The General Tire & Rubber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 8, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 182 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THE GENERAL TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY and UNITED
RUBBER WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 16-R-1379.-Decided August 8, 19415
Samuels, Brown, Herman d Scott, by Mr. John M. Scott, of Ft.
Worth, Tex., and Messrs. J. F. Sloate and John Milberger, of Waco,
Tex., for the Company.
Mr. F. M. Dickenson, of Memphis, Tenn., and Messrs. F. L. Widen-
house and J. F. Driskell, of Waco, Tex., for the C. I. O.
Mr. A. F. Cadena, of San Antonio, Tex., for the A. F. L.
Mr. H. L. Johnson, of Waco, Tex., for the IBEW.
Mr. H. F. Dunne, of Waco, Tex., for the Steamfitters.
Mr. Sidney Grossman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Rubber Workers of America,
CIO, herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
The General Tire & Rubber Company, Waco, Texas, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap-
propriate hearing upon due notice before Glenn L. Moller, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Waco, Texas, on July 12, 1945.
The Company, the C. I. 0., the American Federation of Labor, herein
called the A. F. L., the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, Local B--72, AFL, herein called the IBEW, and the Plumbers
and Steamfitters Local Union No. 529, AFL, herein called the Steam-
fitters, appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full op-
portunity 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:
63 N. L . R. B., No. 26.
182
TEE GENERAL TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
.183
The General Tire & Rubber Company , an Ohio corporation , is pres-
ently engaged in the manufacture of heavy duty military type tires
pursuant - to Government contract . We are here concerned with its
Waco, Texas, plant, the present output of which 'approximates 20
percent of its anticipated production capacity . In excess of 331/3 per-
cent of the raw materials purchased for use at the Company's Waco
plant is secured from sources outside the State of Texas. Since Janu-
ary 1 , 1945, the Company has produced finished products valued.in
excess of $200,000. Its entire output is utilized for delivery to the
Ordnance Department of the U. S. Army.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Rubber Workers of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local B-72, and
Plumbers and Steamfitters Local Union No. 529, both affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, and the American Federation of Labor
are labor organizations admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On May 29, 1945, the C. I. O. addressed a letter to the Company
wherein it stated that it represented a substantial majority of the Com-
pany's employees, and requested recognition as their bargaining
representative. The Company, by letter dated June 2, 1945, refused to
accord recognition to the C. I. O. The IBEW also requested recogni-
tion as the bargaining agent of the Company's employees it here seeks
to represent, but was refused recognition by the Company.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the C. I. O. and the IBEW each represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in'the unit it alleges to be appropriate.'.
1 The Field Examiner reported that the C. I. O. submitted 262 membership applications,
of which 24 were undated , and the balance bore dates between January and July 1945, in
an alleged appropriate unit consisting of 263 employees He further reported that the
IBEW submitted 5 authorization cards, all of which bore dates in April 1945, in an alleged
appropriate unit consisting of 6 employees . Pursuant to an agreement of the parties the
Trial Examiner , subsequent to the hearing, checked the cards submitted by the C. I. O.
and the IBEW against the Company ' s pay roll of July 12, 1945, and found that of the cards
submitted by the C. I. 0., 209 represented the°'names of employees on the pay roll which
184 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; TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The C. 1. 0. requests a unit consisting of all production and mainte-
nance employees at the Company's Waco, Texas, plant, including em-
ployees in the warehouse, but excluding administration and factory
office clerical employees, time-study employees, technical employees,
personnel department employees, guards, general foremen, shift fore-
men, supervisors, and all other supervisory employees. The Company
and the A. F. L. concur in the appropriateness of such unit, but would
also exclude therefrom the labor trainer. The IBEW and the Steam-
fitters seek units coextensive with their respective craft jurisdictions.
The electricians whom the IBEW seeks to represent function under
separate supervision in the maintenance department; the Company
contemplates establishing a separate shop for them. The only em-
ployees who presently possess job classifications descriptive of the clas-
sifications which the Steamfitters seeks to represent are the pipe fitters
and the pipe fitters' helpers in the pipe shop, who are responsible to the
assistant master mechanic in the maintenance department; the Com-
pany contemplates placing them under separate supervision. The
record does not disclose any substantial interchange between the elec-
tricians or pipe fitters and the remaining employees in the plant. We
have frequently held, in the absence of any history of collective bar-
gaining, that both these craft groups may constitute separate units
apart from other employees in the plant.2 On the other hand, as com-
ponents of the Company's integrated organization, they may also func-
tion as part of the plant-wide unit. We shall, accordingly, permit
the scope of the bargaining unit or units to be determined, in part, by
the results of separate elections which we shall hereinafter direct.
As indicated above, the C. I. O. would include the labor trainer as a
production employee, while the Company would exclude him as a man-
agerial employee, and the A. F. L. as a supervisory employee. At the
time of the hearing, the Company was in the process of training a man
listed 306 employees in the unit alleged to be appropriate by the C. I. O , and, of the cards
submitted by the IBEW, 4 represented the names of employees on the pay roll.
At the hearing , the Steamfitters submitted 2 index cards from its membership records,
both of which represent the names of employees on the pay roll above referred to in an
alleged appropriate unit consisting of approximately 10 employees . Contrary to the
C. I. O's objection , we find that the representation evidence submitted by the Steam-
fitters is adequate to justify an election in the Steamfitters' proposed unit, inasmuch as
elections are being held.
The A. F. L. did not submit evidence of its representation interest 'at the hearing , nor did
it do so subsequent to the hearing , although it was accorded several opportunities to sub-
mit such evidence with respect to the unit it alleges to be appropriate.
2 Matter of American Cyanamid d Chemical Corporation, 62 N L . R. B. 925; Matter of
Crane Co., 62 N . L. R. B. 1089.
THE GENERAL TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY 185
:for this position. The record discloses that the labor trainer is part
of the time-study and methods department, all other employees of
_which the parties have agreed to exclude, and will be, principally en-
gaged in experimental work for the purpose of devising new and
improved methods in constructing tires. It will be his responsibility
to train employees in the use of such new or improved methods as may
result from his experimental work. This position requires the services
of a man who has some college training and a knowledge of mathe-
matics or equivalent experience. The evidence does not reveal that
the labor trainer possesses any substantial supervisory authority con-
sonant with our customary definition; however, in view of the techni-
cal character of the work which he will perform, we shall exclude him.
The Company's pay roll of July 12, 1945, reveals that there are 306
employees in the unit petitioned for. In view of its limited personnel,
the Company questions the advisability of holding an election at this
time. It originally planned to engage approximately 450 production
employees, but as a result of an expansion of the plant facilities offi-
cially initiated by the War Department in April 1945, it now antici-
pates that its labor requirements will be 790 production employees and
100 maintenance employees.3 The expansion program was originally
intended to be completed by September 1, 1945, but there appears to be
-little likelihood that the Company will reach even 50 percent of its
contemplated personnel quota within the near future because of the
scarcity of labor in certain categories. However, the Company ex-
pects its current pay roll to be more than doubled within a year. Un-
der similar circumstances and where, as here, the Company's current
personnel constitutes a substantial and representative group, we have
directed an immediate election with the specific proviso that we would
entertain a new petition within a specified time after our certification
upon proof, inter alia, of a substantial increase in personnel.4 We are
"of the opinion therefore that an election may be properly directed
.herein at this time.
The C. I. 0., however, contends that since the Company's present
personnel approximates 50 percent of the number the Company origi-
nally planned to engage prior to the expansion program, the Board
-should adhere to its usual unqualified 1-year rule with respect to any
certification that may issue. While it is our usual policy in represen-
tation proceedings to consider a certification as conclusive evidence of
majority representation for a period of 1 year following issuance, the
8In its letter to the War Production Board, dated April 27, 1945, the Company stated
that its then rated capacity and production schedule required 416 male and 35 female
direct production employees, and that its anticipated labor requirements for the expansion
program are 202 male and 92 female production employees ; since then the Company antici-
pated a need for an additional 45 production employees, making a total of 790. As of July
1, 1945, the Company had 82 maintenance employees in its employ.
* Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 52 N. L. R. B. 1040.
186 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
application of such principle in the instant case would clearly work
an injustice to the substantial number of employees to be engaged under
the Company's expansion program after the issuance of such certifica-
tion. We shall therefore entertain a new petition for an investigation
and certification of representatives within less than a year, but not
before the expiration of 6 months from the date 'of any certification
we may issue, upon proof (1) that the number of employees in the
appropriate unit is more than double the number eligible to vote in the
election hereinafter directed; and (2) that the petitioner represents a
substantial number of employees in the expanded unit.
We shall order elections among the employees of the Company at
its Waco, Texas, plant, within each of the groups listed below, exclud-
ing therefrom general foremen, shift foremen, supervisors, and all or
any other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action.5
1. All maintenance electricians and their apprentices.
2. All employees classified as pipe fitters and pipe fitters' helpers in
the Company's pipe shop.
3. All remaining employees of the Company, including employees
in the warehouse, but excluding the labor trainer, administration and
factory office clerical employees, time-study employees, technical em-
ployees, personnel department employees, and guards.°
As indicated above, upon the results of the elections in said groups
will depend, in part, our determination of the appropriate unit or
units.?
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 The General Tire
& Rubber Company , Waco, Texas, elections by secret ballot shall be
5 The parties agreed , and.we find , that temporary employees are ineligible to participate
in the election.
6 At the hearing, a dispute arose as to the inclusion or exclusion of several job classifi-
cations which the record indicates are not now filled . In view of the fact that there appar-
ently are no employees in these disputed categories at the present time, we shall make no
finding with respect to the classifications of factory control man, raw material control man,
quantity checker, and scheduler.
° The A. F L. did not present any evidence of representation among the employees at
the Company 's Waco, Texas , plant, in the unit it alleges to be appropriate . Accordingly,
we shall not accord it a place on the ballot . See Chicago Flexible Shaft Company, 60
N. L. R. B . 848; Iowa Public Service Company ( Eastern Dtivision ), 60 N. L . R. B 1153
THE GENERAL TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY 187
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 Sixteenth 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 the employees in each of the voting groups described below
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preced-
ing 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 including employees in the armed forces of
the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election :
1. The employees in the first voting group described in Section IV,
above, to determine whether they desire to be represented by United
Rubber Workers of America, CIO, or by International Brother-
hood of Electrical Workers Local B-72, AFL, for the purposes of
collective bargaining, or by neither.
2. The employees in the second voting group described in Section
IV, above, to determine whether they desire to be represented by
United Rubber Workers of America, CIO, or by Plumbers and
Steamfitters Local Union No. 529, AFL, for the purposes of collective
bargaining, or by neither.
3. The employees in the third voting group described in Section
IV, above, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by United Rubber Workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REU.LY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections.