The Oliver Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 18, 1947

72 N.L.R.B. 841 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of THE OLIVER CORP., EMPLOYER and INDEPENDENT
CLERICAL ASSOCIATION, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R-3507.Decided February 18, 1947
Messrs. John S. Farabaugh and R. L. Anton, of South Bend, Ind.,
for the Employer.
Mr. Dennis S. Andrysiak , of South Bend , Ind., for the Petitioner.
Messrs. Oliver F. Switzer and Marvel Raker, of South Bend, Ind.,
for the United.
Mr. Jerome Wohlrzuth , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at South
Bend, Indiana, on November 18, 1946, before Gustaf B. Erickson,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
The Oliver Corp. is a Delaware corporation engaged in the manu-
facture and sale of farm equipment, and other products. The Em-
ployer operates several other plants, but Plant No. 1 in South Bend,
Indiana, is the only one involved herein: During the year 1946, the
Employer purchased raw materials valued at more than $2,500,000 for
its South Bend plant, approximately 50 percent of which was shipped
from points outside the State of Indiana. During the same period,
finished products valued at $5,000,000, were manufactured at the plant
in question, approximately 50 percent of which was shipped to points
outside the State of Indiana.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce•
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
72 N. L. R. B, No. 136
841
842 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
H. TIIE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
The United Farm Equipment and Metal Workers of America,
herein called Intervenor , is a labor organization affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations , claiming to represent employees
of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On February 20, 1946, Petitioner requested recognition of the Em-
ployer as the bargaining representative of certain of its employees-
The Employer 'refused to grant such recognition until the Petitioner
had been certified by the Board. On or about March 6, 1946, the
petition was filed herein.
The Intervenor contends that its present contract with the Em-
ployer, dated March 22, 1946, and automatically renewable from year
to year, constitutes a bar to this proceeding.' However, inasmuch
as the contract may be terminated in less than 2 months upon 30
days' notice by either party thereto, we find that it does not bar a
determination of representatives within the next (30) days pursuant
to our usual Direction of Election.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.3
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find that all office and clerical employees of South Beiid Plant
No. 1, employed in the General Administrative Office, Accounting
and Cost Division, Methods and Standards Department, Production
Department, Purchasing Department, Sales Order and Billing De-
partment, Service Department, and Foundry Division, including all
employees listed in Appendices A, B, and C, inventory supervisors,
senior shipping clerk, senior receiving clerks, checker and unloading
clerk, accounts payable supervisor, stores order department super-
1 The Intervenor was certified by the Board in 1944 as the bargaining representative of
the Employer's office and clerical employees (53 N L R. B. 1078).
2 Matter of Ellis Canning Company, 67 N L R. B. 384
1 In view of our finding above, we need not determine the applicability of the principle-
enunicated in Matter of Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Co (50 N L R B 306), which the
Intervenor urged in support of its position that the contract precluded a present determina-
tion of representatives.
THE OLIVER CORP. 843
visor, cashier-bookkeeper, head process clerk, senior and junior process
clerks, time-study rate clerk, senior and junior timekeepers, con-
trolled material analyst, assistant manager of the service department,
senior jobbing order clerk, pricing department supervisor, account-
ant- (returned goods), senior billing clerk, head specification clerk,
senior specification clerk, assistant purchasing agents, production sec-
tion heads, production schedule clerk, and quota and shipping clerk,
but excluding employees at Plant No. 2 who are not on the pay roll
of Plant No. 1, all employees listed in Appendix D, senior accountant
in pay-roll department, assistant time-study supervisor, time-study
men, assistant supervisor in the Sales Order Department, Billing De-
partment supervisor, assistant production supervisors, and all or any
other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of enn-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.4
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with The Oliver Corp., South Bend,
Indiana an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as pos-
sible, but not later than thirty (36) clays from the date of this Direc-
tion, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for
the Eleventh Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National
Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of
National Labor Relations Bard Riles and Regulations-Series 4,
among-the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately pre-
ceding 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 exclud-
ing 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,
t o determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Independ-
ent Clerical Association or by United Farm Equipment and Metal
Workers of America, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
a This is substantially the came unit as that for which the Intervenor was certified in
1944