Vokar Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 4, 1957

117 N.L.R.B. 533 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

VOKAR CORPORATION 533
Vokar Corporation and International Union , United Automobile,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
UAW-AFL-CIO, Petitioner and Vokar Independent Personnel.
Case No. 7-RC-3274. March 4,1957
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION
OF REPRESENTATIVES
On November 9, 1956, pursuant to a stipulation for certification
upon consent election executed by the parties hereto on October 29,
1956, an election by secret ballot was conducted in the above-entitled
matter under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Seventh Region. Out of 119 valid ballots, 72 were for the
Petitioner, 21 were for the Intervenor, 16 were against participating
labor organizations, and 10 were challenged. The parties were duly
furnished with a tally of ballots.
On November 14, 1956, the Intervenor filed timely objections to the
conduct of the election on the following ground that : The Petitioner
is not in compliance with the requirements of Section 9 (h) of the
Act in that three members of its International board of trustees are
officers of said Union but have failed to execute and file non-Com-
munist affidavits in compliance with Section 9 (h) of the Act; in
view of the Petitioner's noncompliance this Board was without any
jurisdiction in this matter pursuant to the petition filed September
12, 1956, and is without jurisdiction to certify the Petitioner; and
therefore the matter should be closed. The decision of the Trial
Examiner concerning the compliance of the Union in question, Peti-
tioner here, in another case, that of The Kohler Company, Case No.
13-CA-1780 (not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions
and Orders) is urged in support.
On January 11, 1957, the Regional Director issued his report on
objections. The Petitioner's position is set forth in the report as fol-
lows : that before the said stipulation for consent election was signed
by the parties hereto on October 29, its International trustees had
filed Section 9 (h) affidavits because of the Kohler ruling, and that
this Board in acknowledging those additional affidavits by letter of
October 29 to the International Union had expressly reaffirmed the
Board's earlier (April 4, 1956) notification to the Union that it was
considered to be in full compliance with the Act. The Employer's
position is apparently the same as that of the Intervenor, that the
Board was not empowered to proceed on the September 12, 1956,
petition in this matter.
In his report the Regional Director found that the Petitioner was
at all relevant times in this proceeding in full compliance with the
117 NLRB No. 74.
534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR- RELATIONS BOARD
filing requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act, noting
its compliance both at the time of stipulation and of election, and.
-recommended that the Intervenor's objections be overruled and that
:the Petitioner be certified.
The Intervenor duly filed exceptions to the findings and recom-
mendations of -the Regional Director.
The Board has reviewed the stipulation of the parties, the objec-
tions, the Regional Director's report, the exceptions thereto, and the
entire record in this case. Upon the entire record, the Board makes
the following findings of fact :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees 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 following employees of the Employer, as stipulated by the
parties, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees of the Employer at its
Dexter, Michigan, plant, including plant clericals, but excluding
head shipping and receiving clerk, chief inspector, assistant chief in-
spector, engineering department employees, production assistants,
professional employees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
5. The Board's decision in the Kohler case has now issued, 117
NLRB 321, holding that the compliance issue there raised-
whether the Union's (this Petitioner's) International trustees occupy
a position identified as an office in the Union's constitution so as to
require their filing 9 (h) affidavits-is a factual one, not directly
litigable in a Board proceeding. This is precisely the issue here.
The question which the Intervenor seeks to litigate at this post-elec-
tion stage is not one which may be litigated at all in this proceeding.
It thus becomes unnecessary to pass upon the Regional Director's
findings and recommendations, and the Intervenor's exceptions thereto
Accordingly we shall overrule the objections and certify the Peti-
tioner, inasmuch as it received a majority of the valid votes east in
the election.
[The Board certified International Union, United Automobile,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW-
AFL-CIO, as the designated collective-bargaining representative of
the employees of the Employer in the unit herein found appropriate.]'