Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 24, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 756 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter Of WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COM-
PANY and UNITED ELECTRICAL , RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF
AMERICA, LOCAL #760 (CIO)
Case No. R4912.-Decided September 24, 1941
Jurisdiction : motor manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: fail-
ure of Company to controvert allegation that question exists; dispute as to
appropriate unit; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all shop production clerks, whether
hourly paid or on salary, but excluding clerks in the office.
Mr. William E. Miller, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Arthur L. Garfield, of Dayton, Ohio, for the Union.
Mr. R. W. Allison, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Association.
Miss Grace McEldowney, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 28, 1941, the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers
of America, Local #760 (CIO),' herein called the Union, filed with
the Regional Director for the Eighth Region (Cleveland, Ohio) a
petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Westinghouse Electric &.
Manufacturing Company,2 Lima, Ohio, 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 July 29, 1941, the National
Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
'Incorrectly designated in the signature to the petition as United Electrical Radio &
Machine Workers of America, Local #724 (CIO). At the hearing it was stipulated that
the correct number of the local is 760.
2 Incorrectly designated in the formal papers as Westinghouse Electric and Mfg. Co.
The name was corrected by stipulation at the hearing. ,
35 N. L . R. B., No. 167.
756
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING CO. 757
ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On August 1, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union,
and upon Lima Westinghouse Salaried Employees' Association,
herein called the Association, a labor organization claiming to repre-
sent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to
notice, a hearing was held on August 21, 1941, at Lima, Ohio, before
Harry L. Lodish, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief
Trial . Examiner. The Company and the Association were repre-
sented by counsel, and the Union by a representative; 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 rulings on motions and on objections to the ad-
mission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the
Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial 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
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company is a Pennsyl-
vania corporation having its headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
and plants and subsidiaries in several States. At its plant in Lima,
Ohio, the only plant involved in this proceeding, the Company is
engaged in the manufacture of fractional horsepower motors. Ap-
proximately 60 per cent of the raw materials used at the plant come
from points outside the State of Ohio, and approximately 95 per
cent of its finished products are shipped out of the State.3
For the purposes of this proceeding the Company admits that it
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America,, Local
#760, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, which admits to membership employees of the
Company.
3 The parties stipulated at the hearing that the facts regarding the business of the
Company had already been found by the Board in Matter of Westinghouse Electric &
Manufacturing Company and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America,
Local 7211, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , 14 N. L. R B 263,
from which the facts stated in Section I, supra, have been taken At the time of the
former proceeding the Board found that there were 1,258 employees in the plant , and in its
petition the Union alleges that there are approximately 1,900.
758 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Lima Westinghouse Salaried Employees' Association is a, labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In its petition the Union alleged that the Company had refused
to bargain with it for the unit described in the petition until and
unless it was certified by the Board. The Company did not deny
the allegation.
At the hearing it was stipulated that the Union had signed up all
30 of the Company's shop production clerks at the Lima plalit, the
group claimed by the Union as the appropriate bargaining unit,
and-that the Association had signed up about 125 of the 250 salaried
employees whom it claimed as the appropriate unit, but that none
of the shop production clerks were among the 125 employees signed
up by the Association.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the 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, occuring 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 com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE, APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union claims as the appropriate unit all shop production
clerks in the plant, whether hourly paid or on salary, but excluding
clerks in the office. The Association contends that all salaried em-
ployees,4 including the shop production clerks, but excluding super-
visors, the secretary to the division manager, and the secretary to
the manager of industrial relations, constitute the appropriate unit.
The Company makes no contention as to the unit.
Although the shop production clerks are under the supervision
of the supervisor of production, who hires and discharges them, and
of the shop superintendent, both of whom are located in the front
office, they have their desks and carry on their duties in the shop.
4 The classification of salaried employees would include , in addition to shop production
clerks and clerical employees in the office , a manufacturing information group, the ac-
counting department , the engineering department , the department of equipment and
methods, a department handling business machines and tabulating information , the receiv-
ing department , and other groups.
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING CO. 759
Their orders come to them from the office through the mail, as do
those of the foremen with whom they are closely associated in their
work. Although they keep-records and perform other clerical duties
similar to those of clerks in the' office, their chief duty is to see that
work flows through the departments to which they are assigned in
time to meet the orders they receive. Besides having their desks in
the shop, they use the factory facilities. When first employed, they
are paid on an hourly basis, as are other shop employees,' but after
a short probationary period they are put on a salary basis. At the
time of the hearing all but 5 or 6 of the 30 employees in the group
were on salary. Promotions are occasionally made either to the office
or to positions as foremen.
The Association's contention as to the unit is based on the fact
that all salaried employees, including the shop production clerks,
receive the same treatment from the Company, differing from that
accorded to the hourly paid employees, in respect to pay-roll period,
vacation allowances, sick leave, and lay-offs. In spite of this con-
sideration, we are of the opinion, from the facts given above, that
the shop production clerks have interests distinct from those of the
other salaried employees in the plant, and constitute an appropriate
bargaining unit. There is no evidence that any of the employees in
the group wish to be included in the unit claimed by the Association.
Although the Association requested, in case the unit claimed by the
Union should be found appropriate, that a separate election be held
for the balance of the salaried employees, no petition for an investig'a,
tion and certification of employees in such a unit has been filed, nor
does the unit so requested fall within the scope of the present
petition. We shall therefore deny the request of the Association
without prejudice to its right to file a petition covering. such unit.
We find that all shop production clerks in the Company's plant at
Lima, Ohio, whether hourly paid or on salary, but excluding clerks
in the office, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining, and that said unit will insure to employees of the
Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to
collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning representa-
tion can best be resolved by, and we shall accordingly direct, an
election by secret ballot.
5 Hourly paid employees of the plant, exclusive of clerical employees and certain other
groups, have previously been found by the Board to constitute an appropriate bargaining
unit. Matter of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company and United Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 724, affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, 14 N. L. it. B. 263.
760 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
As stated above, the Association has presented no proof to the
Board that it represents any of the employees of the Company in
the unit herein found appropriate. Moreover, at the hearing it was
stated that neither the Union nor the Association wished to be on the
ballot if an election should be ordered in the unit claimed by the other
organization. Accordingly, we shall not include the name of the
Association on the ballot. In the absence of any contention as to
the pay roll to be used to determine eligibility to vote, we shall, in
accordance with our usual practice, direct that the employees in the
Company's plant at Lima, Ohio, eligible to vote in the election shall
be those in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction herein,
subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the
Direction.
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 Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing
Company, Lima,, Ohio, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and
-Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
2. All shop production clerks in the Company's plant at Lima,
Ohio, whether hourly paid or on salary, but excluding clerks in the
office, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the 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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, it is hereby
Dn cTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, Lima, Ohio,
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 Eighth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National
Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said
Rules and Regulations, among all shop production clerks of the com-
.'pany at its plant in Lima, Ohio, whether hourly paid or on salary,
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC Sc MANUFACTURING CO . 761
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately pre-
ceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or in the active military service or training of the United States,
or temporarily laid off, but excluding clerks in the office and em-
ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by United Electrical,
-Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local #760 (CIO), for the
purposes of collective bargaining.