Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 6, 1941

31 N.L.R.B. 616 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter Of WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COM-
PANY (WILKES BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA) and UNITED ELECTRICAL,
RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 137 (AFFILIATED
WITH THE CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS)
Case No. R-2477.-Decided May 6, 1941.
Jurisdiction : electrical equipment manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : refusal
to accord union recognition until it is certified by the Board ; election un-
necessary : membership cards compared with pay roll ; Company had no,
objection to certification upon the record.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees of the Company at
one of its plants, excluding salesmen, office employees, and supervisory em-
ployees; stipulation as to.
Mr. C. A. Reinavald, of New York, N. Y., Mr. A. D. Hunt, of Phila-
delphia, Pa., and Mr. H. B. Leady, of Wilkes Barre, Pa., for the
Company.
Mr. Carl Bersing and Mr. Richard Linsley, of Philadelphia, Pa.,
and Mr. Carl Norwig and Mr. Thomas Young, of Wilkes Barre,
Pa., for the Union.
Mr. Herbert Shenkin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 27, 1941, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Work-
ers of America, Local 137 (affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations), herein called the Union, filed with the Regional
Director for, the Fourth Region (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)' a
petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Westinghouse Electric &
Manufacturing Company (Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania), herein called
the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of rep-
resentatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On March 26, 1941,
the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting
31 N., L R. B., No. 104.
616
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC &, MANUFACTURING CO. 617
pursuant 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 Di-
rector to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
On March 31, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the
Union. Pursuant to the notice a hearing was held on April 15,
1941, at Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, before Jerome I. Macht, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The
Company and the Union were represented by their representatives
and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-exiymine witnesses, 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 all 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
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company is a Pennsyl-
vania corporation, with its principal office and place of business in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is engaged in the manufacture, sale,
and distribution of a wide variety of electrical machinery and equip-
ment and has plants, service departments, and sales agencies in
various parts of the United States. Only the Wilkes Barre, Penn-
sylvania, servicing plant is involved in the present proceeding. At
this plant the Company is engaged in the servicing and repair of
various types of electrical machinery and equipment manufactured
and sold by the Company. A substantial amount of the raw mate-
rials necessary for the operation of the Wilkes Barre plant and a
substantial amount of the electrical equipment serviced there is
shipped to the Wilkes Barre plant from points outside the State of
Pennsylvania. A substantial amount of the electrical equipment
serviced at the Wilkes Barre plant is shipped to points outside the
State' of Pennsylvania. , The respondent stipulated at the hearing
that it was engaged in commerce at the Wilkes Barre plant within
the meaning of the Act.
I
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local
137 (affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations), is a
618 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
labor organization admitting to 'membership employees of the
Company.
M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant the Union exclusive bargaining
rights until the Union is certified as such representative by the
Board.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced in evidence, indi-
cates that a substantial number of the Company's employees within
the unit alleged and hereinafter found to be appropriate have desig-
nated the Union as their bargaining representative.' 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 had
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
In accordance with a stipulation of, the 'parties at the hearing we
find that all the employees of the Company at the Wilkes Barre plant,
excluding salesmen, office employees, and supervisory employees
(supervisory employees being defined to mean manager, foremen, and
assistant foremen), constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining, and that said unit will insure to employees
of the Company at the Wilkes Barre plant the full benefit of their
right to self-organization and to collective bargaining, and otherwise
effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing the union representatives requested the Board to
certify the Union on the basis of the evidence in the record. The
Company does not oppose this request, nor join in it; its position is
1 The Regional Director reported that he had examined 28 signed applications for mem-
bership in the Union, all of which were dated during the month of February 1941. He
further reported that he had checked the 'pay roll of March 4, 1941, for the Wilkes Barre
plant, found that there Mere 36 persons in the unit alleged by the Union to be appropriate,
and that the name of each of the 28 persons who had signed applications for membership
in the Union was on that pay roll. `
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING CO. 619
that the matter is for the Board to decide, and that if the Board feels
justified in certifying the Union on the record the Company has no
objection. ,
The Union introduced its membership cards into evidence at the
hearing The Company's representative' examined these cards, and
agreed that the signatures thereon were genuine. A copy of the
Company's pay roll as of April 1, 1941, was introduced-into evidence;
there are, according to this pay roll, 28 employees in the appropriate
unit.2 Twenty-six of these employees, according to the evidence, are
members of the Union in good standing as of April 1, 1941.3 We
shall, therefore, certify the Union as the exclusive representative of
these employees.
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 (Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania), within the' meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. All the employees of the Company at the Wilkes Barre plant,
excluding salesmen, office employees, and supervisory employees
(supervisory employees being defined to mean manager, foremen, and
assistant foremen), constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
3. United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local
137, (affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations) has'
been designated and selected by a majority of the employees in the
above unit as their representative for the purposes of ,collective bar-
gaining, and is the exclusive representative of all the employees in
said unit, 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 Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
2 The discrepancy between this pay roll and the one examined by the Regional Director is
accounted for by resignations and absences because of military training.
The secretary-treasurer of the Union testified as to dues payments, and produced the
official dues book of the Union for inspection by all parties.,
620 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, Local 137 (affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations) has been designated and selected by a ma-
jority of the employees of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing
Company (Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania), excluding salesmen, office
employees, and supervisory employees (supervisory employees being
defined to mean manager, foremen, and assistant foremen), as their
representative for the purpose of collective bargaining, and that,
pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the` National Labor
Relations Act, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of
America, Local 137 (affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Or-
ganizations) is the exclusive representative of all such employees for
the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay,
wages , hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.