Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 23, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 603 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of KELSEY-HAYES WHEEL COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
PATTERN MAKERS ASSOCIATION OF DETROIT AND VICINITY, AFFILIATED
WITH PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETI-
TIONER
Case No. 7-R,9582.-Decided July 23, 1947
Messrs. Martin L. Butzel and Howard Bovee , of Detroit , Mich., for
the Employer.
Mr. George Q. Lynch,, of Washington , D. C., and Mr. Earnest J.
Ross, of Detroit, Mich ., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Harry South well, of Detroit, Mich., for the Intervenor.
Mr. Jerome A . Reiner, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Detroit,
Michigan, on March 10, 1947, before Jerome H. Brooks, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Company, a Delaware corporation licensed to
do business in the State of Michigan, maintains two plants in Detroit,
Michigan,' and one plant in Jackson, Michigan, where it is engaged in
the manufacture of automotive parts and products. During the year
1946, the Employer purchased raw materials, supplies, and equipment
valued in excess of $1,000, of which approximately 50 percent was
shipped to points outside the State of Michigan. In the same year
the Employer sold finished products in excess of $1,000,000, of which
' These are known as the Military Plant and the McGraw Plant ; we are concerned here
only with the McGraw plant.
74 N. L. R. B., No. 117. 603
604 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
approximately 50 percent was shipped to points outside the State of
Michigan.
- The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in 'commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
Local 174, International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, herein called the In-
tervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all pattern makers and apprentices
employed by the Employer in its McGraw plant . The Intervenor
contends that a more comprehensive industrial unit already established
by a Board certification 2 and by a history of collective bargaining
between the Employer and the Intervenor is the appropriate unit,
and that a separate unit of pattern makers is inappropriate because
the pattern makers' work is an integral part of production and main-
tenance. Although the Employer takes a position of strict neutrality,
it asserts that it would be more difficult administratively to bargain
respecting the pattern makers if a separate unit of pattern makers is
carved out of the present industrial unit.
There are 11 pattern makers involved herein, 6 of whom are metal
pattern makers and 5 of whom are wood pattern makers. These em-
ployees work in departments separate from the other production
workers and under separate supervision . Their work is highly tech-
nical and requires exceptional skill . Although the pattern makers
have on occasion been called upon to perform tasks outside the scope
2 16 N L R. B. 580.
KELSEY-HAYES WHEEL COMPANY 605
of their usual duties, this is not a regular or frequent occurrence and
it represents only a small fraction of their work.
In December 1936 the Employer recognized the Intervenor as the
bargaining representative of all the production and maintenance
workers of its McGraw plant, the pattern makers being included in
the unit. On December 26, 1939, following a Board election 3 in
which the pattern makers participated, the Intervenor was certified as
the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees of the Em-
ployer in the afore-mentioned industrial unit.' Since 1936, when the
Employer first recognized the Intervenor as exclusive bargaining reps
resentative of its employees, there has never been a written contract
between the Employer and the Intervenor. Instead, weekly written
minutes were made of meetings between management and the Inter-
venor at which the parties discussed grievances and other matters.
There are 1,800 pattern makers in the Detroit area, 1,000 of whom
work in jobbing shops and 800 of whom work in manufacturing shops.
All of the jobbing shop pattern makers are hired through and belong
to the Petitioner. Of the 800 pattern makers in the manufacturing
shops, 200 belong to the Petitioner. The Employer's shop is a manu-
facturing shop.
The record indicates that the unit proposed by the Petitioner repre-
sents a true craft such as the Board has often recognized; 5 and that
a bargaining practice predicated upon craft units of pattern makers
exists in the automotive industry in the Detroit area. In addition, the
organization which seeks herein to represent the pattern makers is
one which is established exclusively for pattern makers and which
supplies the majority of pattern makers for the automotive industry
in the Detroit area.° The pattern makers in the present case have
never had an opportunity to express their sentiments as to representa-
tion in a separate craft unit, and although they did vote in the 1939
Board election, nevertheless the Petitioner did not appear on that
ballot and the issue of separate craft representation was not then be-
fore the Board.7 Moreover, we do not feel that the history of collec-
tive bargaining as conducted between the Intervenor and the Em-
ployer, on an oral basis and without resort to a written contract em-
bodying the terms agreed upon, is sufficiently compelling to preclude
the establishment of pattern makers in a separate craft unit .8
3 See ni a 2, supra.
18 N. L R. B 698.
See Matter of Kaiser -Frazer Corporation , 73 N. L It . B. 109 , and cases cited therein.
° Cf',Matter of L. L Shunk Latex Products, Inc, 67 N. L It. B 552.
a Matter of National Aniline Division, Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation , 71 N L. R B
1217.
8 Matter of National Silver Company , 71 N L It . B 594 ; Matter of International
Hari,ester Conipqny, 68 N L R B 383, 386, Matter of Hamilton-Scheu and Walsh Shoe
Company, 66 N.'L It . B. 146, 148.
606 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The pattern makers could therefore be properly represented in a
separate craft unit of their own such as the Petitioner seeks, or could
be bargained for in the more comprehensive industrial unit of pro-
duction and maintenance employees now existing at the McGraw
plant of the Employer. Under these circumstances, and inasmuch as
they have never had an opportunity in a Board election to indicate
whether they desire to be represented in a craft unit or in an industrial
unit, we are of the opinion that they should now be given that oppor=
tunity.° We shall, therefore, make no determination of the appro-
priate unit at the present time but shall permit the scope of the unit or
units to be determined in part by the results of an election in the voting
group hereinafter set forth. If the pattern makers select the Peti-
tioner; they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be established
in a separate unit; if they select the Intervenor they will be taken to
have indicated their desire to remain a part of the existing industrial
unit.
Accordingly, we shall direct that an election be held among all
wood and metal pattern makers and their apprentices employed at
the McGraw plant of the Employer, excluding the supervisors of the
wood and metal pattern shops,10 and all other supervisory employees.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 17
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Company,
Detroit, 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 Sections 203.55
and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 4, among the employees in the voting group found ap-
propriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, includ-
ing employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because
they (were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including
employees in the armed forces of the United States, who present
themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who.
0 Matter of B F. Goodrich Company, 59 N. L. R. B . 1477; Matter of Kaiser-Frazer Cor-
poration, 73 N. L. R. B. 109.
10 Earl Balsey and Jack Herdegen They are both salaried employees, assign work to.
the pattern makers and inspect it ; they have disciplinary authority ; and they work only
occasionally with tools . They are supervisory employees and, accordingly , we shall exclude
them from the unit.
t1 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.
KELSEY-HAYES WHEEL COMPANY 607
have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired
or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Pattern Makers Association of De-
troit and Vicinity, affiliated with the Pattern Makers League of North
America, AFL, or by Local 174, International Union, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
UAW-CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
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