RCA Service Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 6, 1951

94 N.L.R.B. 1122 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

1122 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees of the pump division from the production and maintenance
unit in which they are presently included , we shall dismiss the
petition s
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions in these proceedings be, and
they hereby are, dismissed.
As the petition is dismissed, it is unnecessary to discuss the other issues raised in
this proceeding.
RCA SERVICE COMPANY, INC. and IN'rERNAT,IC)NAL UNION OF ELEC-
TRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE `VORKERS, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No.
4-RC-992. June 6, 1951
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before E. Don Wilson, hearing offi-
cer. 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
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 representa,
tion 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 Employer and the Intervenor contend that an existing contract
is a bar to the petition herein; the Petitioner, that this contract is
ineffective as a bar because a schism has occurred in the membership
of the Intervenor, thus confusing the identity of the bargaining agent.'
I The Petitioner , in addition to its assertion that there is doubt as to the identity of the
labor organization which the employees desire to represent them, contends that the
contract is not a bar because it provides for maintenance of membership "in good standing
in accordance with the Union 's Constitution and By-Laws as a condition of employment,"
thus conditioning membership in the Union and the right to continued employment on
matters beyond the fulfillment of financial obligations to the Union. For the reasons
stated in our recent decision of Firestone Tire if Rubber Company, 93 NLRB 161, we find
this clause to be lawful within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act We note the
inclusion in the contract of a clause effectively postponing the operation of the union-
94 NLRB No. 154.
RCA SERVICE COMPANY, INC. 1123
On October 6, 1950, the Employer and the Intervenor , International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, entered into a 2-year con-
tract covering a Nation-wide unit of the Employer 's service and in-
stallation employees for home television , radio, and record playing
equipment. The petition herein , covering employees in 10 branch
offices in the Philadelphia area , was filed November 8, 1950.
The Employer , a division of Radio Corporation of America, con-
sists of 10 districts with 106 subordinate branches ? The smallest
district has 8 branches and the largest 14 . The Employer has serviced
home equipment only since 1946 . This function is conducted in a
highly centralized manner with policy determined by the home office
at Gloucester, New Jersey , and close contact between the;hom@ office
and its districts and branches , with frequent interchange of employees
between branches , with common standards of training for employees,
and with similar working conditions . In 1947 the Intervenor success-
fully organized the St. Louis employees,3 and the resulting collective
bargaining contract , dated July 9, contained a provision that "upon
certification ," its terms should apply to employees doing the same work
in other locations . In 1948 the contract , executed August 9, listed 23
branches as covered , including 3 in the Philadelphia area .4 In Novem-
ber 1948, the Intervenor requested, and the Employer granted Nation-
wide recognition . The next contract 5 defined the unit as all employees
of the Employer so engaged "in the United States. " At the time of
the hearing in January and February of 1951 , the Intervenor had
RCA employee members in 35 of its locals.6 Local 1448 , which was
organized for the Philadelphia area in 1948, had 450 to 500 employees,
about 350 of whom were employed by RCA.7
The current contract was executed in Washington on October 6,
1950, after negotiations for that purpose to which the locals sent repre-
sentatives.' Its terms met with some disapproval when discussed by
Local 1448 at a special meeting on October 10. Thereafter 3 special
security provision at each branch of the Employer until the Board shall have certified
that the employees have voted to authorize a union shop.
'The districts are : New England, New York, North Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington,
D. C., Detroit, Columbus, Chicago, St. Louis, and West Coast.
'The Regional Director certified the Intervenor after a consent election Case No.
14-RR-1726.
'The inclusion of the Philadelphia area employees resulted from a Board certification
upon stipulation for consent election Case No. 4-RC-172
a This contract is dated August 9, 1949, although negotiations were not completed until
October.
We note that the Philadelphia district at that time had 9 branches, but Local 1448
represented employees in at least 11 branches.
'Eighty to ninety were employed by three other television companies
The previous, 1949, contract was to continue in effect through November 9, 1950, with
a 60-day automatic renewal date. On September 9, 1950, the Intervenor gave notice to the
Employer that it desired to renegotiate the contract.
1124 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
meetings of the Local's membership were called, at the second and
third of which-held November 6 and November 15, for the purpose of
discussing disaffiliation from the IBEW and affiliation with the IUE-
resolutions were unanimously passed to disaffiliate from the Intervenor
and affiliate with the Petitioner.° One hundred and twenty-four per-
sons, including an undetermined number of employees of the Em-
ployer, attending the November 6, meeting and about 200 the Novem-
ber 15, meeting, although 50 was the usual number in attendance at
meetings. In the meantime a charter from the Petitioner had been
applied for by several members of the dissident group, temporary
officers had been appointed by an international representative of the
Petitioner, and on November 7, 1950, a charter was issued to an IUE-
,CIO Local 1448. Nevertheless, IBEW Local 1448 has continued to
function 10 and is being recognized by the Employer as the bargaining
representative of its service employees.
The record contains no evidence of attempts to disaffiliate from the
IBEW in other locals having RCA service employee members. In all
the circumstances we find that there has been no defection of sufficient
scope and effect from the Nation-wide unit to create confusion and
uncertainty with regard to the status of the contracting union as bar-
gaining representative of the Employer's employees.' Accordlugly,
the Board's ordinary contract bar rule is applied, the October 6, 1950,
contract is found to be a bar to a present determination of representa-
tives, and we shall therefore dismiss the petltlon.12
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed by the International
Union of Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, be, and it
hereby is , dismissed.
6 The evidence indicates that the November 15, meeting was held to remove any doubt
as to the November 6, disaffiliation action and to adopt a written resolution of disalbliation
'O Its regular monthly meeting, for which is special notice had been issued, was held on
November 7, 1950, and attended by 155 members, although the Petitioner contends that
many in attendance had also attended the November 6, meeting, and that action concerning
disaffiliation was prevented at the November 7 meeting by the manner of conducting it
MEW Local 1448 has continued to hold regular meetings Its president, who, however,
was appointed by the International to fill an unexpired term, its financial secretary, its
treasurer, and its recording secretary did not participate in the disaffiliation movement, nor
apparently, did 6 of its 10 executive board members Its business nianagei and his
assistant, the latter also a vice president of the Local, did
The Petitioner and the Employer stipulated that IBEW Local 1448 is it functioning
union handling grievances and collecting clues
'1 Compare Jolin, Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, 93 NLRB 778
12 In view of our determination that the defection herein is too limited to affect the
contract as a bar, there is no need to pass upon the Employer's motion concerning the
completion of Petitioner's Exhibit 12, or the alternative motion to strike all the testimony
concerning said exhibit