The Whitcomb Locomotive Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 12, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 1160 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THE WHITCOMB LocoMOTIvE COMPANY and UNITED
STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Can Not. 13 R 2'74.0:Decided'JMarchl9, 1945.
Mr. W. H. Holcomb, of Philadelphia, Pa., and Mr. H. V. Huleguard,
of Rochelle, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Meyer Adelman, of Milwaukee, Wis., and Mr. Harry Holloway,
of Sterling, Ill., for the C. I. O.
Messrs. P. L. Siemiller and A. M. Keeney, of Chicago, Ill., for the
A. F. L.
Mr. Thomas A. Ricci, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Steelworkers of America,
C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
The Whitcomb Locomotive Company,' Rochelle, Illinois, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before John R. Hill, Trial Exam-
iner. Said hearing was held at Rochelle, Illinois, on January 12, 1945.
The Company, the C. I. 0., and International Association of Machin-
ists, Lodge 829, A. F. L., herein called the A. F. L., appeared and par-
ticipated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues. At the hearing the A. F. L. moved to dismiss the
petition. The Trial Examiner referred the motion to the Board for
determination. For reasons set forth in Section III, infra, the motion
is denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
1 Name as amended at the hearing.
CO N. L. R. B, No. 197.
1160
THE WHITCOMB LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY 1161
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Whitcomb Locomotive Company, a Delaware corporation, is a
wholly owned subsidiary of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, a Penn-
sylvania corporation. This proceeding concerns certain employees of
the Company at its Rochelle, Illinois, plant, where it is engaged in
the manufacture of internal combustion and electrical locomotives.
During the year 1944, the Company used raw materials valued at ap-
proximately $5,000,000, of which approximately 50 percent was shipped
to the Company from points outside the State of Illinois. During the
same period, the Company sold finished products valued at approxi-
mately $10,000,000, of which approximately 95 percent was shipped to
points outside the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the-National Labor Relations Act.
II. 7HE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company. ,
International Association of Machinists, Lodge 829, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On October 28, 1944, the C. I. O. mailed a letter to the Company
stating that the employees of the Rochelle plant had designated the
C. I. O. as their collective bargaining representative, and requesting a
conference for collective bargaining purposes.
By letter dated November 2, 1944, the Company replied and stated
that the matter would be considered by its parent organization at a
later date. On November 4, 1944, the C. I. O. filed its petition herein.
On March 17, 1942, after a consent election, the A. F. L. was desig-
nated by a Board Regional Director as the bargaining agent of the
Company's Rochelle plant employees. On April 15,1942, the A. F. L.
and-the Company signed a collective bargaining agreement which they
opened in the early part of 1943, and replaced with a second contract
made on September 16,1943. This latter contract provided as follows :
This agreement shall become effective April 15, 1943, and shall
remain in effect for 1 year and unless thirty (30) days' written
notice is given by either party desiring changes thirty (30) days
1162 ', DECISIONS OF -NATIONAL, LABOR- RELATIONS .BOARD
prior to the expiration of the agreement, the agreement shall
remain in effect for the following year and with the same pro-
cedure from year to year thereafter.
By letter dated March 9, 1944, the A. F. L. notified the Company
that it wished "to meet with the representatives of The Whitcomb Lo-
comotive Company in the near future to negotiate for the new contract
which will become 'effective April 15, 1944." Shortly thereafter, the
A. F. L. and the Company, exchanged detailed written proposals of
changes each desired to incorporate in the new contract. From March
until October 1944, representatives of the A. F. L. held a number of
conferences with the Company for the purpose of resolving the dis-
puted issues that arose. This long series of negotiations ended with
a final conference on October 23, 1944, when the parties reached com-
plete accord on all issues and formulated a final contract. The actual
signing of the agreement was postponed pending its retyping in-final
form and the return of a company officer who was out of town. The
C. 10. notified the Company of its claim to representation on October
28, 1944, and the drafted contract between.the A. F. L., and the Com-
pany was never signed.
The A. F. L. contends that the negotiations that were completed for
a new contract and the unsigned draft resulting therefrom preclude
a present determination of representatives. - Inasmuch as experience
has indicated that true stability of labor relations is not attained until
collective bargaining agreements have been reduced to writing and
signed, we are of the opinion that no bar exists to a current determina-
tion of representatives.'
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate 3
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 are in virtual agreement concerning the composition of
an appropriate unit for collective bargaining purposes, consisting of
2 Matter of Eicor, Inc., 46 N. L R. B. 1035.
The Company states that it agreed with the A F . L. to continue the 1943 contract in
effect pending the negotiations and that, therefore , that contract is still binding upon
itself and the A. F. L. #However , the. Company- does - not, urge-- either the 1943 contract
or the 1944 negotiations as a bar to the instant proceeding.
'The Field Examiner reported that the C . I. O. submitted 139 membership cards ; that
the names of 131 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll
of November 7, 1944 , which contained the names of 251 employees in the appropriate
unit; and that the cards were dated , 106 October 1944, 14 November 1944, and 11
December 1944.
- The A. F. L. relies on its 1943 contract to establish its interest in the instant proceeding.
'THE WHITCOMB LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY 1163
production and maintenance employees of the Company's Rochelle,
Illinois, plant. The only question in dispute relates to the inclusion
in the unit of an inspector.
The inspector moves about the plant in the various departments
and is responsible to the general manager. He inspects work as it is
being produced and after completion. He has authority to reject work
and to stop the machines if the work being performed is defective.
The Company, urges, that he be excluded as a representative of man-
agement and the C. I. O. would include him. While the A. F. L. has
not bargained for the inspector heretofore, it takes a neutral position
regarding his inclusion at present, and states that if the Board should
include him, the A. F. L. will bargain on his behalf.4 We are of the
opinion that the inspector's duties are more closely related to produc-
tion than to management, and we shall, therefore, include him in the
unit.5
We find that all production and maintenace employees of the Com-
pany's Rochelle, Illinois plant, including working leaders,' watchmen,
and the inspector, but excluding engineering department employees,
office and clerical employees,' guards, assistant foremen, foremen, the
general superintendent, the works manager, and all other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees; or effectively rec-
ommend 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. O. requests that the Board depart from its usual practice
concerning eligibility and declare eligible to vote some 115 persons
whose employment with the Company terminated on December 7, 1944.
The Company and the A. F: L. oppose this request, stating that those
individuals were permanently discharged and hence are ineligible to
participate in an election among the Company's employees.
The Company manufactures locomotives for the Transportation
Corps of the War Department. Immediately prior to December 7,
1944, it had orders on hand amounting to approximately $9,000,000.
On December 7, 1944, the War Department cancelled three of the
' The record indicates that the inspector may already have been admitted to membership
in theA. F. L.
See Matter of Nineteen Hundred Corporation, 32 N L. R. B 327.
The Company has applied to the National War Labor Board for permission to establish
a working leader classification. The duties of those employees whom the Company plans
to promote to working leaders will not change with the change in job classification. They
have no authority to hire, discharge, or discipline any employee.
7 The parties agree that the term "office and clerical employees" includes timekeepers,
stenographers, bookkeepers, advertising and sales employees, purchasing department em-
ployees, accounting department employees, service department employees, and telephone
operators.
1164 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Company's largest contracts , amounting to approximately $7,000,000,
and instructed the Company to cease all work immediately . The plant
was closed upon completion of that work day. The War Department
also notified the War Manpower Commission and the United States
,Employment Service of the termination notice, and on-the morning
of December 8, 1944, representatives of those agencies arrived at the
plant to interview these employees whom the Company had no hope
of reemploying , offered them employment in other war plants, and
issued certificates of availability to them. The discharged employees
were paid their accumulated earnings and the plant remained closed
until December 11, 1944, when the Company started to recall em-
ployees as needed. At the time of the hearing the Company stated
that within a week or so it would need 6 or 7 additional men, but
thereafter it expected a decrease in its production and maintenance
personnel over a period of 6 months . As a result of a conference with
War Department representatives held on January 11 , 1945, at which
the Company was informed that no part of the cancelled contracts
would be renewed , the Company prepared - final - termination notices
which were to be mailed to the 115 employees in question on the day
after the hearing. These last notices were to be accompanied by 2
days' wages in accordance with the Company 's agreement with the
A. F. L. with respect to "reduction in working forces." It appears
from the record that a number of the employees in question have found
employment elsewhere , some desired other kind of employment, and
others have gone out of the territory.
Under these circumstances , it does not appear that the December
7, 1944, terminations of the 115 employees who have not since been
recalled, can be regarded as temporary . Should any employees in this
group be rehired prior to the date of the election , their previous ter-
mination shall be considered temporary, and they shall be eligible to
vote in the election.
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 Elec-
tion 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 Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended , it is hereby
THE WHITCOMB LOCOMOTIVE COMPANY 1165
DIRECTED that as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purpose of collective bargaining with The Whitcomb
Locomotive Company, Rochelle, Illinois, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60)
days from the date of this Direction , under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and sub-
ject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, 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 employees who did not
work during the 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 they desire to be repre-
sented by United Steelworkers of America , C. 1. 0., or by International
Association of Machinists , Lodge 829 , A. F. L., for the purpose of
collective bargaining , or by neither.