Douglas Aircraft Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1943

53 N.L.R.B. 1353 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT COMPANY, INC. and SHEET METAL
WORKERS INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION, LOCAL UNION No. 124,
A. F. of L.
Case No. 16-R-759.-Decided December 16, 1943
Messrs. H. L. Hurt and Lee J. Robison, of Oklahoma City, Okla., for
the Company.
Mr. Walter E. Nelson, of Oklahoma City, Okla., for the A. F. L.
Messrs. Fred Divine, Burl Watts, and William Driscoll, of Okla-
homa City, Okla., for the C. I. O.
Mr. William C. Baisinger, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Sheet Metal Workers International
Association, Local Union No. 124, A. F. of L., herein called the A. F. L.,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc.,
at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, herein called the Company, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board piovided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Ralph S. Clifford, Trial Examiner. Said hear-
ing was held at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on November 2, 1943. The
Company, the A. F. L., and United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricul-
tural Implement Workers of America, UAW-CIO, herein called the
C. I. 0., appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues, and to file briefs with the
Board. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Douglas Aircraft Company, Inc., a Delaware corporation, having
its principal offices in Santa Monica, California, operates plants in
53 N. L R. B., No 247.
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1354 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
several States of the United States at which it is engaged in the manu-
facture and assembly of various types of aircraft and aircraft parts.
This proceeding involves the Company's plant at Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. During the period from May 31, 1943, the Company used
$3,000,000 worth of raw materials at this plant, more than 50 percent
of which was shipped to the plant from points outside the State of
Oklahoma. During the same period the finished products manufac-
tured and assembled at the Oklahoma City plant were valued in excess
of $30,000,000, and were all delivered to the United States Government
at the airport adjacent to the plant pursuant to the terms of the supplies
contract under which this plant is operated by the Company. The
Company does not deny that at its Oklahoma City plant it is engaged
in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor, Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local Union No.
124, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers
of America, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By letter dated September 15, 1943, the A. F. L. advised the
Company that it represented a majority of the Sheet Metal main-
tenance workers employed at the Company's Oklahoma City plant
and requested recognition as their exclusive bargaining representative.
On or about September 30, 1943, the Company replied to the
A. F. L.'s request. In its reply the Company declined to accord the
A. F. L. such recognition unless and until it is certified by the Board.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board introduced into
evidence at the hearing indicates that the A F. L. represents a sub-
stantial number of employees within 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 Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
As amended at the hearing the bargaining unit alleged to be ap-
propriate by the A. F. L. comprises all maintenance sheet metal
The Field Examiner reported that the A F. L submitted 15 authorization cards bearing
the apparently genuine oiigmal signatures of persons whose names appear on the Company's
pay roll of October 17 , '1943, which contains the names of 17 persons within the alleged
appropriate unit
DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT COMPANY, INC. 1355
workers employed at the Company's Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, plant,
including those engaged in the manufacture, assembly, and erection
of all sheet metal of U. S. No. 10 gauge or lighter when used in the
maintenance of the plant, but excluding all aircraft sheet metal
workers, storeroom help, timekeepers and all other workers employed
by the Company not engaged in sheet metal maintenance work as
set out above. The Company and the C. I. 0.2 dispute the appro-
priateness of the unit sought by the A. F. L., contending that it
would be incongruous to establish a separate bargaining unit for a
small group of employees whose interests and working conditions are
identical with those of other employees in the plant.
The Company's Oklahoma City plant is an aircraft assembly plant
comprised of a number of buildings covering a tract of land approxi-
mately 11/4 miles long and 1/2 mile wide. It includes an assembly
building, a large hangar, an office building, a paint shed, garage, mill
building, and a number of wooden warehouses. A large concrete
slab or runway covers a portion of the plant area. In the manu-
facture and assembly of aircraft, the plant operates as an integrated
manufacturing unit comprised of a production division and a main-
tenance division. The maintenance division includes 7 numbered
departments, 1 of whch is known as department No. 706. Department
No. 706 includes approximately 100 plumbers, pipe fitters, small parts
repair men, and 18 sheet metal workers. The A. F. L. desires to
represent only those employees of the Company who are engaged in
maintenance work in and around the plant involving sheet metal work
as distinguished from those production employees who are employed
on the assembly line and fabricate and assemble the component parts
of planes containing sheet metal. The maintenance sheet metal em-
ployees work with heavier sheet metal than do the production em-
ployees. The Company's plant is large enough to necessitate the
employment of a permanent craft group of sheet metal workers to
maintain and add to the parts of the various buildings and facilities
constructed of sheet metal. This maintenance work requires greater
skill and craftsmanship than is involved in the fabrication and assem-
bly of the lighter sheet metal parts of aircraft. All new construc-
tion work involving the manufacture, fabrication, and assembly of
sheet metal at the Company's Oklahoma City plant is done by inde-
pendent construction contractors. All non-supervisory employees
employed in department No. 706 are classified according to skill as
2 The record reveals that the C. I O. is presently engaged in an organizational drive at the
Oklahoma City plant. The C. I 0., which is organizing the plant on an industrial basis,
notified the Company on or about October 28, 1943, that it claimed to represent a substantial
number of the production and maintenance employees at t:,e plant and cautioned the
Company against entering into a collective bargaining agreement with any other labor
organization . It is apparent that the organizational campaign of the C I. 0 had not been
completed at the date of the hearing, since it refused to submit any evidence of its alleged
i epresentation in the plant.
1356 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
A, B, or C employees. All employees classified as "A" employees
'receive the same rate of pay regardless of whether they are pipe fitters,
plumbers, small parts repair men, or sheet metal workers. The same
is true with respect to the "B" and "C" employees.
Although it appears that the functions of the employees in the re-
,quested unit are to some extent integrated with those of other main-
tenance employees who are not engaged in sheet metal maintenance
work and while it is. true that they perform maintenance work
throughout the plant, nevertheless it is clear from the record that they
comprise an identifiable and homogeneous group of employees en-
gaged in work which is sufficiently distinguishable from that per-
formed by other maintenance employees in the plant to warrant
establishing them as a separate bargaining unit.3
The A. F. L. desires to include in the unit the assistant foreman and
leadmen who are attached to the sheet metal maintenance group. The
Company objects to the inclusion of these employees, contending that
they exercise supervisory authority over the other employees in.the°
group. Department No. 706 is under the supervision of a head super-
visor. Under him are assistant supervisors, each of whom is in
charge of one shift and also assistant foremen, subforemen, and lead-
men. The head supervisor, assistant supervisors, and assistant fore-
men receive a salary while the subforemen and leadmen are paid on an
hourly basis. The assistant supervisors, assistant foremen, subfore-
men, and leadmen have recently been reclassified. They were for-
merly designated as shift foremen, leadmen A, leadmen B, and lead-
men C, respectively. This reclassification, according to the plant's
personnel manager, is company-wide and does not affect the status of
any of the reclassified employees except to shift the leadmen A, now
known as assistant foremen, from the hourly pay roll to the salary
pay roll. A classified pay-roll list, which was prepared before the
aforementioned reclassification went into effect, lists one employee
in department No. 706 as a leadman A (sheet metal) and two employees
as leadmen C (sheet metal). The leadman A is now assistant foreman
in charge of sheet metal maintenance work and the two leadmen C.
are leadmen in charge of small groups of sheet metal maintenance
employees. A leadman is an employee who is in charge of a small
group of workers. ' He supervises or directs their work and also per-
forms manual labor along with his men. Several leadmen are super-
vised by one subforeman who does very little manual labor. Like-
3 in Matter of Douglas Aircraft Company , Inc, 52 N. L. R. B . 781, a case involving the
Oklahoma City plant of the Company , the Board established a bargaining unit comprised
of the maintenance electricians . In the cited case, the Board observed that the Company
has recognized the appropriateness of a unit other than an industrial one This is evidenced
by the Regional Director 's recent certification of the National Union of United Aircraft
Welders of America, as the exclusive bargaining representative of the welders employed
at the Oklahoma City plant pursuant to the terms of a cross -check agreement entered into
between the Company and the welders Union,
DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT COMPANY, INC. 1357
wise each assistant foreman supervises several subforemen and acts in
a purely administrative capacity. There, are no subforemen among
the sheet metal workers in department No. 'A6.
Since the leadmen, formerly known as leadmen C, perform manual
labor in conjunction with the other sheet metal maintenance employees
and since they apparently do not possess the authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees or effectively recommend such action, we shall include them
in the appropriate unit. However, we shall exclude the assistant
foreman .4
We find that all sheet metal maintenance workers employed in de-
partment No. 706 at the Company's Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, plant,
including leadmen, but excluding assistant foremen and any other
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis-
cipline or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees or effec-
tively recommend such action, 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 which
has arisen 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. Although the C. I. O. was permitted to intervene in
this proceeding, it failed to submit any evidence to indicate that it
represents any employees within the appropriate unit. Accordingly,
we shall not accord it a place on the ballot in the election hereinafter
directed.
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 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Douglas Aircraft
Company, Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Section 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among
6 See Matter of Douglas Aircraft Company , Inc, et al., 53 N. L . R B 486.
559015-44-vol. 53-87
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1358 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 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 and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election,
to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Sheet
Metal Workers International Association, Local Union No. 124, A. F.
of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.