Remington Arms Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 27, 1943

53 N.L.R.B. 148 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

0
In the Matter Of REMINGTON ARMS COMPANY, INC. and INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS
Case No. 17-B-669.-Decided October 27, 1943
Mr. H. 0. Blumenthal, of Bridgeport, Conn., and Mr. Walter S.
Buck, of Denver, Colo., for the Company.
Mr. A. L. Smith, of Denver, Colo., for the I. B. E. W. -
Messrs. Willard Y. Morris and Marion C. Frazier, both of Denver,
Colo., for the Smelter Workers. .
Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Elec-
trical Workers, herein called the I. B. E. W., alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Remington Arms Company, Inc., Denver Ordnance Plant,
Denver, Colorado, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Elmer L. Hunt, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Denver, Colorado, on October 5, 1943. The Company, the I. B. E.
W., and International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, on behalf of
itself and its Local Union #611, herein collectively called the Smelter
Workers, appeared, participated, and 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 are hereby af-
firmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with
the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
53 N. L. R. B., No. 30.
148 -
REMINGTON ARMS COMPANY, INC.
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
149
Remington Arms Company, Inc., a Delaware corporation licensed
to do business in the State of Colorado , operates a number of plants
throughout the United States ; one of these is the Denver Ordnance
plant, located at Denver, Colorado , with which we are concerned
herein . The Company's Denver plant is engaged exclusively in the
production of small arms ammunition for the United States Govern-
ment and the plant buildings and equipment are owned by the
Federal Government and operated by the Company. Approximately
95 percent of the raw materials used by the Denver plant is obtained
from points outside the State of Colorado, and approximately 99
percent of the finished products has been , and the remainder will be,
shipped to points outside the State of Colorado . The value of the
raw materials and products shipped to the Company from points
outside the State of Colorado is in excess of $1,000,000 annually, and
the finished products delivered to points outside the State of Colorado
have a value in excess of $5,000 ,000 annually . We find that the
Company is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is a labor organi-
zation affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers, and its
Local Union #611, are labor organizations affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of
the Company. •
M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the I. B. E. W. as the exclusive
bargaining representative of, certain of its employees on the ground
that the unit desired by the I. B. E. W. is inappropriate.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the I. B. E. W. represents a substantial
number of employees 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.
' The Regional Director reported that the I. B. E. W. submitted 53 authorization cards,
containing apparently genuine original signatures, of which 52 bore the names of persons
appearing upon the Company 's pay roll for the period ending August 19, 1943. The record
indicates that there are approximately 63 employees in the appropriate unit.
150 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
W. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The I. B. E. W. contends that all employees of the Company
engaged as shift electricians A-1, shift electricians A-2, shift elec-
tricians B-1, shift electricians C, yard electricians A, yard electricians
B, instrument and clock repairmen, motor repairmen, motor repair-
men B, and helpers for the foregoing classifications, including the
expediter' and telephone men, but excluding radio men on salary, and
all supervisory employees, constitute an appropriate unit., The Com-
pany and the Smelter Workers contend that the only appropriate
unit at the Company's plant- is an industrial unit, but make no
objections to the- specific classifications within the unit sought by
the I. B. E. W.
The employees sought herein by the I. B. E. W. comprise the
electrical department of the Company and are-under the supervision
of the electrical supervisor. Immediately below him are several
foremen, supervisors, and senior engineers, in charge of various shifts
and sections. The Workmen in these sections, all of whom are skilled
electricians, are used in various parts of the plant for the purposes of
installing and maintaining the.- electrical equipment used by the
Company.
The I. B. E. W. has confined its organization to the electrical
department and there is no history of collective bargaining at the
,plant which would indicate the impropriety of the unit herein
sought.'
The employees in the electrical department constitute a clearly
identifiable group, having well defined craft functions differing from
those of the other production and maintenance employees. We are
of the opinion, therefore, that the employees herein sought constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.'
We find tl'iat all electrical workers in the electrical department of
the Company, classified as shift electricians A-1, shift electricians
A-2, shift electricians B-1, shift electricians C, yard electricians A,
yard electricians B, instrument and clock repairmen, motor repair-
men, motor repairmen B, and helpers for the above classifications,
including the expediter and the telephone men, but excluding salaried
radio men, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
2In Matter of Remington Arms Company, Inc., 51 N . L R B. 628, involving thb
same employees concerned herein, the I. B. E. W. sought a similar unit. However, the
Board refused to find such a unit on the ground that "the claim of the I. B. E. W. to repre-
sent [these employees ] in a craft unit . . . constitutes a jurisdictional dispute between
affiliated unions. For this reason, we shall make no finding with respect to the separate
unit urged for the Company 's electrical employees, and we shall dismiss the petition filed
by the I. B. E. W. herein ." The rejection of the I. B. E. W.'s contention in that case in
no way detracts from the appropriateness of the unit found herein.
See Matter of Remington Arms, Ino., 49 N. L. R. B. 693.
REMINGTON ARMS COMPANY, INC. 151
of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
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 em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
Although the Smelter Workers participated in the hearing, it in-
dicated that it did not wish to appear on the ballot in the event
an election is ordered.
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 Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Remington Arms
Company, Inc., Denver Ordnance'Plant, Denver, Colorado, 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 Seventeenth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said
Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appro-
priate 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 vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States .who present them-
selves in'person at the polls, 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 the election, to determine whether or
not they desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of
Elecrical Workers, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
for the purposes of collective bargaining. .
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.