General Tire and Rubber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 4, 1944

55 N.L.R.B. 250 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

, I n the Matter of GENERAL TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY and INTERNA-
T10NAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS , WAREHOUSEMEN
<< HELPERS OF AMERICA, A. F. L., LocAI 759
Case No. 13-R-2213.Decided March 44, 1944
Mr. A. J. Teuusch, of Wabash ; Ind., for the Company.
Mr. O. B. Chambers, of Kokomo, Ind., for the Union.
dir. Armin Uhler, of counsel to the Board.,
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION\OF ELECTION.
STATEMENT)OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Team-
sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, A. F. L., Local
759, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Gen-
eral Tire and Rubber Company, Wabash, Indiana, herein called the
Company, the National Labor-Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before R. N. Denham, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Wabash, Indiana, on January 19, 1944. The
Company and the Union appeared and participated.' All parties were
afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial
Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to
file briefs with the Board.
Upon.the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
General Tire and Rubber Company is an Ohio corporation which
operates plants at Akron, Ohio, and Wabash, Indiana. At the latter
' Federal Labor Union No 22408 , A. F. of L , which heretofore represented the employees
involved and was served with Notice of Hearing did not participate , having waived all
interest in these proceedings.
55 N. L. R. B., No. 43. -
250
i
-GENERAL TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY 251:
plant, the only one here involved, the Company manufactures me-
chanical rubber goods and airplline, tank, and gun parts , exclusively
for war purposes.
During the year 1943, the Company purchased raw materials, con-
sisting chiefly of rubber and' its various compounds, which exceeded
1 million dollars in value. More than 90',percent of these materials
was shipped to the Company's Wabash plant from points outside the
State of Indiana. During the same period the Company manufac-
tured products valued at more than 1 million dollars, at least 90 per-
cent-of which, was shipped to destniations outside the State of
Indiana.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Teamsters . Chauffeurs , Warehouse-
men & Helpers of America. Local i 59.' affiliated with 'the American
Federation of Labor, is a labor organizat i on admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about November 22, 1943, the Union communicated with the
Company for the purpose of entering upon negotiations for a contract
covering the Company's shipping and receiving employees, truck
drivers and helpers, whom ]t claimed t,o represent. Tlie Company did
not reply to the Union's written request because of the alleged exist-
ence of a 'contract with Federal Labor Union No. 22408 covering all
production and maintenance employees as well as employees claimed
by the Union.2 Since then Federal Labor Union No. 22408 has ceded
jurisdiction over the employees here concerned, but the Company
challenges the appropriateness of including them in a separate unit
as requested in the Union's petition.
A statement of a Field Examiner, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
2 On August 9, 1941, the Company and Local No 22408 of the Ainei can Federation of
Labor (referred to in the record as Federal Labor Union No 22408) entered into a col-
lective agreement in behalf of all emplo5eec of the Company's Wabash Indiana . plant,
exclusive of foiemen, supervisors . inspectors, timekeepers . watchmen , laboratory employees,
clerks and salaried employees' Prior to the expiration of this agreement on December
31, 1942, the parties concluded a new contract similar in terms . to riot from October 11,
1942, until October 11, 1943 Negotiations for certain modifications of the latter agree-
ment were pending at the time of the commencement of-this proceeding.
' The Field ' Examiner reported that The Union submitted 22 membership application
cards , that the names of 16 person ,, appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's
pay roll of January 7, 1944: that there were 25 employees in the appropriate unit ; and
that 19 of the cards
undated.
were dated between Octobei and December 1943, 3 caids being
252 DECISIONS OF' NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Sectiton 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union asks for a unit of the Company's shipping and receiv-
ing employees, including dockmen, truck drivers, and helpers, but ex-
cluding foremen and supervisors. The Company is opposed to the
inclusion of these employees in a unit separate from that of the pro-
duction group.
The record shows that the Company has three so-called departments
under the general supervision of the purchasing agent in which the,
employees 'sought to be represented by the Union are listed. The
shipping department 4 is located in the shipping room and contains
employees whose duties consist entirely in preparing finished products
for shipment and assisting in loading the merchandise so prepared on
trucks backed up against the building which houses the shipping room.
At times they collect completed orders in the production department
in order to accelerate the shipping process. The shipping department
is in the immediate charge of the traffic manager and a supervisory
.shipping clerk 5
The receiving department ° embraces the employees who unload and
store the materials delivered to the Company's plant by railroad and
truck. They also distribute the materials with the aid of small hand
trucks, as and when requested by the several production departments.
The receiving department is in charge of a foreman and an assistant
foreman. The former performs strictly supervisory duties and he has
power to discipline and to recommend effectively the hiring and dis-
missal of employees in his department. The latter, although he re-
ceives his daily instructions from the foreman and spends some 40
percent of his time in assisting in the work assigned to his subordi-
nates, has full charge of separate groups of receiving employees who
operate in different parts of the plant: In the performance of his
duties the assistant foreman may make disciplinary reports direct to
4 At the time of the hearing there were nine non-supervisory employees in this depart-
ment which is referred to in the records of the Company as Department 26.
'The iecord is not clear as to whether or not the Union desires the exclusion of the
supervisory shipping clerk from the unit. This employee receives the daily' working
schedules and is responsible for the assi.ument of the work and its proper performance
'by. the employees in his department He has disciplinary powers ; he makes requests for
and accepts or rejects additional help furnished by the employment department, and he
can effectively recommend the hiring or dismissal of employees in his department We
shall therefore exclude the supervisory shipping clerk from the unit.
0 This department is listed by the Company as Department 1, and contained 16 non-
supervisoiy employees at the time of hearing.
GENERAL TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY 253
the personnel department and without the approval of the foreman.
Likewise, he can independently recommend discharge or employment
of men in his department. We find that the assistant foreman is a
supervisory employee and we shall exclude him from the unit.
The third department here-involved contains a single truck driver
whose varying duties subject him to the partial supervision of both
the office manager and the traffic manager. This employee operates
a small panel truck for the carrying of incoming and outgoing mail,
parcel post, and air express shipments, and the performance of mis-
cellaneous errands.
The record thus clearly shows that the employees, in the foregoing
classifications are not directly concerned with the production of goods
and that the unit requested by the Union 7 is well defined and readily
distinguishable from the production and maintenance group.8 We
must also take into consideration that Federal Labor Union No. 22408,
which heretofore represented the elnployees.involved, has relinquished
jurisdiction over them. Insofar as the record is concerned, it must
be assumed that that union is neither willing nor constitutionally able
to bargain for these employees in the future, so that dismissal of the
present petition would deprive them of an opportunity to designate a
new bargaining representative. Under all the circumstances we find
that all shipping 'and receiving employees, and truck drivers of the
Company, excluding foremen, assistant foremen, the supervisory ship-
ping clerk, and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
7 The Company has no employees in the other categories mentioned in the petition, such
as dockmen and helpers.
8 Cf. Matter of Medo Photo Supply Corporation, 43 N. L. R. B. 989 ; Matter of Prentice-
Hall, Inc., 39 N. L. R. B. 92.
There is evidence that permanent transfers of employees from the Company ' s ship-
ping and receiving departments to the production departments are made with some
frequency However, there is no indication of interchange of employees in these groups
which would present an obstacle to their separation.
254 DECISIONS OF NATION_^L LABOR RELATIONS 'BOARD
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the pow-er,vested in-the National Labor
Relations Board by' Section 9 (c) of the -National Labor Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III,'Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series `3, it is hereby -
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargeunng with General Tire and,
Rubber Company, Wabash, 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, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the' Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter,
as agent for the National Labor, Relations Board,'and subject to Arti-
cle III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, 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 vacation or tempo-
rarily 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 discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the
election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen
& Helpers of -America, Local 759, affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.