The Arrow-Hart & Hegeman Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 16, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 1251 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THE ARROW-HART & HEGEIVIAN ELECTRIC COMPANY
and THE ELECTRICAL DEVICE WORKERS UNION , LOCAL B-1013, IBEW
(AFL)
Case No. 1-R-1988.Decided March 16, 1945
Messrs. Waif rid G. Lundborg and Robert E. Carroll, of Hartford,
Conn., for the Company. -
Mr. John J. Regan, of Boston, Mass., for the IBEW.
Mr. Harold F. Reardon, of Boston, Mass., for the IAM.
Mr. Herbert C. Dane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by The Electrical Device Workers Union,
Local B-1013, IBEW (AFL), herein called the IBEW, alleging that
a- question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tior,,,pi employees of The Arrow-Hart & Hegeman •Electric Company,
Hartford, Connecticut, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Leo J. Halloran, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Hartford, Connecticut, on December 6, 1944. The Company, the
IBEW, and the International Association of Machinists, Local 354,'
herein called the IAM, 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. The Trial
Examiner's rulings made at the bearing are free from prejudicial
error and-are liereby,.aflirnied. All parties were afforded an opportu-
Iiitya to fife_`- iriefs with! the Board. I
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Arrow-Hart & Hegeman Electric Company, a Connecticut cor-
poration, has a plant in Hartford, Connecticut, and one in Danielson,
' At'the hearing the Trial Examiner granted a motion of the IAM to intervene.
60 N. L . R. B., No. 216.
1251
1252- DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Connecticut. It also has subsidiaries located in New Jersey, England,
and Canada. We are herein concerned only with the Hartford plant.
The Company is primarily engaged in the manufacture of electric
controls and switches. The principal raw materials used are copper;
bronze, steel, insulating material, and plating supplies. During the
year 1943, the Company used raw materials having an approximate
value of $3,000,000, about 45 percent of which was purchased outside
the State of Connecticut and transported to the Company's plant in
Connecticut. During the same period the Company sold finished
products of a value in excess of $6,000,000, 96 percent of which was
sold outside the State of Connecticut.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Electrical Device Workers Union, Local B-1013, IBEW, and
the International Association of Machinists, Local 354, both affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, are labor organizations ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the IBEW as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the IBEW has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the IBEW represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate 2
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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties generally agree that a unit of all production and main-
tenance employees of the Company at its Hartford plant, including
factory clerical employees. watchmen, boiler room employees, but
excluding tool, die and gauge in mold makers, tool room ma-
chinists, all-around machinists, toolkeepers, foremen, timekeepers, and
2 The Field Examiner reported that the IBEW submitted approximately 1,200 member-
ship cards ; that the names of 87 percent of persons appearing on the cards were listed on
the Company 's pay roll of July 8, 1944 , which contained the names of 1,509 employees in
the appropriate unit; as determined by a 20-percent spot check of cards against the pay
roll.
The TAM submitted 60 application cards . The names of 43 persons appearing on the
cards were contained in the aforesaid pay roll The cards were dated 15 in June 1944, 15
in August 1944 , and 30 undated.
THE ARROW - HART & HEGEMAN ELECTRIC COMPANY 1253
full-time supervisors who do not work on production would be appro-
priate. However, the IAM requests a separate unit of the set-up men;
the IBEW desires their inclusion in the unit. The Company takes no
position.
The setup men are designated by the Company as tool setters.
Their work is confined to setting tools in machines and jigs and to
showing the operators how the work is performed . They do no repair
work; all such work is handled by the tool and die employees or the all-
around machinists . No special skill is required to be a set -up man.
There is no apprenticeship and no special training . These employees
do not constitute a craft group . Since 1933 , when both the IAM and
the IBEW 's predecessor were organized at the plant , the set-up men
have been bargained for by the IBEW and have been part of the pro-
duction and maintenance unit. Although some dissatisfaction has
been expressed by the set -up men and the IAM to IBEW as to the
continued inclusion of the set -up men in the unit, this is not sufficient,
in and of itself , to warrant allowing these employees to withdraw
from a unit of production and maintenance employees in which they
have been'bargained for during a period of more than 11 years. In
view of the foregoing , we shall include them in the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company at its Hartford plant including factory clerical employees,
watchmen , boiler room employees , and set-up men, but excluding tool,
die and gauge makers, mold makers, tool room machinists , all-around
machinists , toolkeepers , foremen, timekeepers , full-time supervisors
who do not work on production , and all or any other supervisory em-
ployees with authority to hire, promote , discharge , discipline, or oth-
erwise effect changes in the status of employees , or effectively recom-
mend 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 means of an election by secret ballot among
the 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 add itions 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
1254 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with The Arrow-Hart
& Hegeman Electric Company, Hartford, Connecticut, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
sixty (60).-,days- from thetdate-of,this Direction, undet the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the First Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among the employees in the unit found appropriate 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 vaca-
tion 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 dis-
charged 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 The Electrical Device Workers Union, Local B-1013,
IBEW (AFL), or by International Association of Machinists, Local
354 (AFL), for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. -