The Medart Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 18, 1951

97 N.L.R.B. 595 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

THE MEDART COMPANY 595
truck drivers or other maintenance employees to the shoe factory and
bills it for their working time. All employees are eligible for mem-
bership in The Wolverine Mutual Benefit Association, conducted
exclusively by employees.
As noted above, the last contract between the parties, under which
they bargained for about 2 years, covered production and maintenance
employees at all the Rockford plants. No other labor organization
seeks to represent any of the employees at any of the plants involved
herein. Although the Employer seeks the exclusion of the power-
house employees from any unit found appropriate herein, the Board
has repeatedly found that powerhouse employees may properly be
included in such a production and maintenance unit 10 Under these
circumstances, we find that the multiplant unit sought by the Peti-
tioner constitutes an appropriate unit 11
We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute a
single unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All production and
maintenance employees at the Employer's Rockford, Michigan, shoe
factory, tannery, warehouse, and powerhouse, excluding office clerical
employees, salesmen and truck drivers, professional employees, watch-
men, guards, and supervisors.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
a0 Ford Motor Company, Aircraft Engine Division, 96 NLRB 1075.
11 Oregon Portland Cement Company , 83 NLRB 675.
THE MEDART COMPANY, FRED MEDART DIVISION and DISTRICT No. 9,
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , AFL, PETITIONER.
Case No. 14-RC-1128. December 18, 1951
Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representatives
On September 13, 1951, pursuant to a Decision and Direction of
Election issued by the Board herein on August 17, 1951,1 an election
by secret ballot was conducted under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Fourteenth Region, among the em-
ployees in the voting group described in the Decision.
At the conclusion of the election, a tally of ballots was issued and
served upon the parties. The tally shows that there were approxi-
mately 35 eligible voters, and that 34 cast ballots, of which 8 were for
1 95 NLRB No. 153.
97 NLRB No. 85.
596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Petitioner, 3 were for United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers
Amalgamated, Local 810, herein called the Intervenor, and 23 were
challenged.
As the challenged ballots were sufficient in number to.affect the
results of the election, the Regional Director investigated the chal-
lenges and, on October 31; 1951, issued and duly served upon the
parties his report and recommendation on challenged ballots, in which
he recommended that all the challenges be sustained. Thereafter, the
Intervenor filed timely exceptions to the Regional Director's report.
The Petitioner challenged 23 voters on the ground that they were
not within the unit which, the Board found, might be appropriate.
The Board's Decision described this unit as consisting of all die mak-
ers, die maker helpers, machinists grades A and B, and maintenance
machinists. The evidence at the representation hearing showed that
these were the only employees who had the skills of the machinist
craft. The challenged voters, who, the Intervenor contends, should be
included in the unit, comprise various kinds of machine operators,
assemblers , bench hands, and maintenance men. These are not ma-
chinists and are not customarily included in a machinist craft group.
They were not included in our unit description and therefore were not
eligible to vote. Accordingly, we adopt the recommendation of the
Regional Director and sustain the challenges to their ballots.
In its Decision and Direction of Election, the Board made no final
determination as to the appropriate unit, pending the outcome of the
election. The Board now finds that all die makers, helpers, machinists
grades A and B, and maintenance machinists, at the Employer's St.
Louis, Missouri, plant, excluding office and clerical employees, watch-
men, guards, professional employees, and 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.
As the Petitioner has secured a majority of the valid ballots cast
in the election, we shall certify it as the bargaining representative of
all employees in the appropriate unit.
Certification of Representatives
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that District No. 9, International Association
of Machinists, AFL, has been designated and selected by a majority
of all employees in the unit found appropriate above, as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant
to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organization is the exclusive
representative of all employees in such unit for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employ-
ment, and other conditions of employment.
CANADA DRY GINGER ALE , INCORPORATED 597
MEMBERS REYNOLDS and STYLEs took no part in the consideration of
the above Supplemental Decision and Certification of Representatives.
CANADA DRY GINGER ALE, INCORPORATED and LOCAL 153, OFFICE EM-
PLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No.
°3-R6-3668. December 19, 1951
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before George Turitz, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer' is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer 2
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:
Since about 1941 the Employer has executed contracts with the In-
tervenor covering the office employees sought by the Petitioner in this
case. During the period before 1948, these contracts contained union-
security clauses. However, in the 1948 agreement, which extended
the then existing agreements to July 1, 1949, and contained a 60-day
automatic renewal clause, it was provided that "Article II and any
other reference to Union Shop shall not become operative unless and
until the Union shall deliver to Canada Dry under and pursuant to
Section 9 E of the Taft Hartley law a certificate authorizing the Union
to make an agreement with Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Incorporated re-
quiring membership in the Union as a condition of employment."
This contract was apparently renewed until 1950. On August 22,
1950, the contracting parties executed a new agreement, to extend
1 The Employer 's name appears in the caption as amended at the hearing.
2 American Federation of Office Employees , Local 20940 , AFL, herein called the Inter-
venor, was properly permitted to intervene on the basis of its existing contract with the
Employer.
97 NLRB No. 42.
980209-52-vol. 97-39