Radio Corp. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 28, 1954

107 N.L.R.B. 993 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA, RCA VICTOR DIVISION 993
RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA, RCA VICTOR DIVISION
and OFFICE -EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL,
Petitioner . Case No. 4-RC-2069. January 28, 1954
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before William
Naimark, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
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
employees of the Employer.
3. No 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, for the
following reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of office and cleri-
cal employees of the Employer's Camden, New Jersey, plant.
All parties stipulated to the appropriateness of the unit de-
scribed as follows:
All office and clerical employees of the Camden, New
Jersey, plant of Radio Corporation of America, RCA
Victor Division, including , but not limited to, all office
and clerical employees engaged in timekeeping , purchasing
and accounting activities for the Camden plant, but exclud-
ing all employees employed by the home offices or general
offices engaged in home office or general office activities,
and excluding all executive , administrative and professional
employees , all secretaries and confidential or managerial
employees , all guards and all supervisors as defined in the
Act.
The Employer and the Intervenor, International Union of
Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, and its Local 110,
contend that an existing collective -bargaining contract covering
the employees in this unit bars the present proceedings. An
appraisal of this contention requires consideration of several
documents.
On April 10, 1952, the Employer and the Intervenor Inter-
national "for itself and in behalf of its affiliated RCA Victor
Division locals " executed a national agreement . This agree-
ment was signed by the Employer and by the Intervenor Inter-
national . Its recognition clause reads:
107 NLRB No. 180.
994 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Paragraph 3.01 Recognition: The Company recognizes
IUE as the sole collective bargaining agency with respect
to rates of pay, wages, hours and other conditions of
employment for all employees in those units where the
IUE or any affiliated Local has been recognized, or shall
be recognized through appropriate means satisfactory to
both Parties as the sole collective bargaining agency. The
units referred to above are set forth in the Appendix
attached hereto and made part of this National Agreement.
Any units for which IUE shall hereafter be recognized
shall automatically be included and covered by this
Agreement. (Emphasis supplied.)
In addition to the national agreement , certain supplementary
local agreements were executed whereby the Employer recog-
nized various locals of the Intervenor International for speci-
fied units of its employees and whereby the parties made
certain provisions concerning local situations. One such sup-
plementary agreement, introduced into the record, states the
parties to the agreement as the Employer and "Local 103 of
the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers, CIO." It is signed on behalf of the labor organization
by "International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers, CIO by Local 103 Negotiating Committee" and is
approved by a representative of the Intervenor International.
The national agreement and the supplementary local agree-
ments were amended by a settlement agreement of May 15,1953,
between the Employer and the Intervenor International "and
Locals 103, 771, and 854." This settlement agreement, signed
by the labor organization as "International Union of Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers CIO . . . by: IUE-RCA National
Negotiating Committee" and approved by a representative of
the Intervenor International, stated that the parties had nego-
tiated pursuant to reopening provisions of the national agree-
ment. It extended the termination date of the national agree-
ment from June 1, 1954, to June 1, 1955.
On July 20, 1953, a stipulation was executed covering the
unit of office and clerical employees which the Petitioner seeks
to represent in this case. The stipulation states that:
WHEREAS, Local 110 of the International Union of
Electrical Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, hereinafter
referred to as "the Union," has demanded recognition
as collective bargaining representative of certain em-
ployees of Radio Corporation of America, RCA Victor
Division, hereinafter referred to as "the Company," at
the Company's Camden, New Jersey, Plant, and
WHEREAS, upon the basis of evidence submitted by the
Union, the Company has agreed to recognize the Union as
collective bargaining agent of the employees hereinafter
described,
RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA, RCA VICTOR DIVISION 995
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS AGREED THAT:
The Company recognizes the Union as the sole collective
bargaining agency for all office and clerical employees of
the Camden, New Jersey, Plant. . . .
It was signed by "Local 110, International Union of Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers, CIO" and was approved by a
representative of the Intervenor International . No local agree-
ment covering the office and clerical unit was in existence at
the time of the hearing in this case.
The Petitioner made its claim of representation upon the
Employer by letter dated July 27, 1953, and filed its petition on
August 6, 1953, and an amended petition on August 26, 1953.
The Employer and the Intervenors urge that upon the exe-
cution of the stipulation the national agreement , pursuant to its
recognition clause, automatically became applicable to the
office and clerical unit covered by the stipulation, and bars the
Petitioner's subsequent claim. The Petitioner opposes this
contention, asserting that the stipulation did not provide that
the terms of the national agreement be made part of the stipu-
lation and that the stipulation and the national agreement were
entered into by two separate labor organizations. Therefore,
the Petitioner argues, the stipulation is a mere recognition
agreement containing no terms and conditions of employment,
and cannot bar a determination of representation.
The Board has examined the documents involved in the light
of the conflicting contentions of the parties. It has considered
particularly the wording of the recognition clause of the national
agreement and notes that the stipulation describes the Union
involved in the stipulation as "Local 110 of the International
Union of Electrical Radio and Machine Workers, CIO." The
Board concludes that the clear intent of the parties to the
national agreement as manifested by the terms of that contract
was that it should become applicable to any unit for which the
Intervenor International or one of its locals should be recog-
nized. We, therefore, find that the national agreement became
applicable to the office and clerical employees here involved on
July 20, 1953, before the Petitioner made its claim for recog-
nition.
We must consider, then, the Petitioner's contention that the
national agreement, if applicable to the employees involved, was
not sufficiently complete to promote industrial peace and
stability. The Petitioner asserts that fundamental elements of
a labor-management agreement are omitted from the national
agreement or left for negotiation at the local level. It further
argues that the national agreement was designed to cover
production and maintenance employees in the units inexistence
at the time it was executed and is not adequate to include office
and clerical employees whose interests and working conditions
are completely dissimilar. So many terms affecting office
and clerical employees will have to be negotiated by a sup-
996 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plementary local agreement , the Petitioner urges, that the
national agreement will not be the basic contract covering
these employees.
We cannot agree with the Petitioner's arguments.
The national agreement is a 45-page document, containing
21 articles, dealing with most subjects customarily covered by
bargaining contracts . It contains general policy provisions
regarding strikes and lockouts , the rights of management, and
discrimination . With respect to wages, it provides for a
general wage increase , showup and call - in pay, overtime and
holiday pay , and layoff allowances , it establishes a wage dif-
ferential for certain shifts and provides for reopening of the
contract for wage negotiations . It leaves for local negotiation
the establishment of wage-rate schedules , wage rates for new
occupational classifications , and wage provisions applicable to
incentive work. Concerning hours of employment the national
agreement defines the normal workweek and makes provision
for the distribution of overtime work and the rates of payment
therefor . The national agreement also establishes a detailed
grievance procedure , setting up its various steps and the time
and manner of presenting grievances . It leaves to supplementary
local contracts the fixing of grievance districts , the selection
of union representatives for handling grievances , and the
drafting of grievance forms . The national agreement contains
other provisions relating to seniority , holidays , vacations, and
leaves of absences . By its terms , seniority districts and the
maximum number of persons to be permitted leave for union
activity at any one time, are to be set at the local level. The
national agreement leaves the details of insurance programs
entirely to local negotiations , but declares that the Employer
shall provide and pay for such programs . Finally, the national
agreement provides that local unions and local plant manage-
ments may agree to modify local agreements "but such changes
shall not deprive employees of any benefits of this national
agreement."
In view of the foregoing the Board is of the opinion that the
national agreement which sets forth specific terms concerning
a substantial number of subjects covered by collective - bargain-
ing contracts and provides for negotiation of other subjects
upon a local level, is sufficiently complete to constitute a
contract barring a determination of representation.'
Inasmuch as we are dismissing the petition on the ground of
contract -bar, we shall not pass upon the Intervenors ' motion
to dismiss on the ground that the unit sought at the hearing is
substantially different from that sought in the original petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition]
1 See Spartan Aircraft Company, 98 NLRB 73 ; Pillsbury Mills , Inc., 92 NLRB 72; Wilmington
Terminal Warehouse Company , 68 NLRB 299; Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co.,
51 NLRB 661.