Servel, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 10, 1943

51 N.L.R.B. 224 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter Of SERVEL, INC. and UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO &
MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Cases No. R-/.78 and R-5479.-Decided July 10, 194.3
Chadbourne, Hunt, Jaeckel & Brown, of New York City, by Mr.
Newton D. Crane, of New York City, and Mr. Isidor Kahn, of Evans-
ville, Ind., for the Company. -
Mr. William Sentner, of St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. James Payne, of
Evansville, Ind., for the Union.
Mr. Joseph E. Gubbins, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petitions duly filed by United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, affiliated with the C. I. 0., herein called the
Union, alleging that questions affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Servel, Inc., Evansville,
Indiana, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board thereafter consolidated the cases and provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Jack G. Evans, Trial Exam-
iner. Said hearing was held at Evansville, Indiana, on June 3, 1943.
The Company and the Union appeared, participated, and were af-
forded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. At the
beginning of the hearing, at the close of the Union's case, and at the
conclusion of the hearing, the Company moved to dismiss the peti-
tions. All motions were referred to the Board for final disposition.
For reasons appearing hereinafter, the motions are denied. The Trial
Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an oppor-
tunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
51 N. L. R. B., No. 51.
224
SERVEL, INC.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
225 '
Servel, Inc., is a Delaware corporation, normally engaged in the
manufacture and sale of refrigerators, electric commercial refrigera-
tion machines, and allied products. Its plant is located in Evansville,
Indiana, covers 60 acres of ground, and is housed in a large number of
buildings. The Company is now engaged in the manufacture of war
materials, including airplane wings, airplane engine cylinder heads,
cartridge cases, bomber turrets, army field ranges, and breech casings.
During the past several years, the Company has purchased annually
raw materials valued at more than $1,000,000, approximately 75 per-
cent of which was shipped to the Evansville plant from points out-
side the State of Indiana. During the same period the Company's
annual sales have been in excess of $1,000,000, approximately 75 per-
cent of which was shipped from the aforesaid plant to points outside
the State of Indiana.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America is a labor
organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTIONS' CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about April 21, 1943, the Union requested recognition from
the Company as the exclusive bargaining agent for the employees in
the electrical department and the powerhouse division. The Com-
pany refused to extend such recognition upon the ground that it
doubted the Union's claim that it represented a majority of the em-
ployees in the department and division in question and upon the
further ground that the units claimed were inappropriate.
A statement of the Trial Examiner made at the hearing, indicates
that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the
units hereinafter found appropriate'
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
I The Trial Examiner's statement shows that the Union submitted 37 authorization cards
in support of the so-called electrical unit, all of which bear apparently genuine signatures,
and 31 of which bear names of persons whose names are listed on the Company 's pay roll of
May 21 , 1943; there are 48 employees in the appropriate unit. All the cards were dated
in December 1942 . In support of.the so -called powerhouse unit the Union submitted 20
authorization cards, all of which bear aparently genuine signatures , and 16 of which bear
names of persons whose names are listed on the Company's pay roll of May 21, 1943; there
are 26 employees in the appropriate unit. Fifteen of the cards were dated in January 1943
and 1 in October 1942.
226 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2, (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
The Union contends that a unit of all employees of the electrical
department, excluding supervisory and all other employees of the
Company, and a unit of' all employees of the powerhouse division,
excluding supervisory and all other employees of the Company, are
appropriate. The Company takes the position that the Board's find-
ing of a plant-wide unit in a prior case is determinative of the unit
issue in this proceeding.2 Alternatively, it asserts that if the question
is subject to reexamination, the record in the present case shows that
a unit smaller than plant-wide is inappropriate.
As to the first contention, the reasons set forth in our previous deci-
sion relative to the establishment of the foundry employees as a sepa-
rate bargaining unit,3 are equally applicable here. As stated therein,
the prior case referred to by the Company did not result in certifica-
tion of a bargaining representative for a plant-wide unit, the parties
neither prior thereto nor thereafter, engaged in collective bargaining
on the basis of a plant-wide unit, and no issue was raised therein with
respect to the establishing of either the electrical department or the
powerhouse division as a separate unit.
The record shows that the employees in the electrical department are
engaged in the construction, installation and maintenance of electrical
equipment in the plant. They are considered a part of the mainte-
nance department but are located in their own shop. Some of them,
such as motor rewinders, work in the department, while most of them
are assigned to construction or repair work throughout the plant.
The skill required in the performance of their duties differs in degree
and kind' from that required in other operations of the plant. There
are three foremen in direct charge of the electrical department, whose
supervisory duties are confined to that department. The employees
in question are not transferred to other departments, nor are other
employees transferred to the electrical department except in temporary,
cases of emergency. We find that the unit proposed by the Union is
appropriate.
The Company contends that the employees of the powerhouse divi-
sion are in general hired, supervised, and paid in the same manner,
that they are subject to the same rules and regulations of the Company
that govern all other employees, and that because of the indispensable
2 Matter of Sertel , Inc, 35 N L R B 733 , decided September 24, 1941 In that proceed-
ing a former local of the same union here involved filed a petition for an election and certi-
fication among all production and maintenance employees The'Boaul ordered an election,
but before the election was held , the Union requested leave to withdraw its petition The
Board granted this request on October 9, 1041, without prejudice . 35 N L. R I3 738
3 Matter of Servel , Inc, 48 N. L. It B , No 90.
SERVEL, INC. 227
nature of their work to the production plant they are an integral part
of the production system. The record reveals that the powerhouse
division is organizationally well defined , that the employees therein
are engaged in operations not performed in other departments, and
that the skills required in that division differ from those required
elsewhere in the Company 's operations . There is no interchange of
employees between that division and other departments of the, Com-
pany. We find that the employees of the powerhouse division consti-
tute an appropriate bargaining unit.
We find that the following groups of the Company 's employees in
the Evansville , Indiana, plant , constitute units appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining , within the ineaning of Section 9
(b) of the Act.
(1) All employees of the electrical department at the Company's
plant at Evansville , Indiana, excluding supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge , discipline , or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees , or effectively recommend such
action, and all other employees; and
(2) All employees of the powerhouse division of the Company's
plant at Evansville , Indiana, excluding supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote , discharge , discipline , or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees , or effectively recommend such
action, and all other employees.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by elections by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the respective units who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act , and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby D
DIRECTED that , as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Servel , Inc., Evans-
ville, Indiana, elections 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 Direc-
tor for the Fourteenth Region , acting in this matter as agent for the,
54061 2-44- vol 51---16
228 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section
10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the units
found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed by the
Company at its Evansville plant during the pay-roll period imme-
diately 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 employees in the armed
forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the
polls, but excluding employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause; (1) to determine with respect to the employees in the unit
described in paragraph (1) of Section IV, whether or not they desire
to be represented by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of
America, affiliated with the C. I. 0., for the purpose of collective bar-
gaining; and (2) to determine, with respect to the employees in the
unit described in paragraph (2) of Section IV, whether or not they
desire to be represented by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Work-
ers of America, affiliated with the C. 1. 0., for the purpose of collective
bargaining.
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