Willys Overland Motors, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 11, 1940

21 N.L.R.B. 459 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of WILLYS OVERLAND MOTORS; INC. and THE' PATTERN
MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA
Case No. B-1445
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 11, 1940
On October 4, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called? the Board; issued its Decision and Direction of Election;1 • and
on December 15, 1939, an Amendment to Direction of Election,2 in
the above-entitled proceedings. Pursuant to the amended Direction
of Election an election by secret ballot was conducted on January
22, 1940, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Eighth Region (Cleveland, Ohio). On January 31, 1940,
the Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, issued and duly served upon the parties an Election Re-
port containing a tally of the ballots. In his Report the Regional
Director certified that the ballot was fairly and impartially con-
ducted, that the ballots cast were duly and fairly counted under his
supervision, and that statements to such effect had been filed with
him by the tellers.
As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Total on eligibility list-------------------------------------- 11
Total ballots cast------------------------------------------- 11
Votes cast for the Pattern Makers League of North America
(A. F. L.)------------------------------------------------ 2
Votes cast for international Union, United Automobile Workers
of America (C. I. 0.) ------------------------------------- 2
Votes cast for neither organization--------------------------- 0
Total blank ballots ----------------------------------------- 0
Total void ballots------------------------------------------- 0
Total ballots challenged------------------------------------- 7
115 N. L R B 864.
218 N. L. R. B. 324
21 N. L. R. B., No. 38.
459
460 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Regional Director further reported his rulings upon the chal-
lenged ballots, which fell into three classifications :
1. Two ballots were challenged by The Pattern Makers League of
North America, herein called the P. M. L., on the ground that the
men casting these ballots were not pattern makers, but only helpers,
and therefore not eligible to vote as pattern and model makers. The
Regional Director sustained these challenges.
2. One ballot was challenged by International Union, United
Automobile Workers of America (affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations), Local No. 12, herein called the C. I. 0,
U. A. W., on the ground that the seniority of • the man casting this
ballot was carried in Department #370 rather than in the Research
and Experimental Department. The Regional Director overruled
this challenge.
3. Four ballots were challenged by the C. I. O.-U. A. W. on the
ground that the men casting these ballots had been employed in
violation of a certain contract between Willys Overland Motors,
Inc., herein called the Company, and the C. I. O.-U. A. W. The
Regional Director overruled these challenges.
Consequently, adding the challenged votes which had been ruled
eligible to those already counted, the Regional Director reported the
balloting and its results as follows :
Disposition
of challenges
Total all
ballots
Valid votes
only
Total on eligibility list-------------------------------------------- -------------- 11 ------------
Total ballots cast ----------------------------------------------- -------------- I1 ------------
Total ballots challenged ------------------------------------------- 7 ------------ ------------
(a) Challenged ballots determined eligible -------------------- 5 ---------- - ------------
(b), Challenged, .ballots ,determmed.not eligible ---------------- --------------
0
2 ------------
Total blank ballots ----------------------------------------------- -------------- ------------
Total void ballots ------------------------------------------------- -------------- 0 ------------
Total valid votes cast--------------------------- --------------- 9 9
Votes cast for The Pattern Makers League of North America
(A. F L.) ------------------------------------------------------ 7
Votes cast for International Union, United Automobile Workers
of America (C. 1. C) -------------------------------------------- 2
Votes cast for neither organization -------------------------------- 0
No objections to the conduct of the ballot or the Election Report
have been filed by any of the parties. On January 31, 1940, how-
ever, the C. I. O.-U. A. W. filed with the Regional Director a motion
to reopen the record in order that it might introduce additional evi-
dence in the form of the contract between the Company and the
C. I. O.-U. A. W. We have hitherto held that persons presently
employed, but alleged to have been hired by the employer in violation
of a contract with the Union, may not thereby be barred from voting
and we, therefore, deemed it unnecessary to resolve the contractual
WILLYS OVERLAND MOTORS, INC. 461
dispute presented by this allegation .3 A contract between the Com-
pany and the C. I. O.-U. A. W. offered for such purpose is thus
irrelevant and we therefore deny the C. I. O.-U. A. W.'s motion to
reopen the record for he purpose of introducing its contract.
In the Decision and Direction of Election previously referred to,
the Board stated that upon the results of the election would depend
the appropriate unit, that "If the employees choose the P. M. L.
they will constitute a separate and distinct appropriate unit."
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACT
We find that all the pattern and model makers in the research
and experimental department of the Company's plant in Toledo,
Ohio, 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.
SUPPLEMENTAL CONCLUSION OF LAW
The employees engaged as pattern and model makers in the re-
search and experimental department of 'the Company's plant in
Toledo, Ohio, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
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 Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat. 449 and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and
9, of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 2, as amended
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that The Pattern Makers League of North
America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, has been
designated and selected by a majority of the pattern and model
makers in the research and experimental department of the Toledo,
Ohio, plant of Willys Overland Motors, Inc., as their representative
for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that pursuant to See-
tion'9 (a) of the Act, The Pattern Makers League of North America
is the, exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes
of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment.
$Matter of Rock River Woolen Mills and Textile Workers Union of America, affiliated
wroth Congress of Industrial Organizations , 18 N. L. R. B. 828.