General Motors Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsMay 15, 1940

23 N.L.R.B. 803 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION , ALLISON DIVISION and UNITED AIRCRAFT ENGINE WORKERS, INC. Case No. R-1804.-Decided May 15, 1940 Bearings, Aircraft Engines, and Aircraft Engine Parts Manufacturing Indus- try-Investigation of Representatives : stipulation between Company, Petition- ing Union, Intervening Union, and Board as to business of the Company, the question concerning representation. the appropriate unit, and direction of elec- tion-Election Ordered Mr. Arthur R. Donovan , 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. Cassatt Martz, of Indianapolis , Ind., for the United. Mr. LeRoy L . Roberts and Mr. Clarence Lyons, of Indianapolis, Ind., for the CIO-UAW. Mr. Bliss Daffan , of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On October 7, 1939, United Aircraft Engine Workers, Inc., herein called the United, filed with the Regional Director for the Eleventh Region (Indianapolis, Indiana), a petition,' and on March 6, 1940, an amended petition, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of General Motors Corporation, herein called the Company, at its Allison Division, Speedway City, Indiana, and requesting an investigation and certifi- cation of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On March 'By order of the Board dated January 2, 1940, the case originating by the filing of the petition was transferred to the Seventh Region and continued in such Region as Case No. VII-R-279. On January 3, 1940, the Board ordered the Regional Director for the Seventh Region to conduct an investigation and provide for a hearing in Case No VII-R- 279 and also ordered that said case be consolidated with a number of other representation proceedings involving employees of the Company. By order of the Board dated February 2, 1940, .the order directing an investigation was revoked as to Case No VII-R-279, and the case transferred and continued as a separate proceeding in the Eleventh Region as Case No. XI-R-229 (now Case No. R-1804) 23 N. L. R. B., No. 85. 803 804 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 12, 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 Regula- tions-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an, appro- priate hearing upon due notice. On March 19, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the United, and upon the International Association of Machinists; Pattern Makers -League of N. A. and Pattern Makers Association of Indianapolis and Vicinity; International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated with, the CIO, herein called the CIO-UAW ; and United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated with the A. F. of L. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on April 18 and April 22, 1940, at Indianapolis, Indiana, before Henry W. Schmidt, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, the United, and the CIO-UAW were represented by counsel and par- ticipated in the hearing. None of the other labor organizations served with notice of hearing appeared at 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. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. A stipulation dated April 22, 1940, and signed by the Company, the United, the CIO-UAW, and counsel for the Board was introduced in evidence. It provides as follows : IT IS FURTHER STIPULATED AND AGREED by and between the attor- neys for the respective parties hereto that the foregoing facts as stipulated and agreed to above are conceded for the purpose of this proceeding only and that they may be corroborated by the introduction of further evidence and testimony in support thereof, but not inconsistent therewith, either documentary or otherwise, and that this Stipulation shall in no manner limit or confine the further and more elaborate presentation by any party herein of any evidence tending to confirm or establish such facts, provided such evidence is not inconsistent therewith. International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated with the CIO, hereinafter called CIO-UAW, a party herein; United Aircraft Engine Workers, Inc., an independent organization, hereinafter called the United, a party herein; and General Motors Corporation, Allison Division, employer, a party- herein ; consider that : ' ' GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 805 I. Questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning repre- sentation of employees of the plant involved in the above entitled matter for the purpose of collective bargaining and the parties desire the earliest possible determination of such representation in said plant , as evidenced by the petition filed by the United. II. The introduction of testimony bearing upon the ultimate and final disposition of the issues in the proceeding would neces- sarily extend a hearing over a considerable period of time. III. The exigencies peculiar to this situation require the reso- lution of the differences between the parties hereto by the most expeditious method possible having due regard for the interests of all concerned. IV. This stipulation is adopted for use only because of the circumstances and the considerations above set forth and accord- ingly is being executed for the purposes of this proceeding only and shall not be considered a precedent applicable in any other proceeding before the National Labor Relations Board to which any of the signatories hereto shall be a party. IT IS THEREFORE STIPULATED AND AGREED BY TIM PARTIES HERETO AS FOLLOWS : The Board shall conduct an election among all production and maintenance employees , and mechanical employees in engineer- ing department shop, of the General Motors Corporation, Alli- son Division , who were in the employ of, or on the seniority list during the pay period in which April 1, 1940, fell; excluding, however, direct representatives of the management , such as offi- cers and directors of the General Motors Corporation , Allison Division , sales managers and assistant sales managers , factory managers and assistant factory managers , directors and employees of the Personnel and Industrial Relations Department , directors of purchases and assistant directors of purchases, superintend- ents and assistant superintendents , general foremen, foremen, and assistant foremen, and all other persons working in a. supervisory capacity , including those having the right to hire or discharge and those whose duties include recommendation as to hiring or discharging ( but not leaders ), time study men, plan protection employees , all clerical employees , chief engineers and shift oper- ating engineers in power plants , designing ( drawing board), estimating and planning engineers , draftsmen , and detailers, technical school students and metallurgists , to determine whether they desire to be represented by the International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, (affiliated with the CIO) or the United Aircraft Engine Workers, Inc. or neither. That in said election the ballot shall provide for a choice between "CIO- 283034-41-vol. 23-52 .806 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD UAW" and "UNITED AfRCRAFT ENGINE WORKERS , INC." and "NEITHER." It is agreed that, without limiting the foregoing, the following described employees shall be within the above exclusions : Proc- ess Engineers, responsible for the quality and precision of prod- uct, parts and component parts constituting the complete product, who are on salary; Field service men, who follow up, render product service in field and who serve as trouble shooters, and who are on salary; Laboratory attendant, who conducts tests and studies, and research work on the materials used in manu- facture of product, and who is on salary; Inspection engineers, who check function and operation from the standpoint of per- formance of efficiency and durability of product, and who are on salary; Storekeepers, who control the procurement, issuance and distribution of parts, commodities and supplies, and who are on salary. - , 1 ; i , The appropriate bargaining unit in connection with collective bargaining in General Motors Corporation, Allison Division, is the plant or group of related buildings or plants operating under the common local resident manager in the same local community, producing similar or related products, or craft subdivisions within all plants as may be selected by the employees therein. That in support of the bargaining unit and the method of ascertaining herein, the following facts are admitted : That General Motors Corporation was originally a holding cor- poration owning all or substantially all of the stock of subsidiary corporations engaged in the manufacture of different products and in selling the same. In a few additional instances General Motors Corporation also owned a minority stock interest in other manufacturing corporations. Over a period of years through liquidation of or purchase from these wholly owned subsidiaries engaged in manufacturing operations General Motors Corpora- tion itself took over and engaged in the manufacturing operations of substantially all of these wholly owned subsidiaries without, however, disturbing or affecting the independence of the manage- ments of the plants or operations involved, the diversification of the products of these separate operations or to any material ex- tent the physical locations thereof. As a result General Motors Corporation maintains today a decentralized management for its respective plants. It maintains plants in forty-two cities, in twelve states from Connecticut to California. It manufactures and produces a wide variety of products, turning out in some plants as many as 1200 different items and it engages in a number of businesses, many of which are of dissimilar nature. GENERAL. MOTORS CORPORATION 807 That sometime late in 1937 or in the early part of 1938 the United Aircraft Engine Workers, Inc., initiated organizational activities among the production and maintenance employees, me- wchanical. employees in the engineering department shop at the plant of the Allison Division of General Motors Corporation and that early in 1938 a group of employees claimed that they repre- sented members of their organization and desired to act for their member employees of the Allison Division of General Motors Corporation. That the United Aircraft Engine Workers, Inc., in letter dated September 20,1939, claimed to represent all hourly paid employees in all shifts and made demands upon the Allison Division of Gen- eral Motors Corporation for the right to exclusively bargain for all hourly paid employees and that such demands have been re- fused on the grounds that the employer would not know whether the party making the demand represented a majority of the employees of the plant in question. That the UAWA-CIO sent two letters to the General Motors Corporation, Allison Division, dated August 14, 1939, and De- cember 15, 1939, making certain demands upon the Company, as appears more specifically in the letters marked Board's Exhibits Six and Seven, and received in evidence on Page 17 of the tran- script of the record of April 18, 1940, in the above case. Labor Organizations Each of the Unions, parties hereto, acknowledges and agrees that each of the other Unions is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2 ( 5) of the National Labor Relations Act in that each of such organizations exists in whole or in part for the purpose of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes , wages, rates of pay, hours of employment and conditions of work , and that each of such organizations claims jurisdiction over the employees in the respective bargaining units hereinbefore claimed and described. It is further stipulated by the parties hereto that all of the provisions of this stipulation are essential elements to the agree- ment of the parties hereto evidenced by this stipulation , and that it is entered into and submitted to the National Labor Relations Board for its approval , contingent upon the Board 's acceptance of the stipulation in its entirety without modification of any of its provisions and all parties reserve the right severally to with- draw as parties to the stipulation in the event that the Board shall reject any provision or part of this stipulation or make any finding inconsistent therewith. '808 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD It is further stipulated that in the event the National Labor Relations Board accepts this stipulation in its entirety and bases its findings, and order thereon, the parties hereto agree that they will not petition for any rehearing of this case on the issue of the appropriate bargaining unit involved herein. The Board hereby approves the stipulation. Upon the basis of the above stipulation and the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 2 General Motors Corporation is a DBlaware corporation with its principal business office in New York City and other offices located in Detroit, Michigan. For business reasons it functions with several unincorporated divisions, one of which is Allison Division which maintains a plant at Speedway City, Indiana, at which it manufactures bearings, aircraft engines, and aircraft-engine parts. Well over 50 per cent in value of productive materials, including raw and fabricated or partially fabricated articles, used in the manufacturing operations of Allison Division of General Motors Corporation is obtained from sources outside the State of Indiana, and well over 85 per cent of its finished products are shipped upon completion to points outside the' State of Indiana. These shipments of materials and products nor- mally occur at regular intervals during each week that the plant is in operation and the greater part of them are moved by motor carrier, rail carrier, and other types of carriers. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Aircraft Engine Workers, Inc., is an unaffiliated labor or- ganization admitting to membership all production and maintenance employees, and mechanical employees in engineering department shop, of the Allison Division of the Company. International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organ- izations. It admits to membership the same classes of employees of the Allison Division of the Company as the United. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. 2 The facts set forth in this section are taken from a stipulation entered into by counsel for the Board and the Company on April 16, 1940. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 809 IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has ii,risen 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. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT We find that all production and maintenance employees, and me- chanical employees in engineering department shop, of the General Motors Corporation, Allison Division, excluding direct representa- tives of the management, such as officers and directors of the General Motors Corporation, Allison Division, sales managers and assistant sales managers, factory managers and assistant factory managers, di- rectors and employees of the Personnel and Industrial Relations Department, directors of purchases and assistant directors of pur- chases, superintendents and assistant superintendents, general fore- men, foremen, and assistant foremen, and all other persons working in a supervisory capacity, including those having the right to hire or discharge and those whose duties include recommendation as to hiring or discharging (but not leaders), time-study men, plant-protection employees, all clerical employees, chief engineers and shift-operating engineers in power plants, designing (drawing board), estimating, and planning engineers, draftsmen and detailers, technical school stu- dents, and metallurgists,' constitute a unit for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefits of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find that an election by secret ballot will best resolve the ques- tion concerning representation. We shall direct an election among i Without limiting the above exclusions the following described employees are within such exclusions : process engineers , responsible for the quality and precision of product, parts, and component parts constituting the complete product, who are on salary ; field service men , who follow up, render product service in field, and who serve as trouble shoot- ers, and who are on salary; laboratory attendant, who conducts tests and studies, and research work on the materials used in manufacture of product , and who is on salary ; Inspection engineers , who check function and operation from standpoint of performance of efficiency and durability of product and who are on salary ; storekeepers , who control the procurement , issuance , and distribution of parts, commodities, and supplies, and who are on salary. 810 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the employees in the appropriate unit in accordance with the stipula- tion of the parties. 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 of employees of General Motors Corporation, Allison Divi- sion, Speedway City, Indiana, 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, and mechanical em- ployees in engineering department shop, of the General Motors Cor- poration, Allison Division, excluding direct representatives of the management, such as officers and directors of the General Motors Corporation, Allison Division, sales managers and assistant sales managers, factory managers and assistant factory managers, directors and employees of the Personnel and Industrial Relations Department, directors of purchases and assistant, directors of purchases, superin- tendents and assistant superintendents, general foremen, foremen, and assistant foremen, and all other persons working in a supervisory capacity, including those having the right to hire or discharge and those whose duties include recommendation as to hiring or discharg- ing (but not leaders), time-study inen, plant-protection employees, all clerical employees, chief engineers and shift-operating engineers in,power plants, designing (drawing board), estimating, and planning engineers, draftsmen and detailers, technical school students, and metallurgists, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col- lective'bargaining within'the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act. 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, 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 purposes of collective bargaining with General Motors Corporation, Allison -Division, Indianapolis, Indiana, 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 of Election, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Eleventh Region, acting in this matter ,as GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 811 agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all production and maintenance employees and mechanical employees in engineering department shop, of the General Motors Corporation, Allison Divi- sion, who were in the employ of, or on the seniority list during the pay period in which April 1, 1940, fell, excluding direct representa- tives of the management, such as officers and directors of the General Motors Corporation, Allison Division, sales managers and assistant sales managers, factory managers and assistant factory managers, directors and employees of the Personnel and Industrial Relations. Department, directors of purchases and assistant directors of pur- chases, superintendents and assistant superintendents, general fore- men, foremen, and assistant foremen, and all other persons working in a supervisory capacity, including those having the right to hire or discharge and those whose duties include recommendation as to hir- ing or discharging (but not leaders), time-study men, plant-protec- tion employees, all clerical employees, chief engineers and shift- operating engineers in power plants, designing (drawing board), estimating, and planning engineers, draftsmen and detailers, tech- nical school students, and metallurgists, to determine whether they desire to be represented by United Aircraft Engine Workers, Inc.,. or by CIO-UAW, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.