Wicaco Machine Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 19, 1946

69 N.L.R.B. 741 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of WICACO MACHINE CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO,
PETITIONER
Case No. 4-R-2148.-Decided July 19, 1946
Mr. Herman Lazarus, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Board.
Mr. Geoffrey J. Cunni ff, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Employer.
Mr. Saul C. Waldbaum, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Leonard Michael Proper, by Mr. James L. Price, of Philadel-
phia, Pa., for the Committee.
Mr. Herbert J. Nester, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, on -July 3, 1946, before Arthur Leff, Trial
Examiner. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Wicaco Machine Corporation, a Pennsylvania corporation with
offices and plant located at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is engaged in
the manufacture and sale of textile machine parts. During the year
immediately preceding July 1, 1946, the Employer purchased raw
materials consisting of bar steel , brass, aluminum , and cast iron val-
ued at in excess of $100,000, approximately 5 percent of which was
shipped to the Employer's plant from points outside the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania. During the same period, finished products
manufactured and sold by the Employer were valued at in excess of
$200,000, approximately 60 percent of which was shipped to points
outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
69 N. L. R. B., No. 87.
741
742 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
If. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
Wicaco Employees' Committee is an unaffiliated labor organization
claiming to represent employees of the Employer.,
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties are in substantial agreement that the unit appropriate
for collective bargaining should comprise all production and main-
tenance employees of the Employer, including inspectors, watchmen,
shippers, checkers, and chauffeurs,2 but excluding office clerical em-
ployees, office employees, and all supervisory employees with authority
to hire and discharge. The parties are in dispute with respect to the
inclusion of two timekeepers ; the Employer would include them and
the Petitioner would exclude them from the unit. The Committee took
no position with respect to this issue.
The record reveals that although the timekeepers are carried on the
"shop" pay roll, they nevertheless, exclusively perform timekeeping
duties. In accordance with the Board's customary practice, we shall
exclude them. from the production and maintenance unit.3
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Employer's plant, including inspectors, watchmen, shippers, checkers,
and chauffeurs, but excluding timekeepers, office employees, office
clerical employees, and all or any other supervisory employees with
1 At the hearing the Petitioner contested the status of the Committee as a labor organi-
zation . The record discloses that the Committee is composed of a group of employees who
signed individual application cards designating it to represent them in matters relating to
collective bargaining with respect to wages and working conditions . Although the Com-
mittee, as yet, has no constitution or bylaws , the record is clear that it constitutes a labor
organization within the meaning of Section 2 ( 5) of the Act . See Matter of Wilson
Athletic Goods Manufacturing Company, 61 N. L. R. B. 780; Matter of Louisville Sanitary
Wiper Company , Inc., 65 N. L . R. B. 88.
2 There are approximately 73 employees in the proposed unit.
S See Matter of Joseph Dyson & Sons, Inc., 60 N . L. R. B. 867; Matter of The Vanta
Company, 66 N. L. R. B. 912.
WICACO MACHINE CORPORATION 743
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The record discloses that on June 21, 1946, the Employer's plant was
closed because of a strike, which was still in progress at the time of the
hearing. The Petitioner therefore requests that the last pay-roll date
immediately preceding the strike should be adopted as determinative
of voting eligibility. The Employer contends that no election should
be held until the plant is reopened and that, if such event occurs prior
to the issuance of the Direction of Election herein, that the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the Direction govern eligibility. The
Committee does not seek a postponement of the election, but agrees
with the Employer that the Board's customary eligibility date should
be adopted.
We see no reason to postpone the election until the Employer has
resumed operations. Assuming that the strike is still current and that
the plant has not resumed operations, we shall grant the Petitioner's
request and direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the week
preceding June 21, 1946, subject to the limitations and additions set
forth in the Direction.} However, in the event the Employer's plant
has been reopened 6 prior to the Decision and Direction of Election,
those eligible to vote shall be all employees employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Elec-
tion herein, including employees on strike s
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Wicaco Machine Corporation,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted 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, Sections 10 and 11, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 3, as amended, among the employees in the unit
6 See Matter of Norris, Incorporated, 60 N. L . R. B. 2'97.
6 The Employer asserted at the hearing that it intended to reopen its plant as soon as
it could obtain sufficient replacements for the striking employees, regardless of the con-
tinuance of the strike.
0 See Matter of Rudodpiv WurUtzer Company, 32 N. L. R. B. 163.
744 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during
the pay-roll period immediately preceding June 21, 1946 ,' including
employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees
in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in
person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit
or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated
prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by United Electrical , Radio & Machine Work-
ers of America, CIO, or by Wicaco Employees ' Committee , for the
purposes of collective bargaining , or by neither.
MR. JOHN M. HOUSTON took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
' As hereinbefore indicated , in the event the Employer 's plant has been reopened prior
to the Decision and Direction of Election , those eligible to vote shall be all employees
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of
Election herein, including employees on strike.