Genreal Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 25, 1938

9 N.L.R.B. 1213 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of GENEIUL ELECTRIC COMPANY, NEWARK LAMP WARE-
HOUSE and UNITED ' ELECTRICAL; RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF
AMERICA , C. I., O.
Case No. R-100.-Decided November 25, 1938
Electrical Products Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives:
controversy concerning representation of employees : controversy concerning
appropriate unit ; employer 's refusal to grant recognition of union prior to
certification by Board-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: warehouse
employees , except supervisory employees , office, clerical and salaried workers,
and all teamsters , chauffeurs , and drivers ; controversy as to whether truck
drivers , eligible to membership in petitioning union and desiring inclusion with
inside warehouse workers; should be-excluded from industrial ` unit in accordance
with prayer of petition ; truck drivers excluded : absence of community of in-
terest ; agreement of petitioner with teamsters ' union not to organize truck
drivers in metropolitan-area plants ; extent of organization of employees-Cer-
tification of Representatives : upon proof of designation by majority in appro-
priate unit.
Mr. Richard 'J. Hickey, for the Board.
Mr. Quincy D. Baldwin, of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. Samuel L. Rothbard, of Newark, N. J., for the United.
Mr. Bernard Clark, pro se, and for eight other employees.
Mr. Eugene R. Thorrens, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On May 6, 1938, United Electrical, Radio and Machine ,Workers
of America, herein called the United, filed with the Regional Director
for the Second Region (New York City) a petition alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of General Electric Company, Newark Lamp Ware-
house, Newark, New Jersey, herein called the Company, and request-
ing an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein
called the Act., On September 2, 1938, the National Labor Relations
Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of
9 N. L. IL B., No. 111.
1213
1214 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an
investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and
to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On, September 23, 1938, the Regional Director. issued a notice of
bearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
the United. On October 1, 1938, the United filed an amended peti-
tion.1 Copies of the amended petition, accompanied by amended
notices of hearing, were duly served upon all parties. Pursuant to
the notice, a hearing was held on October 7, 1938, at Newark, New
Jersey, before Harlow Hurley, the Trial Examiner duly designated
by the Board. The Board, the Company, and the United were repre-
sented by counsel: Bernard,Clark, a truck driver in the Company's
employ, appeared' at the hearing, claiming to represent himself and
eight other truck drivers. All participated in the hearing. Full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing upon the issues- was afforded to all
parties. During the course of the 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 errors were committed. The rulings are, hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 2
General Electric Company, a New York corporation, is engaged in
the manufacture of a large variety of electrical devices and equip-
ment, including incandescent lamps. In addition to other manu-
facturing plants, the Company operates incandescent lamp factories
in Cleveland, Niles, Warren, Euclid and Youngstown, Ohio; East
Boston, Massachusetts; Oakland, California; Providence, Rhode Is-
land; St. Louis, Missouri; Bridgeville, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New
York and Newark, New Jersey. The Company maintains a ware-
house in Newark, solely for the storage and distribution of its in-
candescent lamps. Only the employees of the Newark Lamp Ware-
house are involved in this proceeding.
The Company ships lamps in the finished state, from its several
lamp factories to the Newark Warehouse, where the lamps are stocked
and, upon order, shipped to customers and agents of the Company in
various States and foreign countries. During the first 6 months of
1In its amended petition the United narrowed the unit which it claimed to be appro-
priate by the exclusion of the Company 's truck drivers
2 The findings in this section are based upon a stipulation of the parties.
DECISIONS AND 0EDEIts 1215
1938, the Company shipped from its factories to the Warehouse ap-
proximately 84,500,000 lamps, of which approximately 24 per cent
originated in factories in States other than New Jersey. In the same
period the Company shipped from the Warehouse approximately
71,890,000 lamps, of which approximately 80 per cent were sent to
points outside the State of New Jersey.
For the purposes of this proceeding, the Company stipulated that
it is engaged in• interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act,
and consented to the exercise of the Board's jurisdiction.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America is a
labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Or-
ganization, admitting to membership all employees of the Company's
Newark Lamp Warehouse.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The provisions of a national contract entered into between the
United and the Company require, inter alia, that the Company recog-
nize the United. as • the sole collective. bargaining, agent for the em-
ployees of those'General Electric -plants -where the United through a
National Labor Relations Board election oi certification has been
designated as the exclusive representative for collective bargaining
purposes. The Company has refused to accord the United such
recognition prior to certification by the Board that it has been so
designated.
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Company at its Newark Lamp Warehouse.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring 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
In its amended petition the United claims a unit composed of
all warehouse employees, except supervisory employees, office and
clerical workers, salaried workers, and all teamsters, chauffeurs, and
drivers,, to be proper fbr- the purposes of collective 'bargaining. In
its original petition the United regarded the Company's truck drivers
1216 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
as within the appropriate unit, and prior to the filing of the amended
petition , made an abortive attempt to enroll them in its member-
ship. The truck drivers, all of whom refuse to join the United,
seek to be included with the inside warehouse employees in the ap-
propriate unit. At the hearing the Company asserted a neutral
position.
' The record in this proceeding discloses that the truck drivers con-
sist of 'a class of semi-skilled employees who are required under local
law to obtain • motor vehicle operators ' licenses for the pursuit of their
occupation . By the very nature of their duties , they work outside
the Company 's property . The truck drivers, including a part-time
platform man , and a part-time mechanic who also work as truck
drivers, receive a substantially higher rate of compensation than
that paid to the, relatively unskilled shipping , receiving and order
clerks, order checkers and assemblers , and others , who work inside
the warehouse . The hours of work of each group also differ. The
truck drivers operate under' a ' 45-houi maximum workweek; the
inside warehouse employees work , a weekly maximum of 40 hours.
With rare exception, no interchange of-work exists between the ware-
house clerks and, the , truck , drivers. Mpiieover, there is evidence that
during the year preceding the hearing each group has dealt sep-
arately, through its own informal shop committee , with the manage-
ment concerning its respective grievances , with satisfactory results.
The history of labor relations at the Company's Warehouse, even
though short, thus indicates that collective bargaining can be suc-
cessful with a division of the employees into two groups for the
purposes of bargaining.
Although the United does not exclude truck drivers from its mem-
bership, it appears that it is the policy of the United , in recognition
of the ,existing bargaining strength of the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Stablemen , and Helpers of America , in large
urban centers , to urge truck drivers in such areas to join the Brother-
hood. The justification for the United's departure from its more
familiar mode of organization is illustrated by the Company's ex-
perience in the teamsters ' recent general strike in New York City
when Company trucks, operated by non-Brotherhood drivers, were
barred from the piers in New York harbor , necessitating the transf' r
of shipments from Company trucks to those chauffeured by Brother-
hood members. In Newark , which is considered a part of the metro-
politan area of New York City, the United has modified its plant-
wide form of organization in practice by a verbal working arrange-
ment with the Brotherhood 's Newark 'representative .' Thus it is ap-
parent not only that little community of interest exists between the
Company's ' inside warehouse ' workers and its truck drivers, but also
that the'United 's' interest; as embodied in its agreement with the
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 1217
Brotherhood, in attempting to avoid the possibility of disharmony
within labor's own ranks, deserves recognition.
Furthermore, as between two or more possible appropriate units,
we are inclined to adopt the position of the only labor organization
in the case,' based upon the extent. of its successful organization
among the employees, since to heed the request of the unorganized
truck drivers would' hamper rather than facilitate collective 'bar-'
gaining at the Company's warehouse.3
• Under these circumstances, we conclude that the truck drivers
should be excluded from the appropriate unit., -Accordingly, we find
that all warehouse employees at the Company's Newark Lamp Ware-_
house, except supervisory employees, office, clerical and salaried
workers, and all teamsters, chauffeuis, and drivers, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining with such,;Com-
pany with respect to rates of pay, wages; 'hours of employment, and!
other conditions of 'employment, and that said unit will insure to
employees of the Company the full.' benefit of their right to self-'
organization and to collective, bargaining and otherwise. effectuate
the policies of the Act.,
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing the Trial Examiner appointed a committee, consist'
ing of the attorney for the Board, the attorney for the'United, and
the manager of the Company's Warehouse, to examine, during it recess
period, membership application cards introduced by the United and
compare the signatures appearing thereon with signatures of, em-
ployees endorsed on canceled pay-roll checks which were produced
by the Company. After recess the committee reported that 14 of
the 16 cards bore genuine signatures of employees, 1 bore a printed
signature , making it impossible for the committee to determine its
genuineness , and the remaining card was that of an employee who
worked in a department of the Company not involved in this pro-
ceeding. The committee's findings, were incorporated in the record
without objection. The United's shop committeeman testified that
Michael Noonan, a warehouse employee, printed his name 'as' his
signature on the card in question in the presence of the witness. 'A
check of the cards with a job-classification list, submitted by the,
Company, shows that the applicants who signed the cards are ware-
'See Matte, of R C. A Communications , Inc and American Radio Teleg , aphists'
Association, 2 N. L. R . B 1109; ' Matter of Chase Brass and Copper Co, Inc and''
Waterbury Brass Workers' Union,'4 N. L.'R. B. 47; Matter of Gulf Oil Corp. and Inter-
national Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders , Welders & Helpers of America,
4 N. 1. R B . 133; Matter ' of Associated Press and , The American Newspaper Guild,
5 N. L R . B., 43; Matter of United Shipyards, Inc and Locals No. 12, .No 13,. No. 15 of
The Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, 5 N..L R. B. 742;
Matter of Postal Telegraph -Cable Coihpani, ' of Massachusetts and American Radio'Telep'
raphists' Association , 7 N.; L., R . B.'444. ; ' „
1218 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
house employees of the Company within the unit which we have
found to be appropriate. The list further shows that the Company
employed.24 persons at the time of the filing of the petition in this
proceeding who are classified as inside warehouse employees.
We find, therefore, that the United has been designated and
selected by a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as
their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is,
therefore, the exclusive representative of all the employees in such
unit for the purpose of collective bargaining,,and, we,will-so•certify.
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 the Newark Lamp Warehouse of General
Electric Company, Newark, New Jersey, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
2. The warehouse employees of the Company at its Newark Lamp
Warehouse, Newark, New Jersey, excluding supervisory employees,
office, clerical and salaried workers, and'all teamster's, chauffeurs,.and
drivers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
3. United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America is
the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for
the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section
9 (a)- of the National Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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 1, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America has been designated and selected by a majority
of the employees of the Newark Lamp Warehouse of General Electric
Company, Newark, New Jersey, excluding supervisory employees,
office, clerical and salaried workers, and all teamsters, chauffeurs and-
drivers, as their representative for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing and that, pursuant to the provisions-of Section 9 (a) of the Act,
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America is the
exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of
collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay., wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment: - -