Wenzel Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 23, 1940

20 N.L.R.B. 707 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter Of MACK WENZEL DOING BUSINESS AS WENZEL COMPANY
and INTERNATIONAL AszoCIATION OF MACHINISTS , DISTRICT No. 8,
AFFILIATED WITH THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-1705.-Decided February 23, 1940
Motion-picture Projectors and Machines Manufacturing Industry-Investigw
tion of Representatives: controversy concerning representation of employees :
refusal by employer to recognize union as exclusive bargaining representative-
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production employees , excluding
foremen , supervisory and office employees , watchmen , and salesmen-Election
Ordered
Mr. Stephen M. Reynolds, for the Board.
Mr. J. W. Ramsey and Mr. James G. McDonald, of Chicago, Ill.,
for the Union.
Mr. Robert Emmett Burke, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Ray Johnson, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 19, 1939, International Association of Machinists, Dis-
trict No. 8, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein
called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Thirteenth
Region (Chicago, Illinois), a petition and on January 18, 1940, an
amended petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Mack Wenzel,
doing business as Wenzel Company, Chicago, Illinois, herein called
the Company, and requesting an investigation' and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act,' 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On January 19,
1940, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Sec-
tion 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 2, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Direc-
tor to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
20 N. L. R. B., No. 71.
707
708 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On January 22, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
the Union. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on January 29,
1940, at Chicago, Illinois, before Charles E. Persons, the Trial Exam-
iner duly designated by the Board. The Board and the Company
were -represented by counsel, and the Union by its representatives,
and all participated in the hearing: Full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of
the hearing the Trial - Examiner made several rulings on motions
and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has
reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no' preju-
dicial: errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Mack Wenzel, doing business as Wenzel Company, is a single,pro-
prietorship with its principal office and place of business at Chicago,
Illinois. It is engaged in the manufacture of motion-picture pro-
jectors and parts for motion-picture machines. The principal raw
materials used by..the Company are steel, castings, aluminum, and
allied products. During • 1939 the Company used raw materials
valued at $50,000, 15 per. cent of which were shipped to the Company
from points outside the State of Illinois. During the same period
the Company manufactured products valued at $90,000, .80 per cent
of which were shipped to points outside the State of Illinois.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Association of Machinists, District No. 8, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It
admits to its membership all production employees of the Company,.
excluding foremen, supervisory and office employees, watchmen, and
salesmen.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On August 14, 1939, the Union requested the Company to bargain
collectively with it as the exclusive representative of all the Com-
pany's-,production employees. The Company, however, refused • to
recognize the Union as the exclusive representative of its production
employees until it was certified by the Board. On. November 7, '1939,
. MACK WENZEL 709
the Company refused to agree to a consent election for the purposes
of determining the bargaining representative.
. We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
-The Company and the Union agreed at the hearing that the appro-
priate unit consists of all production employees of the Company,
excluding foremen, supervisory and office employees, watchmen, and
salesmen.' We see no reason for departing from such unit. Al-
though there is no express request, the Union apparently desires to
exclude Abraham Robinson, a general utility employee, from the
unit. Robinson performs some "production" work, and his duties,
on the whole, are more comparable to those of the production workers
than any other group of the Company's employees. If he is- not -in-
cluded in the unit, he will be deprived of all means of effective repre-
sentation.2 We shall accordingly include him in the unit.
We accordingly find that all production employees of the Company,
excluding foremen, supervisory and office: employees, watchmen, and
salesmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com-
pany the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collec-
tive bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
According to the Company's pay roll as of January 26, 1940, there
were .52 employees in the appropriate unit. A representative of the
.1 Fred J. Wenzel, the manager of _the Company , named Carl Dodegge, Frank Stochl, and
himself as supervisory employees . We shall exclude these employees from the unit.
The Company and the Union stipulated and we agreed that Randolph Hunter, who
serves as a janitor about half of his time , and Konst Kostrzewski , who sleeps in the
plant at night but is engaged in production work (luring the regular working hours,
should be included in the unit.
2 See Mdtter of Daily Mirror , Inc. and The Newspaper Guild of New. York, 5 N. L. R. B.
362. - '
283026-41-vol. 2 0-4 6
710 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Union testified that 19 of these employees had signed applications
designating the Union as their bargaining representative and 10 or
15 additional employees had expressed a preference for the Union.
No documentary proof of membership, however, was offered. -Under
the circumstances, we shall direct that an election by secret ballot
be held.
The Company and the Union stipulated that the pay roll of Jan-
uary 26, 1940, should be used to determine eligibility to participate
in the election. We shall follow the agreement of the parties and
direct that those persons eligible to vote shall be the employees in
the appropriate unit who were employed by the Company during
the pay-roll period ending January 26, 1940, including employees who
did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or
-on vacation, and employees who were then or have since been tem-
porarily laid off, but excluding those who have since quit or been
discharged for cause.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Company within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations
Act.
2. All production employees of the Company, excluding foremen,
supervisory and office employees, watchmen, and salesmen, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Mack Wenzel, doing business as Wenzel Company, Chicago,
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 of Election, 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
MACK WENZEL 711
Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all
production employees of the Company who were employed by the
Company during the pay-roll period ending January 26, 1940, includ-
ing employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because
they were ill or on vacation, and employees who were then or have
since been temporarily laid off, but excluding foremen, supervisory
and office employees, watchmen, salesmen, and employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by International Association of Machin-
ists, District No. 8, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.