Chrysler Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 23, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 491 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of CHRYSLER CORPORATION, DE SOTO-WYOMING PLANT
and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, UAW-CIO,
LOCAL 227
Case No. 7-R-2015.-Decided August 03, 19145
Ratlibone, Perry, Kelley and Drye, by Mr. Donald L. Hastings, of
New York City, for the Company.
Messrs. Maurice Sugar and Jack Tucker, of Detroit, Mich., for the
Union.
Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Union, United Automo-
bile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
UAW-CIO, Local 227, herein called the Union, alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Chrysler Corporation, De Soto-Wyoming plant, Detroit,
Michigan, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Meyer D. Stein, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Detroit,
Michigan, on June 1, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared
and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Chrysler Corporation, a Delaware corporation, has its principal
place of business at Detroit, Michigan, where until February 1, 1942,
63 N. L R . B., No. 75.
491
492 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
it was primarily engaged in the manufacture and sale of automobiles,
trucks, parts, and accessories. At the present time, the Company is
,engaged almost exclusively in the manufacture of munitions for the
United States Government, and in the operation of plants in the
States of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and California. In the course of
its business, the Company uses annually raw materials having a value
in excess of $500,000,000, and produces annually finished products val-
ued in excess of $1,000,000 ,000. Of the raw materials, approximately
45 percent used in each of the Company's plants is received from
points outside the State in which the plant is located. The present pro-
.ceeding concerns only employees in the De SotoWyoming plant in the
city of Detroit, Michigan.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural
Implement Workers of America, Local 227, affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting
,to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative of certain employees of the
Company upon the ground that it doubted the Union's claims to
majority representation.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of 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 seeks a unit comprising all employees who perform the
duties of timekeepers in the Company's De Soto-Wyoming plant, ex-
.eluding the factory auditor, the assistant factory auditor, the chief
timekeeper, the assistant chief timekeeper, and all other supervisory
employees within the usual meaning of the term. The Company con-
tends that timekeepers are not "employees" within the meaning of the
Act; that they act in the interest of the employer and are a part of
management. The Company agrees that, if its contention as to the
' The Board agent reported that the Union had submitted 14 cards, 12 of which bore
names which checked with the Company ' s pay roll of April 25, 1945 , containing 18 names
In the claimed appropriate unit.
CHRYSLER CORPORATION 493
'employee status of the timekeepers is overruled, the unit sought by
the Union is appropriate.
The parties stipulated at the hearing that the duties of the time-
-keepers herein concerned are substantially the same as those of time-
-keepers in another division of the Company considered by the Board
in a prior decision and found to be entitled to the benefits of collective
bargaining.z We see no reason to depart from such finding, which co-
incides with our usual practice of permitting timekeeping employees
to bargain collectively in a unit apart from the production and main-
tenance employees.3
We find that all employees who perform the duties of timekeepers
in the De Soto-Wyoming plant of the Company, excluding the factory
auditor, the assistant factory auditor, the chief timekeeper, the as-
sistant chief timekeeper, and all other supervisory employees with
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 bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election 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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Chrysler Cor-
poration, De Soto-Wyoming Plant, Detroit, Michigan, 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 Seventh Region, act=
ing in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regu-
lations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
2 See Matter of Chrysler Corporation ( Plymouth Division ), 56 N. L R. B 1302.
3 See Matter of Aluminum Forgings, Inc., 54 N . L. R. B. 1582, Matter of Chrysler Corpo-
ration, 61 N. L R B 949
494 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who
did not work during the 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 per-
son at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit or been dis-
charged 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 International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft
and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW-CIO, Local
227, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.