Warren Telechron Company

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 27, 1939

12 N.L.R.B. 1322 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter Of WARREN TELECHRON COMPANY and UNITED ELEC-
TRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS , LOCAL 205 (CIO)
Case No. R-1,348--Decided May 27, 1939
Electric Clock Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives:
controversy concerning representation of employees : employer 's refusal to
grant recognition of union until certified-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bar-
gaining: production and maintenance employees together with employees in
warehouse , excluding executives , foremen , assistant foremen, group supervisors,
clerical and time-study men ; stipulation as to-Representatives : proof of
choice : membership in union ; stipulation based on check of membership cards
against pay roll-Certification of Representatives : upon proof of majority repre-
sentation.
Mr. Benjamin E. Gordon, for the Board.
Mr. I. W. Kokins, of Ashland, Mass., for the Company.
Mr. Perry O. Holden, of Ashland, Mass., for the United.
Mr. Francis V. Paone, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 30 and March 20, 1939, respectively, United Electrical,
Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local 205 (CIO) I herein
called the United, filed with the Regional Director for the First Region
(Boston, Massachusetts) a petition and an amended petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the represen-
tation of employees of Warren Telechron Company, Ashland, Massa-
chusetts, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation
and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c)
,of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the
Act. On March 25, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and
Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and all-
'Incorrectly designated as United Electrical , Radio & Machine Workers, Local 205
,(CIO) in the pleadings.
12 N. L. R. B, No. 128.
1322
WARREN TELECHRON COMPANY 1323
thorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice. On March 30, 1939, the Re-
gional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies` of which were duly
served upon the Company and the United. Pursuant to the notice,
a hearing was held on April 10, 1939, at Boston, Massachusetts, before
E. G. Smith, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Board was represented by counsel; the Company and the United were
represented by their respective officers. All parties participated in
the hearing and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to ex-
amine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing
upon the issues. During the course of the hearing the Trial Ex-
aminer made rulings on several motions. The Board has reviewed
the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors
were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Warren Telechron Company is a Maine corporation engaged in
the manufacture, sale, and distribution of synchronous electric self-
starting clocks and motors, program instruments, master clocks, and
other time-indicating devices. The Company has two subsidiaries,
Electric Time Company of Boston, Massachusetts, and Electric Time
Company, Inc., of New York. The Company operates two plants
in Ashland, Massachusetts, and a warehouse in Framingham, Massa-
chusetts. Both these plants and the warehouse are involved in this
proceeding.
In the manufacture of its finished products the Company uses
steel, brass, wooden clock cases, moulded clock cases, cord sets, crys-
tals, dials, clock hands, insulated wire, and other items. In 1938
the Company spent $789,000 for raw materials, approximately 57 per
cent of which were received from points outside the State of Massa-
chusetts. During the same period the value of the Company's fin-
ished products was $2,758,000, of which approximately 90 per cent
were shipped outside the State of Massachusetts.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local
205 (CIO), is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the
Company at its plants in Ashland and its warehouse in Framingham,
except executives, foremen, assistant foremen, time-study men, and
clerical and supervisory employees.
1324 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On July 11, 1938, the United requested the Company to grant it
-recognition as the exclusive bargaining agency of-its employees and
to enter into a written agreement concerning wages, hours, and condi-
tions of employment. The Company refused to grant such recogni-
tion unless the United was certified by the Board as the exclusive
representative of the employees.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
TV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States,
and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties stipulated at the hearing that the employees in the
Company's two plants in Ashland and in its warehouse in Framing-
ham should be combined in one bargaining unit, and that such
unit should include all production and maintenance employees, in-
cluding group leaders, but excluding executives, foremen, assistant
foremen, group supervisors, clerical employees, and time-study men.
All the employees in the desired unit are eligible to membership
in the United, and we see no reason to depart from the desires of
-the parties in this respect. .
We find that all the production and maintenance employees of
the Company at its plants in Ashland, Massachusetts, together with
the employees in the Company's warehouse at Framingham, Massa-
chusetts, including group leaders, but excluding executives, foremen,
assistant foremen, group supervisors, clerical employees, and time-
study men, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the
Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to
collective bargaining and will otherwise effectuate the policies of
the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Company introduced in evidence a pay roll for the week
ending March 4, 1939, containing the names of 655 employees within
WAREN TELECHRON COMPANY 1325
the appropriate unit. All of the parties agreed by stipulation that
the United has authorization cards signed by 508 employees between
September 1, 1938, and the date of the hearing, designating the
United as their bargaining representative. - ' It was further stipu=
lated that the signatures on the cards are authentic and that the
signatories are employees of the Company whose names appear on
the March 4, 1939, pay roll.
We find that the United has been designated and selected by
a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore,
the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for
the purposes of collective bargaining, and we will so certify.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
)record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of Warren Telechron Company, Ashland,
Massachusetts, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2
,(6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All the production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany at its plants in Ashland, Massachusetts, together with the em-
ployees in the Company's warehouse at Framingham, Massachusetts,
including group leaders, but excluding executives, foremen, assistant
foremen, group supervisors, clerical employees, and time-study men,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
3. United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local
205 (CIO), is the exclusive representative of all the employees in
such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, Local 205 (CIO), has been designated and
selected by a majority of the production and maintenance employees
of Warren Telechron Company, Ashland, Massachusetts, at its plants
1326 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in Ashland, Massachusetts, and its warehouse in Framingham, Massa-
chusetts, including group leaders, but excluding executives, foremen,
assistant foremen, group supervisors, clerical employees, and time-
study men, as their representative for the purposes of collective
bargaining, and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a)
of the Act, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America,
Local 205 (CIO), is the exclusive representative of all such em-
ployees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates
of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employ-
ment.