Chrysler Motors of California

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 8, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 893 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of CHRYSLER MOTORS OF CALIFORNIA and INTERNATIONAL
UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLE-
MENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 21-R--3049.-Decided February 8,1946
Wright d Millikan, by Mr. Charles E. Millikan, of Los Angeles,
Calif., for the Company.
Messrs. Donald L. Garriga and Noah N. Tauscher, of Los Angeles,
Calif., for the Union.
Mr. Seymour Cohen, 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, CIO,
herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Chrysler
Motors of California, Maywood, California, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropri-
ate hearing upon due notice before David Aaron, Trial Examiner.
The hearing was held at Los Angeles, California, on October 22, 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 evidence bearing on the issues.
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej u-
dicial 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Chrysler Motors of California, a California corporation having its
place of business at Maywood, California, is engaged in the manufac-
ture and assembly of Plymouth automobiles and Dodge trucks. From
65 N L It B, No. 159. 893
894 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
January 1942 through VJ-Day 1945, the Company fabricated and
assembled aircraft air frame parts for aircraft companies in the
Southern California area, who in turn furnished completed aircraft
to the United States Government. From January 1, 1945, to the date
of expiration of its war work, the Company purchased raw materials
in the amount of approximately $478,000, about 27 percent of which
was shipped to its plant from points outside the State of California.
The Company now is engaged in a program of reconverting its plant
and within a short time will again engage in the manufacture and as-
sembly of automobiles and trucks. Over 50 percent of the materials
used in this latter business is shipped to it from points outside the
State of California. A company representative was unable to give
any figures on the value of the finished products which are shipped to
points outside the State of California.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural
Implement Workers of America is a labor organization affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 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 the Company's plant-protection
employees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an ap-
propriate unit.
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 contends that all plant-protection employees of the Com-
pany's plant at Maywood, California, including the fire marshal, but
excluding supervisory employees of the grade of sergeant and above,
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 13 application cards, bearing
apparently genuine original signatures of the 13 employees in the alleged appropriate
unit listed on the Company's pay roll of September 16, 1945 ; 5 of the cards were dated
September 1945, and 8 were undated.
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CHRYSLER MOTORS OF CALIFORNIA 895
constitute an appropriate unit. The Company takes the position, in
effect, that the nature of their work precludes plant-protection em-
ployees from being represented for collective bargaining purposes;
that if the Board finds that they have the right to be so represented,
they should not be represented by the Union, because their relation-
ship with the Company's production and maintenance employees,
who are currently represented by the Union, would make impossible
the proper performance of their plant-protection duties; and that if
the Board should find the Union a proper representative of said em-
ployees in an appropriate unit, such unit should exclude all chiefs,
assistant chiefs, captains, fire chiefs, assistant fire chiefs, fire marshals,
sergeants, relief sergeants, desk Sergeants, confidential clerks, in-
vestigators, and corporals.
The Company has 16 plant-protection employees : a chief, 2 ser-
geants, a fire marshal, and 12 patrolmen.2 The patrolmen perform
the usual monitorial duties of plant-protection employees. The Com-
pany's contentions that plant-protection employees such as those here
involved should not be allowed to be represented for collective bar-
gaining, and that in any case they should not be represented in a sep-
arate unit by the Union because of the consequent dual role of the
Union as the representative of the production and maintenance em-
ployees as well as the plant-protection employees, have been considered
previously by the Board and rejected.3 We consequently find them
to be without merit here .4
The record discloses that the employee presently charged with the
duties of fire marshal is classified as a patrolman and is paid at the
top rate for patrolmen. In the course of his duties, he issues permits
to maintenance employees for any work in the plant involving burn-
ing or welding, holds periodic fire drills with plant employees, and
makes recommendations as to the disposal of various matters con-
sidered to be fire hazards. He looks after the plant's fire-fighting
equipment and instructs new patrolmen in the function and use of
such equipment, having the power thereafter. to report to the chief
oft their competency. Although he has actually told the chief that
certain patrolmen were not competent with respect to the use of
2 At present the Company does not employ assistant chiefs, captains, fire chiefs,
assistant fire chiefs, relief sergeants, desk sergeants, confidential clerks, investigators, and
corporals. Nor is there any evidence in the record as to the functions these categories will
have, if they are employed in the future
See Matter of Chrysler Corporation, 36 N L R B 593 , Matter of Chrysler Corpora-
tion, Highland Park Plant, 44'N L. R B 881; Matter of Chrysler Corporation, Plymouth
Plant, 48 N L R B 512 See also Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company, 61 N L R B 892.
4In the existing contract between the Company and the Union covering production and
maintenance employees, plant-protection employees are specifically excluded But inas-
much as there is no express undertaking by the Union not to represent plant-protection
employees, Matter of Briggs Indiana Corporation, 63 N. L It B. 1270, is not applicable,
and there is no reason to delay a present determination of representatives.
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896 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
fire-fighting equipment, the status of these employees was not altered.
He patrols the plant, generally, in search of possible fire hazards, and,
in so doing, has access to every part of the plant, including the execu-
tive offices and those parts normally kept under lock and key. He
makes reports to the chief of plant protection. It appears, and we
so find, that the duties of the employee acting as the marshal are
not of such a supervisory or confidential nature as to warrant his
exclusion from the appropriate unit.
We find that all plant-protection employees of the Company's May-
wood, California, plant, including the fire marshal, but excluding
chiefs, sergeants, 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, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.'
V. THE DETER371NATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed daring 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 La-
bor 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 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 Motors
of California, Maywood, California, 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 Twenty-first Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among employees in the unit found appropriate in Section 1V, above,
' In view of the facts contained in footnote 2. supra, we do not pass upon the inclusion
or exclusion of assistant chiefs, captains, fire chiefs , assistant fire chiefs . relief sergeants,
desk sergeants . confidential clerks, investigators . and corporals Sec Matter of Dallas
Power R Light Company , 59 N L . R B 1260 Of course, if any of these employees are
hired and are vested with supervisory authority within the meaning of our customary
definition , they shall he deemed to he excluded.
CHRYSLER MOTORS OF CALIFORNIA 897
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work dur-
ing said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex-
cluding 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 International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricul-
tural Implement Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
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