Times Appliance Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 14, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 317 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of TIMES APPLIANCE COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYER and
OWEN J. ROGERS, PETITIONER and UNITED OFFICE & PROFESSIONAL
WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 16, CIO, UNION
Case No. 2-RD-30.-Decided July 14,1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a decertification petition duly filed, a hearing was held before
a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing
officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner, an employee of the Employer, asserts that the
Union is no longer the representative of the employees as defined by
Section 9 (a) of the amended Act.
The Union, a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is the contractual bargaining representative
of these employees.
3. A question of representation exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act
* Houston, Murdock , and Gray.
I The current contract between the Union and the Employer was executed on March 31,
1948, and was an extension with modifications , of a contract whose initial period expired
on April 1 , 1948 The original contract was subject to automatic renewal for an addi-
tional 1 -year period in the absence of notification before April 1, 1948, of a desire to modify
it. The petition herein was filed on January 28, 1948 Inasmuch as the petition was filed
before the execution of the extension agreement , the agreement cannot, under well -estab-
lished principles of the Board, bar an election at this time . See Matter of Northwestern
Publishing Company ( WDAN ), 71 N. L. it. B . 167, 170, footnote 6 and cases cited therein.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 39.
317
318 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appro-
priate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act': 2
All employees in the Employer's office located at 353 Fourth Avenue,
New York City, excluding sales persons, confidential employees, and
supervisors.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 3 -
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203,61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately pre-
ceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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, and also exclud-
ing employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of
collective bargaining, by United Office & Professional Workers of
America, Local 16, CIO.
2 Although the record discloses factors of integration between the operations of the
Employer and those of the Times -Columbia Corporation and O. W Ray Corporation, we
nevertheless reject the Union' s contention that only a unit of all three Employers is appro-
priate . In so concluding , we rely on the facts that the three corporations are engaged in
the business of selling and distributing different products ; that they operate as three dis-
tinct enterprises with no interchange of employees between them, that any work performed
by the Employer for the other two corporations is on a reimbursable basis , and that the
bargaining history of these corporations discloses that the employees of each corporation
have been bargained for in separate units
B Inasmuch as the Union has failed to comply with the registration and filing require-
ments of Section 9 ( f) and ( h) of the amended Act, we shall in accordance with our
usual policy place the Union' s name on the ballot in the election , subject to the following:
The Union will be certified if it wins the election and is then in compliance with Section
9 (f) and (h) of the Act; absent such compliance , the Board will only certify the arith-
metical results of the election See Matter of Burry Biscuit Corporation , 76 N. L. R. B. 640.