Cleveland Equipment Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 22, 1938

6 N.L.R.B. 773 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of CLEVELAND EQUIPMENT WORKS and UNITED ELEC-
TRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 707
Case; No. R-630.-Decided April 02, 1938
Electrical Manufacturing Industry : controversy concerning representation of
employees : refusal by employer to recognize petitioning union as exclusive
representative of employees-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: no
controversy ; all production and maintenance employees in plant, including
plant clerical workers, but excluding other clerical and supervisory employees-
Representatives : proof of choice : union membership cards ; stipulation-
Certification of Representatives : upon proof of designation by majority.
Mr. Harry L. Lodish and Mr. Peter Di Leone, for the Board.
Mr. Al. J. Hamner, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. James Pascoe, of Fort Wayne, Ind., for the Union.
Mr. David Y. Campbell, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On December 28, 1937, United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America, Local 707, herein called the Union, filed with
the Regional Director for the Eighth Region (Cleveland, Ohio) a
petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning representation of employees of Cleveland Equipment Works,
Cleveland, Ohio, herein called the Cleveland Works, of General Elec-
tric Company, herein called the Company, and requesting an investi-
gation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the
Act. On February 21, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board,
herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the
Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investiga-
tion and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to pro-
vide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On March 3, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on March 11, 1938, at Cleve-
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774 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
land, Ohio, before Harlow Hurley, the Trial Examiner duly desig-
nated by the Board. The Board was represented by counsel, and the
Company and the Union were represented and participated in the
hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine,
witnesses, and to introduce evidence 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 Ex-
aminer and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Cleveland Equipment Works i s located in Cleveland, Ohio,
and forms a part of the Incandescent Lamp Department of General
Electric Company , a New York corporation , whose main plant ' is
located in Schenectady, New York.
The Cleveland Works manufactures lamp-making machinery,
which is sold to other departments and to licensees of the Company.
During 1937 , the Cleveland Works purchased approximately $500,000
worth of raw materials , consisting principally of wire, castings, as-
bestos and other composition materials , rolled and sheet metals,
motors, switches and other electrical materials , pipe and fittings,
lumber, and transmission materials. Approximately 47 per cent of
the raw materials were received from outside the State of Ohio.
During 1937 , the total sales of the Cleveland Works amounted to
$2,000,000 in value, 68 per cent of the finished products being shipped
out of the State of Ohio.
The Company admits that it is subject to the jurisdiction of the
Board.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local
707, is a labor organization, affiliated with the Committee for Indus-
trial Organization, and admitting to its membership all production
and maintenance employees of the Company at the Cleveland Works,
except supervisory employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Both prior and subsequent to the filing of the petition the Com-
pany bargained collectively with the Union, but has refused to recog-
nize the Union as the exclusive representative of its employees at
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 775,
the Cleveland Works, although the Union claims to have been desig-
nated by a substantial majority thereof. Under the terms of a
national agreement entered into between the Company and the Union,_
the latter is recognized as the sole collective bargaining agent in those
plants of the Company, of which the Cleveland Works is one, in
which the Union has been designated or recognized as the sole-
collective bargaining agency through the media of an election or-
certification pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, or through other-
appropriate means satisfactory to both parties.
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
at the Cleveland Works, 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 bur-
dening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce.-
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contended at the hearing that the appropriate unit
should consist of all production and maintenance employees of the
Cleveland Works, except supervisory and clerical employees. How-
ever, in its petition the Union did not exclude clerical employees
from the unit alleged to be appropriate. Furthermore, it appears-
from the field examiner's report of investigation, which was ad-
mitted into evidence by stipulation, that the Union has authorization
cards from a majority of the 30 clerical employees in the factory
and that the Union desires said employees to be included in the-
appropriate unit. These clerical employees are timekeepers, stock
clerks, stockchasers, dispatch clerks, and a shipping clerk, whose-
duties are closely connected with those of the other production em-
ployees. From this it appears that the definition of the appropriate
unit as requested at the hearing may be somewhat inaccurate or mis-
leading in its use of the term "clerical employees," without restric-
tion, in designating the class of employees to be excluded from the
appropriate unit. Apparently, the Union desires to include within
the bargaining unit all clerical workers in the plant proper, but to,
exclude those clerical employees in the office. The Company intro--
duced no evidence bearing upon the question of the' appropriate unit.
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We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company at the Cleveland Works, including plant clerical em-
ployees, but excluding other clerical and supervisory employees, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
and that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full
`benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargain-
ing and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
As of December 31, 1937, there were 436 employees on the pay roll
of the Cleveland Works in the appropriate unit. From a compari-
son of the Union's authorization cards and the pay roll of the Cleve-
land Works as of that date, made by the Board's field examiner: the
results of which have been stipulated to by the Company, it appears
that the Union has been designated by 392 of the said employees as
their representative for collective bargaining with the Company.
The authenticity of the signatures on the authorization cards is ad-
:mitted by the Company. The Company's only contention is that
some of the authorization cards were signed by its employees with-
out their having read or having knowledge of the contents of the
cards. For this reason the Company requests that the Board direct
a secret election rather than certify on the basis of the authorization
cards. No evidence, however, was introduced to support such con-
tention.
We find that the Union has been designated and selected by a
majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representa-
tive for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore,. the
exclusive representative of all employees in such unit for the pur-
poses 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 representa-
tion of employees of Cleveland Equipment Works, Cleveland, Ohio,
of General Electric Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees of the Company at
the Cleveland Works, including plant clerical employees, but exclud-
ing other clerical and supervisory employees, constitute a unit appro-
priate for collective bargaining, Within the meaning of Section 9
(b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
3. United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America,
Local 707, is the exclusive representative of all the employees in such
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 777
unit for the purposes 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 and Machine
Workers of America, Local 707, has been designated and selected by
a majority of the production and maintenance employees of Cleve-
land Equipment Works, Cleveland, Ohio, of General Electric Com-
pany, including plant clerical employees, but excluding other clerical
and supervisory employees, as their representative for the purposes
of collective bargaining and that, pursuant to the provisions of Sec-
tion 9 (a) of the Act, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Work-
ers of America, Local 707, is the exclusive representative of all such
employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to
rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of
employment.