The Delta-Star Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 10, 1941

37 N.L.R.B. 459 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of THE DFLTA-STAR ELECTRIC COMP ANY and UNITED-
AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 740 , AFFILIATED WITII THE-
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-3236.-Decided December 10, 1941
Jurisdiction : high voltage electric equipment manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to grant recognition because of doubt as to majority and inability to
agree on unit; election necessary
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees, including timekeepers and plant clerks, but excluding foundry em-
ployees, patternmakers, truck drivers, and supervisory, clerical, and office
employees
Mr. Stephen M. Reynolds, for the Board.
Fyffe"cC Clark, by Mr. Albert J. Smith, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Company.
111r. Joseph, M. Jacobs and Mr. Philip D. Goodman, of Chicago, Ill..,
for the Union.
Miss Marcia Hert mark, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 6, 1941, and October 9, 1941, respectively, United Auto-
mobile Workers of America, Local 740,1 affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition and
an amended petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of The Delta-Star
Electric Company, Chicago, Illinois, herein called the Company, and
requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat.
449, herein called the Act. On October 22, 1941, the National Labor
Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section
1 The Union was incorrectly designated in the petition as Local 477.
37 N. L. R. B., No. 74.
459
460 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an
investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and
to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On October
22, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing and on
October 25 a notice of postponement, copies of which were duly served'
upon the Company and the Union.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on November 3, 1941, at
Chicago, Illinois, before Will Maslow, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company, the Union
and the Board were represented and participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing, on the issues was afforded all
parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made
rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and
finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Delta-Star Electric Company is an Illinois corporation en-
gaged at Chicago, Illinois, in the manufacture of high-voltage elec-
tric equipment. In the manufacture of its products the Company
uses steel and malleable iron, porcelain insulators, copper, plastic
products, oil circuit breakers, and material for steel-mill powerhouses.
During 1940 the Company purchased about $900,000 worth of such
products, 85 per cent of which was shipped to it from points outside
the State of Illinois. During the same period the Company's sales
totalled approximately $2,000,000. About 90 per cent of the products
sold was shipped outside the State of Illinois. The Company admits
that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Automobile Workers of America, Local 740, is a labor or-
ganization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It
admits to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about September 17, 1941, the Union requested that the
Company recognize it as the sole collective bargaining representative
of its employees. The Company refused to grant such recognition
DELTA-STAR ELECTRIC COMPANY 461
because of its doubt that the Union represented a majority of the
employees and because it did not! agree that the unit claimed by the
Union was appropriate.
A statement by the Regional' Director, introduced in evidence,
indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees' in the unit which it contends is appropriate.2
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union desires a unit composed of production and maintenance
employees, excluding foundry employees, pattern makers, truck
drivers, and supervisory, clerical, and office employees. The Com-
pany desires a unit composed of production and maintenance em-
ployees, excluding supervisory, clerical, and office employees, but
took no position at the hearing as to the exclusion of foundry em-
ployees, pattern makers and truck drivers. The only disagreement
between the parties concerns 12 employees listed on the Company's
pay roll as clerical, who are timekeepers and plant clerks, and whom
the Union wishes to include. The Company desires to exclude them
as representatives of management.
The Company's operations are carried on in a group of 8 build-
ings, many of which are contiguous, and in a foundry which is
about 4 blocks from these buildings. There are, in the foundry,
about 70 employees who are molders, core makers, and grinding-
wheel operators, and also 10 or 12 pattern makers. Although there
is a general interchange between employees in the 8 buildings, there
is no such interchange between them and the foundry, and the
foundry is under 'the supervision of a different superintendent than
the rest of the buildings,. Employees of the foundry are on a sep-
2 The Regional Director ' s statement shows that 277 authorization cards were submitted
to him by the Union Of this number 269 bore apparently genuine , original signatures
The Company refused to submit a pay roll prior to the hearing and, at the hearing , waived
the necessity for a comparison of the Union ' s cards with its pay roll There aie about
470 employees in the unit sought by'the Union
-462 DECISIONS .OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
,crate pay roll. The molders and the pattern makers are highly
skilled employees and receive considerably more salary than the rest
,of the employees . In view of the above facts, we shall exclude the
-foundry employees and-pattern makers from the unit.
There. are only 2 truck drivers employed by the Company. They
do no production work, and according to the Company's,president,
=are members of another labor organization. We shall exclude them
from the unit.
In connection with the exclusion of supervisory employees, the
Union desires the exclusion of 20 sub-foremen . The Company took
no position concerning these employees. We shall exclude them as
-supervisory employees.
The timekeepers and plant clerks mentioned above are listed on
the Company's regular shop pay roll, are paid an hourly wage, do
no job rating, and do not receive the bonus which is generally
-received by supervisory employees of the Company. They work at
desks throughout the plant. Although these employees do no direct
production work, they are clearly more closely related to the produc-
tion employees than to the office employees.' The fact that the Com-
pany lists them on the shop pay roll is an indication that it considers
them in connection with the production workers. Since they do no
job rating and since they are not considered supervisory in relation
to the bonus, we find that their functions are not those of manage-
ment. We shall include them in the unit,
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
'Company, including timekeepers and plant clerks, but excluding
foundry employees, pattern makers, truck drivers, and supervisory,
-clerical, and office employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and that said unit will insure to
,employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise will effectu-
-ate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DLTERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen
,can best be resolved by holding an election by secret ballot. The Com-
pany and the Union agreed that a current pay roll shall be used to
determine those eligible to vote. Persons eligible to participate in the
election shall be the employees in the appropriate unit who were em-
ployed by the Company during the pay-roll period next preceding the
-date of this Direction, subject to the limitations and additions herein-
after set forth in the Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
.record in the case, the Board makes the following :
DELTA-STAR ELECTRIC COMPANY
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
463
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The Delta-Star Electric Company, Chicago,
Illinois, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees- of the Company,
including timekeepers and plant clerks, but excluding foundry em-
ployees, pattern makers, truck drivers, and supervisory, clerical, and
office employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
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 8, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to
ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with
The Delta-Star Electric Company, Chicago, Illinois, 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 Thirteenth Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said rules and Regulations,
among all production and maintenance employees of The Delta-Star
Electric Company, including timekeepers and plant clerks, who were
employed during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of this
Direction, including employees who did not work during such pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military
service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but
excluding foundry employees, pattern makers, truck drivers, and
supervisory, clerical, and office employees, and employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by United Automobile Workers of Amer-
ica, Local 740, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for
the purposes of collective bargaining.