Curtiss-Wright Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 23, 1943

52 N.L.R.B. 805 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter Of CURTISS-RIGHT CORPORATION (AIRPLANE DIVISION,
LomIsvILLE, KENTUCKY) and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MACHINISTS.
In the Matter Of CURTISS-WRIGHT CORPORATION AIRPLANE DIVISION,
LouisvmLE, KENTUCKY) and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MACHINISTS. _
Cases Nos. R4880 and R-5881' respectively .Decided
September 23,19/3
Mr. Weldon P. Monson, of Buffalo , N. Y., and Mr. Squire R. Ogden,
of Louisville , Ky., for the Company.
Mr. Van B. Carter , and Mr. Edward L. Mercker , of Louisville, Ky.,
for the Union.
Mr. Joseph E. Gubbins , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon separate petitions duly filed by International Association
of Machinists, herein called the Union, each alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate consolidated hearing upon due notice before
William I. Shooer, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Louis-
ville, Kentucky, on August 20, 1943. The Company and the Union
appeared, -participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing upon the issues. At the hearing, the Company moved
the dismissal of the petitions on the grounds that the units requested
by the Union. are inappropriate. For reasons appearing hereinafter
the motion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
52 N. L. R. B., No. 142.
805
806 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
Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a New York corporation engaged
in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of airplanes and airplane
parts. The Company operates plants in Buffalo, New York, Colum-
bus, Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, and Louisville, Kentucky. This pro-
ceeding involves the Louisville, Kentucky, plant only. The value of
the raw materials purchased each month by the Company for use in
the Louisville plant exceeds $2,000,000, substantially all of which is
purchased outside the State of Kentucky. The total output of the
airplanes manufactured and sold by the Company in its Louisville
plant is delivered to the United States Army Air Forces at Louisville,
Kentucky, for shipment to points outside the State of Kentucky.
The Company admits that it.is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Association of Machinists, unaffiliated, is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about May 15, 1943, the Union requested recognition as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees in
the template and in the production, planning and tool designing
departments respectively. The Company refused to grant such rec-
ognition in the absence of certification by the Board.
Case No. R-5880 involves only the template department -employees.
During the hearing, the parties agreed to resolve the question con-
cerning representation as to such employees by means of a card check
to be conducted by an agent of the Board. It was further agreed
that in the event the employees in question selected the Union as their
bargaining representative, they would then become a part of the
production and maintenance unit for which the Board previously
certified the Union as the collective bargaining representative." Since
the hearing, an agent of the Board notified the Company that the
card check had been made and that the template employees 'have
selected the Union as their bargaining representative. Thus, the
Union may now .bargain for employees in the template department
1 Matter of Curtiss -Wright Corporation ( Louisville Division ), 50 N. L., R. B. 408.
CURTISS-WRIGHT CORPORATION 807
along with the other production and maintenance employees whom
they already represent. We find therefore, that no question now
exists concerning the representation of employees in the Company's
template department; accordingly, the petition of the Union with
respect to these employees shall be dismissed.
A statement prepared by a Field Examiner, introduced in evi=
dente, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
the production planning and tool designing departments employees
in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate 2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit comprised of all employees in the Com-
pany's production planning and tool designing departments, exclud-
ing supervisory employees, whereas the Company contends that such
unit is inappropriate.
The Company claims that the employees of the production plan-
ning and tool designing departments are employees whose duties,
rates of pay,, and other working conditions are not such as to dif-
ferentiate them from the other office employees of the Company.3
The record shows that the employees of the production planning de-
partment, excluding clerical employees, have a thorough knowledge of
the machinists' and allied trade practices, which knowledge is given
paramount consideration by the Company when selecting personnel
for the department. They determine from blueprints the most ef-
fective way to route a job involving more than one machine opera-
tion and secure materials necessary to complete the job. Although
they enjoy sick benefits and vacation schedules afforded only to cleri-
cal employees, they nevertheless earn separate job classification sen-
iority which, in the event of a reduction in force, determines the order
in which they will be laid off. The tool designers similarly determine
from blueprints or sample parts the operations necessary to fabricate
various machine parts and thereafter design the tools, jigs, and fix-
tures necessary for their production. They enjoy the same privileges
as the production planning department employees with respect to
sick benefits and vacation schedules, and likewise have separate classi-
3 The Field Examiner's statement shows that the Union submitted 45 authorization
cards, 29 of which bear apparently genuine signatures and names of persons whose names
are found on a current pay roll of the Company ; there are 47 employees in the appropriate
unit
e The production planning and tool designing departments employees were excluded from
the production and maintenance unit along with all other office employees in Matter of
Curtiss -Wright Corporation (Louisville Division ), footnote 1, (supra).
808 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
fication seniority. Both groups are salaried employees and are under
the supervision of their owen departmental heads.
Inasmuch as it appears from the record that the educational back-
ground and experience possessed by the employees of the produc-
tion planning and tool designing departments places them in a techni-
cal category, and that they are clearly distinguishable both in their
duties and background from the ordinary clerical employees, we find
that they constitute a clearly definable group for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining.
The record reveals that several clerks are employed in the two de-
partments in question. Since it appears that their duties are those
of ordinary clerical employees, we shall exclude them from the unit.
We find that all employees of the Company's production planning
and too] designing departments, excluding clerical employees, fore-
men, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
Y. THE D 'ERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion 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
Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represent-
atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Curtiss-Wright
Corporation, (Airplane Division), Louisville, Kentucky, 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 Ninth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said
Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found ap-
propriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-
CURTISS-WRIGHT CORPORATION 809,
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, includ-
ing employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because
they were ill 'or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including
employees in the armed forces of the United States who present
themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have since
quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by International Association of Machinists,
unaffiliated, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certi-
fication of representatives of the template department employees of
Curtiss-Wright Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky, filed by the Inter-
national Association of Machinists, unaffiliated, be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.