General Cable Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 11, 1941

33 N.L.R.B. 328 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

Ins the Matter of GENERAL CABLE CORPORATON and UNITED RUBBER
WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION 208.
Case No. R- 650.Decided July 11, 1941
Jurisdiction : electrical wire and cable manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question. Com-
pany failed to reply to union's request for exclusive recognition ; contract with
rival union entered into subsequent to petitioner's claim to representation, no
bar. to, election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees including boiler attendaints, but excluding office and supervisory
employees and watchmen.
Mr. M. A. Kent, of New York City, and Mr. Warren H. Jones, of
Buffalo, N. Y., for the Company.
Mr. Hugh Thompson and Mr. Charles E. Lanning, both of Buffalo,
N. Y., for the United.
Mr. Walter Rettke, of Buffalo, N. Y., for the Independent.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On May 28, 1941, United Rubber Workers of America, Local Union
208, herein called the United, filed with the Regional Director for the
Third Region (Buffalo, New York) a petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees„of. General Cable Corporation, Buffalo, New York, herein called
the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On June 10, 1941,
the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
33 N. L. R. B., No. 66.
328
GENUR'AL CABLE CORPORATION 329
On June 11, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the United, and
Cablecraft Independent Vertical Union, herein called the Independent,
it labor organization claiming to represent employees directly affected
by the investigation. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on June
17, 1941, at Buffalo, New York, before Peter J. Crotty, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Com-
pany, the United, and the Independent were represented and partici-
pated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the
Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections
to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings
of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were
committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
General Cable Corporation, a New Jersey corporation, operates a
plant at Buffalo, New York, where it is engaged in the manufacture of
electrical wire and cable. From June 1, 1940, to May 31, 1941, the
Company used raw materials at its Buffalo plant valued in excess of
$250,000, approximately 50 per cent of which were shipped to it from
points outside the State of New York. During the same period, the
Company manufactured products at its Buffalo plant valued in excess
of $500,000, approximately 50 per cent of which were shipped by it to
points outside the State of New York. The Company admits for the
purposes of this proceeding that it is engaged in interstate commerce
within the meaning of the Act. -
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Rubber Workers of America, Local Union 208, is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
It admits to membership employees of the Buffalo plant of the
Company.
Cablecraft Independent Vertical Union is an unaffiliated labor or-
ganization admitting to membership employees at the Buffalo plant
of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On May 24, 1941, the United wrote to the Company claiming to
represent a majority of the employees at the Buffalo plant and re-
330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
questing exclusive recognition. The Company did not reply to this re-
quest. The Company has had exclusive contracts with the Independent
since 1937. The last contract was signed on June 2, 1941, to be effective
July 1, 1941. It is-apparent that the contract between the Company
and the Independent does not constitute a bar to a present 'determina-
tion of representatives inasmuch as it was entered into subsequent
to the United's claim to represent a majority.,
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced in evidence, shows
that the United represents a substantial number of employees in
the unit which it alleges is appropriate.2
We find a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IT. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING
REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I, above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce upon the several States and
tends to lead'to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The United and the Independent agreed at the hearing that the
appropriate unit should consist of all production and maintenance
employees at the Buffalo plant of the Company, including boiler
attendants, but excluding supervisory and office employees and watch-
men. The only controversy with respect to the unit concerns the
boiler attendants. The Company desires that they be excluded from
the unit. -
The Company employs four boiler ,attendants who are licensed
engineers and in charge of the -Company's boilers. They are paid
on an hourly rate, the same as the production and maintenance em-
ployees in the plant. We find that the boiler attendants should be
included in the appropriate unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Buffalo plant of the Company, including boiler attendants, but
excluding office and supervisory employees and watchmen, constitute
1 Matter of Cali fornia Wool Scouring Company and Textile Workers Organizing Com-
mittee, 5 N . L. R. B. 782.
2 The Regional Director reported that the United presented 292 membership cards to him.
No check of these cards was made with a pay roll of the Company. There are approxi-
mately 477 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. As stated above, Cablecraft has an
exclusive contract with the Company.
GENERAL CABLE CORPORATION 331
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that
such unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit
of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and
otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The United seeks to be certified on the basis of the record, claiming
that it represents a majority of the employees at the Buffalo plant
of the Company and that the Independent is not a bona fide labor
organization. There is no evidence in the record upon which the
United could be certified and there is no issue concerning the bona
fides of the Independent properly before us in this proceeding. We
find that the question concerning representation can best be resolved
by means of an election by secret ballot. We shall direct that the
employees of the Company eligible to vote in the election shall be
those in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in
the Direction hereinafter. ,
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CoNCLusIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of General Cable Corporation, Buffalo, New
York, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees at the Buffalo plant
of the Company, including boiler attendants, but excluding super-
visory and office employees and watchmen, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as
amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with General Cable Corporation, Buffalo, New York, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible; but not later
332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Third
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all production and maintenance employees at the
Buffalo plant of the Company who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including
boiler attendants, employees who did not work during such pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military
service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but
excluding supervisory and office employees, watchmen, and employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by United Rubber Workers of America,
Local Union 208, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organi-
zations, or by Cablecraft Independent Vertical Union, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, or by neither.