General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 29, 1940

20 N.L.R.B. 1030 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC . COMPANY and LODGE No. 70,
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS
In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY and UNITED ELECTRI-
CAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL No. 901
In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY and PATTERN MAKERS
LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA , PATTERN MAKERS ASSOCIATION OF FORT
WAYNE
Cases Nos. R-9385, R-,986 and R-1464, respectively .Decided
February 29, 1940
Electrical and Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing Industry-Investiga-
tion of Representatives : controversy concerning representation of employees:
employer 's refusal to extend recognition prior to Board certification ; controversy
concerning appropriate units; rival organizations-Units Appropriate for Col-
lective Bargaining : craft or plant : elections to determine ; separate unit of
certain machinists if election shows these employees desire it; unit composed
of all hourly rate employees , excluding office employees not engaged in produc-
tion work and supervisory employees , and including or excluding certain
machinists depending upon results of election-Election8 Ordered-Procedure:
request of one of petitioning unions for permission to withdraw its petition
granted.
Mr. Walter B. Chel f, Mr. Lester M. Levin, Mr: George Rose, Mr.
Alan F. Perl, Mr. Daniel F. Baker, and Mr. Millard L. Midonick, for
the Board.
Mr. I. H. Freeman, of Fort Wayne, Ind., for the Company.
Mr. Frank D. Morgan, of Fort Wayne, Ind., and Mr. C. F.
McDonald, Mr. H. T. Hamilton, and Mr. David Kaplan, of Wash-
ington, D. C., for Lodge No. 70. .
Mr. James B. Carey, Mr. James J. Matles, and Mr. Julius Emspak,
of New York City, and Mr. E. G. Bunting, of Fort Wayne, Ind., for
Local No. 901.
Mr. George K. Lynch and Mr. Ernest Umpelby, of Washington,
D. C., and 'Mr. John W. Braden, of Fort Wayne, Ind., for the Pattern
Makers.
Mr. Eugene R. Thorrens, of counsel to the Board.
20 N. L. R. B., No. 100.
1030
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
1031
• On May 28, 1937, Lodge No. 70, International. Association of
Machinists, herein called Lodge No. 70, and on June 21, 1937, United
Electrical & Radio Workers of America,' Local No. 901, herein called
Local No. 901, filed with the Regional Director for the Eleventh
Region (Indianapolis, Indiana), petitions alleging that questions
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees at the Fort Wayne, Indiana, plants of General Electric
Company, herein called the Company, and requesting investigations
and certifications of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
.On July 23, 1937, and August 9, 1937, 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
investigation in each case, and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice. On August 9, 1937, the Board, acting pursuant to Section
-9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 10 (c) (2), of said Rules
and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, directed that the cases be
consolidated for the purposes of hearing and that one record of the
hearing be made.
On August 16, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, Lodge No.
70, Local No. 901, and Pattern Makers League of North America,
herein called the Pattern Makers, a labor organization claiming to
represent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pur-
suant to the notice, a hearing was held at Fort Wayne, Indiana, on
August 26 and 27, 1937, before James C. Paradise, the Trial Exam-
iner duly designated by the Board. The Board was represented by
counsel; the Company appeared by its personnel administrator; the
three unions were represented by their respective officers. All par-
ticipated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing upon
the issues was afforded all' parties. No objections were made to the
i At its September 1937 convention the United Electrical & Radio Workers of America
changed its name , to United Electrical , Radio and , Machine Workers of America. During
the course of,the hearing the Trial Examiner, granted a motion of Local No. 901 to amend
Its petition to show such change. We will refer herein to this petitioner 's parent organiza
tion, both before and after the change in its name , as the United , and to the International
Association of Machinists as the I. A. M.
1032 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR. RELATIONS BOARD
introduction of evidence and no motions were presented-by any party
during the course of this hearing.
On December 20, 1937, the Board, acting pursuant to Article III,.
Section 8, of its Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, di-
rected that the record be reopened for the introduction of further
evidence and authorized the Regional Director to issue notice of a
further hearing. Pursuant to such notice, copies of which were
served upon all parties, a hearing was held, at Fort Wayne, Indiana,
on February 25 and 26, 1938, before William P. Webb, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company,.
Lodge No. 70, Local No. 901, and the Pattern Makers appeared by
counsel or other representatives and participated in the hearing..
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine wit-
nesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded
all parties. With the exception. of the motion of Local No. 901 to
amend its petition with respect to its change of name above referred
to, no motions were presented and no objections were made to the,
introduction of evidence by any party. Pursuant to notice, a hear-
ing for the purpose of oral argument was held before the Board at
Washington, D. C., on March 21, 1938. The Company, Lodge No.
70, and Local No. 901 appeared by representatives and participated
in the hearing.
On July 27, 1938, Pattern Makers League of North America, Pat-
tern Makers Association of Fort Wayne,2 filed with the Regional
Director for the Eleventh Region a petition alleging that a question.
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees at the Fort Wayne, Indiana, plants of the Company and
requesting an investigation -and certification of representatives pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the Act.3 Pursuant to notice, copies of which
2 For the purposes of this Decision , hereinafter we shall refer to Pattern Makers League
of North America , and Pattern Makers Association of Fort Wayne together as the Pattern
Makers.
2 On April 26, 1939, the Board ordered ( 1) that the record in the cases arising out of
the petitions filed by Lodge No. 70 and Local No. 901, being Cases Nos . R-285 and R-28&
respectively , be reopened and a further hearing be held; ( 2) that Cases Nos. R-285 and
R-286 and the case involving the petition filed by the Pattern Makers, being Case No.
R-1464 ( then known in the Eleventh Region as Case No. XI-R-145), be transferred to.
and continued in the Second Region ; (3) that the Regional Director for the Second Region
be authorized to conduct such further hearing in Cases Nos . R-285 and R-286; (4) that
the Regional Director for the Second Region conduct investigations in Case No. R-1464
(then known in the Second Region as Case No. II-R-1346 ) and Cases Nos. II-R-1245
and II-R-1295, which relates to other General Electric plants, and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice ; and (5 ) that the above five cases be consolidated for
all purposes and that one record of the hearing be made . The Regional Director for the
Second Region, accordingly,' noticed the five,^cases,for hearing together on August 14, 1939:
At the commencement of the hearing on that date, the parties interested in Cases Nos:
R-28.5, R-286 , and R-1464 moved that those cases be severed from the other cases and
remanded to the Eleventh Region. On September 19, 1939, the Board granted the mo-
tion for severance , ordered the cases remanded as requested, and authorized the Regional
Director for the Eleventh Region to conduct a further ' hearing in the cases herein
considered.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1033
were duly served upon the Company, Lodge No. 70, Local No. 901,
:and the Pattern Makers, a hearing was held on October 26, 1939, at
Fort Wayne, Indiana, before Horace A. Ruckel, the Trial Examiner
,duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, Lodge
No. 70, Local No. 901, and the Pattern Makers appeared by counsel
or other 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.
At the outset of the hearing the Pattern Makers moved to withdraw
its petition to which Local No. 901 objected. The Trial Examiner
reserved ruling on the motion and, thereafter, the Pattern Makers
offered no evidence. During the course of the hearing, Local No. 901
moved to dismiss the petitions of Lodge No. :70 and the Pattern
Makers, and Lodge No. 70 moved to dismiss the petition of Local
No. 901. The Trial Examiner also reserved rulings on these matters.
For the reasons hereinafter stated, we will deny the motions of
Lodge No. 70 and Local No. 901. We will allow the Pattern Makers
to withdraw its petition. No other motions were presented during
the course of this hearing. The Trial Examiner made several rulings
on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed
the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial
Terrors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing for the purpose of oral argument
was held before the Board at Washington, D. C., on December 19,
1939. Lodge No. 70, Local No. 901, and the Pattern Makers ap-
peared by representatives and participated in the hearing. Lodge
No. 70 and Local No. 901 filed briefs, which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the proceedings, the Board makes the
following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE ' BUSINESS 'OF THE COMPANY
General Electric Company, a New York corporation, is engaged in
the manufacture of a large variety of electrical devices and equip-
ment. The Company operates manufacturing plants in several
States and maintains its principal office in Schenectady, New York.
The present proceeding is concerned only with the employees of
the Company at Fort Wayne, Indiana, where it has two plants, ap-
proximately 2 miles apart, and manufactures electrical and refrig-
eration equipment, including fractional horsepower motors, trans-
formers, meters, plastics, wire, and 'refrigeration apparatus. Sub-
stantially the same, operations are carried on in both plants, and
both plants are governed by the same' local management. The plants
1034 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR' RELATIONS BOARD
are treated by the Company as. a single unit, and none of the parties .
in this proceeding contend that they; should be treated otherwise.4
The Company produces a, yearly output valued at approximately
22 million dollars at its Fort Wayne plant.5 A substantial portion
of the raw materials used in its manufacturing process, consisting'
principally of metal castings and insulating materials, are obtained
outside the State of Indiana. Eighty-five to 90 per cent of the
manufactured products are shipped outside the State of Indiana,
either as finished products or as parts going to other General Elec-
tric plants for incorporation into larger units. The completed units
are sent to district warehouses of the Company, to wholesalers, job-
bers, and consumers.
As of October 20, 1939, the Company employed approximately
4,234 hourly rate employees at its Fort Wayne plant.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Lodge No. 70, International Association of Machinists, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, ad-
mitting to membership employees at the Company's Fort Wayne
plant and employees of other employers in the Fort Wayne area
who are engaged in the machinists' trade.
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local,
No. 901, is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for
Industrial Organization admitting to membership all hourly rate.
employees at the Company's Fort Wayne plant.
Pattern Makers League of North America, Pattern Makers Asso-
ciation of Fort Wayne, is a labor organization affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership all pattern
makers employed at the Company's Fort Wayne plant.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On May 27, 1937, a committee of Lodge No. 70 met with the Fort
Wayne management of the Company and requested it to enter into.
a contract with Lodge No. 70, recognizing it as the exclusive bargain-
ing agent for the machinists in the tool and maintenance divisions
of the Fort Wayne plant. The management replied that the Com-
pany would not recognize any organization or person as the exclusive,
bargaining representative in any of its plants, or in any unit of any
plant, unless certified as such by the National Labor Relations Board_
Subsequently, as we have noted above, Lodge No. 70, Local No. 901,
4 Both plants will be hereinafter referred to as the Fort Wayne plant.
5 The figures given in this section are applicable only to the Company's Fort Wayne
plant.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1035'
and the Pattern Makers filed petitions for investigation and certifica-
tion of representatives.
We" find that' questions have : arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
UPON COMMERCE
We find that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen , occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, have a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States,
and tend to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
Lodge No. 70 claims that a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining consists of maintenance machinists, experi-,
mental men, tool makers, tool repairmen, die makers, die repairmen,.
mold makers, mold repairmen, and machinists' apprentices,° who are
engaged in the production or repair of machinery or mechanical
devices for use in the Company's manufacturing process.
Local No. 901 contends that all hourly rate employees at the Com-
pany's Fort Wayne plant, including those mentioned above, but ex-
cluding office employees not engaged in production work and super-
visory employees, constitute the appropriate unit.
Lodge No. 70 has represented employees at the Fort Wayne plant
for more than 35 years. In 1903 after a strike called by it, a written
settlement agreement was entered into between the predecessor of
the Company,' a representative of the I. A. M., and a committee of
Lodge No. 70. From 1903 to 1933 the Company and its predecessor
bargained collectively with Lodge No. 70, which, from time to time,
presented grievances and secured wage increases for its members.
In 1933 the American Federation of Labor chartered the General
Electric Federal Labor Union No. 18529 of Fort Wayne, Indiana,
herein called the Federal Labor Union, and from September of that
year until about March 1936 the Company met with a joint committee
from Lodge No. 70 and the Federal Labor Union for the purposes of
collective bargaining. This period was marked by jurisdictional dis-
putes between the two organizations. Lodge No. 70 sought to include
• 6 The petition of Lodge No. 70 does not mention the apprentices. At the hearing on
Oetotier ,26; 1939,:li6wever;' a representative of Lodge No. 70 stated that the apprentices
should be included In the unit which Lodge No. 70 seeks to represent as exclusive bargain-
ing agent.
4 Then known as the Fort Wayne Jenny Electric Light Company.
1036 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in its membership certain skilled machinists and assemblers engaged
in production work. On the other hand, the Federal Labor Union
offered to relinquish to Lodge No. 70 jurisdiction over tool and die
makers, machinist experimental men, apprentice graduates and repair
workers on jigs and fixtures, but insisted on retaining all production
workers within its own ranks. These jurisdictional disputes cul-
minated in September 1935 in a conference in Washington, D. C.,
between representatives of the Federal Labor Union, the I. A. M., and
the American' Federation of Labor. The I. A: M. proposed to create
a production local which would admit the membership of the Federal
Labor Union, the new local to exist side by side with Lodge No. 70.
However, it was testified by Freeman White, president of the Federal
Labor Union, that prior to the conference in Washington the I. A. M.
offered to permit the entire membership of the Federal Labor Union
to join Lodge No. 70. In any event, neither of these proposals was
accepted by the Federal Labor Union. In March 1936, the United
was organized as an independent union outside the American Fed-
eration of Labor, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organi-
zation, and on April 1, 1936, it issued a charter to Local No. 901 which
had absorbed the membership of the Federal Labor Union. Shortly,
thereafter, the American Federation of Labor revoked the charter of
the Federal Labor Union.
Sometime during the existence of the Federal Labor Union, an in-
formal arrangement was made by the officers of Lodge No. 70 and the
Federal Labor Union to the effect that Lodge No. 70 would not solicit
production workers for membership, and the Federal Labor Union
would not solicit tool-room employees and maintenance machinists.
In the spring of 1937, Local No. 901 began to organize the tool-room
and maintenance machinists at the Company's Fort Wayne plant and
the United initiated collective bargaining negotiations with the Com-
pany on an employer-wide basis. These negotiations resulted in a
contract entered into on April 1, 1938, between the Company and
United,' which provided :
The Company agrees to recognize the Union as the sole collec-
tive bargaining agency for those plants where the Union through
a National Labor Relations Board election or certification or
other appropriate means satisfactory to both parties has been
designated or recognized as the sole collective bargaining agency.
The procedure of such collective bargaining shall be by plants or
works except where the issue involves several plants (Article 1).
8 As indicated in the provisions quoted below the contract was not applicable to the
Fort Wayne plant since the conditions therein provided had not been met.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1037
The contract incorporated- the existing policy of the Company con-
cerning wages, hours, and working conditions, set up grievance pro-
cedure, and provided a plan for future consideration of modifications
of the contract.' The contract also provided that it shall be in force
for 1 year, and thereafter from year to year unless either party gives
the other party 90 days' advance written notice of cancelation. So
far as appears, neither party has given notice of termination of the
contract. In certain plants of the Company,9 other than the Fort
Wayne plant, the unit for collective bargaining is the plant-wide unit
and, pursuant to its contract, the United has been recognized by the
Company as the sole collective bargaining agency for all hourly rate
employees at each of these plants as the result of consent elections
conducted by Regional Offices of the Board or by virtue of the Com-
pany's acceptance of proof' presented by the United of its majority
status. To the, date of the hearing in October 1939, however, the Com-
pany, pending the determination of these proceedings, has bargained
with Local No. 901 and Lodge No. 70 concerning matters affecting
their respective members in the Fort Wayne plant.
The Company manufactures complicated machinery and mechanical
devices at its Fort Wayne plant,1° and employs machinists in its
production departments, where machine tool and assembly operations
are carried on, as well as in its tool-room and maintenance divisions.
There were aproximately 4,044 employees of the Company at Fort
Wayne in February 1938, and approximately 1,231 of those workers
were employed as machine tool operators and other types of machin-
ists in production departments.
As of October 26, 1939, there were approximately 345 employees in
the unit which Lodge No. 70 contends is appropriate. Of these, ap-
proximately 255 were tool-room machinists, about 40 were main-
tenance machinists, and the remainder, machinists' apprentices. The
approximately 40 maintenance machinists are considered highly
skilled craftsmen. The tool-room employees who comprise the bulk
of such unit are all-around machinists who are required by the Com-
pany to serve an apprenticeship of not less than 3 or 4 years. The
6 The plants are those operated by the Company at Schenectady, New York, Bridgeport,
Connecticut, Lynn, Massachusetts, New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, Ohio.
10 The plant consists of the following departments or divisions : (1) the fractional
horsepower motor department; (2) the meter division, which manufactures registers and
instruments ; (3) the transformer division, which manufactures air-cooler transformers ;
(4) the apparatus division, which manufactures large AC and DC apparatus and dynamo
meters; (5) the wire-insulation division , which fabricates wire; (6) the plastic division,
which fabricates molded plastic units; (7) the tool division , which fabricates tools, fixtures,
molds, and dies; (8) the refrigeration department which manufactures refrigerator motor
units; (9) the general service division, which is composed of mechanical maintenance,
electrical:.maintenance, plumbing,, painting, welding, sheet-metal and carpenter work, and
various other types of service and labor; and (10) the receiving and shipping division.
In addition, the Company maintains a powerhouse, an apprentice school, a fire-patrol
service, a restaurant, and an employees' club.
1038 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
training thus received and their experience in the tool room has
equipped them to operate any standard machine in the shop, perform
bench and vise work, lay out and erect machines of any kind, and
repair them. On the other hand, the production machinists receive
their training in the departments in which they work. While
the Company employs a limited number of machinists in its production
departments who set up and adjust their own machines and do pre-
cision work similar to that done by some of the tool-room machinists,
the great majority of the production, machinists are machine tool
operators who operate automatic single-purpose machines which are
set up for them or who perform specialized assembly work of a repeti-
tive nature. Moreover, while the actual earnings of the machinists
in each group are comparable, the tool-room and maintenance machin-
ists are guaranteed a definite hourly rate of pay while the production
employees work on an incentive or piece-work basis.
Although Lodge No. 70 has admitted machine tool operators in the
production departments to membership in the past and has bar-
gained for them, the record discloses that, since the organization of the
Federal Labor Union, Lodge No. 70 has substantially confined its
membership among the Company's employees to those in the unit
now claimed by it to be appropriate. The relatively few members
outside such unit which Lodge No. 70 had at the time of the hearing
in February 1938 were for the most part those who had joined the
organization many years ago at a time when they were employed at
jobs which fall within the craft group and who apparently retain
their memberships to protect insurance benefits incident to such
membership.
Because of the fact that the overwhelming number of the em-
ployees in the plant are engaged in mass-production work, because
of, the interrelation of the various departments of the plant, and
in view of the existence of the contract between the United and the
Company and the bargaining status of the United with the Com-
pany in its other plants, the Board could reasonably find that the
unit claimed by Local No. 901 is appropriate to insure to employees
the full benefit of their rights to self-organization and to collective
bargaining. Consideration of all the facts, however, leads us to the
conclusion that the machinists described in the petition of Lodge
No. 70 could function either as a separate unit or as part of the
larger industrial unit. In this situation we will follow the principle,
heretofore adopted in many cases,- that the desires of the employees
involved shall determine whether they are to be a separate unit or
"Matter of Clobe'Machine and Stamping Co. and Metal Polishers Union Local No. 3,
International Association of Machinists , District No. 54, Federal Labor Union 18788, and
United Automobile Workers of America, 3 N. L. R. B. 294 , and subsequent cases.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1039
-whether they are to be included within the larger industrial unit.
In accordance with the wishes of Lodge No: 70, as hereinafter more
fully discussed, an election will be ordered among the employees
in the unit sought by Lodge No. 70 to determine whether they desire
to be represented by Lodge No. 70, by Local No. 901, or neither.
Upon the results of the election will depend our determination of
the appropriate unit or units. If Local No. 901 receives a majority
.'of the votes cast by the employees •in the unit :sought by Lodge No.
70, they will be considered as constituting, together with all other
hourly rate workers, a single unit. If Lodge No. 70 is accorded
.a majority, the employees in the unit sought by Lodge No. 70 will
be considered as constituting a separate unit.
An election will be ordered also among all hourly rate employees,
,excluding the employees in the unit sought by Lodge No. 70 and
excluding office employees not engaged in production work and
:supervisory employees, to determine whether or not they desire to
he represented by Local No. 901.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the August 1937 hearing, Lodge No. 70 and Local No. 901
:stipulated that the Board might certify a representative or repre-
sentatives for collective bargaining purposes upon the basis of a
comparison of membership lists of each organization with the Com-
pany's -pay 'roll, and at the February 1938 hearing, the Company
'expressed a preference for the issuance of a Board certification with-
out the conduct of an election.
At the October 26, 1939, hearing, however, Lodge No. 70 and Local
No. 901 sought to establish for themselves a current majority status
in the unit which each claimed to be appropriate. James J. Matles,
representing Local No. 901 testified that Local No. 901 shop stewards
solicited signatures to approximately 2,278 12 authorization cards
from employees at the Fort Wayne plant during a 3-month drive
immediately preceding the hearing ,and that they delivered the cards
to the witness. Without calling the employees or the shop stewards
to identify the signatures appearing on the cards, Local No. 901
offered them in evidence. The Trial Examiner admitted the cards
over specific objection of Lodge No. 70. Under the circumstances
set forth, we shall direct that an election be held among the hourly
rate employees, exclusive of employees in the unit sought by Lodge
No. 70, office employees not' engaged in production work, and super-
visory employees, to determine their representative for the purposes
"The Company had approximately 4,234 hourly rate employees on its October 20, 1939,
pay roll.
1040 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of collective bargaining . Since Lodge No. 70 does not seek certifica-
tion as collective bargaining representative for employees in sucli
unit, no place for such designation will be provided on the ballot,
for it.
In support of its claim to majority representation in the unit.
which it asserts is appropriate , Lodge No. 70 introduced at the hear-
ing on October 26, 1939, approximately 200 cards designating the
I. A. M. as the collective bargaining representatives of the signers,
At the oral argument subsequently held before the Board, however,
the representative for Lodge No. 70 proposed that the Board conduct
an election among the employees in such unit in the event it deter-
mined to poll all other hourly rate employees to ascertain their col-
lective bargaining representative . Since we are directing an election
among such other hourly rate employees , and in view of the proposal
of Lodge No. 70, we believe that the question concerning representa-
tion which has arisen affecting the employees in the unit sought by
Lodge No. 70 can best be resolved in an election by secret ballot,
and we shall so direct.
Employees of the Company eligible to vote shall be those employed
by the Company at its Fort Wayne plant during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction , including em-
ployees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they
were ill, on vacation , or temporarily laid off , but excluding employees
who have since quit or have been discharged for cause.
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
Questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of General Electric Company, Fort Wayne,
Indiana, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to
ascertain representatives for the purposes . of collective bargaining,
elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible but
not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction of
Elections, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1041
tor for the Eleventh Region, acting in the matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and pursuant to Article III, Sec-
tion 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees within
the groups described below who were employed by the Company at
its Fort Wayne plant during the pay-roll period immediately pre-
ceding the date of this Direction of Elections, including employees
who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill
-or on vacation, and employees who were then or have since been
temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory and office employees
not engaged in production work and such employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause :
(a) The maintenance machinists, experimental men, tool makers,
tool repairmen, die makers, die repairmen, mold makers, mold re-
pairmen, and machinists' apprentices who are engaged in the produc-
tion or repair of machinery or mechanical devices for use in the
Company's manufacturing process at its Fort Wayne plant, to de-
termine whether they. desire to be represented by Lodge No. 70,
International Association of Machinists, or by United Electrical
Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local No. 901, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, or by neither ;
(b) The hourly rate employees, other than those mentioned in
paragraph (a) above, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented for purposes of collective bargaining by United Elec-
trical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local No. 901.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the request of Pattern Makers League
of North America, Pattern Makers Association of Fort Wayne, for
permission to withdraw its petition in Case No. R-1464 be, and it
hereby is, granted, and that Case No. R-1464 be, and it hereby is,
closed.
MR. EDWIN S. SMITH, concurring :
Although it appears that the plant-wide unit is here the unit most
appropriate to achieve the objects of collective bargaining for the
great majority of the employees at the Company's Fort Wayne plant,
in view of the long history of collective bargaining for the machinists
by Lodge No. 70, and because in recent years both its organization
policy and bargaining have been substantially limited to the craft
group 13 described in its petition, I concur in the decision to afford
the members of the craft the sort of vote here provided for.
MR. WILLIAM M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections.
1z See my , concurring opinion in Matter of American Hardware Corporation and United
Electrical and Radio Workers of America, 4 N. L. R. B. 412, and subsequent cases.