Ken-Rad Tube & Lamp Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 30, 1943

50 N.L.R.B. 1010 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In ' the Matter of KEN-RAD TUBE & LAMP CORPORATION AND-_KEN-RAD
TRANSMITTING TUBE CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED
AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, A. F. L.
Case No. R-5109.-Decided June 30, 1943
Messrs. Thomas E. Sandidge, and Wilbur K. Miller, of Owensboro,
' Ky., for the .Company. .
Mr. Peter G. Noll, of Norwood, Ohio, and Mr. McKinley Ralston,
of Owensboro, Ky., for the.Union.
Miss Muriel J. Levor, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND'
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon amended petition duly filed by International Union, United
Automobile Workers of America, A. F. L., herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees, of Ken-Rad Tube, & Lamp Corpo-
ration, Owensborb, Kentucky, herein called the Tube Corporation, and
Ken-Rad Transmitting Tube Corporation, Owensboro, Kentucky,
herein called the Transmitting Corporation, (the corporations will be
referred to herein collectively as the Company),' the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before John J. Manning, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Owensboro, Kentucky, on April 2, 1943. The Company and the
Union appeared, participated, and were afforded, full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
_FINDINGS OF ]FACT'
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Ken-Rad Tube &,Larnp Corporation, a Kentucky corporation, with
its principal office and place of business at Owensboro, Kentucky, is
1 A motion was made and granted at the hearing to amend the petition and other docu-
_ ments to set forth the name of the Company, as above.
E0 N. L. R. B., No. 147.
1010
11
KEN READ TUBE & LAMP CORPORATION 1011
engaged in'the manufacture and sale of incandescent electric lamps and
receiving tubes. Ken-Rad Transmitting Tube Corporation, a' Ken-
tucky corporation, with its principal office and place of business at,
Owensboro, Kentucky, is engaged in the manufacture of radio trans-
mitting tubes. , The Transmitting Corporation` is a wholly owned
subsidiary of the -Tube Corporation. Both companies have substan-
tially the same officers and directors and the same general manager.
Their respective plants are connected by an overhead bridge. The
value of raw materials purchased annually by the Company is in excess
of $1,200,000.- Approximately 95 percent of the materials purchased
for the Tube Corporation and approximately 75 percent of the raw
materials purchased for the Transmitting Corporation are shipped
from points outside the State of Kentucky. The Company annually
manufactures products having a value in excess of $2,500,000, of which-
more than 95 percent is shipped to points outside the State of Kentucky.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, is
a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of La-
bor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about December 19, 1942, the Union requested recognition
as the exclusive 'bargaining representative of the Company's depart-
mental maintenance employees. The Company refused the request
on the ground that an earlier Decision and Direction of Election 2
excluding these same employees from the production unit, had ad-
judicated the question concerning representation.
A statement of the Regional Director introduced into evidence at
the hearing indicates that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.3
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the.Act.
i
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union claims as appropriate for collective bargaining aiunit
composed of employees whom the Company designates as depart-
mental maintenance employees. The Company contends that these
employees have substantial supervisory authority which renders in-
'Matter of Ken-Rad Tube d Lamp Corporation , and Matter of Ken-Rod Transmitting
Corporation, 42 N L . R B 1235
3 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 74 designations , of which 46
bearing apparently genuine original signatures correspond with names on the Company's
pay roll of February 24, 1943, containing 147 names -
1012 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOAiRD
appropriate a unit so constituted. The Company also urges that
should the Board direct an election among the departmental mainte-
nance employees, another category of employees whom the Company
designates as instructors should be included within the unit.
The Union previously sought the inclusion of the instructors in
a production unit.' At that time the Company claimed that depart-
mental maintenance men were higher in the supervisory hierarchy
than instructors. It has now abandoned this contention and claims
that they are coordinate. In that proceeding a considerable portion
of tl^e testimony concerning the departmental maintenance employees
and the instructors was in conflict, and the Board excluded both Cate-
gories as supervisory. This conflict has been resolved by the testi-
mony in the instant case. It is now apparent that instructors have
supervisory functions in regard to personnel and that departmental,
maintenance men do not. Instructors are the liaison between fore-
men (which term is intended to include assistant foremen) and the
operators., They transmit orders, recommend transfers, and have
the power to discipline operators, by whom they are regarded as
"bosses." Instructors are promoted from the ranks of experienced
and skilled operators.
Departmental maintenance men are mechanics who function as
adjustors or set-up, men, the usual nomenclature for this type of
employee. They vary in experience and status from apprentice and
beginner to lead departmental maintenance men. Their duties involve
oiling, greasing, adjusting, and making minor repairs. The depart-,
mental maintenance men spend 6 hours out of 10 in the above occupa-
tions. The rest of their time is devoted to checking the product with
micrometers or other instruments, and if it is not up to specifications
they diagnose the cause. Should the defect be caused,by the machine
they change the adjustment, make a minor repair, or call a machinist
- if a major repair is required. Since some.machines are automatic,
requiring no operators, other machines are grouped into units, and
some operators are individual, the Company's arrangements neces=
sarily differ from department to department. There are 30 depart-
mental maintenance men who tend the automatic machines. Their
duties differ solely from those of their fellows in that the latter, when
it is evident that a defect in the product has not been caused by the
machine, know that it is caused by faulty technique on the part of the
operator. They thereupon call the operator's attention to the method
of-avoiding'the' defect. If she does not immediately benefit from the
departmental.mdiritenance man's advice he;calls the' instructor whose
duty it is to work with the operator until she successfully overcomes
her mistake. Departmental maintenance men Flo not have the powers;
I
,' Footnote 1, supra.
KEN-RAD TUBE & LAMP CORPORATION 1013
such as authority to discipline or to recommend transfers , which are
accorded to instructors. Although they are "responsible for the quality
.and quantity" of the product, it is from the mechanical point of view
since they are not responsible for the efficiency of the operators.5 A
departmental maintenance man testified that he is never consulted by
the foremen and instructors and is only informed of their decisions.
From the'foregoing it is clear that the departmental maintenance
employees do not have supervisory authority. Had this record been
before us in the prior case Ave would have included them in the indus-
trial unit, as requested by the Union. In the event the Union is
selected as their representative, it will not be inappropriate for the
parties to consolidate the two groups although the departmental main-
tenance men can function equally well as a separate unit.
We-find that all departmental maintenance employees of'the_Tube
Corporation and the Transmitting Corporation employed at their
Owensboro, Kentucky, plants, except lead departmental maintenance
employees (if any) who may have supervisory authority, constitute
an appropriate unit for collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employ-
ees within the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, 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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules `and"Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTrD that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Ken-Rad Tube &
Lamp Corporation and Ken-Rad Transmitting Tube Corporation,
Owensboro, Kentucky, 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 Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, See-
5 For example , it is their duty to adjust the machine for a certain rate of production
and should an insufficient quantity be produced they are decked if it is the result of a
defective adjustment' left too long uncorrected. However, if it is the operator 's fault,
it is the instructor's iosponsibihty to see that she improves or is transferred.
53010.5-4-i 65
N
1014 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL * LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tion 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed dur-
ing the pay -roll period immediately preceding the date of thi's Direc-
tion , including employees who did not 'work during said.pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off ,' and in-
cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who present
themselves in person at the polls , but excluding any who have since
quit or been discharged for cause , to determine 'whether or not they
desire to be represented by International Union, United Automobile
Workers of America, affiliated with , the American Federation of
Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.