Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 3, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 116 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of CONSOLIDATED VULTEE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, EM-
PLOYER and UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES
OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY, LOCAL No. 230, PETI-
TIONER
Case No. 21-RC-103.Decided November 3,1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
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 labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. No 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 for the following reasons :
The Petitioner seeks an election in a unit composed of the mainte-
nance pipe fitters and plumbers, their helpers and apprentices, em-
ployed at the Employer's San Diego, California, plant. Both the Em-
ployer and the Intervenor 1 contend, inter alia, that the present petition
should be dismissed as untimely filed, because at the time of its filing
the employees sought were involved in another representation pro.
ceeding that was then pending before the Board.
* Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock.
1 International Association of Machinists.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 24.
116
CONSOLIDATED VULTEE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 117
It appears that in April 1947, about 8 months before the instant
petition was filed, the United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural
Implement Workers filed a petition for a unit of the Employer's pro-
duction and maintenance employees, including the plumbers and
pipe fitters sought herein by the Petitioner. In the following month,
the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local B-569,
AFL, herein called the Electrical Workers, filed a petition for a unit
of the Employer's electrical workers. These two cases were consoli-
dated by the Board and a hearing was held on June 2, 3, and 4, 1947.
In January 1948, while the consolidated case was still pending before
the Board, the Petitioner filed the present petition. Ten days later,
on February 6, 1948, the Board issued a Decision and Direction of
Elections in the first proceeding.2
It thus appears that when the Petitioner filed its petition, the
Board in another representation proceeding was considering the
claims of a rival union with respect to the employees claimed by the
Petitioner. In effect, therefore, the Petitioner was seeking inter-
vention in the earlier proceeding although its claim was asserted in
the form of a petition rather than in the form of a motion to intervene.
The hearing in the earlier case had already been held when the Peti-
tioner's petition was filed, although the Board's decision had not yet
issued. The Board's official records indicate that at the time of the
hearing in the earlier case, the Petitioner did not have a representative
interest in the employees it currently desires to represent. In fact, it
did not show an interest in those employees until several months after
that hearing had closed. The Board has frequently permitted labor
organizations to intervene in representation proceedings after the
close of the hearing if they establish that, as of the time of the hearing,
they had a representative interest among the employees with whom
the proceeding is concerned.3 As the petitioner did not have an in-
terest in the employees it now seeks at the time of the hearing in the
earlier case, it was not entitled to intervene in the earlier proceeding
or assert a claim with respect to the employees who were involved in that
275 N L. R B. 1276. Pursuant to this decision, the Board, on Febiuary 27, 1948, con-
ducted elections among two voting gi oups of the Employer's employees, one of which was
composed of the maintenance electricians while the other as composed of all the re-
maining production and maintenance employees, including the pipe fitters and plumbers
sought herein by the Petitioner The Board's official records show that the Electrical
Workers won the election held among the electricians and that a certification was issued to it.
As the election held among the production and maintenance workers was not conclusive, a
run-off election was held on March 5, 1948. The Intervenor who was a participant in the
elections won the run-off election ; in September 1948 , the Board certified the Intervenor
as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Employer ' s production and maintenance
employees , exclusive of the maintenance electricians.
" Matter of Harris Transfers & Warehouse Company, 79 N. L R. B. 1420.
118 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
proceeding by filing a petition' We shall therefore dismiss the
petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
4 Matter of United Boat Service Corporation , 55 N. L. R. B. 671.