Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 2, 1943

46 N.L.R.B. 617 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of, TODD-BATH IRON SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION AND
SOUTH PORTLAND SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION and INDUSTRIAL UNION
OF MARINE AND SHIPBUILDING WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 50, C. I. O.
Case No. R-4549
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
ORDER
January 3, 19443
On December 15, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board issued
a Decision and Direction of Elections in the above-entitled proceed-
ing,' directing that elections by secret ballot be conducted among cer-
tain employees of Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Corporation and
South Portland Shipbuilding Corporation, South Portland, Maine,
herein called the Companies. OD December 21, 1942, American Fed-
eration of Labor, herein called the A. F. of L., filed with the Board
a motion for reconsideration and a request that the South Portland
yard employees be omitted from any unit in the proceeding. On
December 31, 1942, the Companies filed an answer to the motion for
reconsideration, and urged that it be denied.-'
In its motion , the A. F. of L. urges that its unexpired closed-shop
contract covering employees of the South Portland yard is a bar to
the existence of a question concerning representation , and that because
of the, contract the Board erred in including the employees of that
yard in an appropriate unit with employees of the Todd-Bath yard,
who are covered by an unexpired closed-shop contract with the C. I. O.
In our Decision we found that when the separate closed-shop contracts
were entered into, the two yards were operated as separate entities,
but that at the time of the hearing the Companies were being reorgan-
ized into a single entity, were then operated under common manage-
ment, and were in other respects closely integrated.3
245 N L R B 1367
2 Intel national Union of bias me and Shipbuilding Workers, Local 50, C . I. 0., herein
called the C I` 0 , also objected to delaying the elections
a The record made at the heaamg on November 17, 1942 , shows that the reorganization
N% as expected to be effected by November 30, 1942.
. 46 N. L. R B., No 73. '
617
618 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
At the hearing the A. F. of L. did not urge'its contract as a bar to
this proceeding; on the contrary, its opposition to an election was
based upon the then incomplete state of the reorganization proceed-
ings. The representative of the A. F. of L. stated at the hearing that
it would be appropriate to hold an election, including employees of
both yards in one unit, "when this in fact becomes one corporation,
operating as such" and that the A. F. of L., upon the happening of that
event, was "ready to sit down with the other representatives and work
out a consent election scheme." No claim was made that an election
should await the termination of the A. F. of L.'s closed-shop agree-
ment.. The record, as stated above, shows that the yards were oper-
ating at the time of the hearing as ' a single entity. The answer of
the Companies avers, and our investigation shows, that since about
November 28, 1942, the employees formerly employed by Todd-Bath
have been employed by South Portland and paid by the latter, which
has since that date operated the two yards under its sole management.'
In view of all the facts, including the fact that the operations have
been merged and that the employees are now on the pay roll of a single
corporation, we shall deny the request of the A. F. of L. that the
employees of the South Portland yard be omitted from the unit found
by the Board to be appropriate.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the request of the American Federation
of Labor, filed December 21, 1942, that employees of the South Port-
land Shipbuilding` Corporation, South Portland, Maine, be omitted
from the unit found by the Board to be appropriate in this proceeding
be, and it hereby is, denied.
A Moreover , since the election held in March 1942 among employees at the South
Portland yard, and since the A. F of L. contract was entered into in July 1942, there has
been an eight-fold increase in personnel at that yard . In the March 1942 election there
«eie 3,248 employees eligible to vote 40 N L R B 271 . At the time of the hearing
in the instant pioceeding, the South Portland yard employed approximately 12,000
persons Since that time, the approximately 13,000 former Todd-Bath yard employees
have become employees of South Portland , so that at the present time the South Portland
yard employs about 25,000 workers.