Brooks-Noble Auto Parts & Machine Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 29, 1951

94 N.L.R.B. 915 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

BROOKS-NOBLE AUTO PARTS & MACHINE CO., INC. 915
Group) 4: All machine shop employees at the Employer's mill at
Mercedita, Puerto Rico, excluding clerical and office employees,10 pro-
fessional, administrative, and executive employees, guards, watchmen,
tunekeepers, foremen, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.
We shall, however, make no final unit determinations at this time,
but shall first ascertain the desires of the employees as expressed in
the elections.
5. Determination of representatives :
At the hearing, the parties agreed that any election or elections in
this case should'be conducted during the months of April, May, or
Jiyie 1951, at a specific time to be designated by the Regional Director
for the Twenty-fourth Region. In view of the length of time that
has elapsed since the hearing, we shall follow our usual practice and
direct that the elections be held as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of our Direction.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
10 Including the so-called plant clericals
BROOKS -NOBLE AU'ro PARTS & MACHINE CO., INC. and INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACI[INISTS , PETITIONER . Case NO. 15-RCi-498.
t11uy 29, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Richard C. Keenan, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and ]Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer, Brooks-Noble Auto Parts & Machine Co., Inc.,1 a
Mississippi corporation, is engaged in the wholesale distribution and
sale of automotive parts, including the sale of parts, accessories, and
rebuilt engines to independent dealers, fleets, and garages. It main-
tains stores in Jackson, Canton, Forest, Hattiesburg, and Hazlehurst,
all in the State of Mississippi. It also maintains, at the Jackson loca-
tion, a machine shop employing 21 employees, and a machine shop at
Hattiesburg employing 1 machinist. Only the Jackson machine shop
I The Employer 's name appears as amended at the hearing
94 NLRB No. 143.
916 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
is involved in this proceeding. At this shop the Employer is engaged
in the rebuilding of motors, and the performance of certan industrial
work such as repairing dies, making tools, grinding crankshafts and
other parts.
During the 12-month period from March 1, 1950, to February 28,
1951, the Employer purchased materials and supplies for all branches
of its business in the amount of $461,342.15, of which $409,145.78 was
obtained directly from without the State of Mississippi. During the
same period its total sales amounted to $738,384.66, of which only one-
half of 1 percent was sold and shipped to points outside the State.
However, during this period, the Employer made sales and furnished
services to public utilities and transit systems in the amount of $31,-
866.11. It thus appears that while the Employer's inflow and outflow
of materials are each less than the minimum that the Board requires
to justify the assertion of jurisdiction, the combined totals, considered
in ratio to the respective minimum inflow and outflow requirements,
are more than equivalent to the minimum requirement in either cate-
gory.2 The Employer's direct inflow of $409,145.78 is approximately
81 percent of the Board's minimum direct inflow requirement of
$500,000.3 The Employer's sales and services to public utilities and
transit systems, amounting to $31,866.11, are approximately 63 percent
of the minimum indirect outflow requirement of $50,000.4 The total
of these percentages greatly exceeds 100 percent.'
In addition, the Employer has made sales or furnished services total-
ing $14,753.29 to 22 firms who ship some portion of their products
outside the State. The exact amount of such interstate shipments is
not revealed by this record. The Board's records disclose, however,
that it has asserted jurisdiction over most of these enterprises.
The Employer contends, however, that its machine shop at Jackson
is an operation separate from its wholesale parts business and that,
as the interstate aspects of the machine shop operations are less than
the required minimum,s the Board should not assert jurisdiction in
this case. The record discloses that the machine shop is located in a
single building with the Jackson wholesale parts store, being separated
from it by a wall which runs from the back of the building to a space in
front that is used as a counter and lobby area. The machine shop is
supervised by a foreman, and the parts division by a manager, each
2 The Rutledge Paper Products, Inc., 91 NLRB 625.
2 Federal Dairy Co., Inc, 91 NLRB 638.
4 Hollow Tree Lumber Company, 91 NLRB 635.
5 The Rutledge Paper Products, Inc., supra.
6 The Employer asserts that the machine shop does only approximately 20 percent of
the business of the Company ; that of all the Employer's out-of-State purchases only
64 percent, or $26,594 48, was for parts and materials handled through the machine shop ;
that sales of the machine shop to specific purchasers who are themselves engaged in
commerce (including a portion of the Employer's sales and services to the U. S. Govern-
ment, Corps of Engineers) amounted only to $16,953 60; and that its machine shop sales
outside the State were negligible.
SWIFT & COMPANY 917
of whom reports directly to the Employer's president. Accounts and
payrolls for the machine shop and all the Employer's stores are han-
dled in a central office located in the Jackson store. When parts are
needed by the Jackson machine shop, whether for motor rebuilding,7
repair, or performance of a machine "contract job," these are obtained
by requisition from the store. Machine shop customers are furnished
a single statement covering parts and labor.
Upon the basis of the above facts, the Board finds that the Employer
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. We further
find that the Employer's Jackson, Mississippi, machine shop is an
integral part of its over-all operations, and that it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction in this proceeding.s
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All employees in the E`mployer's Jackson, Mississippi, machine shop,
excluding office, clerical, technical, professional, and parts employees,
watchmen, guards, the foreman, assistant foreman, and all other su-
pervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume]
7 As set forth above, the Employer is engaged in part in the sale of rebuilt engines
through its stores division . The sources of these rebuilt engines , however, is not revealed.
8 The Basic Lumber Products Division of the New York Coal Company, 92 NLRB 874.
SWIPr & COMPANY and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA,
CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 4-RC-953. May 29,1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harold X. Summers, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
1 At the hearing , the Intervenor, Local 1, National Brotherhood of Packinghouse Workers,
CUA, submitted separate motions to dismiss the petition on grounds relating generally to :
(1) The Petitioner 's showing of interest ; ( 2) the Petitioner's compliance status; (3) the
timeliness of the instant petition ; and ( 4) contract bar. With respect to (1) and (2),
showing of interest and the fact of compliance by a labor organization which is required
to comply are matters for administrative determination and are not litigable by the
parties. Moreover , we are administratively satisfied that the Petitioner has an adequate
94 NLRB No. 137.