apprentices , porters, painters , painter apprentices , bumpers,
estimators , parts drivers, dispatchers , trim and glass mechanics , trim and
glass mechanic apprentices, new car prep mechanics , new car make-ready
men, service salesmen, drivers, parts counter men , and parts apprentices;
but excluding car and truck salesmen , office clerical employees,
professional employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act, and
all other employees.
it
CLOHECY COLLISION, INC.
Petitioner filed the instant RD petition , limited to
the 11 employees at Collision, and supported by a
showing of interest signed by 10 of those employees.
The Board' s general rule is that the unit
appropriate in a decertification election must be
coextensive either with the unit previously certified
or with the unit recognized .' Here , the Employer,
with the Union's acquiescence , is recognizing
sin -plant units rather than the previously certified
multiplant unit . The record reveals that from the
outset of the bargaining relationship the Employer
and the Union failed to preserve the multiplant
concept by undertaking contract negotiations for the
employees of Collision separately from negotiations
for the employees of Pontiac. The separate
negotiations resulted in individual contracts of
markedly different duration , and containing
provisions concerning substantive terms of
employment, including wages, hours , and other
terms and conditions of employment, which are
distinct for the employees of Collision as compared
with the contract terms accorded the employees of
Pontiac . As the unit sought by the Petitioner and
currently recognized by contract is a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining , we find that a question affecting
commerce exists concerning the representation of
the employees of Clohecy Collision, Inc., within the
meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7)
of the Act.
617
4. Having found that an election should be
directed in the unit sought by the Petitioner, which
is essentially coextensive with the bargaining unit
described in the expired contract between the
Employer and the Union, we shall direct the election
in the following described unit:
All estimators , painters, bumpers, parts drivers,
and porters at the shop of Clohecy Collision, Inc.,
located at 20536 Inkstar, Detroit, Michigan,
excluding car and truck salesmen , office clerical
employees , professional employees , guards and
supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other
employees.
[Direction of Election4 omitted from publication.]
a orator Manufacturing Corp. 129 NLRB 704, fn. 3; see also
Arlan's Department Store of Michigan. Inc. 131 NLRB 566, fn. 7; cf.
Univac Division of Remington Rand Division of Sperry Rand
Corporation . 137 NLRB 1232.
'In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them . Excelsior
Underwear Inc. 156 NLRB 1236; N L R.B v. Wyman -Gordon Company.
394 U.S. 759, decided April 23, 1969. Accordingly , it is hereby directed
that an election eligibility list , containing the names and addresses of all
the eligible voters , must be filed by the Employer with the Regional
Director for Region 7 within 7 days of the date of this Decision and
Direction of Election The Regional Director shall make the list available
to all parties to the election . No extension of time to file this list shall be
granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances.
Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside
the election whenever proper objections are filed