Marine Optical Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 8, 1950

92 N.L.R.B. 571 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of MARINE OPTICAL MANUFACTURING Co.. EMPLOYER
and UNITED OPTICAL AND INSTRUMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I.
0., PETITIONER
Case Ni). 1-RC-1727.-Decided December 8,1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Robert S. Fuchs;
hearing- officer. The hearing officer's rulings, including the ruling
discussed below, are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
The Marine Optical Workers Union, herein called the Intervenor,
moved to intervene at the hearing held on September 27, 1950. Be-
cause the Intervenor was not in complete compliance with the filing
requirements of the Act, the hearing officer permitted the intervention
contingent upon a ruling by the Board on the motion. The Intervenor
was formed on September 925, 1950, and had by the date of the hearing
initiated steps to achieve compliance. The formation of the Inter-
venor only 2 days before the hearing made complete compliance by
the time of the hearing impossible. Any technical defect in the In-
tervenor's intervention was cured by its partial compliance at that
time, by its statement at the hearing that it was in the process of com-
pleting compliance, and by its actual compliance shortly thereafter.'
In view of these circumstances, we find that the intervention of the
Intervenor was proper.2
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-mem-
ber panel [Chairman Herzog and Members 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 Petitioner and the Intervenor are labor organizations claim-
ing to represent employees of the Employer. We find no merit to the
Petitioner's contention that the Intervenor loses its status as a labor
1 New Indiana Chair Company, Inc., 80 NLRB 1686, 1689.
2 Ibid; Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 84 NLRB 213 , 214, footnote 5.
3 StanisZaus Implement and Hardware Company, Limited , 91 NLRB 618.
92 NLRB No. 88. 571
572 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
organization within the meaning of the Act because it is allegedly
Employer inspired and dominated . This contention is in fact. a
charge of unfair labor practices in violation of Section 8 (a) (2) of
the Act. Such a charge may be heard only in a complaint proceeding.
3. The Employer moved to dismiss the petition as having been pre-
maturely filed with respect to a collective bargaining agreement be-
tween the Employer and a union not a party to this proceeding. The
petition was filed on August 17, 1950, and the earliest termination
date of the contract in question was October 30, 1950. Under these
circumstances we cannot say that the petition was prematurely filed,
especially as the evidence indicates that the contracting union was
dissolved on August 8, 1950, before the filing of the petition. Con-
trary to the belief of the Employer , the Board has established no so-
called 60 - day rule with respect to the time within which a petition
may be filed before the expiration date of an existing contract. The
Employer's motion to dismiss the petition is therefore denied.
A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
( 1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following unit is appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's plant
in Rosindale , Massachusetts , excluding office and clerical employees,
shippers , salesmen, tool and die makers , machinists , machinists' ap-
prentices , professional employees , foremen, -assistant foremen, and
all other supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]