Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 25, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 1362 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of ALLIS-CHALMERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY and
UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA,
LocAL 239, CIO
Case No. 1-R-2691.-Decided February 25, 19416
Mr. W. J. McGowan, of Milwaukee, Wis., for the Company.
Mr. Donald Tormey, of Boston, Mass., for the Union.
Mr. S. Roy Remar, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America, Local 239, CIO, herein called the Union, alleg-
ing that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company,
of Boston, Massachusetts, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice before Walter Wilbur, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held
at Boston, Massachusetts, on November 6, 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 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
Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, a Delaware corporation,
,has its principal office and place of business at West Allis, Wisconsin.
It is engaged generally in the manufacture of machinery of various
types. It maintains plants in La Crosse, Wisconsin; Springfield,
65 N. L. R. B., No. 226.
1362
ALLIS-CHALMERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1363
Illinois; Oxnard, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Norwood,
Ohio; La Porte, Indiana; and Boston, Massachusetts. This proceed-
ing involves only the Boston plant, at which it normally manufactures
oil breakers, air blast breakers, and switch gear; its present production
is limited to switch gear and war equipment, the latter constituting
more than 50 percent of its total production. At its Boston plant, the
Company uses raw materials consisting principally of steel, brass,
copper, and wood, amounting to more than $2,000,000 in value per year,
of which approximately 80 percent is shipped to the plant from points
outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Sales of finished prod-
ucts from the Boston plant amount to more than $4,000,000 in value
per annum, of which approximately 65 percent is shipped to points
outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The normal employ-
ment at the Boston plant is approximately 652 employees.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local
239, is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, admitting to membership 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 Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial 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 DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
Pursuant to a written agreement, the Union, for some years, has
been recognized by the Company as the collective bargaining repre-
sentative of the production and maintenance employees of the Boston
plant, excluding, inter alia, firemen and watchmen. The Union now
seeks to enlarge the scope of the contractual unit by adding firemen
and watchmen. Opposing the Union's position, the Company con-
tends that the two groups involved are not "employees"' within the
meaning of the Act; that their duties are too closely identified with
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted eight cards , bearing the names
of employees listed on the Company 's pay roll , and in the alleged appropriate unit.
1364 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
management; and that the terms of the present contract between the
Company and the Union operate as a bar to the designation of the
Union as the representative of the employees here sought. There is
no evidence in the record that in our opinion establishes that these
employees are endowed with managerial functions, or that otherwise
warrants their removal from the category of employees within the
meaning of the Act. With regard to the contract, neither in its terms,
nor in the circumstances surrounding its execution, are there factors
to show that the Union committed itself not to seek to admit or repre-
sent other employees.2 In fact, the contract provides that "nothing
contained in this article shall prevent the Union from obtaining ju-
dicial determination as to the legal correctness of the exclusion of
any of the above classified employees from the coverage of this agree-
ment." Accordingly we find the Company's contentions to be without
merit.
Firemen: The operations of the plant require uninterrupted steam
pressure and the Company's insurance contracts require maintenance
of sufficient pressure to operate the plant's fire apparatus; the Com-
pany employed four firemen to maintain such pressure. Firemen per-
forming similar functions are included by the Board in a general
unit of production and maintenance employees .3 We shall, however,
permit the preference of the firemen to determine whether or not
they shall be added to the existing unit of production and maintenance
employees, and to that end shall order a self-determination election.
If at such election a majority of these employees select the Union as
their bargaining representative, they thereby will have indicated their
desire to be bargained for in the unit of production and maintenance
employees now represented by the Union. '
Watchmen: There are four watchmen who perform the duties of
watchmen and guards. They do fire patrol work, are responsible for
reporting infractions of plant rules, and check the entrance and depar-
ture of employees and other authorized persons. Militarized during
the war, they are now wholly civilian and carry no arms except on
occasion when escorting radar equipment; moreover, they are not dep-
utized, nor is any authority vested in them to excuse or penalize em-
ployees guilty of wrongdoing. They are paid on an hourly basis.
We find that the duties of the watchmen are custodial and not moni-
torial or confidential.' We shall permit the preference of the watch-
men to determine whether or not they shall be added to the existing
unit of production and maintenance employees. In the event a major-
ity of these employees select the Union as their bargaining representa-
tive, they thereby will have indicated their desire to be bargained for
2 Matter of Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation , 6-R-1180, 64 N L. R. B. 1284.
'Matter of The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, 59 N. L. R. B. 581.
4 Matter of Lectrolite Corporation, 8-R-1818, 63 N. L. R. B. 369.
ALLIS-CHALMERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1365
in the unit of production and maintenance employees now represented
by the Union.5
We shall direct that separate elections be conducted among the em-
ployees in the separate voting groups described below who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
the Direction of Elections herein, subject to the limitations and addi-
tions set forth in the Direction :
1. All firemen of the Boston plant of the Company, but excluding
watchmen and supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action.
2. All watchmen of the Boston plant of the Company, but excluding
firemen and supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action."
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 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 Allis-Chalmers
Manufacturing Company, elections 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 First 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 employees in the
voting groups described 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 temporarily laid off, and
including employees in the armed forces of the United States who
present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em-
ployees 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 Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 239, CIO, for the pur-
poses pf collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.
' Matter of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, 61 N. L. R. B. 631.
' Matter of Eastern Tool & Mfg Co., Inc ., 2-R-5417, 61 N. L. R. B. 1315.