Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 19, 1941

33 N.L.R.B. 605 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter Of WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY
(METER DIVISION ) and NEWARK WESTINGHOUSE SALARIED EMPLOYEES
ASSOCIATION
Case No. R-2706.-Decided July 19, 1941
Jurisdiction : electrical products manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: stipu-
lated ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for' Collective Bargaining : all salaried employees of the
Company at its Newark, New Jersey, plant, excluding supervisory employees,
guards, the medical department, the personnel and suggestion interviewers of
the personnel department, the manufacturing engineers, the secretary and the
assistant secretary to the auditor, and the secretaries to the following : the
meter-division manager, the sales manager, the engineering manager, the
superintendent, the assistant superintendent, and the supervisor of industrial
relations.
Mr. C. A. Reinwald, of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. Alfred J. Peer, of Newark, N. J., for the Association.
Mr. Samuel L. Rothbard, of Newark, N. J., for the United.
Mr. Bonnell Phillips, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 6, 1941, Newark Westinghouse Salaried Employees
Association, herein called the Association, filed with the Regional
Director for the Second Region (New York City) a petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing
Company (Meter Division), Newark, New Jersey, herein called the
Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of repre-
sentatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On June 27, 1941, the Na-
tional 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 2, as amended;
33 N. L. R. B., No. 110.
605
606 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD -
ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On June 30, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the Associa-
tion, and United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America,
Local #426, herein called the United. Pursuant to notice, a hearing
was held on July 7, 1941, at New York City, before Christopher W.
Hoey, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Ex-
aminer. The Company, the Association, and the United were repre-
sented by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and to cross-examine witnesses, and to intro-
duce 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 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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
We have before issued a Decision and Direction of Election con-
cerning the plant of the Company here involved.' In that case the
Company admitted that it was engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act. At the hearing in the present proceeding the Com-
pany stipulated, and we find, that the facts as found in the previous
decision, issued in October 1940, substantially reflect the present
nature of the Company's business. We , there found and we
accordingly now find as follows :
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company (Meter Di-
vision), is a Pennsylvania corporation with its principal executive
offices at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At its plant known as the New-
ark Works Meter Division at 95 Orange Street, Newark, New Jersey,
the plant here involved and herein called the Newark plant, it is
engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of instruments,
relays, and meters. During 1939 the Company purchased for use at
the Newark plant raw materials valued at approximately $3,098,785,
of which 90 per cent were purchased outside of New Jersey. The
total value of finished products sold by the Company in 1939 and
manufactured at the Newark plant- was approximately $10,295,000,
IMatter of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company ( Meter Division) and
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local #426, affiliated with the
Congress of Indnstisal Organizations , 27 N L R B. 605.
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 607
97 per cent of such revenue being derived from the sale and shipment
of products outside New Jersey.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Newark Westinghouse Salaried Employees Association is an un-
affiliated labor organization admitting to membership salaried
employees of the Company.
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local
#426, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company, the Association, and the United stipulated, at the
hearing that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees in the unit found below to be appropriate for collective
bargaining purposes.
From the report prepared by the Regional Director and submitted in
evidence at the hearing, it appears that both the Association and the
United represented substantial numbers of employees in the bar-
gaining unit below found 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
The Company, the Association, and the United at the hearing
stipulated, and we find, that all salaried employees of the Company at
its Newark plant, excluding supervisory employees, guards, the medi-
z There are approximately 397 employees in the appropriate unit. The Association sub-
mitted to the Regional Director 171 authorization cards , almost all being dated in January
1941 and all appearing to the Regional Director to bear genuine, original signatures of
persons on the Company 's pay roll of May 31, 1941. The United submitted 99 member-
ship cards , all but 1 bearing dates between October 1939 and June 1941 , and the majority
thereof being dated between October and December 1940, all of which appeared to the
Regional Director to bear genuine , original signatures of persons on the Company ' s pay roll
of May 31, 1941.
608 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL,LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cal department, the personnel and suggestion interviewers of the
personnel department, the manufacturing engineers, the secretary and
the assistant secretary to the auditor, and the secretaries to the follow-
ing : the meter-division manager, the sales manager, the engineering
manager, the superintendent, the assistant superintendent, and the
supervisor of industrial relations, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining.3 We further find that said unit
will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right
to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectu-
ate the policies of the Act 4
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning representa-
tion can best be resolved by, and we shall accordingly direct, an election
by secret ballot.
At the hearing the United requested, in event of an election, that
it be designated on the ballot as "Local 426, United Electrical, Radio
& Machine Workers of America." The request is hereby granted.
The employees in the appropriate unit whose names appear on the
Company's pay roll next preceding the date of this Direction of Elec-
tion, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the
Direction, shall be eligible to vote in the 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 Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing
Company (Meter Division), Newark, New Jersey, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. All salaried employees of the Company at its Newark, New
Jersey, plant, excluding supervisory employees, guards, the medical
department, the personnel and suggestion interviewers of the per-
sonnel department, the manufacturing engineers, the secretary and
the assistant secretary to the auditor, and the secretaries to the fol-
The unit above found to be appropriate is substantially similar to those found to be
appropriate in other cases involving other plants of the Company. See, for instance,
Matter of Westinghouse Electric, d Manufacturing Company and Local 1207 of the United
Electrical, Radio d Machine Workers of America, 32 N. L. R..B 476.
'In the previous case involving this plant, we found a unit consisting of production
and maintenance employees , but excluding ill salaried employees , to be an appropriate
unit . Matter of Westinghouse Electric d Manufacturing Company ( Meter Division) and
,United Electrical, Radio d Machine Workers of America, Local #436, affiliated with the
,Congress of Industrial Organizations, supra.
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 609
lowing : the meter-division manager, the sales manager, the engineering
manager, the superintendent, the assistant superintendent, and the
supervisor of industrial relations, constitute a unit appropriate for
• the purposes of collective -bargaining. within the meaning of-, Sectionrn ,
9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
I7 '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, 49 •Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article .III,
Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-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
with Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company (Meter
Division), Newark, New Jersey; 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, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director of'the Second 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
salaried employees of the Company in its Newark, New Jersey, plant,
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction, including those employees who did not
work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or.in the active military service or training of the United States, or
`temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory employees, guards,
the, medical department,, the personnel and suggestion interviewers
of the personnel department, the manufacturing engineers, the
secretary and the assistant secretary to the auditor, and the secretaries
to the following : the meter-division manager, the sales manager, the
engineering manager, the superintendent, the assistant superintend-
ent,, and the supervisor of industrial relations, and those who have
'since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they
desire to, be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by
Newark Westinghouse Salaried Employees Association, by Local 426,
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, or by
neither.