Hillsdale Steel Products Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 27, 1941

30 N.L.R.B. 623 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of HILLSDALE STEEL PRODUCTS COMPANY and LOCAL
663, INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF
AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-2378.Decided March 27, 1941
Jurisdiction : automotive transmissions and power take-offs manufacturing
industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal' to accord union exclusive recognition until Board determined the proper
bargaining agent ; contract with rival unions granting recognition for mem-
bers only, no bar to ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : All production and maintenance
employees including inspectors and employees of the drafting and tool
design department but excluding watchmen, timekeepers, office force and
supervisory employees.
Mr. Lloyd J. Haney, of Toledo, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. William L. Thorp, of Detroit, Mich., and Mr. William L.
Munger, of East Lansing, Mich., for Local 663.
Mr. James A. Morgan, of Detroit, Mich., and Mr. Edward H.
Hertz, of Jackson, Mich., for Local 701.
Eugene M. Purver, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 24, 1940, Local 663, International Union, United Auto-
mobile Workers of America, affiliated With the American Federa-
tion of Labor, herein called Local 663, filed with the Regional
Director for the Seventh Region (Detroit, Michigan), a petition al-
leging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Hillsdale Steel Products Company,
Hillsdale, Michigan, herein, called the Company, and requesting an
investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
the Act. On February 20, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board,
herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act,
30 N. L. R. B., No. 93.
623
624 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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.
On February 25, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon
Local 663, and upon Local 701, International Union, United Auto-
mobile Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, herein called Local 701, a labor organization
claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation. '
Pursuant to the notice a hearing was held on March 4, 1941, at..
Hillsdale, Michigan, before Earl R. Cross, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company and Local
701 were represented by their duly authorized representatives, Local
663 by counsel; all participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to
be heard, to examine, and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing upon the issues was afforded all parties. During
the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings
on motions. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Exam-
iner 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Hillsdale Steel Products Company is a Virginia corporation li-
censed to do business in Michigan. The Company is a subsidiary of
Spicer Manufacturing Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, and is located at
Hillsdale, Michigan, where it is engaged in the manufacture of
automotive transmissions and power take-offs. The Company's
principal sources of materials are in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.
The approximate value of the Company's finished products is $900,-,
000 annually. Ninety per cent of these products are sold outside the
State of Michigan.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Local 663, International Union, United Automobile Workers of
America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
Local 701, International Union, United Automobile Workers of
America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
HILLSDALE STEEL PRODUCTS COMPANY 625
is a lobar organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On October 9, 1940, Local 663 requested the Company to recognize
it as exclusive bargaining agent for the production and mainte-
nance employees. The Company refused to do so in the absence of
Board certification of Local 663 as the exclusive representative of the
Company's employees. The Company did, however, agree to rec-
ognize , Local 663 as bargaining agent for its members until the
Board determined the proper bargaining agent. About September
17, 1940, Local 701 entered into a written agreement with the Com-
pany to be in effect from September 17, 1940, through September 16,
1941, whereby the Company granted recognition to Local 701 as bar-
gaining agent for its members and agreed to certain conditions of
employment. Both of these agreements are for recognition of the
organizations as bargaining representatives for their respective mem-
bers only, and none of the parties contended that the agreements
constitute a bar to a determination of the question concerning rep-
resentation. We find that said agreements do not bar such a
determination.
At the hearing a report prepared by the Regional Director
was introduced in evidence showing that each of the two organ-
izations represents a substantial number of the employees in the
unit found in Section 17, infra, to be appropriate.'
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. 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
- The statement of the Regional Director concerning claims of authorization for the
purposes of representation shows that
(1) Local 663 submitted 156 applications for membership , 154 of which bore apparently
genuine original signatures ; 132 are of persons whose names are on the Company ' s pay roil
of November 16, 1940. 84 of the applications were dated during September and October
1940 and 72 bore no dates, but allegedly were signed between September 11 and 30, 1940
(2) Local 701 submitted 183 applications for membership of which 133 bore apparently
genuine original signatures ; 114 are of persons whose names appear on the Company- s
November 16, 1940 , pay roll There were also 50 unsigned applications , 12 of which bore
names of persons on the Company's November 16, 19 40, pay roll 134 of the applications
were dated between June 1, 1940, and February 28, 1941 ; 49 bore no date
The Regional Director stated that 28 of the signatures were duplicates
At the hearing Local 701 also submitted to the Trial Examiner certain additional appli-
cations for membership.
At the time of the hearing there were approximately 395 employees in the unit here-
inafter found to be appropriate.
626 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial:
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States,,
and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
With the one exception discussed below, all the parties agree that.
the unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining should
consist of all production and maintenance employees of the Company
including inspectors, but excluding watchmen, timekeepers, office,
force, and supervisory employees.
Local 701 desires to exclude from the unit the employees in the,
drafting and tool design department. Local 663 desires their in-
clusion. - The Company contends that their work is intimately con-,
Iiected with that. of the production and maintenance employees.
There are 12 tool designers, draftsmen, and processors in this de-
partment. They are paid on an hourly basis, work under a foreman
in charge of the department, and receive an hourly wage slightly'
higher than employees engaged in regular production work. They
have no apparent contact with the management. The department is,
located in an office building adjoining the production department.
We' shall include the employees of the drafting and tool designing
department in the appropriate unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company including inspectors and employees of the drafting and
tool design department, but excluding watchmen, timekeepers, office
force, and supervisory employees, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining and that said 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
We find that the,question which has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Company can best be resolved by, an
election by secret ballot. At the hearing the parties agreed that
eligibility to vote in the election should be determined by the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the hearing. We see no reason
however, for not following our usual practice, and shall therefore
direct that those eligible to vote in the election shall be the employ-
ees in the appropriate unit who were employed by the Company
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of our
HILLSDALE STEEL PRODUCTS COMPANY 627,
Direction of Election, subject to such limitations and additions as
are set forth in the Direction.
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 Hillsdale Steel Products Company, Hills-
dale, Michigan, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2
(6) and- (7) of the Act. ' '
2. All production and maintenance employees of the Company in-
cluding, inspectors and employees of the drafting and tool design
department but excluding watchmen, timekeepers, office force and
Supervisory employees constitute a unit appropriate' for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act. 7
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 8, of National Labor
Relations Board 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 Hillsdale Steel Products Company, Hillsdale, Mich-
igan, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possi-
ble but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction
of Election 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, Sec-
tion 9, of said Rules and Regulations among all production and main-
tenance employees of the Hillsdale Steel Products Company who
were employed by it during the pay-roll period immediately preced-
ing the date of this Direction, including inspectors and employees of
the drafting and tool design department and employees who did
not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on
-action or absent because called for military service and employees
who were then or have since been temporarily laid off but excluding
watchmen, timekeepers, office force and supervisory employees and
those who have since quit or been discharged for cause to determine
whether they desire to be represented by Local 663, International
440135-42-Vol 30--41
,628 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Union, United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor or by Local 701,, International Union,
United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations for the-purposes of collective bargaining,
or by neither.
MR. EDWIN S. SMITH, dissenting in part:
I dissent from the opinion of the majority in respect to the in-
clusion within the appropriate unit'of the employees of the drafting
and tool design department. It has been the Board's policy to
exclude "fringe groups" from the unit where there is disagreement,
as here, between competing labor organizations regarding their in-
clusion. I see no reason to depart from this practice.
'When two labor organizations, each contending, for an industrial
unit, are competing, it is only fair that they do so on what is
obviously a homogeneous industrial unit. The Board has on several
occasions expressed the belief that the interests of draftsmen do not
coincide with those of production and maintenance employees.2 I
would, therefore, exclude the drafting and tool design employees
from the unit.'
2 See Matter of Jamestown Steel Partition Co. and Local 309, United Electrical, Radio d
Machine Workers of America , 29 N. L . R B. 116; Matter of Walker Vehicle Company
and The Automatic Transportation Company, Divisions of The Yale d Towne Manufacturing
Company and Walker-Automatic Independent Labor Association , 7 N. L. R . B. 827.