General Motors Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 20, 1940

23 N.L.R.B. 1014 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

i
In the Matter of GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION ; DELCO PRODUCTS
DIVISION and LOCAL 801, UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA , 9 EAST FIFTH STREET , DAYTON, OHIO
Case No. R-1796.Decided May 00, 1940
Ehock'Absorber, Electric Motor, and Automobile Parts Manufacturing Indus.
try-Investigation of Representatives : controversy concerning representation of
employees : recognition refused to petitioning industrial union and intervening
craft union on ground that Company without knowledge of majority status-
Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : stipulated ; craft or plant: elections
to determine ; group leaders excluded from plant unit at request of only union
seeking certification therein, and over Company 's objection : duties supervisory;
Company's policy with respect to pay, lay-offs, and promotions different from,
that applied to employees included ; ineligible to membership in the union-
Representatives : eligibility to participate in choice : stipulated-Elections Ordered
Mr. Oscar Grossman, for the Board.
Mr. Carlos J. Jolly; Mr. A. F. Power, Mr. Denton Jolly, and Mr:
'Robert C. Carson, of Detroit, Mich., for the Company.
Mr. Earnest De Maio, of Dayton, Ohio, for the United.
Mr. C. D. Madigan, of Washington, D. C., for the Pattern Makers.
Mr. John Green, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 29, 1940, Local 801, United Electrical, Radio ai'd'
Machine Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, 9 East Fifth Street, Dayton, Ohio, herein called
the United, filed with the Regional Director for the Ninth Region
(Cincinnati, Ohio) a petition alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Gen-
eral Motors Corporation, Delco Products Division,' Dayton, Ohio,
i Designated in the petition and other formal papers as Delco Products Division of
the General Motors Corp. at Dayton, Ohio. At the hearing the Trial Examiner granted
without objection a motion made by' counsel for the Board to conform the caption in all
formal documents as set forth above.
23 N. L. R. B., No 109.
1014
GENERAL MOTORS, CORPORATION • •• .O15
herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and cer-
tification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On March
26,1940 , 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 April 3, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, and upon the
United.2 Pursuant to the notice , a hearing was held on April 19, 1940,
at Dayton , Ohio, before Herbert Wenzel, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Board. At the hearing the Trial Examiner granted
without objection a motion to intervene made by Pattern Makers
League of North America, herein called the Pattern Makers, affiliated
.with the American Federation of Labor.3 The ruling is hereby
affirmed. The Board and the Company were represented , by counsel;
the United , and the Pattern Makers were represented by duly author-
ized representatives . • All parties participated in, the hearing, and4l
were afforded full opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross-
examine witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on -the-issues.
During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made a ruling,
on an objection to the admission of evidence . The `Board has reviewed
the ruling of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial, error
was committed . The ruling is hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following,:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
General Motors Corporation, a Delaware corporation with its
principal business offices located in New York. City- and-with other
pffices in Detroit, Michigan, is engaged in a number of businesses,
many of which are of dissimilar nature. The Company maintains
s Notice of hearing was also served upon the International Association of Machinists,
herein called the I: A. M. The I. A. M. did not appear at the hearing , and the Ti ial
Examiner granted without objection a motion to strike from the record the service
thereon.
s At the commencement of the hearing, there were introduced in evidence copies of
letters sent by the Regional Director on April 4, 1940, to several labor organizations as
^informal notifications" of the hearing . Copies of the notice of hearing were' enclosed.
The letters were sent to the Pattern Makers ; International Moulders Union of N. A. ;
Operating Engineers , Firemen & Oilers Union ; International Brotherhood of Electrical
workers ; and Metal Polishers International Union . The letter and enclosure were also
Bent to W. H whetro. None of the :afore-mentioned , dxcept the 'Pattern Makers, appeared
at the hearing.
1016 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plants in 42 cities in 12 States , which are engaged in manufacturing
and producing a wide variety of products . For business reasons
the Company functions with several unincorporated divisions, one of
which is Delco Products Division , which maintains a plant at Dayton,
Ohio, at which it manufacturers shock absorbers , accessory and re-
placement parts for shock absorbers , electric motors , electric motor
accessories , and some miscellaneous automobile parts. The present
proceeding involves only the Delco Products Division.
The value of productive materials , including raw material and fab-
ricated or partially fabricated articles, used annually in the manu-
facturing and fabricating operations of the Delco Products Division
is approximately $9,500,000, approximately 25 per cent of which
materials are obtained from sources outside the State of Ohio.4 The
value of the products of the Delco Products Division is approximately
$25,000 ,000 annually , approximately 50 per cent of which products
are shipped upon completion to points outside the State of Oliio.
Such shipments of materials or products normally occur at regular
intervals during each week that the plant of the Delco Products
Division is in operation and the greater part of such shipments are
moved by common motor carrier and rail carrier.
The Delco Products Division employed at the time of the hearing
approximately 4700 hourly paid production employees.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Local 801, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of
America is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations and admits to membership employees of the
Company. -
Pattern Makers League of North America is a labor organiza-
tion affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and admits
to membership employees in the pattern department of the Company.
III. TIIE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In the early part of 1937 the United initiated organizational
activities among the production and maintenance employees of the
Company, and since April 1937 has engaged in periodic collective
bargaining negotiations with the Company for its members. The
United claims to represent a majority of the employees in the plant
unit, hereinafter defined, and the Pattern Makers claims to repre-
sent a majority of the employees in the pattern-makers unit, herein-
after defined. Both the United and the Pattern Makers have made
' while the record is not explicit , we infer that the figures as to the business of the
Company are on annual basis.
GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION---_ -_. ` iO17
demands upon the Company for the right to bargain exclusively for
the employees within such respective groups, and the demands have
been refused by the Company on the ground that it did not know
whether the labor organizations represented the majority claimed.
There was introduced in evidence at the. hearing a statement by
the Regional Director as to the evidence submitted to him by the
United in support of its claim of majority representation. Accord-
ing to the report the United had submitted to him 2084 authorization
cards and application cards containing the apparently genuine
signatures of persons whose names were listed on the Company's pay
roll of March 2, 1940.5
During the hearing, the Pattern Makers submitted to the Trial
Examiner 18 application cards for membership in the Pattern
Makers. The Trial Examiner found that all the cards bore ap-
parently genuine signatures, were undated, and bore the names of
persons listed on the Company's pay roll of pattern makers.° The
United submitted to the Trial Examiner seven authorization cards
dated from March 26 to April 4, 1940, six of which, the Trial Ex-
aminer found, bore signatures of persons who had signed applica-
tion cards of the Pattern Makers.
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 commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS AND THE
DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing the parties stipulated that the appropriate unit
for collective bargaining with the Company is the plant of the
Delco Products Division. The parties further agreed that the classi-
fication of employees claimed by the Pattern Makers should be
allowed to determine whether or not they desire to bargain as a
separate craft unit, and that elections be held.
We find that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen can best be resolved by the holding of elections by secret ballot
s In addition , the report shows. the United submitted the membership roster and dues
record of the United , containing 417 names.
$ The Company employ s 25 persons In this classification.
"' 1018 DECIS103VS=-0F NATIONAL- LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
pursuant to the stipulation of the parties. Upon'the'resi l£s of the
elections will depend our determination of appropriate units in the
manner set forth below.
A. The pattern makers
Pursuant to the stipulation, we shall direct that a separate election
be held among all wood-pattern makers and metal-pattern makers
working on bench or machine, pattern checkers, and the appren-
tices of these classifications (but not supervisory or salaried em-
ployees or those whose work is of a confidential nature), who are in
the employ of the Delco Products Division or on the seniority list
of the Delco Products Division of General Motors Corporation dur-
ing the pay period in which April 6, 1940, falls, to determine whether
said employees desire to be represented by the Pattern Makers or
the United or neither.7
If a majority of the employees in such craft unit choose the Pat-
tern Makers, thus indicating their preference for separate representa-
tion, the employees in such unit shall constitute a separate
appropriate bargaining unit; if a majority of such employees choose
the United, the employees in such unit shall constitute a separate
appropriate bargaining unit, unless a majority of the hourly paid
production and maintenance employees, process-machine tool
builders, salvage and plant-inspection employees, tool and die
makers, machine-repair employees, and inspectors in the plant also
choose the United, in which event employees in the craft.unit shall
become a part of the larger unit.
B. The plant unit - '"'
Further pursuant to the stipulation, we shall direct that a separate
election be held among all hourly paid production and maintenance
employees, process-machine tool builders, salvage and plant-inspection
employees, tool and die makers, machine-repair employees, and in-
spectors, who are employed by General Motors Corporation, Delco
Products Division, and were in the employ of, or on the-seniotity list
of, the plant during the pay period in which April 6, 1940, fell, ex-
eluding those who did not have any seniority status or rating during
that pay period and who on the third day before the Direction of
Elections herein shall have quit or have been laid off or discharged,
and excluding the factory manager, assistant factory manager, super-
intendents, general foremen, assistant foremen, job foremen, group
'+ in accordance with the stipulation the ballot shall provide for a choice between,:
"Pattern Makers League of North America," "United Electrical , Radio and Machine
'workers of America , Local 801, C . I. 0." and "Neither." '
GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION- 1019
leaders,8 chief dispatcher and assistant chief dispatcher and dispatch-
ers, timekeepers, plant-protection' employees, clerical employees, metal-
model makers, chief inspector and assistant chief inspector, salaried
employees, garage attendants, cooperative-school students, technical-
school students, and employees of the Personnel and Industrial Rela-
tions Department, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented by the United."
While we exclude group leaders from the unit, we do so upon a con-
sideration of the factors set forth below, inasmuch as the United and
the Company are in disagreement as to their status and have stipulated
that it shall be determined by the Board 10
Group leaders are differentiated from other,employees in many
respects. They are not eligible for membership in the United; receive
a higher hourly rate of pay than the employees in their respective
groups; are exempt from lay-off in accordance with the seniority lists
maintained by the Company; and promotions to the rank of job fore-
man are generally made from among them. While group leaders
participate in the operations performed by the employees in their re-
spective groups, their duties, except for occasional relief work, are
confined to those of a supervisory nature, such as assigning work,
enforcilig discipline, and maintaining "production flow." In addition,
group leaders are consulted concerning the employees in their respec-
tive groups for the purpose of grading their efficiency and the granting
,of wage increases . Under these circumstances, we conclude that the
interests and duties of group leaders are sufficiently distinguishable
from those of the other employees' in the plant unit to bring them
`within the class of minor supervisory employees whom we normally
exclude from a bargaining unit upon objection by the only labor or-
ganization involved.", Accordingly, we` shall exclude the group
leaders from the unit 12
•The United and the Company differ as to whether group lenders should be Included
in or excluded from the unit, the United requests their exclusion and the Company their
inclusion . We exclude them for the reasons set forth infra, and In accordance with the
'rovision of the stipulation whereby,
.,It is further agreed by and between the parties hereto that the National Labor Rela-
tions Board shall determine whether or not the employees classified as grcup leader s on the
Company's payroll 'shall be included within the unit set forth in Paragraph 3 above,
I. e, the plant unit] and that the decision on that matter shall be final and binding
,upon each of the parties to this stipulation."
Y In accordance with the stipulation the ballot shall provide for a choice between
"United Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers of America , Local 801, C. I. 0." and
"No Union."
10 See footnote 8, supra.
u Cf. Matter of The Triplett Electrical Instrument Company, The Diller Manufacturing
Company, doing business under the firm name and style of Readrite Meter Works and
United Electrical and Radio li orkers of America, Local No. 711, 5 N. L. It. B . 83:i, anll
.subsequent cases. See also Matter of Rex Manufacturing Co., Inc . and A. F. of L. Federdi
Local Union , No. 2093, 7 N. L. R. B. 95, and subsequent cases.
12 By a letter dated May 10 , 1940, the, United forwarded to the Board a document
-described therein ' as a` speech `delivered on 'April 26 , " 1940, by the President of General
1020 DECISIONS r OF 'NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
- Upon the basis, of the above findings of fact, the stipulation en-
tered into at the hearing, and 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 Motors Corporation, Delco Prod-
ucts Division, Dayton, Ohio, 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 Re-
lations 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
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purpose of collective bargaining
with General Motors Corporation, Delco Products Division, Dayton,
Ohio, 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 Di-
rector of the Ninth 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:
(1) Among all, wood-pattern 'makers and metal-pattern makers
working on bench or machine, pattern checkers, and the apprentices
of these classifications (but not supervisory or salaried employees and
those whose work is of a confidential nature), who are in the employ
of the Delco Products Division or on the seniority list of this Division
of General Motors Corporation during the pay period in which April
6, 1940, falls, to determine whether said employees desire to be rep-
resented by Pattern Makers League of North America, or by United
Electrical, Radio', and Machine Workers of America, Local 801,
C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither;
Motors Corporation, and a memorandum from the "General Manager" addressed to "Super-
visors, Department Uends, and Group Leaders" commending the speech to their attention.
In this letter . copies of which appeared to have been sent to the representative of the
Pattern \ lal.ers and to the person described as the General Manager, the United requests
that the enclosures be considered In support of Its contention that group leaders should
be excluded from the unit . The request is in effect that the record be reopened for the
receipt of e%idence not available at the time of the hearing . We deny the request, since
the contention of the United as to the group leaders is sustained for reasons already
appearin g in the record, and since the enclosures should not be made „ part of the record
except after opportunity to the Company to state Its position with respect thereto, a
procedpre which would cause unnecessary delay in the disposition of the case.
- GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 1021
(2) Among all hourly paid production and maintenance em-
ployees, process-machine tool builders, salvage and plant-inspection
employees, tool and die makers, machine-repair employees, and in-
spectors, who are employed by General Motors Corporation, Delco
Products Division, and were in the employ of, or on the seniority
list of,. the plant during the pay period in which April 6, 1940, fell,
excluding those who did not have any seniority status or rating
during that pay period and who on the third day before this Direc-
tion of Elections shall have quit or have been laid off or discharged,
and excluding the factory manager, assistant factory manager, su-
perintendents, general foremen, foremen, assistant foremen, job
foremen, group leaders, chief dispatcher and assistant chief dis-
patcher and dispatchers, timekeepers, plant-protection employees,
clerical employees, metal-model makers, chief inspector and assist-
ant chief inspector, salaried employees, garage attendants, cooper-
ative-school students, technical-school students, and employees of
the Personnel and Industrial Relations Department, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by United Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local #801, C. I. 0.