Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 23, 1938

10 N.L.R.B. 794 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter Of WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING CiOAi-
PANY and UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF
AMERICA
Case No. B-1096.-Decided December °33, 1938
Electrical Machinery and Appliances Manufacturing Industry-Investigation
of Representatives : controversy concerning representation of employees: rival
organizations - employer 's refusal to grant recognition of union-Unit Appro-
priate for Collective Bargaining : production, maintenance, and service em-
ployees ; employees excluded from : clerical employees ; engineers ; foremen : sal-
aried employees ; warehousemen ; watchmen ; functional coherence ; history of
collective bargaining relations with employer ; interchangeability of employees ;
similarity of wage scales , hours and/or working conditions ; skill-Representa-
tives: proof of choice : membership in union-Certification of Representatives:
upon proof of majority representation.
Mr. Hyman A. Schulson, for the Board.
Mr. William E. Miller, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Leon M. Despres and Mr. Earl McGrew, of Chicago, Ill., for
the United.
Mr. Daniel D. Carmell and Mr. John S. Schilt, of Chicago, Ill.,
for the Brotherhood.
Mr. Harry Brownstein, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On August 15, 1938, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers
of America, Local 1105,1 herein called the United, filed with the
Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a
petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Westinghouse Elec-
tric & Manufacturing Company, herein called the Company, at its
Chicago Service Branch, Chicago, Illinois, and requesting an in-
vestigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9
(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
1 Referred to in the petition and in the order directing investigation and hearing as
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America.
10 N. L. R. B., No. 68.
794
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 795
the Act. On September 12, 1938, the National Labor Relations
Board, herein called the Board , acting pursuant to Section 9 (c),
and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and
authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On September 21, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon
the United , and upon the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, Local No. B-713, affiliated with A. F. of L ., herein called
the Brotherhood , a labor organization claiming to represent employees
directly affected by the investigation . Pursuant to the notice , a hear-
ing was held on October 20 , 21, and 22, 1938 , at Chicago, Illinois,
before Edward Grandison Smith, the Trial Examiner duly designated
by the Board . The Board and the Company were represented by
counsel . The United and the Brotherhood were represented by coun-
sel and by their international representative and business manager,
respectively . All participated in the hearing . Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross -examine witnesses , and to introduce evi-
dence 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.
Pursuant to leave granted by the Trial Examiner , briefs were filed
subsequent to the hearing by the United and the Brotherhood.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Pennsyl-
vania, with principal executive offices in ' East Pittsburgh, Penn-
sylvania, is engaged in the manufacture and sale of machinery and
appliances for the generation , transmission , and utilization of electric-
ity. The principal products manufactured are generators , ref rig-
erators, vacuum cleaners , lamps, switches, air-conditioning equipment,
locomotives , elevators , fans, furnaces , transformers , and X -ray equip-
ment. Plants , warehouses , and office buildings of the Company and
its subsidiaries are located in numerous States throughout the United
States.
The Company owns and operates a service branch in the City of
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, known as the Chicago Service Shop,
the factory here involved and herein referred to as the Service Shop.
796 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company purchases monthly for the Service Shop, raw materials
costing approximately $40,000, of which 75 per cent originate out-
side the State of Illinois. The Company ships monthly from the
Service Shop finished and repaired goods of the approximate sales
value of $120,000, of which 60 per cent are shipped outside the State of
Illinois.
The Company, for the purpose of this proceeding , admits that its
operations at the Service Shop affect commerce within the meaning
of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act..
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local
1105, is a labor organization admitting to membership all production,
maintenance, and service employees at the Service Shop, exclusive of
foremen, clerical employees, watchmen, warehousemen, salaried em-
ployees, and engineers. Its constitution provides that membership
jurisdiction shall "consist of the employees of any manufacturer of
electrical machinery and products, instruments, tools and dies, light
and medium machinery, machine tools and allied products, of em-
ployees engaged in the service, repair and installation of electrical
machinery and equipment."
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No.
B-713, is a labor organization admitting to membership all employees
in the control department, switchboard department, panel-board de-
partment, and box department, at the Service Shop, exclusive of
foremen, clerical employees, watchmen, warehousemen, salaried em-
ployees, and engineers. The constitution provides for membership
jurisdiction "over all shop electrical workers in Chicago, Illinois,
and vicinity." 2
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In the early part of 1937, the Company recognized the United as
the exclusive bargaining representative for Service Shop employees
and posted a bulletin to that effect. There was no term to such
understanding as had been reached by the parties. Somewhat over
a year later, the Brotherhood instituted a campaign for membership,
and thereupon challenged the position of the United as representative
of all the employees. On August 15,1938, the United called the Com-
2 The constitution of the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers, introduced
in evidence , provided in Section 1, of Article XXIX, that membership jurisdiction should
cover:
(a) The manufacture , assembling , construction , installation or erection , repair
or maintenance of all materials , equipment , apparatus , and appliances required in the
production of electricity and its effects.
(b) The operation , inspection and supervision of primary electrical equipment,
apparatus , appliances for devices by which the power known as electricity is
generated , utilized , and controlled.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 797
pany's attention to its status as exclusive representative of all the
employees at the Service Shop for the purpose of collective bargain-
ing, and requested that it continue to be recognized as such in view
of the fact that it still represented a majority of employees , notwith-
standing the membership drive at the Service Shop begun some few
weeks earlier by the Brotherhood . To this request the Company did
not accede , giving as the reason therefor the existence of the Brother-
hood at the Service Shop.
We find that a question has arisen concerning 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 Company carries on its operations in a 7-story structure, the
basement, first floor, and second floor set apart for manufacture and
repair; the seventh floor for office work, and the other floors for
warehousing. The basement, known as the manufacturing depart-
ment, is utilized principally for the assembly and manufacture of
switchboards, panel boards, control equipment, and sheet metal boxes.
The first floor, known as the repair department, is composed of the
large and small motors division, coil-winding division, machine shop;
transformer division, and testing division. The second floor, known
as the refrigerator department, is used for a composite of assembly
and repair work involving special production operations on electrical
refrigerators and coolers.
The United claims the appropriate unit is one constituting the
Service Shop's production, maintenance, and service employees, exclu-
sive of foremen, clerical employees, watchmen, warehouse employees,
salaried employees, and engineers. The Brotherhood asserts that,
with the same exclusions requested by the United, the appropriate
unit should include only the employees in the control, switchboard,
panel board, and box departments in the basement-that this unit
is appropriate ". . . because of the nature of the work, the skill, the
differences in wages, hours, and conditions of employment, method in
manufacture of the products . . . (and) coherence of work within
the department ...." 8
8 Opening statement by counsel for the Brotherhood at the hearing.
7 98 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Contention is made that the work in the basement is distinct from
the work on the first and second floors. In support thereof, it is
urged that the basement is practically self-sufficient, and that inter-
change of employees among the three floors is negligible. The record
shows, and we so find, that first-floor employees maintain and service
all equipment in the plant, including that in the basement; that they
machine rods, fabricate tools, bearings and gears, spacers, collars,
locks, copper-machined devices, and small levers and links which form
component parts of products manufactured by basement employees;
and that they sometimes insulate, for further preparation in the
basement, motors, coils, and other materials formerly insulated by
basement employees themselves. In addition, as a part of the repair-
ing process, many articles are disassembled in the basement for later
repair on the first floor. Although transfers of employees among the
various departments occur but rarely, this is due, not to the complete
isolation of one department from another, but rather to the conse-
quent loss in efficiency resulting from an indiscriminate interchange
of employees particularly skilled in their own fields. In view of the
above, we find that there is an interdependence and functional coher-
ence among the operations on all three floors.
Evidence relating to the degree of skill required of the Company's
employees in their various phases of work is not entirely clear or free
from conflict. We find, however, that of the basement employees,
those in the box and control departments, and a portion of those in
the switchboard department, are skilled. Although specific evidence
for refrigerator-department employees on the second floor is lacking,
it nevertheless appears to be true that machinists, winders, and
workers on large motors, employees on the first floor, require in their
line of work, a degree of skill as comparatively high as is required of
the skilled basement employees. We so find. While other employees
on the first floor are apparently unskilled or semi-skilled, it is like-
wise so in the case of employees in the panel-board department and
employees on small switches and minor drillings in the switchboard
department in the basement. Uncontradicted testimony is to the
effect that approximately 20 of the some 45 employees in the base-
ment are not skilled. An organizer for the Brotherhood, called as
a witness, testified that in the unit which it claimed to be appropriate,
it wished to include skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled workers.
Although exceptions prevailed, wages paid to basement employees
generally are more than the wages paid to employees on the first and
second floors. All, however, are hourly paid, and for aught that
appears in the record, work the same hours and under approximately
the same conditions. From all the evidence in the record, we find
that the employees in the basement do not possess a peculiar skill
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 799
necessitating special treatment in collective bargaining or that the
wage rate paid to the basement employees served to identify them as
a class of employees peculiarly affected by wages, hours, and working
conditions different from the wages, hours, and working conditions
possessed by the first- and second-floor employees.
Also to be considered as a factor in determining an appropriate
unit is the form which self-organization has taken in the past at the
Company's Service Shop, as revealed in the history of collective bar-
gaining at the plant. The, United began its organizational activities
at the Service Shop in February 1937, and 3 months later, held a
conference with the Company at which questions concerning senior-
ity rights, a shop-steward system, working conditions, holidays, over-
time, and night work of the employees in the manufacturing, repair,
and refrigerator departments, together, were agreed upon. Wages
were to be increased, the exact amount to be negotiated through fur-
ther individual conferences between the Company and the representa-
tives from each of the three floors. As we have stated, the Company
recognized the United as the exclusive representative of all Service
Shop employees for the purpose of collective bargaining and posted
a bulletin to that effect. On November 18, 1937, and October 7, 1938,
the United conducted other collective bargaining negotiations on be-
half of employees on all three floors of the Service Shop. Antedating
the existence of the United at the Service Shop was an "Employees'
Protective Plan," a labor organization which represented employees
on all three floors, with certain exclusions not here material.
Activities of the Brotherhood at the Service Shop commenced in
July 1938. An employee in the switchboard division, acting as the
Brotherhood organizer, although at first confining his organizational
work to basement employees, stated, in September 1938, that the
Brotherhood was going to attempt organization of the entire shop.
Contemporary events evidenced this intention. Employees on all
floors were given pledge cards and urged to become members of the
Brotherhood. By written communication of September 12, 1938,
directed to all employees, a meeting was called for the purpose of ob-
taining employee memberships in the Brotherhood, and pursuant
thereto, memberships of employees on the first and second floors, as
well as employees in the basement, were secured. Although its posi-
tion has now been abandoned, nevertheless, the efforts of the Brother-
hood at the outset, coupled with the broad jurisdiction granted the
Brotherhood, as well as the United, previously considered under
Section II, is significant in determining whether or not the broader
unit is appropriate for collective bargaining.
The form which self-organization has taken among the employees
in the Company's Service Shop, the past bargaining on a plant-wide
800 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
basis including the recognition by the employer that all of the em-
ployees should be treated together in collective bargaining, the rela-
tively minor differences in wages and skill, if any, and the apparent
substantial uniformity in hours and working conditions among the
employees on all three floors, and the functional coherence and inter-
dependence of the various departments in the Service Shop, all lead
to the conclusion and the finding that the broader unit will here in-
sure to employees the full benefit of their right to self-organization
and to collective bargaining and otherwise to effectuate the policies
of the Act.
There remain to be considered whether foremen, clerical employees,
watchmen, warehouse employees, salaried employees, and engineers
should be excluded from an appropriate unit. These exclusions were
desired by the United as well as by the Brotherhood in the event
the Board determined the employees in the control, switchboard,
panel-board, and box departments to be an appropriate unit. The
Company did not challenge this position. We see no reason to here
depart from the wishes of the parties.
We find that all the production, maintenance, and service employees
of the Company at its Service Shop, exclusive of foremen, clerical
employees, watchmen, warehouse employees, salaried employees, and
engineers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective
bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment,
and other conditions of employment, and 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 effectuate
the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Company's Service Shop pay roll' of October 15, 1938, intro-
duced in evidence, showed 201 employees within the appropriate
unit.' The Brotherhood and the United introduced their respective
membership cards in evidence. The United introduced membership
cards of 163 employees and the Brotherhood the membership cards
of 30 basement employees. The membership cards of both organiza-
tions were signed in or after August 1937, and there was no dupli-
cations.5 The parties to the proceeding stipulated that the member-
ship cards of each labor organization were authentic and genuine.
We find that the United has been designated and selected by a
majority of the employees of the Company in the appropriate unit
4 Although evidence is meager thereon, all parties apparently proceeded on the basis
that all the employees listed on the pay roll of October 15, 1938, not lined out, were
employees not falling within the category of exclusions mentioned above.
5 Two employees signed membership cards of both labor organizations, and are not
included in the figures herein mentioned.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 801
as their representative for the purpose of collective bargaining. It is,
therefore, the exclusive representative of all the employees in such
unit for the purpose of collective bargaining and we will so certify.
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 the Westinghouse Electric & Manufactur-
ing Company, Chicago Service Branch, Chicago, Illinois, within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
2. All the production, maintenance, and service employees of the
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, Chicago Service
Branch, Chicago, Illinois, exclusive of foremen, clerical employees,
watchmen, warehouse employees, salaried employees, and engineers,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the -National Labor Rela-
tions Act.
3. United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local
1105, is the exclusive representative of all employees in such unit for
the purpose of collective bargaining, 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 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 CERTIFIED that United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, Local 1105, has' been designated and selected
by a majority of the production, maintenance, and service, employees
of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, Chicago
Service Branch, Chicago, Illinois, exclusive of foremen, clerical
employees, watchmen, warehouse employees, salaried employees, and
engineers, as their representative for the purpose of collective bar-
gaining and that pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the
Act, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local
1105, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the
purpose of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages,
hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.