Refrigeration Contractors Association, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 28, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 889 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of REFRIGERATION CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION, INC.,
PETITIONER and REFRIGERATION FITTERS PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION,
INC., ALSO KNOWN AS LOCAL 508, UNION and REFRIGERATION FITTERS
DIVISION OF LOCAL 986, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS,
CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL,
UNION and LOCAL 250 OF THE UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN
AND APPRENTICES OF TIIE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY OF
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, AFL, UNION
Case No. 201-RM-1 20.Decided February 28, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Ben Grodsky,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. During the course
of the hearing, a motion to dismiss the petition was made by counsel
for Refrigeration Fitters Protective Association, also known as Local
508. The hearing officer referred this motion to the Board. For rea-
sons hereinafter stated under paragraph 3, the motion is denied.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations 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-members of the petitioning Association are en-
gaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act.
I Refrigeration Contractors Association, Inc., is a California corporation admitting to
membership firms engaged in the sale, construction, installation, and service of air
conditioning and refrigeration in Southern California over which the Board has previously
asserted jurisdiction. Air Conditioning Company of Southern California, et al., 79 NLRB
1396. The petition in this case was filed on behalf of members of the Union Employers'
Section of the Association. The 28 Employer-members are : Air Conditioning Company
of Southern California, Associated Refrigerating Engineers, Baker Refrigeration Corpo.
ration, Black & Patteson, Commercial Refrigeration Company, Commerford's Refrigeration
Company, Cook Engineering Company, George M. Cox Company, Hal Crumley, Dell Smith
Co., Inc., Elster's, Gay Engineering Corporation, Hieatt Engineering Company, Independent
Refrigeration Company, Jennings Refrigeration Company, W. S. Kilpatrick & Company,
88 NLRB No. 163. 889
890 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. Refrigeration Fitters Protective Association, also known as Local
508, Independent, and Local 250 of the United Association of Journey-
men and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the
United States and Canada, AFL, hereinafter referred to as Local 508
and Local 250 respectively, claim to represent employees of the
Employers?
3. Local 508 and Local 250 have made repeated demands for recog-
nition to the Employer-members of the Association since October 1947.
On October 15, 1948, in Case No. 21-RC-38, the Board, upon a petition
of Local 508, issued a Decision and Order finding that a multiple-
employer unit of 50 employers, including Employer-members of the
Refrigeration Contractors Association, Inc., and nonmember employ-
ers, was inappropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.3 On
February 23, 1949, the Board issued a Supplemental Decision, Direc-
tion of Elections and Order, in that case, finding, in part, that re-
frigeration fitters and apprentices of Employer-members of the
Refrigeration Contractor's Association constituted an appropriate
unit.4 Thereafter, on June 7, 1949, the Board issued an Order dis-
missing the petition in Case No. 21-RC-38, finding that unfair labor
practice charges had been filed during the pendency of the proceeding
by one of the parties affecting the employees and parties concerned and
that the charges had not been waived as basis for objections to the con-
duct of the directed elections. On July 7, 1949, the instant petition
was filed by the Refrigeration Contractors Association, Inc. Local
508 contends that the petition in this case should be dismissed on the
ground that the Board's action in dismissing the petition in Case No.
21-RC-38 rendered this matter res adjudicata. We find no merit in
this contention. The dismissal of the petition in Case No. 21-RC-38
was based, not upon the merits of the case therein, but was in con-
formance to the Board's administrative practice in regard to the
waiver of charges of unfair labor practices filed during the pendency
of a representation proceeding.5
Bohlenberger Engineering Corporation , Ralph E. Manus Company, Neilson Equipment
Company, H . H. Newton Company , Pacific Refrigeration Company, Parson Refrigeration
Company , Perfecold Refrigeration Company, Hugh Robinson & Sons, Jelin Rogers & Son,
Temperature Engineering Company, Western Air & Refrigeration , Inc., and York
Corporation.
[By Order dated April 7, 1950, the petition , insofar as it pertains to Bohlenberger
Engineering Corporation , is dismissed.]
s Although Refrigeration Fitters Division of Local 986 , International Brotherhood of
Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of America , AFL, was served with
notice of the bearing in this case , it did not appear.
Air Conditioning Company of Southern California , et al., 79 NLRB 1396.
° 81 NLRB 639.
Inasmuch as a settlement agreement has been signed and approved in cases involving
the charges rioted above , and the period for posting compliance notices under such agree-
ment has since expired , no bar remains to prompt resolution of the question concerning
representation existing herein.
REFRIGERATION CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION, INC. 891
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of the Employer-members of the Associa-
tion within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the Act.
4. We find that all journeymen and apprentice refrigeration and air
conditioning installation and servicemen regularly employed by the
Los Angeles County and Orange County, California, establishments of
Employer-members of Refrigeration Contractors Association, Inc.,
listed in footnote 1, excluding office, clerical, engineering, warehouse,
and manufacturing employees, supervisors within the meaning of the
amended Act, and all other employees, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 106
.days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision 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
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were em-
ployed 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 reinstated
prior to the date of election, and also excluding employees on strike
who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they
desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Re-
frigeration Fitters Protective Association, Inc., also known as`Local
508, or Local 250 of the United Association of Journeymen and Ap-
prentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United
States and Canada, AFL, or by neither.