Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 30, 1940

28 N.L.R.B. 799 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter Of WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COM-
PANY and LOCAL 724, UNITED ELECTRICAL , RADIO & MACHINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH C. I. O.
Case No. R-2188.-Decided December 30, 1940
Jurisdiction : motor manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : refusal
to accord recognition to union and request that certification be obtained ;
election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : policemen, excluding police captain.
Mr. William E.-Miller, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Joseph Kres, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr. Samuel Runyan, of
Lima, Ohio, for Local 724.
'Miss Mary E. Perkins, of counsel to the Board:
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On November 8, 1940; Local 724, United Electrical, Radio & Ma-
chine Workers of America, affiliated with the C. I. 0., herein called
Local 724, filed with the Regional Director for the Eighth Region
(Cleveland, Ohio) a petition alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had- arisen concerning employees of Westinghouse Electric
Manufacturing Company, Lima, Ohio, 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 November 26, 1940, the Na-
tional Labor Relations'Board, herein called the Board, acting pur-
suant, to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
On December 3, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
Local 724. Pursuant to the notice a hearing was held on December
28 N L R. B, No 123.
799
800 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
9, 1940, in Cleveland, Ohio, before Norman F. Edmonds, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Company and Local
724 were represented by counsel and participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine wit-
nesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded
all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner
made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission
of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Ex-
aminer 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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company is a Pennsyl-
vania corporation hhving headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Plants of Company subsidiaries are 'located in Connecticut, New
Jersey, and New York. The Company has and transacts business
through sales offices, agent-jobbers, service shops, and warehouses in
various cities throughout the United States, as well as abroad.
These proceedings are concerned solely with the Company's plant
at Lima, Ohio. At its Lima plant the Company engages in the
manufacture of fractional horsepower motors, which it sells. The
monthly purchases of raw materials in connection with the operation
of the Lima plant are valued at approximately $241,000; about 60 per
cent of such purchases are shipped to the plant froi n outside the State
of Ohio. The average monthly production of the plant is approxi-
mately $435,000. Approximately 95 per cent of the plant's produc-
tion is shipped outside the State of Ohio.
The total number of employees at the Lima plant on November 2,
1940, was 1,694, of whom 1,482 were hourly paid employees.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local 724, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer-
ica, affiliated with_C. I. 0., is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership hourly paid employees of the Company at the Lima plant,
excluding supervisory and clerical employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
During the first week of September 1940, Local 724 requested the
Company to recognize it as the bargaining representative for the
plant policemen. The Company refused the request until Local 724
should be certified as such representative by the Board.
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 801
From a statement of a Field Examiner of the Board introduced
in evidence at the hearing, it appears that Local 724 has been desig-
nated as bargaining representative by all of the persons employed
by the Company in the unit alleged to be appropriate.'
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 commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
Local 724 contends that the policemen employed by the Company
at its Lima plant, excluding the Police Captain, constitute an appro-
priate separate unit. The Company takes no position on this question.
At the time of the hearing the Company employed eight policemen,.
under the supervision of a Police Captain, to protect the Company
property, check persons entering and leaving the plant, patrol the
highway at change of shift, and guard the plant during the day.
They are deputized, but not paid, by the county sheriff. With the
exception of the police captain who is a salaried employee they
receive hourly wages.
On August 5, 1939, in a prior proceeding involving the Company's
Lima plant '2 the Board found appropriate a unit consisting of all
hourly. paid employees at the plant, excluding supervisory and cleri-
cal employees, designing engineers, tool designers, draftsmen, time-
study employees, and policemen, and on September 2, 1939, after
an election in which Local 724 received a majority of votes cast, the
Board certified Local 724 as the exclusive bargaining representative
of all employees in that unit.'
Before September 1940 the policemen were not represented by any
labor organization. At that time they approached Local 724 and re-
1 The Field Examiner reported that all eight persons in the unit alleged to be appropriate
appear to have signed cards, in September 1940, accepting membership in Local 724, and
authorizing it .to act as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining.
3 Matter of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company and United Electrical, Radio
d Machine Workers of America, Local 724 , affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organi-
zations, 14 N. L. R. B. 263. All parties involved in that proceeding stipulated the
appropilateness of the unit found therein.
3 Id., 15 N. L. R. B 64.
802 DECISIONS OF' NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
quested that they be accepted as members and that Local 724 repre-
sent them for the purpose of bargaining collectively with the Com-
pany. All appear to have accepted membership in Local 724 and no,
other organization seeks to represent them. In the circumstances no,
reason appears why the request for a unit of the policemen should
be denied.
We find that all policemen employed by the Company at its Lima
plant, excluding the police captain, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining and that such unit will insure to
employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate
the policies of the Act.
IV. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen;
can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. We shall direct
that all employees in the appropriate unit who were employed by the
Company during the pay-roll period last preceding this Direction
of Election , including any who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or who were then or have
since been temporarily laid off, but excluding those who have since
quit or been discharged for cause , shall be eligible to vote.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and 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 Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing
Company, Lima, Ohio, within the meaning of Section 9' (c) and
Section 2 ( 6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All policemen employed by the Company at its Lima plant,
excluding the police captain, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9-
(b) of the National Labor Relations 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
Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board' -
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 803
with Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, Lima, Ohio,
an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible,
but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction
of Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Eighth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section
9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all policemen employed by
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company at its Lima plant
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Elections, including any who did not work during said
pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or who were then
or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding the police
captain and those who -have since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Local 724,
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN HARRY A. MILLIS took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Direction of Election. -
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