National Electric Products Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 19, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 371 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of NATIONAL ELECTRIC PRODUCTS CORPORATION and
UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACrIINE WORKERS OF AMERICA.
C. I. O.
Case No. 6-R-1167.-Decided October 19, 1945
Mr. James M. Houston, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Leo Turner, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the UE.
Mr. George H. Poulson, of Erie, Pa., for the IBEW.
Mr. Joseph D. Manders, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CA SE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Electrical, Radio
& Machine Workers of America , C. I. 0., herein called the UE, alleg-
ing that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of National Electric Products Corporation,
Ambridge , Pennsylvania , herein called the Company , the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice before W. G. Stuart Sherman , Trial Examiner. The hear-
ing was held at Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , on June 22 , 1945. The
Company, the UE, and International Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers, A. F. L., herein called the IBEW , appeared and participated.
All parties 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 hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded
an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS or FACT
I. TIIE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY
National Electric Products Corporation, a Delaware corporation,
maintains its principal office and place of business in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. The sole plant involved in this proceeding is located
at Ambridge, Pennsylvania, where the Company is engaged in the
64 N. L. R. B., No. 68.
371
372 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL`LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
manufacture of steel conduits, wire and cables, Navy cable and signal
wire, outlet boxes and switch boxes, and various types of wiring sys-
tems and fittings. During 1944, the Company purchased raw and
other materials for use at its Ambridge plant valued in excess of
$12,000,000, approximately 95 percent of which was shipped from
points outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: During the same
period the Company sold and distributed finished products valued in
excess of $19,320,000, approximately 88 percent of which was shipped
to pofiits outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The Company admits that ifs operations at the Ambridge plant
affect commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations
Act, and we so find.
II. TIIE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. TILE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In the letters dated April 15, and May 5, 1945, the UE informed
the Company that, it represented a majority of its employees, and
requested recognition as their exclusive bargaining representative.
The Company failed to reply to these letters.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the UE represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The C. I. O. seeks a unit consisting of production and maintenance
employees , including shop clericals , plant protection employees
(watchmen ),2 inspectors and employees in the Junior Laboratory 3
2 The Field Examiner reported that the UE submitted 629 authorization cards, 600 of
which bole the names of persons appearing on the Company's pay roll of May 1, 1945 which
contained the names of 1,894 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that the cards were
dated in January 1943, March 1944, and April and May 1945 ; 22 cards were undated. The
IBEW submitted its current contract as evidence of its representation in the proposed
appropriate unit.
2 These employees are not militarized or armed.
8 This laboratory is part of the inspection department.
NATIONAL ELECTRIC PRODUCTS CORPORATION 373
and working foremen.4 The Company and the IBEW, agreeing with
the petitioner 'that the unit should contain the employees in the above
categories, contend that it should include, in addition, office clericals,
engineers, and others hereinafter discussed, all of whom the petitioner
would exclude.
In support of its position that the employees in the disputed cate-
gories should be included in a single appropriate unit with produc-
tion and maintenance employees, the IBEW points to its history of
collective bargaining. Following a Board certification in 1937,6 the
IBEW has entered into a series of collective bargaining agreements
with the Company covering all of the non-supervisory employees of
the Company, including those in dispute. We do not attach decisive
weight to this bargaining history for 2 reasons : (1) at least two of
the disputed groups discussed below were specifically excluded from
the unit found appropriate by the Board in the 1937 proceeding; a
(2) others in question, though not specifically passed upon by the
Board in 1937, are classifications which we customarily decline, as a
matter of policy, to commingle with production and maintenance
workers for collective bargaining purposes.,
The employees in the disputed categories are as follows :
Office clerical employees. The office clerical group which was ex-
cluded from the 1937 unit,8 is comprised of such employees as ledger
accountants, bookkeepers, traffic and cost clerks, secretaries, stenog-
raphers, and file clerks. They work in a two-story building which is
separate from the Company's production buildings. These office
clerical employees have interests and working conditions which are
substantially different from those of production and maintenance
employees, and they are under separate supervision. In accordance
with our customary policy, we shall exclude the office clerical em-
ployees.9
Time-study man. This employee performs time-study analyses
which directly affect the wages of the Company's other employees.
The time-study man is responsible to the assistant to the president
of the Company, and submits his reports to this executive. The time-
study man, along with office clerical employees, was excluded from
4 The record shows that these employees do not possess supervisory authority.
Matter of National Electric Products Corporation, 3 N L. R B. 475
9See Matter of Mathieson Alkali Works, 55 N. L. R. B. 1100; Matter of Indianapolis
Power & Light Company, 62 N. L It. B. 1279
See Matter of Boston Edison Company, 51 N L. R B 118
8In its brief, the IBEW asserts that the office clericals and the time-study man were
permitted to "participate in the selection of [a] bargaining [representative] * * •"
in the 1937 election, and, therefore, they should be included in the present unit Although
certain employees who were apparently excluded from the 1937 unit were permitted to vote
under challenge in the 1937 election, there is no evidence in the record that office clericals
and the time-study man were among those permitted to vote.
9 See Matter of Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Company, 62 N. L. It. B. 1262.
374 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the 1937 unit. In accordance with our usual policy, we shall exclude
the time-study man to ,
Technical employees. The Company employs mechanical and elec-
trical engineers and draftsmen who work in the office building. The
record indicates that they are professional and technical employees.
The Company also employs chemists and laboratory attendants who
are engaged in the testing and analysis of the diverse materials uti-
lized in its manufacturing processes. Their operations are performed
in the main laboratory which is adjacent to the Company's office build-
ing. The chemists are professionally trained and paid on a salary
basis; the laboratory attendants, who are hourly paid, are apparently
technical employees. We shall exclude these professional and tech-
nical employees from the unit."
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Company's Ambridge plant, including shop, clericals, plant protection
employees (watchmen), inspectors and employees in the Junior Lab-
oratory, and working foremen, but excluding office clerical employees
in the general plant office, engineers, draftsmen, chemists and other
technical employees, and all supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes
in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes- of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.12
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
employees 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 Direc-
tion.13
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 the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
1i See Matter of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, 54 N. L. R. B. 272.
11 See Matter of Vermont Copper Company , Inc., 55 N. L. R . B. 1039; Matter of American
Cyanamid & Chemical Corporation, 62 N. L R B. 925
'Z The maintenance employees , shop clericals and plant protection employees were ex-
cluded from the unit found appropriate by the Board in 1937, but in view of the agreement
of the parties and present Board policies regarding these three categories of employees,
we find no reason to disapprove their inclusion in the unit.
13 In a letter dated June 26, 1945, the UE requested that it be permitted to appear on the
ballot as "UE-CIO, United Electrical , Radio & Machine Workers of America." The re-
quest of the UE to be designated on the ballot in the manner indicated is hereby referred
to the Regional Director.
NATIONAL ELECTRIC PRODUCTS CORPORATION 375
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with National Electric
Products CorporationQ,Ambridge, Pennsylvania, 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 Sixth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and sub-
ject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause, and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be repre-
sented by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America,
C. I. 0., or by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.