Electric Products Service

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 5, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 803 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of F. H . COLE, D/B/A COLE INSTRUMENT COMPANY, DIVI-
SION OF ELECTRIC PRODUCTS SERVICE 1 and UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIR-
CRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 21-R-3126.-Decided February 5, 1946
Mr. F. H. Cole, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Sceleettor Gage, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Union.
Mr. Frederick D. Vincent, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Automobile, Aircraft and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, herein called the
Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of F. H. Cole, d/b/a Cole
Instrument Company, Division of Electric Products Service, Los
Angeles, California, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before David Aaron, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Los
Angeles, California, on December 4, 1945. The Company and the
Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
F. H. Cole, doing business as Cole Instrument Company, Division of
Electric Products Service, is engaged in the manufacture and distri-
bution of electrical instruments and associated equipment at 1320
The petition and other formal papers were amended by appropriate order at the hear-
ing to show the correct name of the Company.
65 N. L . R. B., No. 138 803
804 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, California. During the first 10
months of 1945 raw materials valued at approximately $40,000 were
purchased by the Company, of which approximately 50 percent origi-
nated outside the State of California. During the same period the
Company's sales amounted to approximately $80,000, of which products
valued at approximately $1,000 were sold and shipped to points outside
the State of California, and products valued at approximately $3,000
were sold to the United States Navy. No question as to the Board's
jurisdiction was raised by the Company, and we find that the Company
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
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
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its production and maintenance
employees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appro-
priate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
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).ofthe Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that the appropriate unit should include :
All production and maintenance employees exclusive of office and
clerical employees, plant-protection employees, and supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline
or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees or effectively
recommend such action.
The Company takes no affirmative position concerning the appro-
priate unit, but desires a determination by the Board in accordance
with its policies.
I The Field Examiner reports that the Union submitte&authorization ,cards - bearing the
names of 9 employees listed on the Company ' s pay roll of November 14, 1945; that 3 of
the cards are dated in October 1945 and 6 of the cards are dated in November 1945. There
are approximately 12 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
COLE INSTRUMENT COMPANY 805
Of the employees now on the Company's pay roll,' five are clerical
employees, one is a salesman, and two are supervisory foremen. The
balance are all production and maintenance employees with the excep-
tion of one draftsman.
The duties of the draftsman are the designing and drafting of draw-
ings for special equipment and new products. His work is done in
a separate room so that he does not ordinarily come into contact with
the balance of the employees in the plant. He is paid a monthly salary
as distinguished from the production and maintenance employees
who are paid on an hourly basis. So far as his work has to do with
the designing of tools and other equipment needed in the shop he is
under the supervision of the shop foreman, but as to the designing
and drafting of drawings of new products he is under the supervision
of F. H. Cole, owner of the shop, and the assistant manager. Evi-
dence adduced at the hearing shows that this latter type of work
occupies approximately 80 percent of his time. In view of his work,
which is of a technical nature, and the other circumstances mentioned
above, we shall exclude him from the unit.3
There is one other monthly paid employee, the tester, whose duty
-it is to test the watt hour meters. However, this employee is super-
vised primarily by the shop foreman, and works in conjunction with
other production and maintenance employees. We shall therefore
include him within the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company, including the tester, but excluding office and clerical em-
ployees, plant-protection employees, draftsmen, and all supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses 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 an election by secret ballot'among 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.
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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
3 See Matter of General Electric Company, 60 N. L. R. B. 1110.
806 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain repre-
sentatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with F. H. Cole,
d/b/a Cole Instrument Company, Division of Electric Products Serv-
ice, Los Angeles, California, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thiry (30) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Twenty-first Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among
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 tempo-
rarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, 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, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented by United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.