General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 23, 1953

106 N.L.R.B. 364 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

364 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
generally considered inappropriate by the Board, the Board
has held that the mere fact that they have expressed that dis-
satisfaction in formalized action is not by itself sufficient
reason for making an exception to the normal contract-bar
rule. io Before applying the schism doctrine, the Board must be
convinced that the bargaining relationship is so confused that
no stabilizing purpose would be served by applying the contract-
bar rule, and the Board will not permit the schism doctrine to
be used to facilitate raiding by a rival union. n Moreover, the
Board will not accord any validity toa formalized disaffiliation
proceeding when, by reason of the control by the rival union over
the disaffiliation proceeding, a vote is not taken at a meeting of
the contracting union.11
Applying these principles to the present case, we believe that
the situation does not warrant an exception to the contract-bar
rule. We find that the Petitioner actively assisted the dissident
employees in their efforts at disaffiliation, that the May 25
meeting effectually became an AFL meeting after the CIO offi-
cials departed, and that there remains sufficient support of the
CIO Local for it to represent the employees and to administer
the contract.
As the existing contract will not expire until January 15,
1954, we find that it is a bar to the present petition. We shall
therefore dismiss it, without prejudice to a timely refiling. i$
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
to Allied Container Corporation, 98 NLRB 580.
"Saginaw Furniture Shops, Inc.. 97 NLRB 1488; Dennis-Mitchell Industries, 101 NLRB
846.
12Bendix Products Division, 98 NLRB 1180.
13 In light of this disposition of the case, we deny the motion of the Brewery Workers,
CIO, to reopen the hearing
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANYand INTERNATIONAL UNION
OF ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS, CIO,
Petitioner . Case No . 9-RC-1939. July 23, 1953
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before William G.
Wilkerson, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. i
i The Petitioner's motion, made at the hearing, to consolidate the instant case with Case
No 9-RC-1839 was reserved for the Board. As the Board's decision in that case issued on
May 26, 1953, the day of the hearing in the present case, the motion is denied. The Peti-
tioner's motion made in its brief, that the Board review the compliance status of the Greater
Louisville Metal Trades Council of Louisville, Kentucky, AFL, as it pertains to that organi-
zation's participation in Case No. 9-RC-1839, is not properly before the Board and is there-
fore denied.
106 NLRB No. 66.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 365
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to
a three-member panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and
Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer.2
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
Expanding Unit Contention
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all production and
maintenance employees at the Employer's Appliance Park
plant. All the parties agree that the unit sought is appropriate
for purposes of collective bargaining, however the Employer
contends that the petition should be dismissed and no election
be held at this time because there is not now employed a
substantial and representative work force.
The Employer's major appliance division manufactures and
sells major electrical appliances . It has manufacturing plants
in several States. In 1951, the Employer decided to centralize
its electrical appliance manufacturing operations and for that
purpose began constructing a large plant near Louisville,
Kentucky, herein referred to as Appliance Park. Production of
various products is already under way in 3 of the 5 planned
production buildings. The Employer expects to begin pro-
duction in a fourth building in December 1953. Construction
of the fifth building will not begin until December 1953 and will
not be completed until at least a year later. As facilities become
available the Employer will transfer its operations from the
existing plants to Appliance Park.
When completed the major appliance division at Appliance
Park will be divided into 5 product departments. The home
laundry department produces dryers and automatic washers
and occupies building 1. This department employed approxi-
mately 500 employees on the date of hearing. It expects to hire
500 more by the end of 1953 and an additional 200 employees
by May 1954, a year from the hearing. The range and water
heater department is presently producing ranges and occupies
building 2. Water heaters will not be produced at Appliance
Park within the next year. On the date of the hearing this
2 The hearing officer permitted the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of
America, UE, and the Greater Louisville Metal Trades Council of Louisville, Kentucky,
AFL, to intervene on the basis of an adequate showing of interest . The official name of the
latter organization as listed on the Board' s compliance records is Greater Louisville Metal
Trades Council, Metal Trades Department , AFL. In addition to the Council, all member
Locals which through the Council could participate in representing the employees involved,
are in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g). and (h) of the Act
366 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
department employed approximately 500 employees and expects
to employ about 100 more during the next year. The electric sink
and cabinet department occupies building 3. It produces garbage
disposals , dishwashers, and a combination sink-dishwasher-
disposal unit. The latter 2 items are currently being produced
on a temporary assembly line in building 1. On the date of the
hearing , 138 employees, including the central toolroom unit
which is to be housed in building 3, were employed in this
building. By the end of 1953 an additional 600 employees will
be hired to work in this building. No further increase is con-
templated before May 1954. The home refrigerator department
will occupy buildings 4 and 5. Building 4 will be ready for
occupancy in November or December 1953 at which time
approximately 500 employees will be hired, with an additional
500 employees being hired by May 1954. The refrigerating
mechanism will be manufactured in this building. Eventually
the Employer expects to have 3,500 employees in this building.
The cabinets for refrigeration units will eventually be manu-
factured in building 5. The specialty refrigeration department
will not be functioning within the next 12 months. This depart-
ment is slated to occupy a planned extension of building 3. A
sixth department to be known as the Appliance Park project
department will constitute a maintenance and service depart-
ment. It is expected to consist of a mill- water system which
by the end of 1953 will have 4 or 5 employees, the propane
gas plant which will be operated by boilerhouse employees
who are excluded'from the unit,3 a meter house, the operators
of which are also excluded by agreement of the parties, an
industrial waste treatment plant which will be operated by
laboratory employees who are also excluded from the unit
sought, a warehouse which will not be completed within the
next 12 months, a central maintenance group which will be
moved into a separate building in November 1953 (there are
presently employed 63 employees in a maintenance group,
some of whom will be transferred to department maintenance
groups with the remaining employees forming the nucleus of
the central maintenance group), a salvage and incinerator
building which will be completed in February 1954, the central
toolroom group, a traffic and transportation group which will
service and maintain the roads and railroad tracks on the
grounds and which will include truckdrivers and a train crew,
the boilerhouse, the employees of which are, as noted above,
excluded from the unit, and a plant-protection group which
includes guards and 4 fire inspectors.
The facts set forth above show that, as of the date of the
hearing , May 26, 1953, the Employer employed over 1,200
3 The Board found the boilerhouse employees constituted an appropriate unit for purposes
of collective bargaining , and directed an election among them in General Electric Co., 105
NLRB No. 9.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 367
employees at Appliance Park, that it expects to hire additional
employees at the rate of 200 to 300 employees a month for the
next year, that by August 1, 1953, it expects to have approxi-
mately 1,800 to 1,900 employees, and that approximately 3,800
employees will be employed 1 year from the date of the hearing.
The record further reveals that employment will increase to
approximately 6,500 by the beginning of 1955, and eventually
to approximately 12,000 employees, but no target date has been
set for reaching the latter number and it necessarily remains
speculative as to when full employment will be attained. High-
lighting the difficulties and uncertainties in making long-range
predictions , is the variance between the Employer ' s testimony
at this hearing and at the hearing in the case involving
boilerhouse employees , held on March 5, 1953. In that case
the Employer testified that it expected to have a total of
approximately 2,300 employees at the end of 1953, 4,000
employees at the end of 1954, and eventually approximately
16,000 employees.
With respect to job classifications, the record shows that 91
classifications are now filled and the Employer expects to fill
44 more classifications by the end of 1953. This number will
then remain about the same for an indefinite period. When the
project is completed the Employer expects to have 185 job
classifications . The record shows that some employees , though
not so classified , are performing work similar to that which
will be done by persons to be employed in a number of the
unfilled classifications.
In view of the above circumstances and on the record as a
whole, we find no merit in the Employer's contention that we
should not direct an election at this time. Although the Employer
expects a substantial expansion of its plant and personnel
continuing at least through 1955, at the time of the hearing it
employed a substantial and representative group of the number
of employees it intended to hire within a year from the hearing.
Completion of the plant and the increase inpersonnel in accord-
ance with the schedules projected by the Employer depend in
part on factors over which it has little or no control , such as
general economic conditions , available labor supply, and
consumer demand for its products. The Employer's own
witness admitted that because of these factors, its planning
for the period beyond May 1954 necessarily is only an estimate
of what it hopes to accomplish . But assuming that its expansion
for the year following the date of the hearing goes according to
schedule, by August 1, 1953, the Employer will have approxi-
mately 1,900 or 50 percent of the 3,800 employees it expects
to have in May 1954. Also by that date approximately 68 percent
of the ultimate number of job classifications will be filled.
We find that a substantial number of employees are currently
employed and that they constitute a representative group of the
ultimate personnel complement . Therefore , we shall , in accord-
368 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ante with the Board ' s policy in such cases ,4 direct an election
among the employees in the unit hereinafter found to be
appropriate.
The Appropriate Unit
As noted above , the parties agree that the unit sought by the
Petitioner is appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining. They are in disagreement however as to the inclusion
and exclusion of certain classifications.
General clerks : This classification includes all employees
doing general clerical work throughout Appliance Park. The
parties stipulated that those general clerks who were assigned
to the production , maintenance , inspection , and shipping and
receiving foremen should be excluded from the unit . Each of
these clerks works in a foreman's office which is an enclosed
office on the factory floor, and performs stenographic and
typing work for him. There are other general clerks who work
as timekeepers . They keep records of time and output, and in
most cases make employee initial gross-pay calculations.
Unlike the general clerks to the foreman , the general clerk-
timekeepers are under the supervision of the payroll super-
visor . They spend most of their time in the foremen ' s offices,
but do have occasion to go out on the floor and ask questions
or check on records that may be incomplete . We find that these
general clerk - timekeepers are plant clericals and may properly
be included in a production and maintenance unit , notwithstanding
the fact that they are paid on a different basis and are under
different ultimate supervision than the other employees in the
unit . ' There are several general clerks employed as shipping
and receiving records clerks who work in the shipping and
receiving foreman's offices . They keep records in connection
with the receiving and shipping of materials . They identify
materials , checking them against orders, and certifying to
the fact that the material received is actually the material that
is represented in the papers that accompany it. They do some
typing and operate a calculating machine . They are paid on a
salary basis . In addition to these clerks , the Employer also
has hourly paid receiving clerks, who work on the shipping
and receiving floor and are included in the unit by agreement of
the parties . We find that the general clerks working as shipping
and receiving records clerks are plant clericals and we shall
include them in the unit -6 Some general clerks work in the
dispatchers ' cages which are on the factory floor. They perform
routine clerical work for the dispatchers . We find these
4 See Western Electric Company, Incorporated , 76 NLRB 400 ; Walnut Ridge Manufacturing
Co., Inc., 80 NLRB 1196; Cadillac Motor Car Division , 94 NLRB 217 ; Ford Motor Company,
96 NLRB 1075 ; Bell Aircraft Corporation , 96 NLRB 1211; Chrysler Corporation , Michaud
Ordnance Plant, 98 NLRB 1105.
5Daystrom Furniture Division , Daystrom Inc., 101 NLRB 343, Wm. L Hoge & Co , In-
corporated , 103 NLRB 20.
6 Union Aluminum Company, 101 NLRB 324
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 369
dispatchers ' clerks to be plant clericals and shall include them
in the unit.'
Production - control employees : The Employer's production-
control group plans and controls the flow of materials through
the various manufacturing operations , by coordinating the use
of equipment , materials , and manpower . Included in this group
are production scheduling employees , inventory control em-
ployees , expediters , and dispatchers . The parties agree that
the production scheduling employees and the inventory control
employees are excluded from the unit . The Employer would
also exclude the expediters and the dispatchers because they
are an integral part of the production - control group and their
normal promotion channels are into office positions within the
group . The labor organizations would include them because the
expediters spend approximately 60 percent of their time on the
factory floor, and the dispatchers work in cages on the factory
floor and come in frequent contact with production employees.
We find in accordance with well - established Board procedures
that the dispatchers8 and the expediters9 are plant clericals
and we shall include them in the unit . The Petitioner would
include fire inspectors in the unit and all other parties would
exclude them. The fire inspectors care for fire - fighting
equipment , inspect the premises for fire hazards , have the
same headquarters as guards , are under the same supervision
as guards , and have the same authority as do guards with
respect to enforcing plant rules . There is some interchange
between guards and fire inspectors and the natural channel of
promotion for guards is to fire inspector . The parties stipulated
that the guards are guards as defined in the Act and are there-
fore excluded from the unit . We find that the fire inspectors
come within the definition of guards as defined in the Act and
we therefore exclude them from the unit.'°
4. We find the following employees of the Employer at its
plant in Buechel , Kentucky , hereinbefore referred to as
Appliance Park , constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act: All production and maintenance employees including
general clerks who work as timekeepers , as recordkeepers in
the shipping and receiving room, and as dispatchers ' clerks,
dispatchers, and expediters , but excluding boilerhouse em-
ployees,u employees in the classifications excluded by stipula-
tion of the parties and listed in Appendix A, professional
employees , office clerical employees , guards and fire inspec-
tors, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
7Bell Aircraft Corporation , 98 NLRB 1277.
8Bell Aircraft Corporation, supra.
9Efco Manufacturing , Inc., 97 NLRB 263.
"Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 92 NLRB 1376; Kohler Co., 93 NLRB 398.
"See footnote 3.
370 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
APPENDIX A
Engineering Assistants
Employees engaged on the following training programs of the
Employer
Test Engineering Program
Manufacturing Training Program
Factory Training Program
Planning Methods and Wage Rate and Time-Study Employees
Tool Planners
Tool Designers No. land No. 2.
Machine Designer
Tool Expediter ( outside and inside),
Tool Engineers
Trial and Test Employees
Packing Methodsmen
Laboratory Technicians
Messengers
Production Schedule Employees
Inventory Control Employees
Routing Clerk
Rail Transportation Dispatcher
Transportation Rate Clerk
Freight Tracer
Reservations Clerk
Traffic Coordinator
Safety Coordinator
General Clerks to the Production , Maintenance , Inspection, and
Shipping and Receiving Room Foremen
FULTON BAG AND COTTON MILLS and PRINTING SPE-
CIALTY AND PAPER PRODUCTS UNION NO. 388, INTER-
NATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS'
UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner. Case No.
21-RC-2898. July 23, 1953
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF
RESULTS OF ELECTION
On March 6, 1953, pursuant to a Decision and Direction of
Election' issued by the Board , an election by secret ballot was
conducted in the above-entitled matter under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Twenty-first
Region in the unit found to be appropriate. Upon the completion
of the election , a tally of ballots was issued and duly served
upon the parties. The tally shows that of approximately 87
eligible voters, 72 cast valid ballots, of which 23 were for the
Petitioner and 49 were against the Petitioner.
1 Not reported in printed volumes of Board decisions.
106 NLRB No. 59.