Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 8, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 965 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
UNITED RUBBER, CORK, LINOLEUM AND PLASTIC WORKERS OF AMER-
ICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-942.-Decided March 8, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Edward T.
Maslanka,,hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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
Reynolds and Murdock].
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.'
3. -A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.'
' The following four labor organizations have intervened in this proceeding : Local 705
and Local 713, both affiliated with International Brotherhood of Teamsters ; Rubber &
Plastic Workers , Local 82, AFL ; and Firestone Employees Protective Union, Inc., herein
called "Protective Union." Because Local 82 and the Protective Union have not complied
with the filing and registration requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act
their names will be omitted from the ballot in the election directed herein. As requested,
Local 705 will also be omitted from the ballot.
[By Order dated March 16, 1950, the Board accorded Firestone Employees Protective
Union, Inc., and Rubber & Plastic Workers , Local 82, AFL, a place on the ballot. It was
erroneously stated that Rubber & Plastic Workers, Local 82, had not complied with the
requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act, It appears that Firestone
Employees Protective Union, Inc., had taken all steps necessary for compliance with Section
9 (f), (g), and ( h) prior to the issuance of the Board ' s Decision and Direction of Election,
but that such action had not been processed administratively by the Board until after the
issuance of such decision.]
2 Although several contracts were intrgduced into evidence at the hearing, only Local 713
contended that its contract constitutes a bar to this proceeding . However , the said contract
does not delineate the specific unit of employees covered thereby nor did Local 713 offer
88 NLRB No. 172.
965
966 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent the employees in the retread and
tire mileage departments at the Employer's plant in Chicago, Illinois,
excluding truck drivers, powerhouse engineers, retail service station
employees, office and clerical employees, guards, and supervisors. The
Employer contends that the proposed unit is inappropriate and that
the employees in the retread department and the tire mileage depart-
ment constitute separate appropriate units. The Intervenors object
to the proposed unit for varying reasons which will be discussed below.
The Employer conducts several phases of its business at its property
at 16th Street and South Wabash Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. On the
premises is a three-story building. Part of the vacant ground space
and part of the first floor of the building are used for the operation of
an automobile service station and retail store. The second floor of the
building and a portion of the third floor are used by the Employer's
clerical employees. Another portion of the third floor is occupied by
the plastic department, which does no manufacturing, but is engaged
only in the distribution of merchandise. The adjustment department
occupies a portion of the first floor. The tire mileage department and
retread department which are involved in this proceeding occupy space
on the first and third floors, respectively.
There does not appear to be any administrative or functional con-
nection between the tire mileage and retread departments and the
other activities conducted by the Employer at its premises at 16th
Street and South Wabash Avenue.
Through its tire mileage department, the Employer is engaged in the
business of renting tires to fleet owners of automotive vehicles. There
are approximately 22 employees in this department. About 15 of these
employees work at the garages of the Employer's customers where they
inflate tires and mount and dismount tires on the vehicles. The re-
maining employees in the department work in the shop where they are
principally engaged in making repairs upon tires received from the
customers. There is considerable interchange between the outside and
inside employees of the tire mileage department, and the outside
employees frequently work in the shop.
The retread department is engaged in repairing and retreading tires.
Approximately 90 percent of their work is obtained from the general
public and 10 percent is obtained from the tire mileage department.
Originally, there was no separation between the tire mileage and
retread departments. When the retread department was initially
testimony to show which of the employees in the unit proposed by the Petitioner, if any,
are covered by such contract. Under these circumstances , we do not find that the Employer's
contract with Local 713 constitutes a bar to a present determination of a bargaining repre-
sentative for the employees in the proposed unit. Indiana Limestone Company, Inc.,
83 NLRB 1124.
FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY 967
established all its work was obtained from the tire mileage department.
However, gradually the public became acquainted with the advantages
of retreading tires and began to use the services of the retread depart-
ment. By 1941, the business received by the retread department from
the general public became so large that the Employer separated the two
departments, and each department was placed under different admin-
istrative divisions of the Employer. The activities of the tire mileage
department are now directed from the Employer's Akron, Ohio, office,
while the retread department is supervised by the Employer's Chicago
office. The Employer contends that, principally because of this
administrative separation, the employees in the tire mileage and re-
tread departments should be in separate groups for purposes of collec-
tive bargaining.
However, the employees in the retread and the tire mileage depart-
ments perform similar, and in some instances identical, functions.
There have been transfers of employees between the two departments
and it appears to be the Employer's policy, in the event of any layoffs
in either department, to try to place the affected employees in the other
department. The employees in both departments enjoy the same em.
ployee benefits, such as vacations and group hospitalization. Further-
more, there is some history of collective bargaining on the basis of a
single bargaining unit for the employees in both departments. On
March 11, 1940, the Protective Union obtained a majority of the ballots
cast by the employees in a consent election conducted by the Board
among the "employees performing retreading work and general tire
work." Since that date the Protective Union has represented em-
ployees in both the tire mileage and retread departments. The most
recent contract between the Protective Union and the Employer, dated
July 1, 1949, described the bargaining unit as including the employees
of the tire mileage and retread departments who desire the Protective
Union to represent them. Thus, it appears that as recently as the
date of the hearing in this case, the Employer has participated in some
bargaining on the basis of a single unit of employees in the tire mileage
and retread departments. We believe, contrary to the Employer's
contention, that it is not inappropriate here to include in a single bar-
gaining unit the employees in both the retread and the tire mileage
departments.
Local 82 objects to the proposed unit, contending that the appropri-
ate unit should consist of the employees in the retread department plus
the skilled tire men in the tire mileage department. Because the rec-
ord does not show that these employees are craftsmen, nor that they
compose a homogeneous grouping of employees with a community of
968 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
interests apart from the remaining employees in the tire mileage de-
partment, we find no merit to the contentions of Local 82.
Local 713 contends that the unit petitioned for is inappropriate be-
cause it includes employees who do work which is similar to some of
the work performed by employees in the Employer's retail service sta-
tion. However, the operation of the retail service station is separate
and independent from the operations of the retread and tire mileage
departments. There is no functional interrelationship between these
separate operations. It is only coincidence that some activities of each
operation are similar. In view of the further fact that it is only with
relation to unskilled activities, such as mounting and dismounting
tires from automotive vehicles, that any similarity of duties exist, we
do not believe that such fact affects the identifiability and homogeneity
of the proposed unit. Accordingly, the objections of Local 713 are dis-
missed as being without merit.
We find that all employees in the retread and tire mileage depart-
ments at the Employer's plant at 16th Street and South Wabash Ave-
nue, Chicago, Illinois, excluding truck drivers, retail service station
employees, powerhouse engineers, office and clerical employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 3
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes 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 su-
pervision 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 Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily 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 they de-
sire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by United
Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America, CIO, or
3 Any participant in the election herein may, upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by, the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.
FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY 969
by Local 713, International Brotherhood of Teamsters,-' or by Rubber
& Plastic Workers Union, Local 82, AFL, or by Firestone Employees
Protective Union, Inc., or by none.
* The compliance status of Local 713 has lapsed since the hearing in this matter. The
Regional Director is herewith instructed to delete Local 713 from the ballot in the election
directed herein if Local 713 has not , within 2 weeks from this date, renewed its compliance
with Section 9 (f), (g), and ( h). No election shall be scheduled within the 2-week period
allowed until and unless compliance has been determined.