Cloth Laying Appliances Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 30, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 785 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of CLOTH LAYING APPLIANCES CORPORATION AND/OR
CUTTING ROOM APPLIANCES CORPORATION , EMPLOYER and DISTRICT
15, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , PETITIONER
Case No. 2-RC-136.-Decided July 30, 1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing offi-
cer 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 Chairman Herzog and
Members Murdock and Gray.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. The alleged question concerning representation; 1 the alleged
appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all production and mainte-
nance employees of the Employer, excluding office clericals and all
supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer, the Intervenor, and
the Association contend that existing bargaining on an Association-
wide basis should be continued.
As shown in its constitution, the Association was incorporated in
1937 for the general purposes of elevating and improving standards
r The Mutual Sewing Machine Dealers Association, Inc., herein called the Association, and
United Mechanics Local 150, International Fur and Leather Workers Union, C I 0, herein
called the Intervenor , were permitted to intervene at the hearing The Employer, the
Intervenor, and the Association assert that a presently existing contract is a bar to this
proceeding . We find, however, that there is no bar. The petition was filed before the sign-
ing of the contract when the petition was filed , there was in existence only an oral interim
contract of indefinite duration
78 N. L R. B., No. 89.
785
786 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and conditions in the sewing machine industry. Its Board of Directors
was given authority to execute collective bargaining agreements with
unions representing the workers employed by Association members.
The Employer joined the Association on July 3, 1946, at which time
the Intervenor had' a contract with the Association.2 Upon joining
the Association, and by agreement of all parties, the Employer's con-
tract with the Intervenor, with the exception of two clauses, was
superseded, as to the Employer's employees, by the Association's
contract.
The Petitioner contends that this bargaining history on an Asso-
ciation-wide basis should not preclude the granting`of a unit confined
to the employees of the Employer. It asserts that: (a) the Employer
is not in the sewing machine business nor are many other members of
the Association; and (b) the diversity of operations of the Association
members means diversity in the work and skills of the employees of the
members, and a resulting lack of community of interest among these
employees. The record discloses, however, that with few exceptions
the Association, on behalf of its members, has had a successful history
of collective bargaining. '
Under all the circumstances, including the fact that the Association
has been duly authorized by the Employer and its other members to
bargain in their behalf, we find that the single-employer unit requested
by the Petitioner is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining. Accordingly, we find that no question affecting commerce
exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer
in a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We
shall, therefore, dismiss the petition herein 3
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings, the National Labor Re-
lations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and
certification of representatives of employees of- Cloth Laying Appli-
ances Corporation and/or Cutting Room Appliances Corporation,
New York City, filed by District 15, International Association of
Machinists, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MEMBER GRAY took no part in the consideration of the above. De-
cision and Order.
, The record discloses that the Association and the Intervenor have had contractual rela-
tions on an Association -wide basis for 11 years
3 Matter of Foreman & Clark , 74 N. L. R. B 77 ; Matter of Martanolich Shipbuilding
Company, 73 N L. R. B. 1304.