Kroehler Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 8, 1942

45 N.L.R.B. 1151 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of AIRCRAFT PARTS MANUFACTURING DIVISION,
KROEHLER MANUFACTURING COMPANY and AERONAUTICAL DISTRICT
LODGE No. 22, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS
Case No. R-4511.-Decided December 8, 1942
Jurisdiction : aircraft parts manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal to accord recognition until certification by the Board, immediate
election directed when contemplated increase in personnel, held under cir-
cumstances not to justify postponement of election.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance
employees, with specific- inclusions and exclusions ; stipulation as to.
Mr. Leonard Comegys, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Ray B. Felton, of Santa Monica, Calif., and Mr. Charles W.
Hollinshead, of Inglewood, Calif., for the Union., -
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Aeronautical District Lodge No. 22,
International Association of Machinists,, herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Aircraft Parts Manufacturing
Division, Kroehler Manufacturing Company, Inglewood, California,
herein called the Compaliy, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Guy Farmer,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing, was held at, Los Angeles, California,
on November 10, 1942. The Union and the Company 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.
45 N. L. R. B., No. 161.
V
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1152 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Kroehler Manufacturing Company is, an Illinois, corporation with
its principal place of bdsiness at Naperville, Illinois. We are here
concerned with its plant at Inglewood, California, known as Aircraft
Parts Manufacturing Division, where it is engaged in the manufac-
ture, fabrication, and assembly of wooden aircraft parts. During the
6-month period ending November 1, 1942, the Company purchased
raw materials for use at its Aircraft Parts Manufacturing Division
valued in excess of $25,000, approximately 50 percent of which was
shipped to it from points outside California. During the same.
period the Company manufactured finished products at its Aircraft
Parts Manufacturing Division valued in excess of $25,000, over 25
percent of which was shipped to points outside California. The
Company admits it is engaged in commerce,, within. the-, meaning: of
the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Aeronatuical District Lodge No. 22, International Association of
Machinists, is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the
Company. -
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Union as exclusive repre-
sentative of the Company's employees until such time as the Union
is certified by the Board.
A statement of an agent of the Board, introduced into evidence
at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appro-
priate.' '
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.
1 The Board agent reported that the Union presented 126 membership application or
authorization cards bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names appear
on the Company's pay roll of September 10, 1942. There are approximately 233 employees
in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.
KROEHLER MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1153
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT.
We find, in accordance with a stipulation of the parties, that all
production and maintenance employees at the Aircraft Parts Manu-
facturing Division of the Company, including truck drivers and
lofting and template men, but excluding employees in the engineering
department (but not lofting and template men), guards, assistant
foremen, supervisors above the rank of assistant foreman, and office
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
It was disclosed at the hearing that the Aircraft Parts Manufac-
turing Division is in the process of expanding. Actual production
did not begin until May 5, 1942. The number of production and
maintenance employees in the plant increased from 39 on May 4,
1942, to 256 on November 6, 1942. As nearly as could be approxi-
mated, the plant-expansion program, conditioned upon the ability
to find satisfactory employees, calls for a peak of about 1,000 produc-
tion and maintenance employees.
The Company contends that no election should be directed at this
time, on the ground that a certification would be premature, in that
the large' number of workers who are expected to be employed would
have no voice in the choice of their representative. The record dis-
closes that the number of employees increased merely from 233 to
256 between September 10 and November 6, 1942. The Company's
representatives stated at-the hearing that it might be 6 to 8 months
before the Company completes its expansion. It now appears that
the plant is in actual production, and that there are, in addition, a
substantial number of employees presently on the pay roll comprising
numerous categories of employees which the Company will maintain
at the Aircraft Parts Manufacturing Division.- We do not believe
that the large number of employees now working should be deprived
of ,their right at the present time to bargain collectively with the
Company, as provided in the Act. We shall, accordingly, proceed
with an immediate determination of representatives.
Since the plant expansion of the Aircraft Parts Manufacturing
Division may almost quadruple the number of production and main-
tenance employees at that plant in a comparatively short time, we
shall not, in the event a collective bargaining representative is certified
as a result of this proceeding, adhere to our usual rule of refusing to
entertain a' petition for investigation and certification of representa-
493503-43-vol. 45-73
1154 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tives within 1 year after we have issued a certification. We shall,
instead, entertain a new petition for an investigation and certification
of representatives'at any time following issuance of any certification
in this proceeding, provided we are satisfied, under all the circum-
stances then shown (including proof that there has been a substantial
increase in the number of employees at the Aircraft Parts Manu-
facturing Division and that the petitioner represents a substantial
number of employees), that a question concerning representation)
affecting commerce has arisen.2
We shall direct that the employees eligible to vote in the election
shall be those in 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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIiECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Kroehler Manu-
facturing Company, Inglewood, California,, an election by secret
ballot shall be coliducted 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 Twenty-first Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees dn 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 Aeronautical District Lodge No. 22,
International Association of Machinists, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
2 See Matter of Westinghouse Electric d Manufacturing Company and International
Association of Machinists, Local 804, (A. F. of L.), 38 N. L. R. B. 404.