Avion, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 9, 1943

51 N.L.R.B. 174 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of AvION, INC. and' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MACHINISTS , DISTRICT LODGE No. 94 , FOR AND IN BEHALF OF ITS AFFILI-
ATED LOCAL 311
In the Matter of AvION, INC. and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED
AuroiroBILE , AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF
AMERICA, (UAW-CIO)
Cases Nos. R-5537 and R-5538 respectively.Decided July 9, 1943
Gibson, Dunn c Cruteher, by Mr. J. H. Peckham, Jr., of Los
Angeles, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Roscoe V. Ickes, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the I. A. M.
Katz, Gallagher & Margolis, by Mr. Milton S. Tyre; and Mr. John
J. Binder, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the C. 1. 0.
Mr. Wallace E. Royster, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION,
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon separate petitions duly filed by International Association of
Machinists, District Lodge No. 94, for and in behalf of its affiliated
Local 311, herein called the I. A. M., and by International Union,
United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of
America (UAW-CIO), herein called the CIO, each alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Avion, Inc., Los Angeles, California, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board consolidated
the petitions herein and provided for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice before Daniel J. Harrington, Trial Examiner. Said hear-
ing was held at Los Angeles, California, on June 14, 1943. The Com-
pany, the I. A. M., and the CIO,1 appeared, participated, and were
afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
1 The CIO appears as petitioner in Case No . R-5538 and as intervener in Case No.
R-5537.
51 N. L. R. B., No. 40.
174
AVION, INC. 175
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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Avion, Inc., was incorporated in California on November 30, 19412,
and is engaged in the engineering, manufacturing, fabricating, and
assembling of airplanes, airplane parts, and sub-assemblies. The
business of the Company is conducted in three locations-on 50th
Street, 60th Street, and District Boulevard, in the city of Los Angeles.
To the date of the hearing the Company's purchases, consisting of tools
and raw materials such as lumber, sheet aluminum and steel products,
totaled approximately $2,000,000, of which 90 percent was shipped
to the Company from points outside California. All of the Company's
finished products are sold to local aircraft companies for ultimate
delivery and use outside California.
The Company concedes that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Association of Machinists, District Lodge No. 94, and
its affiliated Local 311, are labor organizations admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural
Impement Workers of America (UAW-CIO), is a labor organiza-
tion affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
A. The 60th Street plant. Case No. R-5537
It was' stipulated at the hearing that the IAM requested recogni-
tion of the Company as exclusive bargaining representative of the
employees working in the 60th Street plant and that the Company
refused such recognition unless or until the IAM is certified by the
Board as such representative or otherwise satisfies the Company that
it represents a majority of the employees in that plant.
B. The multiple plants. Case No. R-5538
It was stipulated at the hearing that the CIO requested recognition
of the Company as exclusive bargaining representative of the employ-
176 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ees working in all the Company's plants, including the 60th Street
plant, and that the Company refused such recognition unless or until
the CIO is certified by the Board as such representative or otherwise
satisfies the Company that it represents a majority of the employees
in the plants.
A statement of the Field Examiner, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the IAM and the CIO each represents a
substantial number of employees in the unit it claims 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
At the hearing, the parties stipulated that production and main-
tenance employees, including inspectors, assembly workers, clerical
employees working in productive areas, and group leaders, but ex-
cluding supervisory employees above the rang of group leaders, plant-
protection employees (including guards and firemen), administrative
employees, clerical employees not working in productive areas, and
timekeepers, constitute an appropriate unit.
(1) Case No. R-5537.
The IAM would restrict the unit described above to the employees
working in the 60th Street plant, which is described in the record as
a department of the main plant on 50th Street. The chief function
of the 60th Street plant is to assemble the products fabricated and,
manufactured at the 50th Street and District Boulevard plants. The
company maintains a training school at the 50th Street plant where'
employees in all plants are instructed in the fundamentals of their
work. Employees are frequently transferred among, the plants ; re-
ceive the same wage for similar skill; and work under the same condi-
tions. All have Company-wide seniority and are carried on a central
pay roll. Managament and labor policies pertaining to all the plants
emanate from the 50th Street plant. Although the 60th Street plant
is 6 miles from the other plantsi the separation is only geographical.
Functionally all the plants are one integrated unit and only the lack
of space at the 50th Street plant compels their dispersion. Many of
the employees in all plants live in the same community and, appear
to have common interests and problems. Under these circumstances
we are persuaded, and find, that the employees of the Company at the
60th Street plant do not alone constitute an appropriate unit. Ac-
' See the following :
60th Street plant unfit Multiple plant unit
IAM represents--------- 62%___________________ 16%.
Cards dated------------ May 1943--- -----------
CIO represents---------- 26%-------------- ---- 31%.
Cards dated-----------. April & May 1943 ------ April, May, and June 1943
AVION, INC. 177
cordingly , we shall dismiss the petition filed by the IAM in Case
No. R-5537.
( 2) Case No. R-5538.
The CIQ would include in the unit the employees of the Company
working in the 50th Street, 60th Street, and District Boulevard plants.
The District Boulevard plant houses a department formerly in the
50th Street plant and is adjacent to the main plant . It appears from
the record that each of the plants performs a portion of the manufac-
turing and assembling process and that none, alone , is a complete
functional unit. As stated above, employees are freely interchanged
among the plants and one labor policy applies to all employees. In
view of these circumstances , we are of the opinion that the interests
of the employees will be furthered and the policies of the Act best be
effectuated by representation of the employees in a single niultiple-
plant unit.
The parties have stipulated that group leaders be included in the
unit. However, the record reveals that group leaders have the au-
thority to recommend the hire and discharge of employees. In ac-
cordance with our settled policy in respect to such employees, we
shall exclude them from the unit.3
In accordance with the foregoing and the agreement of the par-
ties, we find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company in Los Angeles , California , working in the 50th Street,
60th Street and District Boulevard plants, including inspectors, as-
sembly workers , and clerical workers in productive areas, but ex-
cluding administrative employees , clerical employees not working
in productive areas, group leaders, timekeepers , plant -protection em-.
ployees ( including guards and firemen ), and all supervisory em-
ployees with authority to hire, promote , discharge , discipline , or other-
wise effect changes in the status of employees or effectively recommend
such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 ( b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the time of the hearing, the Company employed 800 workers
in the 3 plants . Additional workers are being employed at a rate
of 100 weekly and a maximum of 2500 will be on the pay roll by the
end of 1943. It appears that those now working form a representa-
tive group in all categories . Assuming that the rate of employment
expansion remains constant , a substantial majority of the projected
complement of workers will be employed by August 1, 1943. In con-
sideration of this circumstance , we shall direct that the question con-
8 See Matter of The Maryland Drydoci Company , 49 N 7. R- B 733
178 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by
secret ballot among the employees in the appropriate unit. We shall
however depart from our customary practice in selecting a date for
the purpose of eligibility, and shall direct that the employees of the
Company eligible to vote in the election shall be those who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding August 1,
1943, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction 4
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 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective- bargaining with Avion, Inc., Los
Angeles, California, 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 Re-
gional Director for the Twenty-first Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding August 1,
1943, including employees who did not work during such 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 any who
have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by International Union, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America
Lodge No. 94, for and in behalf of its affiliated Local 311, for the
purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the finding of facts in Section IV (1), above,
(UAW-CIO), or by International Association of Machinists , District
the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition
for investigation and certification of representatives filed by Inter.
national Association of Machinists , District Lodge No. 94 , for and
in behalf of its affiliated Local 311 , in Case No . R-5537 , be, and it
hereby is, dismissed.
See Matter of Remington Rand, Inc., Propeller Division, 50 N. L. R. B. 819