Warwick Manufacturing Corporation

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 12, 1939

12 N.L.R.B. 910 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of WARWICK MANUFACTURING CORPORATION and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL B-1031
Case No. R-13,06.-Decided May 10, 1939
Radio Assembly Industry-Investigation of Representatives : controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : rival organizations-Unit Appropriate for
Collective Bargaining : all employees , excluding executives , clerical workers,
laboratory workers, salesmen , parts salesmen , and supervisors ; stipulation as
to-Election Ordered
Mr. Stephen M. Reynolds, for the Board.
Mr. Bernard C. Schiff, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Sol L. August, of Chicago, Ill., for the Brotherhood.
Mr. Leon M. Despres, of Chicago, Ill., for the United.
Mr. Roscoe L. Barrow, of counsel to the Board.
.DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 13, 1939, International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, Local B-1031, herein called the Brotherhood, filed a peti-
tion and on March 21, 1939, an amended petition, with the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Warwick Manufacturing Corporation, Chicago,
Illinois, 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 13, 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 au-
thorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On March 22, 1939, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the Broth-
12 N. L. R. B., No. 94.
910
WARWICK MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 911
erhood, and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of
North America, herein called the United, a labor organization claim-
ing to represent employees directly affected by the investigation.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on March 30, 1939, at Chi-
cago, Illinois, before Samuel H. Jaffee, the Trial Examiner duly des-
ignated by the Board. The Board, the Company, the Brotherhood,
and the United were represented by counsel and participated
in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues
was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing, the Trial
Examiner ruled on various motions and on objections to the admis-
sion of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial
Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
On March 30, 1939, the Company and counsel for the Board en-
tered into a stipulation concerning the interstate character of the
Company's business. The stipulation was put in evidence and made
a part of the record.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Warwick Manufacturing Corporation is a Delaware corporation
with its office and principal place of business in Chicago, Illinois.
It is engaged in the assembly, sale, and distribution of radios. The
principal materials used in the Company's operations are cabinets,
tubes, speakers, transformers, coils, and condensers. During 1938
the Company purchased parts for use in the assembly of radios cost-
ing approximately $590,000, of which about 45 per cent were shipped
to the respondent from points outside Illinois. Gross sales of fin-
ished products for 1938 totaled approximately $857,000, of which
about 80 per cent were shipped to points outside Illinois.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local B-1031,
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, admitting to membership all employees of the Company ex-
cept executives, clerical workers, laboratory workers, salesmen, parts
salesmen, and supervisors.
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of North America
is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company in the same category and making the same exclusions.
912 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Both the Brotherhood and the United claim that they have been
designated the exclusive representative for collective bargaining by
a majority of the employees in the unit agreed upon as appropriate.
Each asked the Company to recognize its majority status and to
meet with it for purposes of collective bargaining. The Company
refused to recognize either union as the exclusive bargaining agent.
On January 13, and March 21, 1939, the Brotherhood filed its peti-
tion and amended petition respectively.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. 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 Brotherhood and the United have stipulated that the unit
appropriate for collective bargaining should consist of all the em-
ployees of the respondent, excluding executives, clerical workers,
laboratory workers, salesmen, parts salesmen, and supervisors. The
Company raised no objection to the unit agreed upon by the unions,
and we see no reason for invalidating it.
We find that all the employees of the Company, excluding execu-
tives, clerical workers, laboratory workers, salesmen, parts salesmen,
and supervisors, constitute a, unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining and that such unit will insure to the 'employees
of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization
and to collective bargaining and otherwise will effectuate the policies
of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
Neither the Brotherhood nor the United offered sufficient proof of
its majority status during the hearing, and both requested that an
election by secret ballot be held to resolve the question concerning
representation. We find that an election by secret ballot will best
resolve the question concerning representation. The Brotherhood
WARWICK MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 913
and the United stipulated, during the hearing, that in the event of
an election all employees in the appropriate unit whose names ap-
pear on the Company's pay roll for March 25, 1939, should be
eligible to vote therein. It was further stipulated by the Brother-
hood and the United that employees within the unit who were left
off this pay roll because of illness, and certain employees in the unit
(11 or 12 in number) who, the United charges, have been dis-
criminatorily discharged by the Company, should be permitted to
cast ballots subject to challenge, and that after the election the
Board should, if necessary to determine the result, decide the eli-
gibility of these employees to vote. No reason appearing for depart-
ing from these eligibility provisions we shall follow them in our
Direction of Election.
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 repre-
sentation of employees of Warwick Manufacturing Corporation,
Chicago, Illinois, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
2. All the employees of the Company, excluding executives, cleri-
cal workers, laboratory workers, salesmen, parts salesmen, and super-
visors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for collective bargaining with Warwick
Manufacturing Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted within fifteen (15) days from the date of
this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Sec-
tion 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all the employees of
Warwick Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Illinois, on the Com-
pany's March 25, 1939, pay roll, all the employees of the Company
left off the said pay roll because of illness, and all employees alleged
914 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of North America
to have been discriminatorily discharged by the Company (the latter
two groups to cast ballots subject to challenge), excluding executives,
clerical workers, laboratory workers, salesmen, parts salesmen, super-
visors, and those who have since quit or been discharged for cause,
to determine whether such employees desire to be represented for
the purposes of collective bargaining by International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, Local B-1031, or by United Electrical, Radio
and Machine Workers of North America, or by neither.
[SAME TITLE]
AMENDMENT TO DIRECTION OF ELECTION
May 23, 1939
On May 12, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Election
in the above-entitled proceedings. The Direction of Election directed
that an election by secret ballot be conducted under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region
(Chicago, Illinois), within fifteen (15) days from the date of the
Direction, among all the employees of Warwick Manufacturing
Corporation, herein called the Company, Chicago, Illinois, whose
names appear on the Company's March 25, 1939, pay roll, all the
employees left off the said pay roll because of illness, and all em-
ployees alleged by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers
of North America, a labor organization claiming to represent em-
ployees in the plant, to have been discriminatorily discharged by
the Company (the latter two groups to cast ballots subject to chal-
lenge), excluding executives, clerical workers, laboratory workers,
salesmen, parts salesmen, supervisors, and those who have since quit
or have been discharged for cause, to determine whether such em-
ployees desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local
B-1031, or by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of
North America, or by neither.
Having been advised by the Regional Director that United Elec-
trical, Radio and Machine Workers of North America wishes that
its name be omitted from the ballot in the election, and that a longer
time within which to prepare for the election is required, the Board
hereby amends its Direction of Election by striking therefrom the
words "whether such employees desire to be represented for the pur-
WARWICK MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 915
poses of collective bargaining by International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, Local B-1031, or by United Electrical, Radio
and Machine Workers of North America, or by neither" and sub-
stituting therefor the words "whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local
B-1031, for the purposes of collective bargaining." The Board hereby
further amends its Direction of Election by striking therefrom the
words "within fifteen (15) days from the date of this Direction"
and substituting therefor the words, "within thirty (30) days from
the date of this Direction."
12 N. L. R. B., No. 94a.
169134-39-vol. 12-59