Towne Manufacturing Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 15, 1955

114 N.L.R.B. 1367 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

TOWNE MANUFACTURING CORPORATION -, 1367
tenance unit and their votes shall be pooled with those in voting group
(a) and the pooled votes will be counted as provided for in American
Potash d Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418, 1426, 1427.,
[Text of Direction of Elections 4 omitted from publication.]
MEMBERS MURDOCK and BEAN took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Direction of Elections..
4 The AFL and CIO having merged subsequent to, the hearing in this proceeding, we are
amending the identification of the affiliations of the Unions . Where a union at the hear-
ing did not show any affiliation in describing itself, we are not showing any affiliation in
this Direction of Election Any union which is in fact affiliated with the AFL-CIO,
however, may have the option of having its affiliation shown or not shown on the ballot.
Towne Manufacturing Corporation I and John F. Dillon and
Francisco Alonso, Petitioners and Watch and Jewelry Work-
ers Union, Local 147, AFL-CIO.2 Case No. 2-RD-289. Decem-
ber 15, 1955
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a decertification petition duly filled under Section 9 (c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Milton
Pravitz, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby Armed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The Petitioners, employees of the Employer, assert that the
Union is no longer the representative, as defined in Section 9 (a) of
the Act, of the employees designated in the petition.
The Union is a labor organization currently recognized by the
Employer as the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees
designated in the petition.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of the employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following
reasons:
The Employer and Union contend that their existing contract, which
covers employees designated in the petition, is a bar to the petition.
The Petitioner contends that the contract is not a bar because it con-
tains invalid union-security provisions. The contract in question is
' The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
9 The AFL and CIO having merged subsequent to the hearing in this proceeding, we are
amending the identification of the affiliation of the Union accordingly. -
114 NLRB No. 218.
1368 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
effective from May 15, 1954, to May 15, 1956. It contains the follow-
ing union-security provisions :
Article II Union Membership
Section .7. It shall be a condition of employment that employees
who have been in the employ of the employer for more than 30
days shall become and, during the term of this agreement, remain
members of the Union.
Section 2. The Union shall ' supply membership cards to the
employer for new employees to sign when they are hired and these
cards shall be turned over to the Union chairman.
While section 1 does not expressly provide a grace period for em-
ployees who were not members of the Union on the effective date of
the contract, the record does not indicate that any such employee was
required to become a member of the Intervenor in violation of the Act,
or that there was any discrimination practiced against them under
the contract. On the contrary, the record shows affirmatively that
none of such employees had dues checked off until 30 days after the
contract 's effective date. On these facts, we find, that the contract's
failure expressly to provide the statutory grace period for employees
who were not members of the Union on the effective date of the con-
tract does not operate to invalidate the contract for bar purposes.'
With respect to section 2 of the contract, it appears that union mem-
bership cards were given to certain new employees at the time of their
hiring, along with other personnel data forms, such as W-2 forms and
timecards. However, the Employer's personnel manager testified
without contradiction that all employees hired after the effective date
of the contract were advised that they did not have to join the Union
until they had satisfactorily completed a 30-day probationary period
of employment. The record, moreover, contains no evidence showing
that any employee hired after the contract's effective date was required
to become a union member within the 30-day period following his
hiring. In these circumstances, we do not construe section 2 of the
contract to mean that newly hired employees must sign membership
cards at the time of their hiring; rather, we think that this clause mere-
ly set forth an arrangement whereby the Employer, acting on behalf
of the Union, undertook the distribution of membership cards to newly
hired employees at the time of their hiring.' For this reason, we
hold that section 2, like section 1, does not invalidate the contract for
bar purposes.
3 Milwaukee Gas Light Company , 111 NLRB 837 , 838, and cases cited therein . Although
Acting Chairman Rodgers dissented in that case and would have found a contract similar
to the one here to be invalid for contract-bar purposes , he considers himself , bound by the
majority decision and finds this contract to be no bar
+ Cf Basleu and JanedaTe Meat Markets Company . 114 NLRR 66.
J. E. FALTIN MOTOR TRANSPORTATION, INC. 1369
In view of the foregoing, we find that the contract is a bar to an
election at this time. We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
MEMBERS MURDOCK and BEAN took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Order.
J. E. Faltin Motor Transportation , Inc. and Chauffeurs, Team-
sters & Helpers Local Union No. 633, International Brother-
hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs , Warehousemen & Helpers of
America, AFL-CIO,' Petitioner . Case _No. 1-RC-49337. December
15,1955
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before John R. Coleman,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
TJpon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce 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.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit comprised of all office
clerical employees at the Employer's Manchester, New Hampshire,
terminal, including the assistant paymaster, cashiers, stock clerks, but
excluding the paymaster, collections manager, claims agent, assistant
claims agent, terminal manager, assistant terminal manager, office
manager, private secretary, professional employees, and supervisors
as defined in the Act. The Employer, although in general agreement
as to the scope of the appropriate bargaining unit, contends, in effect,
that the duties performed by the assistant paymaster, cashiers, and
stock clerks are closely allied with management functions, and that,
therefore, these classifications should be excluded from the unit. The
employees involved herein are unrepresented for the purposes' of col-
lective bargaining; however, the Petitioner represents in separate bar-
gaining units the Employer's truckdrivers, helpers, and warehouse-
1 The AFL and CIO having riierged since the hearing in this case we aie amending the
Union 's affiliation.
114 NLRB No. 213.