Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. of Tennessee

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 2, 1942

40 N.L.R.B. 71 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY OF TENNESSEE
and UNITED RUBBER WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH THE
C. I. O.
Case No. R-3624.-Decided April 2, 1942
Jurisdiction : tire manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : refusal
to accord petitioner recognition ; contract automatically renewed by its terms
after notice of rival union's claim to representation, no bar to ; new contract
submitted after notice, even if assumed to have been actually executed, no
bar to ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees, including cafeteria workers, but excluding supervisory, clerical,
office, and technical employees, inspectors, watchmen, guards, and time-
keepers,;•agreement,as to
Canale, Glankler, Lock c i Little, by Mr. Phil M. Canale and Mr.
.4. 0. Holmtes, of Memphis, Tenn., for the Company.
Mr. Stanley Den linger, of Akron, Ohio, and Mr. Forest Dickenson,
of Memphis, Tenn., for the United.
Mr. Henry D1. Heel and Mr. Robert R. Moore, of Memphis, Tenn.,
for Local 22456.
Mr. Milton A. Kallis, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
-STATEMENT OF THE>CASE
On February 5, 1942, United Rubber Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, herein called the
United, filed with the Regional Director for the Fifteenth Region
(New Orleans, Louisiana) a petition alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Tennessee,' Memphis,
Tennessee, herein called the Company, and requesting an investiga-
tion and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c)
I The Company was designated in the petition as "Firestone Tire and Rubber Company,
Memphis-"Tennessee, Plant." The Trial Examiner granted the United's motion to amend
the petition to read ' Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Tennessee."
40 N L R B., No 11
71
72 DECTST'0'NS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELAMONS BOARD
of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the
Act. On February 25, 1942, 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 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and
authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On March 2, 1942, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the United,
and upon Rubber Workers Local Union No. 22456, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, herein called Local 22456, a labor
organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the
investigation. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on March 10,
1942, at Memphis, Tennessee, before C. Paul Barker, the Trial Exam-
iner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company,
the United, and Local 22456, appeared by counsel or official representa-,
tives, 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, Local 22456 moved to dismiss the petition. The Trial
Examiner referred the motion to the Board. The motion is hereby
denied for the reasons stated-in Section III below. 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 re-
viewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner 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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Tennessee is a Tennessee
corporation engaged at a plant at Memphis, Tennessee, in the manu-
facture of rubber tires and tubes. All or almost all the raw materials
used by the Company are shipped to it from points outside the State
of Tennessee, and it ships approximately 97 percent of its finished
products to points outside the State of Tennessee. The Company does
over $1,000,000 worth of business a year. It admits that it is engaged
in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Rubber Workers of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
I
FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY OF TENNESSEE -73
Rubber Workers Local Union No. 22456 is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.
Both organizations admit to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 17, 1941, following the issuance of a Board certification 2
the Company and Local 22456 executed a contract giving Local 22456
recognition as exclusive representative of employees of the Company.
This contract was to remain in force and effect until March 17, 1942,
and was to be automatically renewed thereafter from year' to year
unless either party gave written notice at least 30 days prior to the
expiration date of its desire for changing the contract.
On February 4,1942; the United sent a letter to the Company stating
that it,represented a substantial majority of the production and main-
tenance employees of the Company, that it requested recognition as
their exclusive bargaining agent, that it would petition the Board for
an election , and that the Company should not revise or renew the
contract until after the Board had decided the questions raised.
On February 17, 1942, Local 22456 submitted a new contract to the
Company. The record is silent as to what, if anything, the Company
has done relative to this proposed contract or the contract executed on
March 17, 1941.
We find that the contract executed on March 17, 1941, does not
constitute a bar to the present proceeding because the United notified
the Company of its claim to represent the employees more than 30
days before the contract's prescribed expiration date, and therefore
before it could have been automatically renewed in 1942. More-
over, if we assume that the new contract which Local 22456 submitted
was actually executed, such contract does not constitute a bar to this
proceeding because the Company had prior notice of the question
concerning the representation of employees of the Company.
The United represents a substantial number of employees in the
appropriate units
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
2 Matter of Firestone Tire ci Rubber Company of Tennessee and American Federation of
Labor, 29 N L R B 50
8 A statement of the Regional Director introduced into evidence and a statement of the
Trial Examiner made at the hearing show that : the United submitted 963 application
cards ; 9 were dated before September 1, 1941 , and the remainder were dated after Novem-
ber 1, 1941 ; all but 2 signatures appear to be genuine ; 810 are names of employees on the
pay roll of February 14, 1912 , and 47 are names of persons on the Company 's list of
temporarily - laid off employees . Local 22456 submitted 1,279 cards , of which 2 are dated
in 1941 , 1,097 in 1940 , and 180 are not dated . The Regional Director stated that because
Local 22456 had a contract with the Company when these cards were submitted , they were
not compared with the pay roll. The Company employs approximately 2,100 employees in
the unit hereinafter found appropriate
74 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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
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 burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties agree and we find that all production and maintenance
employees of the Company, including cafeteria workers, but exclud-
ing supervisory, clerical, office, and technical employees, inspectors,
watchmen, guards, and timekeepers constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining.4 We further find that said unit
will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their
rights to self-organization and to collective bargaining, and other-
wise will effectuate the policies of the Act. I
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. We shall
direct that 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 conditions
set forth in the Direction, shall be eligible to vote.
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 the repre-
sentation ofemployees of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of
Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee, 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, in-
cluding cafeteria workers, but excluding supervisory, clerical, office,
and technical employees, inspectors, -watchmen, guards, and time-
keepers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
I This is substantially the same unit as that covered by the contract between the Com-
pany and Local 22456.
FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY OF TENNESSEE 75
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 Rela-
tions Act , 49 Stat. 449 , and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended , it is hereby - I
DIRECTED that, as part,of the investigation ordered by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Tennessee , Memphis,
Tennessee , 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 Direc-
tor for the Fifteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section
9, of said Rules and Regulations , among all production and mainte-
nance employees of the Company, who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction,
including cafeteria workers and employees who-did not work during
such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the
active military service or training of the United States, or temporar-
ily laid off , but excluding supervisory , clerical , office, and technical
employees , inspectors , watchmen , guards, timekeepers , and employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause , to determine
whether they desire to be represented by United Rubber Workers
of America , affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
or by Rubber Workers Local Union No..22456, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by neither.