Electric Products Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 6, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 218 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of ELECTRIC PRODUCTS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and Loc u.
728, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE
WORKERS, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 8 RC-616.Deeided April 6, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Charles A.
Fleming, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed
insofar as they are consistent with our disposition, in footnote 1, of
the Petitioner's motion.
The motion by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of
America, herein called the Intervenor,' to dismiss the petition is denied
for the reasons stated in Paragraph 3, below.
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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Styles]. .
Upon the entire record in this 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 certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
' The hearing officer referred to the Board the Petitioner 's motion to set aside his ruling
which permitted United Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers of America , and Local 728
thereof , to intervene in this proceeding . The Petitioner ' s motion was made on the grounds
that : ( 1) the Intervenor ' s Local 728 was defunct ; ( 2) the Intervenor was not a party to
the 1948-1950 contract upon which the intervention was predicated ; (3) the representa-
tive who appeared on behalf of the Intervenor at the hearing refused to testify when called
by the Petitioner and by the bearing officer.
The Petitioner 's motion is granted in part : Because , as found in Paragraph 5 of the
text , the Intervenor ' s Local 728 is defunct , intervention by that local is not allowed. The
motion is denied to the extent that it would exclude the Intervenor : ( 1) the contract in
question , although nominally between the Employer and the Intervenor 's Local 728, was
signed , among others , by a representative of the Intervenor , and we find such signature
sufficient to show the interest of the Intervenor in this proceeding ; see J. C. Pitman & Sons,
Inc., 88 NLRB 913 ; and ( 2) the refusal of the Intervenor ' s representative to testify
is not material to the Intervenor 's privilege to intervene.
89 NLRB No. 24.
218
ELECTRIC PRODUCTS COMPANY 219
3. From 1941 to 1947, the Employer's employees were represented
for collective bargaining purposes by Local 707, United Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers of America, CIO. In 1947, Local 728,
whose membership was limited to employees in the Employer's plant,
was chartered by the Intervenor, and thereupon succeeded Local 707
as bargaining representative. In July 1948, the Employer and the
Intervenor's Local 728 executed a 1-year bargaining contract; this con-
tract was extended for an additional year on July 5, 1949. The
Intervenor contends that this proceeding is barred by the latter
contract.
The contract in question contains a union-security provision. As
the contracting union has never been authorized, pursuant to Section
9 (e) of the Act, to negotiate a union-security provision affecting
employees of the Employer, the 1948-1950 contract cannot operate as
a bar.2
A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of the employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Cleve-
land, Ohio, plant, including watchmen-janitors ,3 but excluding all
clerical employees, dispatchers, professional employees, guards, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
5. On November 2, 1949, the 11 members of the executive board of
the Intervenor's Local 728 unanimously voted to recommend to the
membership of Local 728 that the Local sever its connection with the
Intervenor .4 On November 9, at a membership meeting of Local 728,
the 122 members who were then present voted unanimously to disaffili-
ate from the Intervenor and to affiliate with international Union of
Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, hereinafter called the
IUE-CIO. On December 7, 1949, Local 728 was chartered 'by the
JUE-CIO.
Three of the four persons who were officers of the Intervenor's Local
728 were elected to office in the newly organized IUE-CIO Local at the
November 9 meeting; the fourth person who held office in the Inter-
venor's Local 728 testified that she is a member of Local 728, IUE-CIO,
' C. Hager & Sons Hinge Manufacturing Co., 80 NLRB 163; General Electric Company,
Plastics Division of the Chemical Department, 81 NLRB 476.
' The parties stipulated that the watchmen-janitors spend 90 percent of their working
time performing janitorial duties.
' On November 2, 1949, the CIO voted to expel the Intervenor. On the same day, it
issued a Certificate of Affiliation to International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers. See General Motors Corporation, Frigidaire Division, 88 NLRB 450.
220 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and no longer either an officer or a member of the Intervenor's Local
728. Since November 1949, the Employer has remitted to the treasurer
of Local 728, IUE-CIO, dues which have been deducted from the pay
of its employees; and a per capita tax has since been paid by the Local
to the IUE-CIO. All grievances that have. arisen since November
1949 have been processed by the officers of Local 728, IUE-CIO, who
acted in such matters in their individual, rather than official, capacities.
No evidence was offered by the Intervenor to show that the Inter-
venor's Local 728 presently has any members or officers, that it has held
meetings or otherwise functioned as a labor organization since No-
vember 1949, or to controvert in any other manner the Petitioner's
contention that the Intervenor's Local 728 is presently defunct.
Upon the basis of all the evidence adduced, we find that the Inter-
venor's Local 728 is no longer in existence as a functioning labor or-
ganization representing employees of the Employer. Accordingly, we
find further that the Intervenor International may be accorded a place
on the ballot despite the fact that its now defunct Local 728 has never
complied with the requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the
'amended Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 5
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard,
and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found
appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed
during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this Di-
rection of Election, 'including employees who did not work during
said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who
are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by
Local 728, International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers, CIO.
'For the reasons stated in General Motors Corporation , Frigidaire Division, 88 NLRB
450, we reject the Intervenor ' s contention that the Petitioner 's designation on the ballot
should not include "Local 728."
[The Board , by Order dated April 27, 1950, granted the Intervenor , United Electrical,
Radio & Machine Workers of America, permission to withdraw its name from the ballot.]