White Sewing Machine Corporation

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 23, 1938

10 N.L.R.B. 802 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of WHITE SEWING MACHINE CORPORATION and UNITED
ELECTRICAL RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 721
(C. I. 0.)
Case No. B-1132.-Decided December 23, 1938
Sewing Machine Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives:
controversy concerning representation of employees : employer's refusal to grant
recognition of union as exclusive bargaining representative-Contract: for mem-
bers of contracting union only, no bar to investigation of representatives-Unit
Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: production and maintenance employees,
excluding supervisory, clerical, and powerhouse employees ; no controversy as
to-Representatives: proof of choice: comparison of pay roll and applications
for membership in union-Certification of Representatives: upon proof of ma-
jority representation.
Mr. Peter Di Leone, for the Board.
Mr. M. B. Johnson and Mr. H. H. Johnson, by Mr. John F. Scott
and Mr. Robert O. Evans, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Arthur L. Garfield, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Union.
Mr. Ralph Winkler, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 14, 1938, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers
of America , Local 721, herein called the Union , filed with the Re-
gional Director for the Eighth Region (Cleveland, Ohio) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of White Sewing Machine Corpora-
tion , Cleveland, 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 November 8, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board,
Iierein 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 1, as amended , ordered an investigation and
authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
10 N. L . R. B., No. 69.
802
DECISIONS AND OPDERS 803
On November 14, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served on the Company and the
Union. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held in Cleveland,
Ohio, on November 22, 1938, before R. N. Denham, the Trial Ex-
aminer duly designated by the Board. The Board and the Com-
pany were represented by counsel; the Union was represented by a
district, representative; 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 evi-
dence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner
and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are
hereby affirmed.
During the course of the hearing the petition was amended by
adding to the description of the bargaining unit the words "excluding
all power plant employees."
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company, a Delaware corporation organized January 11, 1926,
maintains its principal office and manufacturing plant at Cleveland,
Ohio. The Company is principally engaged in the manufacture of
sewing machines and parts thereof. It normally employs approxi-
mately 565 workers.
The Company purchases approximately 40 per cent of its raw
materials from without the State of Ohio. It ships outside the State
approximately 44 per cent of the sale value of its finished product.
The total sales for the 12-month period ending September 30, 1938,
were valued at approximately $2,625,000.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local
721, is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Indus-
trial Organization. It admits to membership all the production and
maintenance employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On June 18, 1937, the Company and the Union entered into a con-
tract in which the Company recognized the Union as the collective
bargaining representative only for its members. In the spring of
1938, during the negotiations for the renewal of this contract, the
804 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Union requested exclusive bargaining recognition. Although the
Company did not question the Union's majority or the appropriate-
ness of the unit claimed, it refused to grant exclusive bargaining
recognition to the Union. The contract, therefore, as renewed on
June 23, 1938, and to last for 1 year, does not provide for exclusive
bargaining rights.
The Company contends that the present proceedings are premature
in that there is a presently existing contract which does not expire
until June 23, 1939. We find no merit in the Company's contention.
The contract in no way purports to settle the Union's claim to repre-
sent a majority of the Company's employees in an appropriate unit,
nor can the contract operate to estop the Union from asserting its
right to exclusive 'recognition under the Act.'
We find that a question concerning the representation of the em-
ployees of the Company has arisen.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning repesentation 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 Union claims that all the production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Company,- with the exception of supervisory, clerical,
and powerhouse employees 2 constitute an appropri rte unit for pur-
poses of collective bargaining. The Union' 'would'exclude from 'the
unit as supervisory employees, foremen, assistant foremen, and work-
ing assistant foremen. It would also exclude as clerical employees a
group of workers known as "production control employees" who check
merchandise and time slips and engage in other clerical work. The
Company offered no objection to these exclusions. We find no reason
to depart from this unit as defined .above.
We find that the production and-maintenance employees of the
Company, exclusive of supervisory, clerical, and powerhouse em-
ICf Consolidated Edison Company of New York. Inc , et at v National Labor Relations
Board, 305 U. S. 197, decided December 5, 1938;, Hatter of Aluminum Company of Amer-
ica and Aluminum Employees Association, 9 N. L R B 164
' The power plant supplies heat and power to other concerns as well as to the Company,
and the Union recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Brotherhood of Firemen and
Oilers, Local 52, A F of L, over the power -plant employees , a number of whom have
been bargained for by this Local
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 805
ployees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that said unit will insure to the 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
The Company's pay roll of November 5, 1938, which is the pay
roll last preceding the date of the hearing, was introduced into evi-
dence. This pay roll listed the names of 495 employees in the appro-
priate unit. Union application cards, all of which were signed
within 1 year of the hearing, were introduced. The genuineness of the
signatures was not controverted. Since these cards also designated
the Union to represent the signer for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, the Trial Examiner properly excluded testimony relating td
arrearage of union dues.3 Interested parties, under the supervision
of the Trial Examiner, compared the cards with the pay roll; on the
basis of this comparison the Trial Examiner announced at the' hear-
ing that 327 employees in the appropriate unit had designated the
Union as their bargaining representative. None of the parties chal-
lenged the accuracy of this finding.
We find that the Union has been designated and selected by a
majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore,
the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining and we will so certify.
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 White Sewing Machine Corporation, Cleve-
land, Ohio, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The production and maintenance employees of the Company,
exclusive of supervisory, clerical, and powerhouse employees, consti-
tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations
Act.
3. United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America,
Local 721 (C. I. 0.), is the exclusive representative of all the em-
ployees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining, within
the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act.
,3 See Matter of National Motor Bearing Company and International Union, United
Automobile Workers of America, Local No. 76, 5 N L R B. 409 at 428.
17811-3 ^,-vo1 10-52
806 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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 1, as amended,
IT Is HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Electrical Radio and Machine
Workers of America, Local 721 (C. I. 0.), has been designated and
selected by a majority of the production and maintenance employees
of White Sewing Machine Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, exclusive
of supervisory, clerical, and powerhouse employees, as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that pursuant
to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, United Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 721 (C. I. 0.), is the
exclusive representative of all such employees for the purpose of
collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and, other conditions of employment.