Strickler Motors and Pasco Auto Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 21, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1313 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of STRICKLER MOTORS AND PASCO AUTO COMPANY and
PASCO-KENNEWICK AUTOMOBILE DEALERS ASSOCIATION and INTER-
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LODGE No. 1743
Cases Nos. 19-RC-329,19-RC-337, and 19-RM-40.Decided Decem-
ber 21,1949
DECISION
ORDER
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions 1 duly filed, a consolidated hearing was
held in these cases before H. A. McIntyre, hearing officer. The hear-
ing 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
these cases to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds,
and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer in Case No. 19-RC-329, hereinafter referred to
as Employer Strickler, and the Employer in Case No. 19-RC-337,
hereinafter referred to as Employer Pasco, are each engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act .2
2. International Association of Machinists, Lodge No. 1743, here-
inafter called the Machinists, is a labor organization claiming to re-
present employees of Employers Strickler and Pasco.
1,These cases were ordered consolidated by the Regional Director on August 5, 1949.
2 The Petitioner in Case No. 19-RAI-40 is the Pasco-Kennewick Automobile Dealers
Association , hereinafter called the Association , which is a formal association of 16 auto-
mobile dealers, all of whom are engaged in the sale and servicing of new and used auto-
mobiles and trucks in the vicinity of Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland, Washington. Both
Employers Strickler and Pasco are members of the Association. As more fully set forth
infra, the evidence establishes that the Association does not exercise employer functions
and has no authority from its members to enter into binding contracts with labor organi-
zations. Accordingly we find that the Association is not an employer within the meaning
of Section 2 (2) of the Act and shall, therefore, dismiss the petition in Case No. 19-RM-40.
87 NLRB No. 113.
1313
877359-50-vol. 87-84
1314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Employers Strickler and Pasco within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Machinists seeks to represent, on a separate employer basis,
the following categories of employees of Employers Strickler and
Pasco : automative machinists, mechanics, electricians, painters, body
and fender mechanics, their apprentices and helpers. The Associa-
tion, acting on behalf of its employer-members including Employers
Strickler and Pasco, opposes the establishment of the two units pro-
posed by the Machinists and contends that any unit which includes
the requested employees should be Association-wide in scope. It also
objects to the composition of the proposed units, insofar as they do
not in each case include car washers, lube men, tire men, and polishers.
The Association, whose membership includes most of the automobile
dealers in the area, was formed in 1946 for the general purpose of
promoting the interests of its members through cooperative effort and
to reform abuses in the automobile industry. There is no provision
in the bylaws or any other evidence showing that the Association had
.authority to bargain with employee representatives of its members. In
the summer of 1948, however, the members of the Association decided
to act jointly with respect to their labor relations and engaged the
services of the Associated Industries of the Inland Empire, to assist
-them in their dealings with labor unions. Nevertheless Associated
Industries was never given or ever exercised any authority to enter
into binding contracts on behalf of the members of the Association.
Notwithstanding their decision to bargain jointly, two of the mem-
bers of the Association have in the past year engaged in individual
bargaining with the Machinists and signed separate contracts cover-
ing their respective employees. These are the only incidents of bar-
gaining in the history of the Association. Under these circumstances
we -reject the Association's contention that an Association-wide unit
is the only appropriate one, and find that the-single-employer units
requested by the Machinists are appropriate.3
There remains for consideration the question of whether the pro-
,posed units in each case should include car washers, lube men, tire
men, and polishers. The Petitioner contends that these categories
-should 'be excluded because they are not a skilled group as are the
.employees in the requested units.
In each case, the employees whom the Petitioner would include and
ithose whom it would exclude work in the automotive repair and main-
.tenance divisions of the Employers. The two groups in each case have
3 Scott Motor Company, 84 NLRB 129; Retail Merchants Association of Terre Haute,
Indiana, 83 N.L;R:B 112.
STRTCXLER MOTORS, ET AL. 1315
substantially the same working conditions, although the requested
employees are higher paid. While they are not interchanged, it would
appear that there is a certain amount of contact between them because
,of the nature of their functions and the fact that Employers Strick-
ler and Pasco each employ only a small number of workers. Further-
more, the record does not show that the requested employees in either
case are craftsmen or that their duties require craft skills.
The Board has on many occasions , in businesses such as are here
involved, included unskilled workers in a single unit with the classi-
fications here requested, especially where, as here, they have common
employment interests and closely related job functions.4 We shall
therefore in each case include the car washers, lube men, tire men, and
polishers.
We find that each of the following groups of employees excluding
from each group all supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
All the automotive machinists, mechanics, electricians, painters,
body and fender mechanics, their apprentices and helpers, car washers,
tube men, tire men, and polishers of Employer Strickler.
All the automotive machinists, mechanics, electricians, painters,
body and fender mechanics, their apprentices and helpers, car wash-
ers, Jibe men, tire men, and polishers of Employer Pasco.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for certification of repre-
sentatives filed by Pasco-Kennewick Automobile Dealers Association
be, and it is hereby, dismissed.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Strickler Motors, Kennewick,
Washington, and Pasco Auto Company, Pasco, Washington, separate
elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible , but not
later than 30 days from the date of this Direction , under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard , and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations , among the employees in
the separate units found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
4 Harry Brown Motor Company, 86 NLRB 652; J. Silva Company, 85 NLRB 573;
.Adams Motors, Inc., 80 NLRB 1518.
1316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
preceding the date of this Direction of Elections , including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or
on vacation or temporarily . laid off, but excluding those employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been
rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elections , and also ex-
cluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented , for purposes
of collective bargaining, by International Association of Machinists,
Lodge No. 1743.