Copeland Refrigeration Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 7, 1955

111 N.L.R.B. 533 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

COPELAND REFRIGERATION CORPORATION 533
COPELAND REFRIGERATION CoRPOR ATION I and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIA-
TION OF MACHINISTS , AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 8-RC-2336.
Febl' u'iy 7,1955
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Carroll L. Martin, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. One of the Intervenors, United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, Local 776, herein called UE, contends that the
current contract with the Employer which is effective until June 8,
1955, is a bar to this proceeding. The Petitioner, herein called AFL,
and the other Intervenor, International Union of Electrical, Radio &
Machine Workers, CIO, herein called IUE-CIO,2 assert that the con-
tract is not a bar because of a schism within the ranks of the contract-
ing union.
A committee composed of the members of the contracting union's
local, Local 776, LIE, who were employed by the Employer was formed
to consider disaffiliation from the UE. A meeting was called by this
committee to consider disaffiliation from the UE and affiliation with
the AFL. The prime motivation for this action was the alleged Com-
munist domination of the UE. A newspaper advertisement and circu-
lars were utilized to give notice of the meeting. On September 22,
1954, 2 meetings were held ; 1 meeting was held for the day shift and
1 for the night shift. A secret ballot on the motion to disaffiliate from
the UE and affiliate with the AFL showed that 243 members of the
local were in favor of the motion; 68 members were not in favor; and
6 ballots were void. At the time of the meeting 850 of the Employer's
employees were members of the local.
No member of the AFL attended the meeting. The only aid given.
to the disaffiliation committee by the AFL was to compose the circu-
lars announcing the meeting and to mimeograph such circulars and
the ballots used for the disaffiliation vote. The Board has held under
circumstances comparable to those in the present case, that the expul-
sion of a labor union bar its parent coupled with the later disaffiliation
action on the local level for reasons related to the expulsion; creates
1 The Employei s name appeals as amended at the heating
IUE-CIO was allowed to intervene on the basis of a showing of interest
111 NLRB No. 84.
534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a schism which warrants the holding of an election despite a contract
existing between the local and the employer.3 Accordingly, for this
reason we find that the contract between the Employer and the Inter-
venor, UE, does not bar the instant proceeding .4
4. The parties stipulate and we find that the following employees of
the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
plants in Sidney, Ohio, including truckdrivers and group leaders, but
excluding office and clerical employees, nurses, draftsmen, designing
engineers, development engineers, timekeepers, shipping and receiv-
ing clerks, watchmen, superintendents, general foremen, foremen, as-
sistant foremen, chief inspectors, chief of stock control, and all other
supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
IA. C. Lawrence Leather Company, 108 NLRB 546; General Electric Apparatus & Serv-
ice Shop, 110 NLRB 1054.
4 Member Rodgers concurs in the direction of election herein, but finds it unnecessary
to decide whether there has been a schism. Instead, he would refuse to recognize the
contract of the Intervenor as a bar for reasons of broad public policy. Local 776's parent
organization, the UE, was expelled from the Congress of Industrial Organizations because
of Communist domination Under these circumstances, the availability of the Board's
processes to the Intervenor would not, in Member Rodgers' opinion, effectuate the policies
of the Act nor properly serve the interests of national security.
JEWETT & SHERMAN CO., PETITIONER and WAREHOUSE EMPLOYEES
LOCAL UNION No. 570, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS.
CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL.
Case No. 5-RM-268. February 7, 1955
Supplemental Decision and Certification of Results of Election
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued herein on
November 8, 1954,1 an election by secret ballot was conducted herein
on November 16, 1954, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Fifth Region, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate by the Board. At the conclusion of the elec-
tion, the parties were furnished with a tally of ballots. The tally
showed that of approximately 102 eligible voters, 91 valid ballots were
counted, of which 33 were for the Union and 58 against. In addition,
9 ballots were challenged.
On November 22, 1954, the Union filed objections to conduct affect-
ing the results of the election. The Regional Director investigated the
objections and on December 8, 1954, issued his report on objections in
1 110 NLRB 806.
111 NLRB No. 80.