Blue Star Airlines, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 29, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 663 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of BLUE STAR AIRLINES, INC., EMPLOYER and AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF LABOR, FEDERAL LABOR UNION, PETITIONER
Case No, 4-R-2490:Decided"Agrr'il 29, 194'?
Mr. Harry W. DeShay, of Rio Grande, N. J., for the Employer.
iiir. Samuel R. Isard, of Newark, N. J., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Berthold Bothe, of Baltimore, Md., for UA-W-CIO.
Mr. Charles Ballance, of Wilmington, Del., for'Local Union 840.
Mr. Stanley Segal, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held.
at Cape May Court House, New Jersey, on February 28, 1947,-before
Helen F. Humphrey, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
At the hearing the UAW-CIO moved to intervene and to continue, the
hearing. 'The hearing officer reserved' ruling on the motions for the
Board. Both motions are hereby denied.' •
Upon the entire record-in the, case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the -following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TUB BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Blue Star Airlines, Inc., a Delaware corporation with its principid,
place of busiriess'at Rio'Grande, New Jersey, is engaged in assembling
airplanes for Bellanca Aircraft Corporation, New `Castle`; Delaware,
The UAW-CIO moved to intervene on the ground ,that ; it is the exclusive bargaining
representative of the production and maintenance employees of Bellanca Aircraft Corpora-
tion, New Castle, - Delaware , of which the Employer is'a subsidiary:• There is nothing In
the contract between Bellanca , and the UAW-CIO which indicates that it also covers
employees of subsidiaries of Bellanca . The•UAW-CIO submitted no evidence that it rep-
resented any of the Employer 's employees . The motion ' to inteivene ' is therefore denied:
The ,UAW,-CIO further moyed to continue the hearing until the general manager of the
Employer could appear , and testify . The Employer 's general foreman appeared as a wit-
ness at the hearing and testified that he was well informed of the Employer 's future plans'
as was the general manager . The motion for a continuance Is without merit , and is -there-
fore denied:
73 N. L. R. B., No. 125.. _ - • '
663
664 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of which it is a wholly owned subsidiary. From about October 1946
to the date of the hearing, it received from the New Castle plant of
Bellanca Aircraft Corporation all the parts used in assembling air-
planes. During the same period, the Employer assembled airplanes
valued at approximately $60,000, all of which were delivered to Bel-
lanca Aircraft Corporation.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft, Agricultural
Implement Workers of America, herein called the UAW-CIO, is a
labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organi-
zations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The. Employer refuses to recognize the. Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties agree that a unit consisting of all production and main-
tenance employees, including clerical and technical employees '2 but
excluding supervisory employees, is appropriate. It is to be noted
that office employees are included in the unit. The Board customarily
excludes such employees from a production and maintenance unit.
In accordance with our practice, we shall exclude clerical employees
from the present units
Accordingly, we find that all production and maintenance employees
of the Employer, excluding clerical employees and all 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 pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act. •
2It appears that the Employer employs no technical employees . We accordingly make
no determination as to such employees.
a Mattes. of Binyon O 'Keefe Fireproof Storage Company, 68 N. L . R. B. 992 ; Matter of
Sunray Oil Corporation, 61 N. L. R. B. 1648.
BLUE STAR AIRLINES, INC.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
665
The UAW-CIO contends that no election should be held at this
time inasmuch as the Employer may soon discontinue operations. A
representative of the Employer testified that during a period of about
11/2 months before the hearing the Employer reduced the number of
its employees from about 50 to 13 but that there have been no instruc-
tions for additional reductions. He further testified that the Employ-
er's plans for the future were indeterminate. Under these circum-
stances we shall direct an immediate election.
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot, subject to the
limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Blue Star Airlines, Inc., Rio
Grande, New Jersey, 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 Fourth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject.to Sections 203.55
and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and -Regula-
tions-Series 4, 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 employ-
ees 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 employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re-
instated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or
not they desire to be. represented by American Fe4eration of Labor,
Federal Labor Union, for the purposes of collective bargaining.