Aladdin Industries, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 31, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 76 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ALADDIN INDUSTRIES, INC. and UNITED ELECTRICAL,
RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 11-R-816.-Decided July 31, 1945
Messrs. T. A. Blain and E. J. Almquist, both of Alexandria, Ind.,
for the Company.
Mr. Robert Kirkwood, of Indianapolis, Ind., and Mr. Gene Johnson,
of Summitville, Ind., for the UE.
Mr. Walter Bennett, of Kokomo, Ind., and Mr. Frank Hall, of Alex-
andria, Ind., for Local 52.
Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board:
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATE-,AENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the UE, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Aladdin Industries, Inc., Alexandria, Indiana, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Clifford L. Hardy,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Alexandria, Indiana, on
May 28, 1945. The Company, the UE, and Metal Polishers, Buffers,
Platers and Helpers International Union, Local 52, herein called Local
52, appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded an opportunity 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
Aladdin Industries, Inc.,_an Illinois corporation with its principal
-office and place of business located at Chicago, Illinois, operates a plant
63 N. L. R. B., No. 5.
76
ALADDIN INDUSTRIES, INC. 77
located at Alexandria, Indiana, with which we are concerned herein.
The Company is engaged in the manufacturing and selling of mantle
lamps, electric lamps, lamp accessories, lamp shades, vacuum bottles,
and vacuum jars. During the year 1944 the Company purchased for
use at its Alexandria plant raw materials valued in excess of $100,000,
more than 65 percent of which was shipped to said plant from points
outside the State of Indiana. During the same period the Company
manufactured finished products at said plant valued in excess of
$100,000, more than 70 percent of which was shipped to points outside
the State of Indiana.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, affiliated
-with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Metal Polishers,
Buffers, Platers and. Helpers International Union, Local No. 52,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, are labor organiza-
tions admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about March 16, 1941, the Company and Local 52 executed a
collective bargaining agreement whereby the Company recognized
Local 52 as the exclusive bargaining agent for "all employees of the
Polishing and Plating Departments [of the Company (departments
15, 16, and 17)]." This agreement further provided that it was to
remain in effect from March 16, 1941 to March 16, 1942, and from year
to year thereafter, in the absence of notice by either party to the other
30 days prior to any anniversary date of a desire "to alter, amend, or
annul" the agreement. No such notice has been given by either party.
On or about March 27, 1945, the UE requested recognition from the
,Company as the representative of the latter's employees in depart-
ments 15, 16, and 17. The Company refused such recognition, stating
that it considered the contract between it and Local 52 still to be
operative.
The record indicates that, on or about October 1942, the Company,
then in the process of converting from peacetime to wartime opera-
tions, notified the employees of departments 15, 16, and 17 that their
positions were being discontinued and that they would be given the
option of transferring to other departments or leaving the Company's
employ to seek other positions. These employees were told that when
the Company reconverted to peacetime operations it would endeavor
to recall them to their former positions. Approximately half the em-
78 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees involved transferred to other departments of the Company,
and the remainder left its employ. The three departments continued
to- exist, however, staffed by a new group of employees, and the work
performed by them differed from and was less skilled than the work
performed by their predecessors.
The record further discloses that the Company last met with a shop
committee of Local 52 3 years ago, in the summer of 1942. Further-
more, in January 1944, without the concurrence of Local 52, the Com-
pany took unilateral action in filing a petition with the National War
Labor Board seeking approval of an increase in the wages of its
employees, including those engaged in departments 15, 16, and 17, and
its application was subsequently granted. Finally, the record reveals
that, since 1942, except for one instance in July 1944, the Company
conducted no collective bargaining relations with Local 52,1 and that
Local 52 apparently ceased to function for all practical purposes as
the collective bargaining representative of the Company's employees.
Counsel for Local 52 himself conceded that after 1942 "there was no,
longer a unit" which could be represented by his organization.
While the contract between the Company and Local 52 was renew-
able on its face, in the absence of an overt act, at the time of the opera-
tive date of the automatic renewal clause in 1945, Local 52 did not
then truly represent the Company's employees, having been defunct as
to them. Thus, in our view, it was incapable of renewing the contract
in their behalf. Accordingly, we find that the contract of March 16,
1941, is not a bar to a current determination of representatives.
A statement of a Field Examiner for the Board, introduced into,
evidence at the hearing, indicates that ttie UE represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We .find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
'f Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, substantially in accordance with the UE's unopposed re-
quest, that all employees of the Company in departments 15, 16, and
' Even this one instance is open to serious question . An employee of the Company who
was formerly a member of Local 52 ' s shop committee , but who is now engaged in a depart-
ment of the Company not previously represented by Local 52 , prosecuted a grievance on
behalf of a fellow employee who had, at one time , been a member of Local 52, but had left
the Company 's employ at the time of the conversion and subsequently returned to work.
It is not clear whether the employee negotiating with the Company conducted these
negotiations as a representative of Local 52, or merely as a friend of the employee who
hac' the grievance
2 The Field Examiner reported that the UE submitted 10 authorizations which "check"
with the Company ' s pay roll for the period ending April 28, 1945; and that the unit sought
by the UE was comprised of approximately 12 employees
Local 52 relies upon its contract of March 16 , 1941, for the establishment of its interest
herein.
ALADDIN INDUSTRIES, INC. 79
17, excluding supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, and all other employees
of the Company, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
- We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees 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 Direc-
tion.3
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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIREOTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Aladdin Indus-
tries, Inc., Alexandria, Indiana, 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 Eleventh 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 Regulations, among the
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
any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and who have
not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to deter-
mine whether they desire to be represented by United Electrical,
Radio & Machine `Yorkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, or by Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and
Helpers International Union, Local No. 52, affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or
by neither.
s In view of the contractual relationship which existed between the Company and Local
52, we shall permit Local 52 to appear on the ballot See Matter of Sunshine Mining
Company, 48 N L. R B. 301.