W. R. Arthur & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 18, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 1113 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of W. R. ARTHUR & COMPANY, INCORPORATED 1 and
UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORK-
ERS OF AMERICA (C. I. 0.)
Case No. 13-R-3141.-Decided February 18, 1946
Mr. Glenn W. Stephens, of Madison, Wis., and Mr. W. R. Arthur,
of Janesville, Wis., for the Company.
Mr. Charles Fane, of Rockford, Ill., and Messrs. Clifford Porter and
Elmer Yenney, of Janesville, Wis., for the U. A. W.
Padway de Goldberg, by Mr. David Previant, of Milwaukee, Wis.,
and Mr. Jack Hoagland, of Milwaukee, Wis., and Mr. Harold A.
Becker, of Janesville, Wis., for the Teamsters.
Mr. Joseph D. Manders, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Automobile, Aircraft & Agri-
cultural Implement Workers of America (C. I. 0.), herein called the
U. A. W., alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of W. R. Arthur & Company,
Incorporated, Janesville, Wisconsin, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Leon A. Rosell, Trial Examiner. The hear-
ing was held at Janesville, Wisconsin, on August 7, 1945. The Com-
pany, the U. A. W., and International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, Local 579, A. F. L.,
herein called the Teamsters, 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.
1 Arco Auto Carriers , Inc., was named in the petition as an employer. At the hearing,
after it was determined that Arco Auto Carriers, Inc., had no employees involved in this
proceeding , the U . A. W. moved to dismiss this company from the proceedings . Neither
W. R. Arthur & Company , Incorporated , nor the Teamsters objected to the motion . There-
upon the Trial Examiner referred the motion to the Board for disposition . Upon con-
sideration of the facts , we grant the U. A. w.'s motion , and, accordingly, hereby dismiss
the petition as to Arco Auto Carriers, Inc.
65 N. L . R. B., No. 194.
1113
1114 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej-
udicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded op-
portunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
W. R. Arthur and Company, Incorporated, an Illinois corpora-
tion, with its principal office in Janesville, Wisconsin, is normally
engaged in the business of transporting automobiles, trucks, tractors,
trailers, bodies, and show equipment for its sole contractor, the
General Motors Chevrolet plant at Janesville, Wisconsin. During
the war period the Company was engaged in hauling war materials
from a terminal located in Chicago, Illinois, and from other points
in the various States on a contract basis. In connection with its nor-
mal operations, the Company operates a shop at Janesville, Wisconsin,
where it renovates and repairs its hauling equipment. The operations
at this shop are solely involved in the present proceeding. During
1944, the Company's receipts and shipments between the various
States of the United States were in excess of $50,000. During the
same year, the Company's receipts from the operation of the shop for
repairs on equipment other than its own were in excess of $50,000.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
11. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers
of America, is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of
the Company.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men and Helpers of America, Local 579, is a labor organization, affili-
ated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
ITT. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 15, 1941, the Company and the Teamsters entered into
a collective bargaining agreement covering the Company's drivers
and shop employees. The contract provided that it was to be in
effect until January 15, 1942, and that it was to be automatically re-
newed from year to year thereafter unless either party gave thirty
(30) days' notice prior to January 15 of any year thereafter. No
notice was given in 1942, 1943, or 1944. The U. A. W. filed the petition
W. R. ARTHUR & COMPANY, INCORPORATED 1115
herein on June 12, 1945. Thereafter, on June 18, 1945, at a conference
conducted by a Board representative, the Company refused to recog-
nize the U. A. W. as bargaining representative of certain of its em-
ployees became of the Company's contract with the Teamsters. The
Teamsters contends that the contract constitutes a bar to an im-
mediate determination of representatives. Inasmuch as the U. A. W.'s
petition was filed prior to the autoniatic renewal date, December 15,
1945, which has already passed, we find that the contract is not a bar_
to the present proceeding.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the U. A. W. represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate. 2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
I he 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 U. A. W. requests a unit composed of the Company's shop em-
ployees, excluding drivers, foremen, and supervisory employees. The
Company and the Teamsters contend that the requested unit is inappro-
priate because of their long history of collective bargaining on the basis
of it unit of both drivers and shop employees.
Although it appears that the Company and the Teamsters have had
collective bargaining agreements covering drivers and shop employees
since 1937, the record discloses that no drivers have been employed by
the Company in its Janesville , Wisconsin , operations since 1942. From
1937 to 1941 , the Company , engaged in its peacetime operations, em-
ployed both drivers and shop employees . The drivers performed the
hauling of automobiles and trucks for the Company 's sole contractor,,
the General Motors Chevrolet plant at Janesville ; the shop workers re-
paired and maintained the carrier equipment used for hauling purposes.
In Ja11uary 1942, when the General Motors Chevrolet plant ceased the
manufacture of automobiles , the Company was obliged to lay off all
its drivers . Thus from January 1942 until the date of the hearing,
the Company 's total complement of employees has been approximately
16 shop workers.
These shop employees , consisting of painters , welders, mechanics,
and unskilled laborers, receive an hourly wage rate, whereas, when
drivers are employed they are paid on a mileage basis . The shop em-
' The Field Examiner reported that the U A. W. submitted 10 application for member-
ship cards , all of which bore the navies of employees hated on the Company's pay roll of
June 19, 1945
At the hearing it was revealed that there are approximately 16 employees in the appro-
priate unit
The Teamsters relies upon its contract as evidence of its interest.
1116 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees have been engaged for the past 3 years in the maintenance and
conversion of the carrier equipment which was used for the Company's
wartime activities, and they are presently engaged in reconverting
this equipment for peacetime purposes.' The shop group and the
driver group are each distinct as to functions and working conditions,
although, on occasion, members of one group help the other. As
pointed out in Section V, infra, the shop group is stable, while the
driver group, when existent, will be an expanding one.
Upon consideration of the foregoing facts, we are of the opinion
that the shop employees comprise a readily identifiable and homoge-
neous group. We are not persuaded that the past history of collective
bargaining on the basis of a contract unit of drivers and shop em=
ployees, suspended for a substantial period of time, requires the con-
clusion that, at the present time, a bargaining unit confined to shop
employees is inappropriate. Under these circumstances, we find that
the shop employees constitute an appropriate unit.
Accordingly, we find that all the Company's shop employees at
Janesville, Wisconsin, excluding drivers, the superintendent,4 foremen,
and 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, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing, the Company and the Teamsters requested that any
election herein be postponed until the Company's labor force is stabi-
lized. The Company stated that it anticipated the hiring of from 100
to 200 drivers when the General Motors Chevrolet plant resumes the
manufacture of automobiles. We note that there is nothing in the
record which indicates with any degree of certainty when such hiring
will commence. However, assuming the immediate hiring of drivers,
such an addition to the Company's labor force will not affect the
character or size of the unit found appropriate in Section IV, supra.5
Under these circumstances, we perceive no reason to postpone an
immediate determination of representatives.
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
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.
See Section V, infra, for further discussion of this matter.
Don Salofr.
Cf. Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 52 N. L. R. B. 1040.
W. R. ARTHUR & COMPANY, INCORPORATED
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
1117
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DiRECrEn that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with W. R. Arthur &
Company, Incorporated, Janesville, Wisconsin, 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 Regula-
tions, 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 including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present 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
Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
C. I. 0., or by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local 579, A. F. L., for the
purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.