The Electric Auto-Lite Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 21, 1942

46 N.L.R.B. 212 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of THE ELECTRIC AUTO-LITE COMPANY and MECHANICS
EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA , LOCAL No. 4 (MESA ), AFFILIATED
WITH CONFEDERATED UNIONS OF AMERICA
Case No. R-4,663--Decided December 21, 1942
Jurisdiction : ordnance manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord recognition without certification- of the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees in-the service office
and mail order office of Company, excluding supervisors and confidential
secretaries.
Mr. James P. Falvey, of Toledo, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Tor Cedervall, of Toledo, Ohio, for the MESA.
Mr. Lowell Goerlich and -Mr. Walter A. Murphy, of Toledo, Ohio,
for the U. A. W.
Miss Melivern R.'Krelow, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION,
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Mechanics Educational Society of
America, Local No. 4, affiliated with Confederated Unions of
America, herein called the MESA, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had 'arisen concerning the representation,of employees of
The -Electric Auto-Lite Company, Toledo, 'Ohio, herein called the
Company," the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before Max W. Johnstone, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Toledo, Ohio, on November 20,
1942. The Company, the MESA, and International Union, United
Automobile, Aircraft' and Agricultural Implement Workers of
'The Company and the MESA made motions that all formal papers be amended to
provide for the correct name of the Company and the MESA
46 N. L. R. B., No. 28.
212
THE ELECTRIC AUTO-LITE COMPANY 213
America, Local No. 12 (C. I.0.), herein called the U. A. W.,' appeared,
participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing,
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Electric Auto-Lite Company, an Ohio corporation having its
main offices in Toledo, Ohio, is engaged, in Ohio and approximately
20 other localities throughout the United States, in the manufacture
of various kinds of war materials for the use of the armed forces
of the United States. The Company purchases raw materials valued
in excess of $1,000,000 annually, of which more than 50 percent is
shipped to the Company from points outside the State of Ohio.
The Company manufactures finished products valued in excess of
$5,000,000 annually, of which more than 50 percent is sold and trans-
ported to points outside the State of Ohio. The Company admits
that it is -engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Mechanics Educational Society of America, Local No. 4, affiliated
with the Confederated Unions of America, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricul-
tural Implement Workers of America, Local No. 12, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. TAE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The parties stipulated that a question concerning representation
had arisen in that on or about September 2, 1942, the MESA re-
quested recognition as the exclusive bargaining agent of all
employees in the unit it alleges to be appropriate, and the Company
refused unless and until it was certified by the Board.
From a report prepared by a Field Examiner of the Board, and
other evidence at the hearing, it appears that the MESA and the
U. A. W. each represents a substantial number of employees in the
unit each contends is appropriate.
2 The U. A. W. made a motion to intervene at the hearing. The Trial Examiner granted
the motion.
214 DECISIONS OF -NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and '(7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The MESA and the Company contend' that all employees in the
service office on Ketcham Avenue, excluding supervisors and confi-
dential secretaries, constitute an appropriate unit. The U. A. W.,
contends that all employees in the service office on Ketcham Avenue,
and the employees in the mail order office, but excluding supervisors
and confidential secretaries, constitute an appropriate unit.
The employees in the service office are engaged in the necessary
clerical and record work in connection with service and parts re-
placement for the Company. ' The hiring and discharge of those
employees is under the control of the service office manager and his
assistant. The employees are paid on a monthly basis.
The mail order office is located in the same building as the service
office, and the employees of the nail order office engage in clerical
work similar to that of the employees in the service office. They,
too, are paid on a monthly basis. The hiring and discharge of
those employees is under the control of the service office manager-
and his assistant. However, the foreman in charge of the mail order
office may make recommendations.
We find that all employees in the Ketcham Avenue service office
and mail order office of the Company, excluding supervisors and con-
fidential secretaries, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.'
V. 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
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 Re-
8 The general production workers of the Company are covered 'by a contract between
`the Company and-the U. A. W. The U. A. w requests that, in the event the employees
herein choose the U A. W. as their bargaining representative , they should be included
in the unit covered by its contract. The Company contends that the employees involved
herein should constitute a separate unit, and should not be included with "factory em-
ployees." The U. A. W.'s request is hereby denied.
THE ELECTRIC AUTO-LITE COMPANY 215
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with The Electric
Auto-Lite Company, Toledo, Ohio, 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 Eighth Region, acting, in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, 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 any such 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 any who have since quit or been discharged for cause,,
to determine whether they desire to- be represented by Mechanics
Educational Society of America, Local No. 4, affiliated with the Con-
federated Unions of America, ,or by International Union, United
Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America, Local No. 12 (C. I. 0.), ,for the purposes of collective
bargaining, or by neither.