Bendix Aviation Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 6, 1953

102 N.L.R.B. 1137 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

BENDIX PRODUCTS DIVISION 1137
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
BENDIX PRODUCTS DIVISION, BENDIX AVIATION CORPORATION and-
INTERNATIONAL UNION7 UNITED PLANT GUARD WORKERS OF AMER-
ICA, AND AMALGAMATED PLANT GUARD LOCAL No. 7, U. P. G. W. A.,
PETITIONERS . Case No. 13-RC060. February 6,1953
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Allen P. Haas,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The motions
to dismiss by the Employer and Intervenor, which the hearing officer
referred to the Board, are hereby granted, for reasons set forth in
paragraph numbered 3, below.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. Bendix Aviation Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is
engaged in the manufacture of aircraft fuel systems and landing
gear components and automotive brakes, vacuum power devices per-
taining to brakes for heavy and passenger vehicles, and automotive
power-steering devices and other vehicular motor parts. The
Employer does not manufacture complete autos and is not a subsidiary
of an automobile manufacturer. It sells brakes to automobile man-
ufacturers 1 and competes with automobile manufacturers who also
produce such parts.2 It is the sole producer of a vacuum power device
for brakes of passenger vehicles, supplying that product to certain
automobile manufacturers.3 It sells aircraft components to General
Motors Corporation and the U. S. Air Forces. The corporation
has five divisions in different parts of the country, including Bendix
Aviation Corporation, in South Bend, Indiana, involved herein. The
Employer annually purchases and sells over $1,000,000 worth of goods
outside the State of Indiana.
The Employer admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
1 Including General Motors Pontiac, Oldsmobile , and Chevrolet Divisions ; Ford Motor
Company ; Nash Motor Company ; Packard Motors ; Hudson Motor Company ; Kaiser-
Fraser Motor Company ; Willys Motor Company.
2 Including General Motors Morraine Division, which manufactures brakes ; Chrysler,
which manufactures its own brakes ; Budd Wheel Company ; Kelsey -Hayes ; Wagner Elec-
tric Company.
8 Packard, Lincoln , and Oldsmobile Division of General Motors.
102 NLRB No. 114.
1138 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. The alleged question concerning representation :
The Intervenor, Bendix Industrial Police Association, was certi-
fied by the Board on November 13, 1939, as the exclusive representa-
tive in a plant-guard unit. On October 9, 1950, the Intervenor and
the Employer entered into their first 5-year contract, paralleling the
contracts in the production and maintenance unit and the tool design
unit, represented by the UAW-CIO. The Employer and the Inter-
venor contend that this contract is a bar, being for a reasonable period
of time in view of the practices within a substantial portion of the
automobile and automotive parts industry.' The Petitioner contends
that the contract is not a bar because it has been in effect for more than
2 years.5
The Employer manufacturers automotive component parts; its
chief competitors as well as customers are automobile manufacturers.
Under these circumstances, we think it patent that a considerable
portion of the industry, in which the Employer's operations must be
included, is covered by contracts of similar terms Therefore, we
do not consider the present 5-year term unreasonable.' Accordingly,
we shall dismiss the petition herein.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
4 The Employer 's director of industrial relations testified that the division follows the
automobile and automotive parts industries , modeling its contracts , both in duration and
substance , after the contracts of its customers and competitors , principally automobile
manufacturers and Budd Wheel Company, all of whom negotiated their first 5 -year con-
tracts in 1950.
6 See Bendix Products Division, Bendix Aviation Corporation , 98 NLRB 1180 , footnote 2.
In support of this contention the Petitioner introduced evidence concerning the contract
terms in some 48 firms, located in Indiana , Michigan , and Ohio, having contracts with the
Petitioner for units of guards . As the majority of these firms do not properly belong within
the automotive components parts industry , we do not consider the evidence relevant to the
present question.
9 The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics includes "automotive parts" under "automobile"
in its analyses . Moreover , there are a substantial number of 5,year contracts in the
"other machinery & fabricated metal products" industry.
' See General Motors Corporation, Detroit Transmission Division , 102 NLRB 1140
Contrary to the petitioner 's contention , we do not require that all contracts of any indi-
vidual employer , or more than a substantial portion of the contracts within the industry,
be for the same duration . See Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company, 102 NLRB 1135.