Spicer Manufacturing Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 18, 1946

69 N.L.R.B. 658 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of SALISBURY AXLE DIVISION , SPICER MANUFACTURING
CORPORATION and UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA,
A. F. OF L.
Case No. 11-R-998.-Decided July 18, 1946
Mr. Lloyd T. Haney, of Toledo, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. David Previant, of Milwaukee , Wis., for the A. F. L.
Mr. Oliver Switzer , of South Bend, Ind., for the C. I. O.
Mr. Conrad A. Wickham, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Automobile. Workers of
America, A. F. of L., herein called the A. F. L., alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Salisbury Axle Division , Spicer Manufacturing
Corporation, Fort Wayne, Indiana, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hear-
ing upon due notice before Arthur R. Donovan , Trial Examiner.
The hearing was held at Fort Wayne, Indiana, on May 20, 1946.
The Company, the A. F. L., and United Automobile, Aircraft and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called
the C. I.O., appeared and participated. All parties, were afforded full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. At the hear-
ing, the A. F. L. objected to the C. I. O.'s oral motion to intervene on
the grounds that no evidence was presented to show that the C. I. O.
represented a substantial number of employees in the unit alleged to
be appropriate. This objection is overruled.' The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and
are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file
briefs with the Board. The C. I. O.'s motion for rehearing is hereby
denied .2
'Matter of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, 69 N. L. R. B. 634 , issued July 18,
1946 ; Matter of 0. D . Jennings it Company , 68 N. L . R. B. 516, and cases cited therein.
2 The C. 1. O. has moved for rehearing on the grounds that the inability of the reporter
to hear the testimony resulted in an incomplete and inaccurate transcript , particularly in
69 N. L. R. B ., No. 83.
658
SPICER MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 659
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Salisbury Axle Division, Spicer Manufacturing Corporation, is a
Virginia corporation having its principal offices in Toledo , Ohio. It
is engaged in the manufacture and distribution of automobile axles
in its plants at Toledo, Ohio. and Fort Wayne, Indiana. The present
proceeding is concerned solely with the latter of the two plants.
The principal raw materials purchased by the Company are malle-
able iron castings , steel forgings , steel, brass, and copper. The plant
at Fort Wayne, Indiana , is relatively new and has engaged in very
little productive activity. Its sales during the past month were
negligible. However, the products currently manufactured by it, and
those to be manufactured in the future, are for use both inside and
outside the State of Indiana, and are presently being, and will be,
shipped both inside and outside the State.
The Company admits for the purposes of this proceeding, and we
find, that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Automobile Workers of America is a labor organization,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers
of America is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
111. THE QUESTION CONCEIINING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to either the A. F. L.
or the C. 1. O. as the exclusive bargaining representative of its pro-
duction and maintenance employees until one of them has been cer-
tified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
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 recording of its oral summation. It has failed, however, either specifically to set forth
the alleged omissions or to indicate the manner in which it has been prejudiced thereby,
despite an additional 2 weeks' extension for the filing of briefs granted at its own request.
An; of these generally alleged omissions could have been properly specified in its motion
or in a brief. Under such circumstances, we cannot, in good conscience, remand the case
for rehearing.
660 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties are agreed, and we find, that the appropriate unit
for bargaining purposes shall consist of all production and main-
tenance employees, including inspectors, shipping and receiving clerks,
production follow-up men and patrolmen, but excluding office and
clerical employees, laboratory employees, tool designers, and all super-
visory emloyees.
The unions are not in agreement as to "group leaders," the A. F. L.
desiring their inclusion and the C. I. 0. their exclusion. The Com-
pany takes no -position as to their status. The Company presently
employs from 4 to 6 group leaders at its Fort Wayne plant, each of
whom may have anywhere from 4 to 50 employees in his particular
group. Their duties are to see that production records are kept on
the production line, assist the checkers, and maintain records of the
hours of the workers in the line. They wear the same identification
badges as those worn by the non-supervisory employees of the Com-
pany. Although they would report an employee whose conduct might
be disrupting production, such a report would result in a personal in-
vestigation of this employee by higher authority. The group leaders,
themselves, have no authority to hire or discharge, or to recommend
such action, or to take any disciplinary action of any kind. They are
under the supervision of the Company's foremen. They are on an
hourly pay basis, and, except for the fact that their wages are slightly
higher, they receive the same general benefits as other production
workers. We find that they are not supervisory employees within
our customary meaning of the term, and shall include them in the
unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Com-
pany's plant at Fort Wayne, Indiana, including all inspectors, group
leaders, shipping and receiving clerks, production follow-up men and
patrolmen, but excluding all office and clerical employees, laboratory
employees, tool designers, and all or any other supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status 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
The C. I. 0. contends that no election should be directed at this
time because the number of employees employed by the Company at
the time of the hearing was only 170 in the unit found to be appro-
priate in Section IV, supra, about one-fifth of the anticipated full
complement in that unit. The A. F. L., however, argues that the pro-
SPICER MANUFACTURING CORPORATION -661
posed unit represents a typical cross-section of the Company's per-
sonnel , and that the Board should therefore direct an election on the
basis of past practice under such circumstances.
The record discloses that the Company's plants call for an ultimate
expansion to 800 production employees. However, due to the uncer-
tain industrial conditions in basic industries throughout the Nation
at the time of the hearing, which directly affected its own capacity to
produce, the Company could not definitely state when its expansion
plans would be completed. It did state that it would probably take on
an additional 100 production employees within the next 3 months, and
that its employment situation would thereafter remain static for an
additional 3 months, after which time, it was unable to outline its
program definitively. The Company is presently producing and ship-
ping out a limited'supply of its product. In view of the uncertainty
as to when its contemplated expansion will occur, and in consideration
of the fact that its current personnel is producing axles and constitutes
a substantial and representative group, we shall adhere to our usual
policy in such cases of directing an immediate election .3
We shall, however, entertain a new petition for an investigation
and certification of representatives affecting the employees involved
herein within less than a year, but not before the expiration of 6
months from the date of any certification we. may issue in the instant
proceeding, upon proof (1) that the number of employees in the appro-
priate unit is more than double the number eligible to vote in the
election hereinafter directed; and (2) that the petitioner represents
a substantial number of employees in the expanded appropriate unit.4
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Salisbury Axle
Division, Spicer Manufacturing Corporation, Fort Wayne, Indiana,
3 Matter of Tuttle Silver Company, Inc., 66 N. L. R . B. 238 ; Matter of The General Tire
& Rubber Company, 63 N. L. R. B. 182.
4 Matter of Tuttle Silver Company, Inc ., 66 N. L. R. B. 238; Matter of Aluminum Com-
pany of America, 52 N. L. R. B. 1040.
662 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Eleventh
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 employees in the unit found appropri-
ate 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 employees in the
armed forces of the United States who present themselves 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 they desire to
be represented by United Automobile Workers of America, A. F. of L.,
or by United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, C. 1. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining,
or by neither.