General Motors Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsNov 25, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 757 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, HARRISON RADIATOR DIVISION, EMPLOYER and UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRI- CULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER In the Matter of GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, HARRISON RADIATOR DIVISION, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRI- CAL WORKERS, AFL, LOCAL No. B-41, PETITIONER Cases Nos. 3-R-13.43 and 3-R-1368, respectively.-Decided November 25, 1946 Mr. William J. 0ldani, of Detroit, Mich., for the Employer. Messrs. David Diamond and Edward T. Gray , of Buffalo, N. Y., for the U. A. W. Mr. Neil J. Cunningham, of Buffalo, N. Y., for the I. B. E. W. Mr. H. I . Smith, of Buffalo, N . Y., for the I. A. M. Mr. Herbert C. Kafle , of counsel to the Board. DECISION DIRECTION OF ELECTION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES Upon separate petitions duly filed, the National Labor Relations Board, on September 26, 1946, conducted a prehearing election among production and maintenance employees of the Employer's Kensing- ton plant, excluding maintenance electricians and helpers, among others, to determine whether they desired to be represented by the U. A. W. or by the I. A. M., for the purposes of collective bargain- ing, or by neither. At the close of the election, the parties were furnished a Tally of Ballots. The Tally shows that of the approximately 995 eligible voters, 644 voted for the U. A. W., 163 voted for the I. A. M., and 131 voted against both participating labor organizations; in addi- tion, there were 5 void ballots. Thereafter, a consolidated hearing was held at Buffalo, New York, on October 22, 1946, before Philip Licari, hearing officer.' The hear- I The Employer , the U A. W , and the I B E W appeared and participated at the hear- ing, but the I. A DI failed to make an appearance 71 N L R B., No. 129 757 758 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. - After the close of the hearing, the I. B. E. W. moved to sever the cases for the purposes of decision, and the Employer interposed an objection to this proposed procedure. The motion is hereby denied. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. TILE BUSINESS OF TILE EMPLOYER General Motors Corporation is a Delaware corporation, having its principal office in Detroit, Michigan. In Buffalo , New York, it operates the Kensington plant of the Harrison Radiator Division, the only plant here involved. In excess of 50 percent of the raw materials used at this plant is shipped from points outside the State of New York, and 50 percent of the goods processed at this plant is shipped to points outside that State. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. TiIE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Work- ers of America, herein called the U. A. W., is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local B-41, herein called the I. B. E. W., is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. International Association of Machinists, herein called the I. A. M., is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor , claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 0 III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer has r6fused to recognize either the U. A. W. or the I. B. E. W. as exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until either or both have been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit or units. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen, concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 759 IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT ; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES When only the U. A. W.'s petition in Case No. 3-R-1353 was pend- ing before the Board, the Employer, the U. A. W. and the I. A. M. stipulated that a consent election be conducted by the Board in a unit consisting generally of the production and maintenance employees of the Kensington plant, including maintenance electricians and helpers. Before the consent election could be held, however, the I. B. E. W., on September 9, 1946, filed its petition in Case No. 3-R-1368, seeking a separate unit of the Kensington plant's maintenance electricians and helpers. As a result, the consent election was not conducted and, as noted above, a prehearing election was held in a voting unit of pro- duction and maintenance employees of the Kensington plant, exclud- ing maintenance electricians and helpers, with the U. A. W. and the I. A. M. on the ballot. At the hearing, the U. A. W. and the Employer contended that the maintenance electricians and helpers should be included as part of the production and maintenance grouping,' and the I. B. E. W., con- sistent with its petition, urged that these employees should constitute a separate unit. At the Kensington plant the Employer employs approximately 14 maintenance electricians and helpers who perform skilled electrical work. They are under the immediate supervision of an electrical foreman and under the ultimate supervision of the plant engineer, who is in charge of all maintenance work. Although these employees have occasion to work in various sections and departments of the plant, they are always under the supervision of the electrical foreman. They appear to be a homogeneous, skilled, readily identifiable group of em- ployees. We have frequently held that electricians like those involved in this proceeding comprise a distinct craft group and may be repre- sented in either a craft unit or a production and maintenance unit, depending, in part, upon their desires as expressed in a self-determi- nation election. The Employer and the U. A. W. argue, however, that the bargaining history of General Motors Corporation shows that, in almost every instance, electricians at its various plants have been bargained for as part of production and maintenance units. They therefore insist that the Kensington plant's electricians should not be found to constitute a separate unit. But in a number of cases involving the automobile industry the Board has directed self-determination elections among 2 It is clear that neither the Employer nor the U. A. W. waived this contention by par- ticipating in the prehearing election. 760 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD craft groups, where, as here, there has been no history of collective bargaining at the particular plant concerned .3 It is true that in the Delco Remy Division case, supra, the Board said : A study of the automobile industry reveals that union organizing and collective bargaining have followed a definite trend toward the industrial form of organization. Research with respect to General Motors Corporation, itself, discloses that in the majority of cases collective bargaining with both the UAW-CIO and the International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and the result ing contract units, have been on an industrial basis. We are im- pressed by this industrial history of collective bargaining, and particularly as it relates to the General Motors Corporation. However, while such history persuasively supports the Company's contention that an industrial unit is more appropriate, in view of the fact that there is no history of collective bargaining at this particular plant, we are constrained at the present time to adhere to our usual policy of permitting a craft group to constitute a separate appropriate unit. We nevertheless deem it advisable to emphasize that in future cases the trend in the automobile indus- try toward bargaining along industrial lines may impel us to regard such trend as warranting a denial of bargaining units requested on a craft basis. But the record now before us is not such as to indicate that the trend the Board recognized in that case has reached a point where,, in the absence of a history of bargaining at the plant involved predicated upon an all-inclusive unit, it must be regarded as outweighing the factors usually justifying self-determination elections among craft groups. We cannot, and need not, say what the conclusion might be on a different set of facts. We find that all production and maintenance employees, and me- chanical employees in the engineering department shops, of the Employer's Kensington plant, excluding employees of sales, account- ing, personnel and industrial relations department, superintendents 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 recommendations as to hiring and discharging (but not leaders), and those employees whose work is of a confidential 3 See , e g, Matter of General Motors Corporation, Delco Products Division, Plant D, 59 N L. R B 1210; Matter of Delco Remy Division , General Motors Corporation , 53 N. L. R. B. 110: Matter of Buick Motor Dtivis,on, General Motors Corporation, 40 N. L. R. B. 825; Matter of General Motors Corporation , Delco Products Dnnszon, 23 N. L. R. B. 1014. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 761 nature, time-study men, plant protection employees (but not to include maintenance patrolmen or fire patrolmen), all clerical employees, chief engineers and shift operating engineers in power plant, designing (drawing board), production, estimating and planning engineers, draftsmen and detailers, physicists, chemists, metallurgists, artists, designer-artists and clay plaster modelers, timekeepers, technical school students, indentured apprentices, and those technical or pro- fessional employees who are receiving training, kitchen and cafeteria help, maintenance electricians and helpers, constitute a unit appropri- ate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. Inasmuch as the U. A. W. won the pre- hearing election which was conducted among the employees in this unit, we shall certify it as their exclusive bargaining agent. Our unit determination and certification may, however, be enlarged, depending upon the result of the self-determination election we hereinafter direct, so as to include within their scope maintenance electricians and helpers. We shall direct that an election be held among the maintenance electricians and helpers of the Employer's Kensington plant excluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, subject to the limitations set forth in the Direction of Election herein, to determine whether they desire to be represented by the U. A. W. or the I. B. E. W., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. If these employees select the U. A. W. as their bargaining representative, they will be taken to have indicated a desire to be part of the production and maintenance unit established herein; if they select the I. B. E. W., however, they will be taken to have indicated a desire to constitute a separate craft unit. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with General Motors Corporation, Harrison Radiator Division , Buffalo, New York, 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 Director for the Third Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and sub- ject to Sections 203.55 and 203..56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the main- tenance electricians and helpers voting group , set forth in Section IV, supra, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction , including employees who did not work during said pay -roll period because they were ill or on vaca- 762 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD tioi or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis- charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine Whether they desire to be represented by United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, or by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, Local No. B-41, for the purposes of collective bargain- ing, or by neither. 0 CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES IT IS HEREBY CERTIPiED that United Automobile, Aircraft and Agri- cultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, has been designated and selected by a majority of all employees of General Motors Cor- poration, Harrison Radiator Division, Buffalo, New York, in the production and maintenance unit set forth in Section IV, supra, as their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, said organization is the exclusive bargaining representative of all such employees for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.