Great Lakes Engineering Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 11, 1942

40 N.L.R.B. 1254 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of GREAT LAKES ENGINEERING WORKS and LOCAL 46,
INDUSTRIAL UNION OF MARINE AND SHIPBUILDING WORKERS OF
AMERICA C. I. O.
Case No. R-3707.-Decided May 11, 19,142
Jurisdiction : shipbuilding and repairing industry
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal of Company to accord petitioner recognition; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all timekeepers and piecework
counters, excluding'all production and maintenance employees, watchmen,
supervisory and clerical employees, notwithstanding their exclusion from a
production and maintenance unit for which petitioner had been previously
certified.
Mr. Frank Le Fewvre and Mr. Curt Engstrom, of River Rouge,
Mich., for the Company:
Mr. Allan P. Tibbetts and Mr. William McDade, Jr., of River
Rouge, Mich., for the Union.
Mr. Harley G. Moorhead, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Local 46, Industrial Union of Marine
and Shipbuilding Workers' of America, C. I. 0., herein called the
Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Great Lakes Engineering
Works, River Rouge, Michigan, herein called the Company, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Frederick P. Mett, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Detroit, Michigan, on April 6, 1942. The Com-
pany and the Union appeared, participated, and 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.
40 N. L. R. B., No. 223.
1254
GREAT LAKES ENGINEERING WORKS 1255
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following':
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Great Lakes Engineering Works, River Rouge, Michigan, is, a
Michigan corporation engaged in shipbuilding and ship repairing.
It operates plants at River Rouge and Detroit, Michigan; and at
Ashtabula , Ohio, but only employees of the River Rouge plant are
involved herein. At River Rouge the Company is now constructing,
three 640 - foot freighters for the Pittsburgh Steamship Company, at
the cost of approximately 2 million dollars . It has contracts with
the United States Maritime Commission for construction of six 600-
foot freighters, at a cost of several million dollars. In 1941, the
Company performed repair work on vessels , from which it realized
an income of approximately $750,000. In the same year the Com-
pany purchased raw materials at a cost of approximately 2 million
dollars, and 68.9 percent of such raw materials were shipped to the
River Rouge plant from points outside of the State of Michigan. The
Company does not question the jurisdiction of the Board.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED -
Local 46, Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers
of America, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
111. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On February 23, 1942, the Company refused to recognize the.Union
as the representative of the employees herein involved, namely, time-
keepers and piece-work counters. The Company has a contract with
the Union for production and maintenance employees and has recog-
nized the Union as their representative pursuant to certification by
the Board 1 In the prior proceeding before the Board timekeepers
and piece-work counters were excluded from the production and
maintenance unit; and the Company refused to recognize the Union
as their representative for this reason and because it denies the
appropriateness of the proposed unit.
A statement of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region
(Detroit, Michigan) introduced in evidence at the hearing shows
1 Matter of Great Lakes Engineering Works and Local 2 O7, Steel Workers organizing
Committee, O. I. 0., 34, N. L R B , 1303; certification 36 N L R. B 459
ti
1256 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD I
that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the
unit herein found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of
.Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that the unit should include all piece-work
counters and, timekeepers, excluding all production and maintenance
employees, watchmen, supervisory employees, and clerical employees.
The Company contends that the Union should not be permitted, in
effect, to enlarge the unit of production and maintenance employees
by simultaneous representation of a unit including piece-work count-
ers and timekeepers; it also contends that the unit appropriate to
represent piece-work counters and timekeepers should also include
employees in'the auditing department and office workers. The parties
agreed that piece-work counters and timekeepers, ought to be repre-
sented in a single bargaining unit.
In the prior proceedings concerning representation of the Com-
pany's employees, the Board did not pass upon the issue of whether
or not piece-work counters and timekeepers should be' included in a
unit with production and maintenance employees. Two unions not
here involved had been certified by the Board for respective units of
employees prior to filing of the petition therein, and these unions did
not represent either timekeepers or piece-work counters. During the
course of the proceedings the Union agreed to exclude piece-work
counters. Individuals in each category have been members of the
Union since its organization, and the Union has assisted piece-work
counters informally 'in bargaining. The Company would not recog-
nize the Union as the bargaining agent of the counters, but permitted
union representatives to be present during a, conference which resulted
in a 221/2 cents per hour wage increase to the counters.
The work of timekeepers and piece-work counters is generally simi-
lar: Employees in both classifications are under the control of the
head of the Company's accounting department, although each class
has a different supervisor. Timekeepers check employees at jobs,
compile time slips, punch excess and straight time for employees on
cards, and enforce company rules and regulations pertaining to time
2 The Regional Director on April 4, 1942, reported that he had examined recent union
application and dues receipt cards, that he checked the names which appeared thereon
by apparently valid signatures , comparing them to the names which appeared on a then
current Company pay roll, and that from this checking it appeared that the Union repre-
sents 22 of the 24 employees in the unit.
GREAT LAKES ENGINEERING WORKS 1257
slips. Piece-.work counters advise employees about piece-work rates,
.which are often complicated, and count or measure such-work, there-
after computing the compensation due. A witness for the Company
compared the work of timekeepers and piece-work counters to that
,of bank clerks, testifying that the slips prepared by these employees
are as good as cash. This witness stated that timekeepers and piece-
work counters should be represented by a unit which includes office
workers and draftsmen, suggesting as a representative the C. I. O.
.Clerical and Professional Workers Union.' Timekeepers work 'one-
tenth of their working hours in another separate building. Employ-
ees of both classes are paid by the hour, they do not direct or assign
the work of production and maintenance employees, nor have the
power to hire or discharge such employees. Foremen frequently
check the time slips or piece-work counts made for men under them.
We find that all piece-work counters and timekeepers of the Com-
pany, excluding all production and maintenance employees, watch-
men, supervisory employees, and clerical employees, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
Although the Company and the Union agree that a 'pay roll of
the Company for March 21, 1942, would be acceptable to them for
the determination of eligibility, we shall follow our usual practice
and shall direct that the employees of the Company eligible to vote
in the election shall be those in the appropriate unit who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
the Direction of Election, 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-
3In Matter of Chrysler Corp. (Marysville plant ) and U. A. W., 36 N L R. B 157,
161, the Board decided that a union which had previously been certified as the
representative of a unit of production and maintenance employees could also represent
appropriately a unit including timekeepers and office employees . The Company in the
present case originally took the position that timekeepers and piece-work counters
were in confidential relations - with the management , arguing that danger of collusion
with respect to the time slips and piece -work counts would be increased if timekeepers
and piece-work counters were represented by the same union which represents pro-
duction and maintenance employees . The Company subsequently abandoned this con-
tention and expressed hope that officials of the Union would cooperate with the Company
to decrease the danger of such collusion . In Matter of Edward Valve & Mfg. Co.,
Inc. and Local Union 21,93, Steel Workers Oraanizing Committee , 38 N. L. R. B, 428, the
Board decided that timekeepers may be included appropriately in a knit of production and
maintenance employees
1258 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Great Lakes
Engineering Works, River Rouge, Michigan, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations
Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Reg-
ulations among the 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 any such employees
who did not work during said 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 any who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by Local 46, Industrial Union of Marine
and Shipbuilding Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
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