Lennox Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 17, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1385 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of LENNOx MANUFACTURING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS,..
C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-1132.-Decided May 17,1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duty filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Albert Gore, hearing-
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from.
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member-
panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.'
3. The question concerning representation :
On August 21, 1947, the UE as'an affiliate of the CIO together with,
its Local 1119 executed an agreement with the Employer covering the
employees involved in this case, to be in effect for 1 year and thereafter-
for a "similar period", unless either party notified the other of a desire,
to terminate the contract at least 30 days before August 21, 1948.
Article II of this agreement contained a union-security clause making-
membership in the UE a condition of employment. Thereafter, the
parties amended the agreement in several respects by supplemental
agreements entered into on January 21, 1948, August 21, 1948, and'
September 2, 1948, respectively. The supplemental agreement exe-
cuted on August 21, 1948, extended the term of the 1947 agreement
1 These labor organizations are International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers, C . I. 0., herein called IUE-CIO , and United Electrical , Radio and Machine Work-
ers of America , Local 1119 , herein called UE, Local 1119.
89 NLRB No. 183.
1385
1386 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to August 21, 1950, and in addition provided that the following clause
be substituted for the union-security clause appearing in Article II
of that agreement :
The Employer will notify the UE where new employees are
needed, the number required and nature of the available jobs.
Unless the UE supplies the necessary help within three (3) work-
ing days the Employer will fill the vacancies from other sources.
The supplemental agreement dated September 2, 1949, provided, inter
alia, that "all terms and conditions of the contract dated August 21st,
1947, and amendments agreed to on January 21, 1948 and August 21st,
.1948, are hereby continued and extended until June 30, 1951. ..."
The UE contends that its 1947 contract together with the supple-
ments thereto constitute a bar to a present determination of representa-
tives. We do not agree. The supplemental agreement executed on
August 21, 1948, contains a preferential hiring clause which exceeds
the limited form of union-security agreement permitted, under certain
-conditions, by Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act, and is thus illegal without
regard to whether or not its execution was authorized by an election
conducted under Section 9 (e) .2 In these circumstances, without re-
gard to other considerations, the agreements cannot serve as a bar to
:an immediate election.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute
.a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
-the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees, excluding clerical em-
ployees, watchmen, employees in the engineering department, working
-foremen, foremen, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
2 Louis Dix, d/b/a Hickey Cab Company, 88 NLRB 327; Morley Manufacturing Company,
X83 NLRB 404 ; American Export Lines , Inc., 81 NLRB 1370.
LENNOX MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1387
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in
the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above; who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether'
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by International. Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers, C. I. 0.3
3 United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America , and its Local 1119 , although
granted intervention at the hearing is nevertheless omitted from the ballot because of the
failure of its Local 1119 to comply with the filing requirements in Section 9 (f), (g), and
(h) of the Act . In the event that Local No. 1119 effects compliance with the filing re-
quirements of the Act , within 2 weeks from the date of this Direction, the Regional Direc-
tor is instructed to accord United Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers of America, ands
its Local 1119 a place on the ballot in the election directed herein.