United Aircraft Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 14, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 209 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of UNITED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, CHANCE VOUGHT
AIRCRAFT DIVISION, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF UNITED
AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF
AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-310.Decided July 14,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in this case was held on
March 15, 1949, at Dallas, Texas, before Elmer Davis, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej -
udicial 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-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act. ,
2. International Association of Machinists, Lodge 1639, herein
called the I. A. M., and International Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers of America, Local Union No. 59, AFL, herein called the I. B. E. W.,
intervened at the hearing.2 The Petitioner, the I. A. M., and the
I The I. A. M. moved to dismiss the proceedings in this case on two grounds: (1) the
pendency of an unfair labor practice charge in Case No. 16-CA-130, and (2) that the
Petitioner is "fronting" for its Local 893 which has not complied with the filing require-
ments of the Act , and is not, therefore , the real party in interest. A complaint issued in
Case No. 16-CA-130, and at the close of the hearing in connection therewith the Trial
Examiner granted the Employer's motion to dismiss the complaint . The Board has this
day sustained the action of the Trial Examiner , and has dismissed the complaint. As the
charges are no longer pending , there is no present bar to an election on this ground, and
the Petitioner ' s request for oral argument in this issue is hereby denied . As for the
"fronting" allegation , it appears that the Petitioner has issued , but is holding in abeyance,
a charter for Local 893. The Local has no officers , has issued no membership cards, and
has collected no dues. We find that Local 893 is not in existence as a functioning labor
organization and that the Petitioner is the real party in interest . Matter of Cribben it
Sexton Company, 82 N. L. R. B. 1409 . Accordingly , the I. A. M .' s motion to dismiss
is hereby denied.
2 Amalgamated Lithographers of America, Local No. 35, CIO, withdrew its motion to
intervene at the hearing , after all parties stipulated to the exclusion of lithographers
from the unit . The Employer committed itself to a consent election if this labor organiza-
tion should file a petition and make a representative showing among the lithographers.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 36.
209
210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
I. B. E. W. are labor organizations claiming to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question of representation exists concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner and the I. A. M. seek plant-wide units. The I. B
E. W. asks for two separate units, one for powerhouse employees, the
other for maintenance electricians. The Employer, the Petitioner,
and the I. A. M. stipulated as to the composition of the plant-wide
unit, and all parties agreed to a self-determination election for power-
house employees. The parties are in disagreement with respect to a
separate unit for the maintenance electricians.
There are approximately 30 maintenance electricians at the Em-
ployer's Grand Prairie, Texas, plant, the only one involved in this case.
The Employer is engaged at this plant in the manufacture and assem-
bly of aircraft. The maintenance electricians do all of the construc-
tion, maintenance, and repair of electrical equipment at the plant.
Much of the machinery used in the production processes is operated by
electrical motors. There are three classifications of electricians, A,
B, and C; Class A electricians alone must be licensed. The Employer
maintains no apprenticeship system for electricians, but employees
hired as electricians must have a background of electrical work. There
is a progressive promotion system for electricians, so that in the course
of time the Class B and Class C electricians may advance to the Class
A category. Although the maintenance electricians are under the
over-all supervision of the superintendent of maintenance, their imme-
diate supervisor is the electrical foreman.3 The maintenance elec-
tricians occasionally do nonelectrical maintenance jobs but_ spend
approximately 75 percent of their time on electrical maintenance work
which is their principal employment.
The Board has frequently found, especially in the aircraft indus-
try, that maintenance electricians such as those herein involved con-
stitute a distinct craft group that may be established as a separate unit
for the purposes of collective bargaining .4 Accordingly, we shall
direct a separate election for maintenance electricians and, in accord-
ance with the stipulation of the parties, a separate election for the
powerhouse employees. However, we shall make no final unit determi-
'
This foreman also supervises employees engaged in plumbing repair work.
Matter of Hughes Aircraft Company, et al., 81 N. L. R. B. 867 ; Matter of Lockheed
Aircraft Corporation, 77 N. L . R. B. 507; and Matter of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft
-'orporation, et al., 75 N. L. R. B . 1276. .
UNITED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 211
nations at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of the employees
as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed.
We shall direct that the question concerning representation shall
be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among the employees
at the Grand Prairie, Texas, plant of the Employer within the voting
groups described below :
(1) All Class A, B, and C maintenance electricians and their help-
ers, excluding clerical employees and supervisors 5 as defined in the
Act.
(2) All powerhouse employees, excluding clerical employees and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
(3) All remaining hourly rated production, inspection, and main-
tenance employees, including trainees, shipping, receiving, and fac-
tory clerical employees, and production control and experimental
employees, but excluding medical department employees, plant-pro-
tection department employees, all main office and clerical employees,
group leaders, laboratory technicians, lithographers, timekeepers,
confidential clerks to supervisors, and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
5. The determination of representatives:
The Employer is in the process of transferring its operations from
Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Grand Prairie, Texas. At the time of
the hearing, there were employed at the Grand Prairie plant slightly
over 3,000 employees in the voting groups established in this deci-
sion s Substantially full employment will be reached at the Grand
Prairie plant in September 1949, and the full complement of 5,400
employees will be at work by December 1949. According to reliable
estimates in the record, there are now over 4,500 employees in the
plant. All departments are functioning and no substantial change in
the operation of the plant is contemplated.
At the hearing, the Employer contended that any election the
Board might direct be deferred until a representative group of em-
ployees are at work in the Grand Prairie plant. In its brief, the Em-
ployer argued that no election should be held until the transfer from
Bridgeport is completed. The Employer conceded that the moving
operation would be completed by July 1, 1949. As that date will
have been-reached before elections can be held in this proceeding,
and as a very substantial and representative number of employees
b All parties stipulated that the two group leaders under the electrical foreman are
supervisors.
G This figure is about 350 less than the Employer 's estimate made several months there-
tofore. The record indicates that this lag would be made up in the 90 days following the
hearing.
857829-50-vol. 85-15
212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD)
are presently employed at the Grand Prairie plant, we see no reason
for not directing immediate elections.'
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 8
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purpose of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections 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 su-
pervision of the Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, and sub-
iect to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the voting groups de-
scribed in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during
the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of
Elections, 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 also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled
to reinstatement, to determine :
(a) Whether the employees in voting group (1) desire to be rep-
resented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of America, Local Union No. 59,
AFL, or by International Union of United Automobile, Aircraft and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, or by Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, Lodge 1639, or by none;
(b) Whether the employees in voting group (2) desire to be rep-
resented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of America, Local Union No. 59,
AFL, or by International Union of United Automobile, Aircraft and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, or by Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, Lodge 1639, or by none;
(c) Whether the employees in voting group (3) desire to be rep-
resented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Union of United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, CIO, or by International Association of Ma-
chinists, Lodge 1639, or by neither.
7 Matter of General Motors Corporation, etc., 82 N. L. R. B. 876; Matter of Amerloac
Enka Corporation (Lowland), 80 N. L. R. B. 298.
Any participant in the elections herein may, upon its prompt request to and approval
thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.