International Harvester Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 11, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 527 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY-CANTON
WORKS and UNITED FARM EQUIPMENT AND METAL WORKERS OF
AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 13-R-3,076.-Decided March, 11, 1946
Mr. W. L. Hallam, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Meyers & Meyers, by Mr. Ben Meyers , of Chicago , Ill., for the
C..I.O.
Mr. Walker Butler, of Chicago , Ill., for the Association.
Mr. Warren H. Leland, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Farm Equipment and Metal
Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of International Harvester Company-Canton
Works, Canton, Illinois, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice before Gustaf B. Erickson, Trial Examiner. The hearing was
held at Peoria, Illinois, on December 11, 1945. The Company, the
C. I. 0., and the Canton Employees Association, herein called the
Association, 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 Ex-
aminer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file
briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
3 At the hearing the Association's motion to intervene in its own behalf was granted.
66 N. L. R. B., No. 69.
527
S28 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
International Harvester Company is a New Jersey corporation with
its principal offices in Chicago, Illinois. The Company operates plants
in the States of Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Ten-
nessee, and California. This proceeding is concerned solely with the
Company's plant at Canton, Illinois, known as the Canton Works,
where it is engaged in the manufacture of ordnance items and tillage
implements.
Raw materials valued in excess of $100,000 are each year shipped to
the Canton Works from points located outside the State of Illinois.
Approximately the entire annual production of the Canton Works,
which is valued in excess of $1,000,000, is shipped to points located
outside the State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Farm Equipment and Metal Workers of America is a labor
organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Canton Employees Association is an unaffiliated labor organization,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On September 18, 1945, the C. I. 0., by letter, requested recognition
as the exclusive bargaining agent for the Company's office and clerical
employees. The Company refused such recognition until the C. I. O.
had been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. The Asso-
ciation interposes as a bar to this proceeding a contract dated Sep-
tember 21, 1945, which covers the employees sought by the C. I. O.
From 1937 to 1941 the Association bargained with the Company,
without written contract, for all the Company's employees at the
Canton Works, excluding supervisory employees. In March 1941 the
Association and the Company continued their bargaining relations by
written agreement for 1 year. In July 1942, following consent elec-
tions involving certain crafts in the plant, these same parties entered
into a new written agreement to cover all of the factory and office
employees at the Company's Canton Works, except for supervisory
employees, and clerical and office employees who exercised functions
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY-CANTON WORKS 529
of management, or who acted in a confidential capacity. This con-
tract was terminable on the 27th day of July next following the close
of hostilities.
On December 14, 1943, following elections held under auspices of
the Board, the Association was certified as bargaining agent in a
separate unit of office and clerical employees; thereafter, the Associa-
tion was also certified by the Board as the bargaining representative
of employees in a production and maintenance unit.2 Having been
certified in both units, the Association continued to bargain with the
Company under the terms of the 1942 agreement.
However, following an election held on July 11, 1945, District 5v,
United Mine workers of America, was certified by the Board as bar-
gaining agent in the unit of the Company's production and mainte-
nance employees .3 The Association then executed a document
extending the July 1942 contract, insofar as the clerical and office
workers were concerned, for 30 days. It was then extended by oral
agreement until such time as the parties could enter into a new con-
tract. On September 21, 1945, they executed the agreement now
raised as a bar. As noted above, however, the C. I. O. gave notice to
the Company of its rival claim to representation before the making
of the contract of September 21, 1945. Hence, this contract cannot
serve to preclude a present determination of representatives 4
The Association also contends that the petition should be dismissed
in accordance with the doctrine enunciated in the Allis-Chalmers
case.5 But that case stands solely for the principle that a newly
recognized or certified representative is entitled to a reasonable op-
portunity to obtain a collective bargaining contract, when delay in
obtaining such an agreement is caused by resort to the orderly proc-
esses of governmental agencies. In the instant case, there has not
been delay caused by resort to the orderly process of governmental
agencies, nor for that matter is the Association a newly recognized
or certified representative of the office and clerical employees.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate?
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 Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
2 See 52 N. L. R. B. 1545 ( Decision and Direction of Elections).
2 See 61 N. L. R. B. 1199 ( Decision and Direction of Election).
* See Matter of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, 55 N. L. R. B. 521.
6 50 N. L. R. B. 306.
E The Field Examiner reported that the C. I. O. submitted 75 membership cards
bearing the names of 65 employees listed on the Company's pay roll of October 18,
1945. There are approximately 229 employees in the appropriate unit.
The Association relies on its contracts of 1942 and 1945, both of which contained
maintenance of membership clauses, as proof of its interest in this proceeding.
686572-46--35
530 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The C. I. 0. contends that the appropriate bargaining unit should
consist of all office and clerical employees at the Canton Works, in-
cluding the full-time telephone operator and the full -time teletype
operator , but excluding all employees in the industrial relations de-
partment , all employees in the methods and rate department , except
typists, all employees in the engineering department ( experimental)
and product design ), cashiers , cashiers ' clerks, secretary to the works
manager, auditor , works engineer, chief engineer ( experimental and
product design ), material controller , buyer, head of the methods and
rate department , employees in the plant protection department, as-
sistant supervisors , and all other supervisory employees with au-
thority to hire, promote , discharge , discipline , or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees , or effectively recommend such
action?
In addition , the C. I. 0. desires the inclusion of the three draftsmen
in the plant engineering department . The Company and the Asso-
ciation agree to the unit sought, except that they would exclude the
three draftsmen in the plant engineering department.
The Company maintains an experimental and product design engi-
neering department and a plant engineering department . In each of
these departments there are employed three draftsmen . When the
Board certified the Association as the collective bargaining agent of
employees of the office and clerical unit in December 1943, all em-
ployees in the experimental and product design engineering depart-
ment, including the three draftsmen in that department , were ex-
cluded from the appropriate unit. In the absence of dispute , however,
the three draftsmen in the plant engineering department were not
specifically excluded from the unit. The record now discloses that
these employees have creative abilities and technical skills which par-
allel those of the draftsmen in the experimental and product design
engineering department . Accordingly, we shall exclude the three
draftsmen of the plant engineering department from the unit as
technical employees.
We find that all office and clerical employees of the Company at
its Canton Works, including the full -time telephone operator , and the
full-time teletype operator , but excluding all employees in the indus-
trial relations department , all employees in the methods and rates
department ( except typists ), all employees in the engineering depart-
ment ( experimental and product design ), the draftsmen in the plant
engineering department , cashiers , cashiers ' clerks, secretary to the
works manager, auditor , works engineer , chief engineer (experimental
T Except for changes in the title of certain supervisory officials , this unit is the
same as the office and clerical unit found appropriate in 52 N. L. R. B. 1545.
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY-CANTON WORKS S31
and product design), material controller, buyer, head of the methods
and rate department, employees in the plant protection department,
assistant supervisors, and all other supervisory employees with au-
thority 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 meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employ-
ees 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.
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 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with International
Harvester Company-Canton Works; Canton, Illinois, 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 Article III, Sections 10 and
11, of said Rules and Regulations, among 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 temporarily laid off, and in-
cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre-
sent 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 they desire to be represented by United Farm Equipment
and Metal Workers of America, C. I. 0., or by Canton Employees
Association, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.