Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 18, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 922 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of MINNEAPOLIS-HONEYWELL REGULATOR COMPANY and
UNITED ELECTRICAL , RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA,
LOCAL 1145, C. I. O.
Case No. 18-R-1437.-Decided March 18, 1946
Mr. S. M. Sitz, of Minneapolis, Minn., for the Company.
Helstein and Hall, by Mr. Kenneth J. Enkel, of Minneapolis, Minn.,
for the Union.
Mr. Samuel M. Kaynard, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Electrical, Radio
and Machine Workers of America, Local 1145, C. I. 0., herein called
the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Minneapolis-Honey-
well Regulator Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap-
propriate hearing upon due notice before Clarence A. Meter, Trial
Examiner. The hearing was held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, on
February 1, 1946. The Company and the Union appeared and par-
ticipated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues. At the hearing, the Company moved the dismissal
of the petition on the ground discussed in Section III, infra. Ruling
on said motion was reserved by the Trial Examiner for the Board.
For reasons hereinafter stated, the motion is hereby denied. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded oppor-
tunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
66 N. L. R. B., No. 113.
922
MINNEAPOLIS -HONEYWELL REGULATOR COMPANY 923
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company is a Delaware cor-
poration , operating a plant 1 at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it is
engaged in the manufacture of automatic control devices such as
thermostat controls for heating and cooling apparatus. During the
year ending December 31, 1945, the Company purchased in excess of
$3,000,000 worth of raw materials, consisting principally of metals
and plastics , of which more than 75 percent was shipped to the plant
from points outside of the State oI Minnesota. For the same period,
the Company sold in excess of $10,000,000 worth of finished products,
of which more than 75 percent was shipped from the plant to points
outside the State of Minnesota.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local
1145, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations , admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By letter dated November 12, 1945, the Union informed the Coln-
pany that it represented a majority of its employees in the Photo-Lab
Department of the Minneapolis plant, and requested recognition as
sole and exclusive bargaining agency. By letter dated November 19,
1945, the Company refused to recognize the Union as requested.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate?
3 The Company is operating in Minneapolis at four locations, exclusive of warehousing
facilities . This proceeding covers the employees of the photo-lab department of the main
plant, located at 2747 Fourth Avenue, South , Minneapolis.
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted two authorization cards dated
October and November 1945, and that both cards bore the signatures of persons whose
names were listed on the Company 's pay roll of employees in the alleged appropriate
unit.
The pay roll , containing three names, was dated December 7, 1945.
At the time of the hearing there were 4 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
The Company employs a total of approximately 6,500 employees in all Minneapolis
locations.
At the close of the hearing , the Company moved to dismiss the petition on the ground
that the petitioner had failed to make sufficient showing of interest. The motion is
denied , inasmuch , as the petitioner showed substantial interest both at the time of the
filing of its petition and at the date of the bearing . See Matter of Celanese Corporation
of America, 60 N. L. R. B. 1144 ; Matter of Superior Coach Corporation , 39 N. L R. B.
926; Matter of Smith and Caffrey Company, 38 N, L , R B, 90,
924 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 Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit composed of all employees in the photo-
graphic laboratory of the Main Plant, separate and distinct from
the existing unit of maintenance and production employees. The
Company questions the appropriateness of the unit generally, and
furthermore objects to such a separate unit (as being fictional) in
view of the fact that the same local of the Union also represents the
production and maintenance employees of the Company.3 The latter
contention is without merit. Employees may be represented by what-
ever bargaining agency they choose. The Board has frequently held
that the same labor organization which presently represents the pro-
duction and maintenance employees may also represent other em-
ployees as collective bargaining agent in an appropriate unit.'
The employees of the department, consisting of a photographer,
a finisher, a copyflex operator and a photostat operator, are engaged
in the photography and finishing of pictures, in copying diagrams
and drawings, and in the making of photostats upon the request of
the various departments of the plant. They work in a laboratory
located on the fourth floor of the plant and consisting of two rooms,
one of which, the dark room, is separated from the other only by a
"light well." The door of the laboratory is kept locked, other em-
ployees having to ring for admittance. The employees are under
the nominal supervision of the sales manager who maintains his office
on the sixth floor. However, it appears that the sales manager visits
the department infrequently and that the work of the several em-
ployees is largely unsupervised. The functions of this department
are analogous to those of printing departments and blueprint de-
partments, which the Board has included in separate units.5 Because
of the specialized type of work performed in the laboratory, the phys-
ical separation of the laboratory from the other departments of the
8 Local 1145 has represented a unit of production and maintenance employees at the
plant since September 1942 Case No 18-R-1393 , filed by the local, and involving the
appropriateness of a unit of clerical employees at the plant is presently pending decision
by the Board. Consolidated Cases 18-R-1347 and 18-R-1409 filed by Local 1145 and
Minneapolis Federation of Honeywell Engineers , an Independent, respectively , involving
engineering department employees , are also pending.
* Matter of Swift and Company, d /b/a John P. Squire Company , 65 N. L. R. B. 423;
Matter of Walter Kidde & Co., Inc , 64 N. L. R. B. 1050; Matter of Armour and Company,
54 N. L. R. B. 1462; Matter of Oliver Farm Equipment Co., 53 N. L. R. B. 1078.
'Matter of Revere Copper and Brass, Inc., 51 N. L. R B . 350; Matter of Westinghouse
Electric and Manufacturing Company, 47 N. L. R. B . 21; Matter of Sharpe & Dohme, Inc.,
56 N. L. R. B. 1471 ; Matter of Philadelphia Terminals Auction Company , 44 N. L. R. B.
454; Matter of N L. Bath Co ., 39 N L . R. B. 1163 ; Matter of Western Tablet and Sta-
tionery Co., 31 N. L. R. B. 597.
MINNEAPOLIS-HONEYWELL REGULATOR COMPANY 925
plant, and the homogeneity of their interests, these employees of the
photo-lab department constitute an appropriate unit.
We find that all employees in the photographic laboratory of the
Company at its Fourth Avenue, South, Minneapolis, Minnesota, plant,
but excluding all or any other supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning 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 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.
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 Minneapolis-
Honeywell Regulator Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 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 Eighteenth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said
Rules and Regulations, among employees in the unit found appro-
priate 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
present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em-
ployees 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 United
Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 1145,
C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining.