Fisher Body

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 29, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 80 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of FISHER BODY, KANSAS CITY DIVISION, GEN-
ERAL MOTORS CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION, TJNITED
AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH THE CONGRESS
OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS
Case No. R-2799.-Decided August 29, 1941
Jurisdiction : automobile body assembling industry.
Practice and Procedure: petition dismissed where no question concerning repre-
sentation had arisen in view of subsisting exclusive recognition contract be-
tween Company and rival union.
Mr. Henry M. Hogan, Mr. A. F. Power, Mr. Denton Jolly, and
Mr. R. 'C. Carson, of Detroit, Mich., for the Company.
Mr. Henry C. Clark, Mr. Robert R. Seek, Mr. Willard R. McDon-
ald and Mr. James Jackson, of Kansas City, Mo., for the C. I. O.
Mr. Herbert S. Thatcher and Mr. Joseph A. Padway, of Washing-
ton, D. C., and Mr. Emil Talley .and Mr. Homer Camp, of Kansas
City, Mo., for the A. F. of L.
Mr. William T. Little, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 21, 1941, International Union, United Automobile Work-
ers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions,' herein called the C. I. 0., filed with the Regional Director for
the Seventeenth Region (Kansas City, Missouri) a petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Fisher Body, Kansas City Division, General
Motors Corporation, Kansas City, Missouri, herein called the Kansas
City Division, and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On July 18, 1941,
1 The petition was originally filed in the name of Local # 93, United Automobile Workers
of America , affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations . At the hearing the
petition was amended to designate the union as it appears above.
35 N. L . R. B., No. 14.
80
FISHER BODY, KANSAS CITY DIVISION 81
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 Di-
rector to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
On July 21 , 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon General Motors Corporation,
herein called the Company , the Kansas City Division , the C..I. 0.,
and upon International Union, United Automobile Workers of Amer-
ica, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and Local #93,
thereof, labor organizations claiming to represent employees directly
affected by the investigation and herein jointly referred to as the
A. F. of L. Pursuant to notice , a hearing was held on July 28, 1941,
before Joseph A. Hoskins, the Trial Examiner duly designated by
the Acting Chief Trial Examiner . The A . F. of L . appeared at the
hearing and intervened . All parties were represented by counsel or
official representatives and participated in the hearing. Full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties.
During the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on mo-
tions and on objections to the admission of evidence . The Board has
reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no preju-
dicial errors were committed . The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On August 12, 1941, the A. F. of L. submitted a brief which has
been considered by the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
General Motors Corporation is a Delaware corporation having its
principal office in the City of New York. For business reasons it
functions through several unincorporated divisions , one of which is
the Fisher Body, Kansas City Division . The Kansas City Division
maintains a plant at Kansas City, Missouri , where it assembles auto-
mobile bodies and parts thereof. Over 75 per cent in value of pro-
duction materials used in the manufacturing operations of the Kan-
sas City Division are obtained from sources outside the State of
Missouri and considerably in excess of 80 per cent of the products
of the Kansas City Division are shipped to points outside the State
of Missouri.
82 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, is
a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organ-
izations, admitting to membership employees of the Kansas City
Division.
Local #93, International Union, United Automobile Workers of
America, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On May 29, 1940, the Board certified the A. F. of L. as the exclusive
representative of the employees of the Kansas City Division.2 On
July 15, 1940, the Company and the A. F. of L. entered into an
exclusive bargaining contract, terminable upon 60 days' notice, which
covered, among others, the employees of the Kansas City Division.
On May 20, 1941, the C. I. O. notified the Company that it repre-
sented a majority of the employees at the Kansas City Division and
requested recognition as the exclusive representative of such em-
ployees. On May 28, 1941, the Company and the A. F. of L. entered
into a new exclusive-recognition contract terminable on or after May
28, 1942, upon 60 days' notice by either party. On June 4, 1941, the
Company notified the C. I. O. that the A. F. of L. had been certified
by the Board and that until such certification changed the Company
would not recognize the C. I. O.
The C. I. O. submitted evidence to show that it represented approx-
imately 600 of the 950 employees in the alleged appropriate bar-
gaining unit. This evidence consisted of 551 application-for-mem-
bership or authorization cards, and a membership roster listing 87
employees of the Company.3 The membership roster and 11 of the
signed cards are undated. Of the remaining cards, 7 were signed in
May 1941, and 533 were signed in June and July 1941, after the
C. I. O.'s bargaining request and the execution of the contract between
the Company and the A. F. of L. At the hearing the A. F. of L.'s
financial secretary testified that on May 28, 1941, the date of the
contract, the A. F. of L. had 859 dues-paying members. The records
and files of the A. F. of L. were available for inspection by all parties
but the testimony of its financial secretary was not questioned.
The A. F. of L. asserts that the contract entered into on May 28,
1941, constitutes a bar to the present proceeding. The C. I. O.
2 Matter o f General Motors Corporation and International Union, U. A. W . A. affiliated
with the A. F. of L., et al., 24 N . L. It. B. 159.
3 Two names appearing on the membership roster were not on the current pay roll of the
Kansas City Division and 26 of the cards duplicated other evidence submitted by the C. I. O.
FISHER BODY, KANSIAS CITY DIVISrON 83
insists that, inasmuch as the contract was entered into with notice of
the C. I. 0. Is claim, it does not constitute a bar to an election. The
evidence submitted by the C. I. O. clearly discloses that a, majority
of the employees in the unit signed cards for the C. I. O. after the
contract was signed, and consequently establishes that the C. I. O.
did not have a majority at the time the contract between the A. F.
of L. and the Company was executed. Only 7 of the cards submitted
by the C. I. O. were dated before the C. I. O. served notice of its
claim of majority on the Company and the contract of May 28 was
executed. If it were assumed, without evidence, that the undated
cards and membership roster represent members who joined the
C. I. O. before May 28, 1941, the C. I. O. would still have represented
no more than 105 of the 950 employees in the appropriate unit at the
time the contract was signed. There was no closed-shop provision in
the contract to prevent it from securing authorizations prior to May
28, 1941. Under these circumstances we are of the opinion that no
election should be ordered at this time.4 Since the present contract
between the Company and the A. F. of L. requires 60 days' notice to
terminate it on May 28, 1942, we will dismiss the petition of the
C. I. O. without prejudice to its right to renew the petition at a
reasonable time before March 28, 1942.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSION OF LAW
No question concerning the representation of employees in the
Fisher Body, Kansas City Division, General Motors Corporation,
Kansas City, Missouri, exists within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of
the National Labor Relations Act.
ORDER
4 Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusion
cof law, the National Labor Relations Board hereby dismisses the
petition for investigation and certification of representatives filed by
.international Union, United Automobile Workers of America, affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, without prejudice
to its right to renew "the petition at a reasonable time before March
28, 1942.
' See Matter of Het trick Manufacturing Company and Textile Workers Union of America,
25 N.'L. R. B. 722.
451270-42-vol. 35-7