Reliable Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 6, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 869 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of RELIABLE ELECTRIC COMPANY and UNITED Au'roMO-
BILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, A. F. of L.
Case No. 13-R-3217-Decided February 6, 1946
Fyffe c Clarke, by !11r. John Barrington, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Company.
Messrs. Anthony Doria, Angelo Inciso, and Nick Nardi, of Chicago,
Ill., for the Union.
Margaret H. Patterson, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Automobile Workers of Amer-
ica, A. F. of L., herein called the Union, alleging that a question af-
fecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Reliable Electric Company, Chicago, Illinois, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert T. Drake, Trial
Examiner . The hearing was held at Chicago, Illinois, on September
26, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and participated.
All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence 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
I. TIIE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY
Reliable Electric Company, an Illinois corporation, is engaged in
the manufacture of power and communication equipment at its plant
located in Chicago, Illinois. During the year 1944, the Company pur-
chased raw materials, including wire and mill products, valued in
excess of $100,000, 50 percent of which was shipped to its plant from
65 N. L R B , No. 155. 869
870 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
points outside the State of Illinois. During the same period, the
Company manufactured products valued in excess of $200,000, of
which approximately 75 percent was shipped from its plant to points
outside the State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found
appropriate
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit consisting of all production and main-
tenance employees, including toolrooiu apprentices and inspectors,
but excluding the production control employees,2 engineers, clerical
and office employees, the chief shipping and receiving clerk, the main-
tenance electrician, the chief maintenance man, the superintendent,
foremen , the two set-up men in the heavy press and heavy tool presses
sections , plant guards, and any other supervisory employees. The
Union takes no position on inclusion or exclusion of the female clerk
in the shipping room. The Company takes no position on the aVpro-
priateness of the foregoing unit as a whole, but states that the produc-
tion control group should be excluded therefrom.
The chief shipping and receiving clerk 3 supervises the work of
three persons, is on an hourly pay basis, does more manual than
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 55 authorization cards bearing
the names of 55 employees listed on the Company ' s pay roll of August 11, 1945. There are
169 persons in the alleged appropriate unit
2 Five production control employees work on scheduling and stock control in the office
° Elmer Mutz.
RELIABLE ELECTRIC COMPANY 871
clerical work, receives about 30 percent iriore pay than the-men who
work under him, and can make recommendations on personnel matters
that carry weight with the superintendent. We will exclude him from
the appropriate unit.
The two set-up men 4 for the heavy press section and the heavy tool
presses section supervise the work of six persons each; their work is
slightly more manual than supervisory; they can make recommenda-
tions on personnel matters. The Company feels they come within the
Board's definition of a supervisory employee. The Union asks that
they be excluded. We shall exclude them from the unit.
The straw-woman 6 spends more time in manual work than in
supervision of the six other employees under her. She makes no
recommendations concerning pay, promotions, or discharge. We
shall include her in the unit.
The chief maintenance man 6 and the maintenance electrician work
alongside of helpers and have no duties in reference to personnel mat-
ters. We shall include them. The female clerk in the shipping room
does light physical work and clerical work in equal amounts. We
shall include her.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company, including inspectors, apprentices, the strawboss, mainte-
nance men, and the female clerk in the shipping room, but excluding
engineers, the production control group, office and clerical employees,
foremen , plant guards, and all other supervisory employees having
the authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend
such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE lETERILINATION 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 Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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-
* Chester Oskorep, Edmund Zalewski.
Mollie Meltreger.
6 Joe Bosado.
9 James Saul . Jack Hewelt, Wm . Kandl , Casimir Neja, Elmer Mutz, Stanley Kalacinski,
Louis Vetter, and Ted Kwasniewski.
872 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Reliable Electric
Company, Chicago, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted 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 Thirteenth 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 tempo-
rarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but ex-
cluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by United Automobile Workers of America, affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.