The C. A. Olsen Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 26, 1957

118 N.L.R.B. 362 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

362 DECISIONS. OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders),
was conducted in a unit covering the pickup and delivery drivers and
helpers, checkers, fork lift operators, and dockmen of DAE and of
the Employer at Amarillo: As a result the Teamsters was certified.
Mechanics were specifically excluded from the unit. It is the garage
employees at Amarillo, including mechanics originally hired by the
Employer and those formerly employed by DAE, whom the Petitioner
now seeks to represent.
Both the Employer and DAE formerly operated terminals at
Amarillo. Since January 1957 only one consolidated terminal has
been utilized, and the shop there services all equipment operating in
and out of Amarillo whether it is equipment of the Employer or DAE
equipment. Garage employees of DAE became employees of the
Employer, and have been considered by the Employer as part of its
shop and garage group represented by the Intervenor. They were
reclassified under the classifications of the existing contract and
placed on a systemwide seniority list. They, like all employees of the
Employer, are paid from the general office in Dallas where their per-
sonnel records are maintained. Policy for the entire system is estab-
lished at the central office in Dallas, and all shops and garages are
under the supervision of a superintendent in Dallas.
Upon these facts we find that the garage and shop employees sought
herein are an accretion to the Employer's systemwide unit which
includes such employees and do not constitute an appropriate unit
for separate representation.3 Accordingly, we grant the Employer's
motion to dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
3 See J. W. Rex Company, 115 NLRB 775; National Petro=Chemicals Corporation, 116
NLRB 1197. -
The C. A. Olsen Manufacturing Company and International
Union, United Automobile , Aircraft & Agricultural Implement
Workers of America , AFL-CIO , and Independent Furnace
Workers Union , Local 1167, International Union , United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers Union of
America, AFL-CIO, Joint Petitioners. Cage No. 8-RC-2918.
June 26, 1957
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 Edward A. Grupp,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
118 NLRB No. 43.
THE C. A. OLSEN MANUFACTURING COMPANY 363
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 [Members Rodgers, Bean, and
Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.'
3. On January 31, 1957, the Joint Petitioners, herein called UAW
and Local 1167, respectively, filed a petition seeking to represent the
Employer's production and maintenance employees. The Employer,
engaged in the manufacture of warm-air furnaces and heating equip-
ment at Elyria, Ohio, contends that the Independent is the certified
bargaining representative of its employees and that their current
contract executed August 16, 1955, effective to June 1, 1958, is a bar
to these proceedings.' The Joint Petitioners argue, inter alia, that
the contract is of unreasonable duration and should not be a bar
beyond a 2-year period. In support of its contract-bar contention, the
Employer showed that it is a member of the National Warm-Air
Heating and Air Conditioning Association whose members produce
approximately 80 percent of the volume of products used in the indus-
try and that it conducted a survey among all the Association members
to determine the prevalent practice with respect to union contracts.
Ninety of the 123 Association members responded to the survey. Of
the 90 companies reporting, 31 reported contracts of 3 years' duration
while the remaining 59 reported contracts of less than 23/4 years' (the
duration of the contract involved. herein) or no contracts at all.' It
thus appears that only 331/3 percent of the companies reporting (25
percent of the Association membership) have contracts.of 3 years'
duration. Further, we note the record does not show the number of
nonassociation companies in the industry or the duration of their
contractual relationships, if any, with labor organizations; nor does
it show the number of employees in the industry who are covered by
' Although served with notice of hearing , no one appeared on behalf of the Independent
Furnace Workers, an unaffiliated labor organization , herein called Independent.
2 Pursuant to a petition in Case No . 8-RC-2433 filed by the UAW , joint petitioner
herein, a consent - election was held in which the Independent then unaffiliated , participated
as an intervenor and was certified on July 13 , 1955, as the bargaining representative
of the employees involved herein. A year later, on July 21, 1956, the Independent for-
mally affiliated with the UAW and on July 31, 1956, it was chartered by the UAW as
Local 1167, the other joint petitioner herein . As "a mere change in affiliation does not
change the identity of the bargaining agent" ( Charles Beck Machine Corporation, 107
NLRB 874, 875, and cases cited ), we find that Local 1167 , joint petitioner herein, is
in fact the previously certified representative with whom the Employer presently en-
joys contractual relations.
3 The Employer 's survey showed 31 companies with 3-year contracts , 23 with 2-year
contracts , 13 with 1-year contracts , 20 with no contracts, 3 with contracts ranging from
2 years and 7 months to 1 year and 7 months, and 1 with no specific information given
One of the 90 companies reported 2 union contracts.
364 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
3-year contracts compared with those who are not. Assuming that
warm-air furnace and heating equipment manufacture is considered
a separate industry for the purposes of applying our contract bar
doctrine,4 we find on these facts, and upon the entire record that the
evidence introduced does not adequately establish that a substantial
portion of the industry is covered by 3-year contracts within our con-
tract-bar principles.5 In these circumstances, we find that the contract
herein is of unreasonable duration and cannot be a bar for longer
than a period of 2 years, and that it is no bar to the instant petition.6
Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.7
4. In accord with the stipulation of the parties, we find that the
following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Elyria,
Ohio, warm-air furnace and heating equipment manufacturing
plant, but excluding office clerical employees, watchmen, guards, pro-
fessional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
4 Cf. Diamond Lumber Company, 117 NLRB 135; Royal Jet Incorporated, 113 NLRB
1064.
sHeintz Dlanufacturin g Company, 116 NLRB 183; Royal Jet Incorporated, supra;
Joseph Avonauer Incorporated, 106 NLRB 1382 ; cf. Thompson Wire Company, 116 NLRB
1933; Home Curtain Corp., 111 NLRB 336.
6 Central San Vicente Inc., 117 NLRB 397 ; Diamond. Lumber Company, supra; Round
California Chain Corporation, Ltd., 64 NLRB 242; ef. Home Curtain Corp., 111 NLRB
1253.
7In view of our determination herein, that the contract does not bar an election, we
deem it unnecessary to consider the issue with respect to the compliance status of the
Independent at the time it was certified on July 13, 1955, and when it executed its union-
security contract on August 16, 1955.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation ( Meter Plant) and Interna-
tional Union of Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-
CIO, Petitioner. Cruse No.11-PC-901. June 26,1957
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS
OF ELECTION
Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent election,
executed by the parties on December 8, 1956, an election by secret
ballot was conducted on December 14, 1956, under-the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Eleventh Region, among
certain employees at the Employer's Raleigh; North Carolina, plant.
At the conclusion of the election, the parties were furnished a tally of
118 NLRB No. 42.