Chefford Master Mfg. Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 6, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 1094 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of 'CHEFFORD MASTER-MFG. CO., INC. and INTERNATIONAL
UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT ANI^ AGRICULTURAL IMPLE-
MENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 14-R-1123.-Decided March F, 1.945
Mr. S. M. Fields, of Fairfield, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Harland D. Burcham, of Louisville, Ky., for the Union.
Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Internatxional Union, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Chefford Master Mfg. Co., Inc., Fairfield, Illinois, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Helen F. Humphrey, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Fairfield, Illinois, on February
15, 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 an 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
Chefford Master Mfg. Co., Inc., an Illinois corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture of auto and aircraft parts and ordnance items
at its Fairfield plant. During 1944 the Company caused to be pur-
60 N L. R. B., No 181.
1094
0
0
•
CHEFFORD MASTER MFG. CO., INC. 1095
chased, transferred, and delivered to its Fairfield, Illinois, plant raw
materials, chiefly steel, aluminium, and brass, valued at in excess of
$1,000,000 of which approximately 40 percent was transported to its
Fairfield plant from States other than the State of Illinois. During
the same period the Company manufactured at its Fairfield plant
products valued at in excess of $4,000,000, of which approximately 80
percent was transported in interstate commerce to States other than
the State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union. United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricul-
tural Implement Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
O
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the Union
has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
. On April 8, 1944, the Regional Director conducted an election 1
pursuant to a consent election agreement, - among the employees of
the Company to determine whether or not they desired to be repre-
sented by the Union. The Union lost the election.
The Company now contends that the petition herein was premature,
having been filed less than 12 months after the election in April 1944.
We have held that a consent election held under Board auspices in
which no bargaining representative was chosen does not constitute
a bar to a present determination sought by the, same petitioner when
the petitioner has procured substantial additional designations in
the proposed unit.2 Eleven months have now elapsed since the elec-
tion and the Union has submitted a number of additional designations
dated subsequent thereto, which constitutes a sufficiently substantial
showing of representation to warrant an election at this time,3 and
I Matter of Chefford Master Mfg Co , Inc . 14-R-931
Matter of Wagner Electric Cot poration , 53 N L R B 543
The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 602 application -for-membership
cards ; that the names of 299 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's
pay roll of December 30, 1944, which contained the navies of 842 employees in the appro-
priate unit ; and that 50 of the cards were dated between January and April 1944, 204
between May and December 1944, and 46 were undated
At the hearing the Trial Examiner ordered that the record reveal that there was an
error in computation , and that the report should have read 300 instead of 299
The Company objected to the introduction of the Field Examiner' s report on the ground
that the cards dated prior to the election were immaterial in view of the prior consent
election Since this report merely recites the basis for the administrative determination
that a hearing be held, the objection was overruled
0
1096 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
we believe that the policies of the Act would best be effectuated by
so directing.4
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 parties agree, generally, that a unit of production and main-
tenance employees in the Company's Fairfield plant, excluding office
clerical employees, plant-protection employees and supervisory em-
ployees would be appropriate. The Company, however, would include
certain factory clerical employees ; the Union would exclude them.
The factory clerical employees keep production and material records
and perform other clerical duties in the factory. They are under the
same supervision as the production and maintenance employees, are
paid an hourly rate,cand work the same shifts and are in daily contact
with the production and maintenance employees. It is our opinion
,that these clerical employees have interests more closely related to
those of the production and maintenance employees than to those of
the office employees. We shall, therefore, include them in the unit.-,
We find that all production and maintenance employees, including
"supervisors" 6 and factory clerical employees, but excluding plant
protection employees, office clerical employees, 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.
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-
ployes in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
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
* Matter of Columbia Aircraft Corporation , 60 N. L R^ B 257.
5 Matter of Goodman Manufacturing Company, 58 N L. R B 531
d The parties agree, and we find , that so-called "supervisors " do not possess supervisory
authority within the Board's customary definition thereof.
11
co
CHEFFORD MASTER MFG. CO., INC. 1097
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National LaborJRela-
tions 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 Chefford Master
Mfg. Co., Inc., Fairfield, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be
conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty-(60) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Fourteenth 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 those employees 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 the UAW-CIO 7 for the purposes of collective bargaining.
4 The Union requested that it appear on the ballot as UAW-CIO. The request is hereby
granted.
40
0