Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 27, 1942

45 N.L.R.B. 826 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter Of WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COM-
PANY and LOCAL 107, UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. R-4434.-Decided November 27, 1942
Jurisdiction : turbine manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord recognition until certification by the Board ; election necessary,
Unit` Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees of plant and office
building at one plant of electrical company, with specified exclusions.
Mr. Robert D. Blasier, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. M. H. Goldstein, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Union.
Mr. William C. Baisinger, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Local 107, United Electrical, Radio &
Machine Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleg-
ing that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing
Company, Merchant Marine Division, Lester, Pennsylvania, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Geoffrey J. Cunniff,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at-Chester, Pennsylvania; on
October 23, 1942. The Company and the Union appeared, partici-
pated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and 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 having several subsidiary corporations and a mu-n-
49 N L. R. B, No. 125.
826
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 827
her of distributors, dealers, and warehouses throughout the United
States. During the year 1941 the total volume of the Company's
business amounted to $369,094,124.71. The Merchant Marine Divi-
sion, located at Lester, Pennsylvania, is the only plant here involved.
At this plant the Company is engaged in the manufacture of steam
turbines and gears. Approximately 50 percent of the raw materials
used in the Merchant Marine Division is obtained from points outside
the State of Pennsylvania, and approximately 60 percent of the fin-
ished products manufactured at the Merchant Marine Division is
shipped to points outside the State of Pennsylvania. The Company
admits that it is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning
of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local 107, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer-
ica is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations. It admits to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Union requested the Company to recognize it as the exclusive
bargaining agent for certain of the Company's employees. The
Company refused to recognize the Union unless and until it was cer-
tified by the Board.
A statement and a supplemental statement of the Regional Direc-
tor, introduced in evidence at the hearing, `indicate that the Union
represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter
found appropriate?
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of the employees, of the Company, within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The union contends that all employees of the plant and office
building of the Company at its Merchant Marine Division, Lester,'
Pennsylvania,, excluding officers and executives and those categories
of supervisory employees that have the authority, at the date of the
petition, to discharge hourly rated employees or the right to discharge
' The statement of the Regional Director shows that the Union submitted to him, 1,455
application -for-membership cards, 1,289 of which bear the apparently genuine signatures
of persons whose names are on the pay roll submitted by the Company, which contained
2,166 names in the alleged appropriate unit Of the cards submitted, 88 were undated,
5 were duplicates , and the balance were dated between August 1934 and , September 1942
The supplemental statement of the Regional Director shows that of the cards submitted
by the Union , 71 bear signatures of time -study men , inspectors , and policemen on the
pay roll submitted by the Company, which contains 136 navies of such employees
828 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
or recommend the discharge of salaried employees, comprise an appro-
priate unit. The Company contends that it should be free to confer
the authority to discharge hourly rated employees and the right to
discharge or recommend the discharge of salaried employees on any
group of its employees when it finds such action necessary in the
interest of proper management; and further, that, in the event such
action is taken, the group affected should be excluded from the unit.
For these reasons the Company urges that,the definition of super-
visors should not be restricted to those who have such authority as
of the date of the petition. We agree with the Company's conten-
tion. The Company further desires that ,time-study men, inspectors
and policemen (plant protection employees) be excluded from the
unit because it contends that these employees are a part of the man-
agement.
Subsequent to a certification of the Board,2 pursuant to a consent
election, the Company and the Union entered into a collective bar-
gaining contract with respect to the Steam Division, also located
at Lester, Pennsylvania, covering `t-all, employees of the manufac-
turing plant and office buildings of the Steam Division
excluding officers and executives and supervisory employees having
the power, at the date hereof, to'discharge hourly rated employees,
or the right to discharge or recommend the discharge of salaried
employees. The record indicates ' that policemen, time-study men,
and inspectors are covered by this contract, and also that their duties
are similar to the duties of the disputed groups here involved. The
Union urged, therefore, that these groups be included in the unit.
The'unit for the Steam Division, however, was established pursuant
to an agreement of the parties and not after consideration by the
Board of the question whether the types of employees now in dispute
should be included or excluded. While the composition of the unit
at the Steam Division is relevant on the issue, we do not regard it,
under these circumstances, as controlling in the instant proceeding.
The policemen (plant protection employees) are armed guards who
protect the plant from.sabotage and,•exclhde. from the Company's,
premises persons who do not have the right to be there. They are
hourly paid and two or three on each shift have been deputized by the
local township authority for the purpose of regulating traffic near
the plant. We have found in previous cases that plant protection
employees may comprise a separate unit ,sand have excluded them from
a general production and maintenance unit when it appears that they
2Matter of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company and Local itn', and United
Electrical, Radio &-Machine Workers of America, 34 N. L. R B. 893.
D See Matter of Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park Plant, and Local 11. , United Aiito-
mobile, Aircraft it Agricultural Implement Workers of America , affiliated with the C. 1. 0 ,
44 N. L. R . B. 881, and subsequent cases
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 829
are armed guards charged with the primary duty of guarding and
preventing sabotage in a plant engaged in war industry.' For these
reasons, we shall exclude the plant protection employees from the unit.
Inspector ,are salaried:.em^loyees Whose, duties are, ,as the title im-
plies, to inspect and approve or reject the work done on the production
line. Their job is a responsible one but their inspections are based on
previously formulated specifications. Since it appears that inspectors
are closely related to the production employees of the Company, have
no authority to hire or discharge, and observe previously formulated
specifications in the performance of their duties, we shall include them
in the unit.
Time-study men are technical salaried employees who perform two
important functions in the plant. They establish time values by esti-
mating the time required for the production of each particular unit of
machinery and determine through which machines and groups of pro-
duction-employees the, unit is to be routed. Production employees are
categorized on a key sheet which is made up by the management. The
key sheet classifies each employee and designates the rate of base pay
for each class. The determinations made by the time-study men affect
the compensation received by production workers with respect to bonus
payments. If a production worker completes a job assigned to him in
less time than the minimum time applicable to that job as determined
by the time-study men, ,he is entitled to a bonus in addition to his base-
pay rate. It does not appear whether time-study men have the author-
ity to hire or discharge employees of the Company. Inasmuch as it
does appear that time-study men are technical employees who assist
in,the establishment of time-study values and production methods, and
hence, are closely related to the management, we shall exclude them
from the unit.
We find that all employees of the plant and office building of the
Company at its Merchant Marine Division at Lester, Pennsylvania,
including inspectors, but excluding policemen (plant protection em-
ployees), time-study men, officers, executives, and supervisory em-
ployees who have the authority to discharge hourly rated employees
or the right to discharge or recommend the discharge of salaried
employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
4 See Matter of Automobile Products Company and International Union, United Auto-
mobile Workers of America, Local 736 (AFL), 40 N L. R B 941; and Matter of U. S.
Electrical Motors, Inc., and United Electrical, Radio it Machine Workers of America,
Local 1421, 0 1 0, 45 N L R B 298.
830 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein,' subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Westinghouse
Electric & Manufacturing Company, Merchant Marine Division,
Lester, Pennsylyania, 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 for the Fourth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tion 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction, including any such employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the
active military service or training of the United States, or'tempo-
rarily laid off, but excluding any who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause, to determine whether or not they- desire to be
represented by Local 107, United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective
bargaining.