Thompson Products, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 26, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 885 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THOMPSON PRODUCTS, INC. and LOCAL No. 1, SOCIETY
OF TOOL AND DIE CRAFTSMEN
Case No. 7-R-1900.-Decided February 06, 1945
Mr. David Karasiok, for the Board.
Mr. Harry E. Smoyer, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Robert 0. Brown, of Detroit, Mich., for the Society.
Mr. Joe Ferris, of Detroit, Mich., for the CIO.
Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Local No. 1, Society of Tool and Die
Craftsmen, herein called the Society, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Thompson Products, Inc., Detroit, Michigan, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Irene Shriber, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Detroit, Michigan, on January 15, 1945. The
Company, the Society, and International Union, United Automobile,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW-
CIO), and its Local No. 247, herein called the CIO, 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. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Thompson Products, Inc., is an Ohio corporation with its principal
office and place of business at Cleveland, Ohio. It maintains a plant
60 N. L. R. B., No. 150.
885
886 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
at Detroit, Michigan, the only one involved in this proceeding, where
it manufactures, sells, and distributes divers parts used in automobile,
truck, tractor, aircraft, and marine engine industries. In the, year
1944, the Company purchased materials valued at approximately
$3,900,000, for use in its Detroit plant, 331/3 percent of which was
purchased from sources located outside the State of Michigan. During
the same period it manufactured,, at its Detroit plant, products of the
approximate value of $8,600,000, 45 percent of which it sold outside
the State of Michigan.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Local No. 1, Society of Tool and Die Craftsmen, unaffiliated, is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees, of the
Company.
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricul-
tural Implement Workers of America, and its Local No. 247, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, are labor organizations
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
I
On March 16, 1943, following an election, the Board certified the
CIO as the exclusive bargaining agent of the employees in the unit
found appropriate. Negotiations between the CIO and the Company
commenced in April 1943. Upon reaching an impasse, the matter was
submitted to the United States Conciliation Service and certified by
it to the War Labor Board. Following a panel hearing, a Regional
Directive Order, dated December 9, 1943, was issued. The Company
appealed the action of the Regional Board and the National War
Labor Board affirmed the action of the Regional Board on July 25,
1944. Thereafter, on November 2, 1944, the CIO entered into a con-
tract with the Company. The expiration date of the contract was
December 12, 1944. The contract provided that in the absence of
notice by either party of a desire to change the terms or terminate the
contract prior to 30 days before the termination date, the contract
would be automatically renewed for 1 year. No such notice was given.
On November 4, 1944, 2 days after the signing of the contract and 8
days before the contract was automatically renewed, the petitioner
requested recognition from the Company.
In Matter of Aluminum Company of America,' the Board held that-
where a newly certified bargaining representative had resorted to the
1 58 N L R. B. 24.
THOMPSON PRODUCTS, INC. 887
orderly procedures of the War Labor Board for the settlement of a
dispute, and thereafter, upon final action of such Board, with due
diligence had entered into a contract for the term of 1 year, such
representative was entitled to insure to the employees the benefits
thus derived for a reasonable period, i. e., the full contractual term.
The Board did not intend thereby to imply that in every case where
a contract was consummated following resort to the War Labor Board
would the Board refrain from disturbing the contract for the period
of 1 year regardless of its stated term. Where, as here, the bargaining
representative enters into a contract for a term of less than 1 year,
and a question concerning representation arises at the end of the con-
tractual term, there is no valid reason why the Board should not pro-
ceed to a determination of the representation question; there is no
basis for an inference that the parties, in entering into the contract,
had adopted a contractual term other than one deemed by them to be
reasqnable. Since the petitioner herein gave notice of its claim to
representation prior to the automatic renewal date of the contract,
we find that the contract is no bar to the instant proceeding?
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that both the Society and the CIO each represents a
substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found
appropriate.8
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
We find, in substantial accordance with the agreement of the
parties, that all hourly rated and production employees at the Detroit
plant of the Company, excluding supervisory employees, foremen,
supervisors, plant-protection employees, office and confidential em-
ployees, and all or any other supervisory employees with 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 collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.4
2 Matter of Mall'B, Inc.. 40 N. L. R. B. 346.
s The Field Examiner reported that the Society submitted 370 authorization cards ; that
the names of 274 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the pay roll furnished by
the Company on November 24, 1944, which contained the names of 867 employees in the
appropriate unit; and that 361 of the cards were dated between January and December
1944 and that 9 were undated.
The CIO submitted a list of 654 names, certified by the financial secretary of the local
on December 14, 1944, to be a true list of workers who are in good standing in accordance
with the local By-Laws and the International Constitution . The names of 542 persons
appearing on the list were contained in the aforesaid pay roll.
4 This is substantially the same unit as previously found appropriate by the Board. See
Matter of Thompson Products, Inc., 47 N . L. R. B. 619.
888 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION 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 Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations- Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represen-
tatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Thompson
Products, Inc., Detroit, Michigan, an election by secret ballot shall be
conducted 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 Seventh 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
the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding any 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 they desire to be represented by Local No. 1, Society
of Tool and Die Craftsmen or by International Union, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America
(UAW-CIO), and its Local No. 247, for the purposes of collective
bargaining, or by neither.