Consolidated Aircraft Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 8, 1942

45 N.L.R.B. 1155 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

S
In the Matter Of CONSOLIDATED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION and AERO-
NAUTICAL MECHANICS LODGE 1125, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MACHINISTS (AFL)
Case No. R-4521.-Decided December 8, 1942
Jurisdiction : aircraft manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord recognition until certification by the Board; election necessary_
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees of the Company en--
gaged in teaching army and navy personnel at government camp, including:
administrative assistants, but excluding supervisory employees with th&
authority to line and discharge, stenographers, and clerical employees'
Mr. Harris G. Nelson, San Diego, Calif., for the Company
Mr. If. G. Phillips, San Diego, Calif., for the Union. -
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Opon petition duly filed by Aeronautical Machinists Lodge 1125,
International Association of Machinists, herein called the 'Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Consolidated Aircraft Corporation,
San Diego, California, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
.before Robert C. Moore, Trial, Examiner. Said hearing was held at
San Diego, California, on November 9, 19,42. The Company and the
Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to
be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. At the close of the hearing, counsel
for the Company moved to dismiss the petition. The Trial Examiner
-reserved his ruling. The motion is hereby denied. The Trial Exam-
iner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and
are hereby- affirmed.
On November 27, 1942, the Company filed a brief which the Board
has considered.
45 N L R B.. No 162
1155
1156 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Consolidated Aircraft Corporation is a Delaware corporation with
its principal place of business at San Diego, California, where it is
engaged in the design, manufacture, development, and sale of air-
craft, aircraft parts, and accessories. During its fiscal year ending
November 30, 1941, the Company purchased raw materials valued in
excess of $5,000,000, over 50 percent of which was shipped to it from
outside California. During the same period the Company sold
finished products valued at about $95,000,000, substantially all of
which was shipped out of California.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Aeronautical Mechanics Lodge 1125, International Association of
Machinists, is a labor organization affiliated with' the American
Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
Ill. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Union as exclusive bargain-
ing representative of certain of the Company's employees on the
ground that the employees claimed by the Union do not constitute
an appropriate unit.
A statement of the Acting Regional Director, introduced into
evidence at the hearing and a statement of the Trial Examiner,
indicate that the Union represents a substantial 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 National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that all full-time salaried employees of the
`Company located at Camp Consair, including administrative assist-
ants, but excluding foremen and assistant foremen having the
1 The Acting Regional Director reported that the Union presented 32 membership appli-
cation cards bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names appear on
the Company 's pay roll of October 14, 1942. The Union submitted to the Trial Examiner
18 additional cards bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons on this pay roll.
'There are approximately 86 employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.
CONSOLIDATED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 1157
authority to hire and discharge, constitute kn appropriate unit. The
Company 'contends that the unit claimed by the Union is inappro-
priate and urges that the petition be dismissed. The Company stated
in support of its contentions that employees claimed by the Union
are all supervisory or managerial employees and further that such
employees do not form a homogeneous group.
There are approximately. 86 employees in the alleged appropriate
unit. Sixty-five of the employees at Camp Consair are classified as
instructors and the remainder as tool-crib attendants, janitors, and
clerical employees. Camp Consair is geographically separated from
the rest of the Company's plants and there is no interchange of
personnel, between Camp Consair and the plants. All employees of
the Company at, Camp Consair are engaged in the instruction of
enlisted army and navy personnel or are engaged in work incidental
to such instruction. The employees claimed by the Union do not have
supervision over any other employees of the Company and are not
vested with ann.), confidential duties. We find that the employees at
Camp Consair are a professional group engaged in instructing army
and navy personnel and constitute a homogeneous group for the
purposes of collective bargaining. We shall exclude the stenogra-
phers and clerical employees from the unit on the ground that their
work is dissimilar to that of the other employees in the unit and is
more like that of other clerical employees of the Company.
We find that all employees of the Company located at Camp
Consair, including administrative assistants, but excluding super-
visory employees with the authority to hire and discharge, stenog-
raphers, and clerical employees, 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 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.
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 Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
1158 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represent-
atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Consolidated
Aircraft Corporation, San Diego, California, 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 Twenty-first
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and
Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including any such
employees who did not work during said 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
any who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by Aeronautical Me-
chanics Lodge 1125, International Association of Machinists, affili-
ated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.