Chicago Molded Products Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 11, 1943

49 N.L.R.B. 756 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of CHICAGO MOLDED PRODUCTS CORPORATION and RUEBER
AND PLASTIC WORKERS' UNION, LOCAL 20911, AFFILIATED WITH
A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-51,04.-Decided May 11, 1943
Mr. Otto A. Jaburek, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. S. G. Lippman, of Chicago, Ill., for the AFL.
Mr. Frank Ingram, of Chicago; Ill., for the Independent.
Mr. William C. Baisinger, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Rubber and Plastic Workers' Union,
Local 20911, affiliated with the A. F. of L., herein called the AFL,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Chicago Molded Products Cor-
poration, Chicago, Illinois, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice before Leon A. Rosell, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was
held at Chicago, Illinois, on April 6,-1943. The Company, the AFL,
and the Independent Plastic Workers' Union, herein called the Inde-
pendent, appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to intro-
duce evidence bearing on the issues. At the hearing, the Trial
Examiner reserved ruling upon the motion of the Independent to
dismiss the petition filed herein on the ground-that the AFL did not
have a sufficiently substantial interest to raise a question concerning
representation. For reasons hereinafter stated, said motion is hereby
denied.' The Trial Examiner's rulingsmade at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The Independent
filed a brief which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
49 N. L . R. B., No. 107.
756
CHICAGO MOLDED PRODUCTS CORPORATION
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
757
Chicago Molded Products Corporation is an Illinois' corporation
engaged at Chicago,- Illinois, in the manufacture, fabrication, and
molding of synthetic plastic materials. During the ' year 1942, the
Company purchased raw materials valued at approximately $800,000,
of which 75 percent was transported to the plant from points outside
the State of Illinois. The total value of the sales made by the 'Com-
pany during the same year was approximately $2,500,000, of which
approximately 50 percent was shipped by the Company- to purchasers
outside the State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Rubber and Plastic Workers' Union, Local 20911, is ' a ' labor or-
ganization affiliated 'with the American Federation of Labor, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
Independent Plastic Workers' Union, is an unaffiliated labor or-
ganization, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On April 14, 1942, the Company and the Independent entered into
an exclusive bargaining contract, covering the production and main-
tenance employees of the Company and providing for a closed shop.
The contract expired by its terms on April 13, 1943, and neither the
Company nor the Independent urges it as a bar to this proceeding.
The record discloses that on or about September 8, 1942, a repre-
sentative of the AFL met with several employees of the Company,
at their request, to discuss affiliation with the AFL. These em-
ployees claimed to represent the members of the Independent who
had met that morning and moved to request affiliation -with the AFL.
The AFL representative suggested that these employees distribute
AFL authorization cards among the employees of the Company for
their signatures. Some employees of the Company did sign AFL
authorization cards, but others expressed the fear that if they signed
such cards they would be violating Article III, Section 3, of the con-
stitution and bylaws of the Independent which reads : -
If any member shall, after being admitted to membership,, be-
come active or engaged in any other Union he shall forfeit his
membership in this Union ...
DECISIONS OF 'NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD758
and, thus, jeopardize their tenure of employment because of the
closed-shop contract between the Independent and the Company.
On September 17, 1942, at the suggestion of the AFL representative,
a general meeting of employees of the Company was called by cer-
tain members of the Independent: Approximately 150 persons at-
tended this meeting, at which the AFL representative advised the
employees present to sign petitions requesting an election. These
petitions are dated November 20, 1942, and are the petitions herein-
after set forth in the statement of the Regional Director. Subse-
quently, on ors about September 30, 1942, and again oil or about
January 23, 1943, the AFL requested the Company to recognize it as
the bargaining representative of the employees in the unit alleged to
be appropriate. On both occasions the Company declined to so recog-
nize the AFL because it assertedly doubted that the AFL repre-
'sented a majority of the employees in the alleged unit and further
because of the existence of the contract between the Independent and
the Company.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence
at the hearing, shows that the AFL submitted to him 59 application
for membership cards, bearing apparently genuine signatures; that
29 of these cards bear signatures corresponding to the names of per-
sons appearing on the Company's pay roll of February 1, 1943, which
contains' the names of 681 persons in the unit alleged appropriate by
the AFL. The Regional Director further states that the. AFL also
submitted two petitions dated November 20, 1942, and signed by
employees of the Company; that the first petition is headed "We, the
undersigned, wish to have our names withdrawn from the Independ-
ent Plastic Workers' Union, and refrain from deducting dues from
our pay checks" and contains 41 apparently genuine signatures, of
which 29 are the names of persons on the Company's pay roll of
February 1,'i943, none, of which are duplicated by, any of the 29
application' for membership cards; and that'the second petition which
is headed "We, the undersigned, paid up members in good standing
of the Independent Plastic Workers Union, hereby petition the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board to hold a secret ballot election to
determine the Union, American Federation of Labor (AFL), Com-
mittee of Industrial Organizations (C. I. 0.), or Independent Plastic
Workers (I. P. W.), or none, to represent us in our dealing with the
management," 1 contains 194 apparently genuine signatures, of which
115 are the names of persons on the Company's pay roll of February 1,
1943, 20 of which are duplicates of the signatures appearing on the
afore-mentioned, application for membership cards.
'A written disclaimer of interest signed by the International Association of Die Casters
( C. I. 0.) was introduced into evidence at the hearing.
CHICAGO MOLDED PRODUCT'S CORPORAT'I'ON 759
Although the Independent does not urge its contract with the Com-
pany as a bar to this proceeding, it contends that the showing of rep-
resentation made by the AFL is not sufficient to raise a question con-'
cerning representation- among the employees of the Company, and
moved, at the hearing, that the petition filed herein be dismissed. We
find this contention to be without merit and, accordingly, have denied
the motion made by the Independent.
We are of the opinion and find that the AFL has made a sufficient
showing of representation among the employees of the Company in
the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate to warrant a determina-
tion of representatives in view of the fact that the Independent and
the Company were parties to a closed-shop contract at the time of the'
hearing.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties are in substantial agreement, with respect to the appro-
priate unit. They stipulated at the hearing that the unit should be
comprised of all production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany, excluding executives, superintendents, janitors, not more than
15 men for training purposes,3 employees in the customers sales de-
partment, watchmen, guards and laboratory employees. However,
they are in dispute over the inclusion or exclusion of foremen, factory
clerical employees, and general office, clerical employees. .
Foremen: All parties agreed to exclude the non-working foremen
from the unit. The Company employs about 49 working or assistant
foremen whom the AFL would exclude from the unit, while the Inde-
pendent and the Company desire their inclusion. • These 49 employees
are variously designated as assistant foremen, supervisors, and work-
ing foremen, and are herein referred to as assistant foremen. The
contract between the Company and the Independent is silent with
respect to the assistant foremen. The Company and the Independ-
ent contend that in actual practice they were represented and bar-
gained for by the Independent. From the record it appears that
while these employees do not have the authority to hire or discharge
2 See Matter of Certain -Teed Products Corporation and-International Longshoremen's
& Warehousemen's Unson, Local 1-6, 28 N L . R. B 915; Matter of Oregon Plywood Com-
pany and Plywood Box Shook and Door Council # 9, International Woodworkers of
America, Affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 33 N. L. R. B. 1234.
' The record discloses that occasionally the Company, hires persons who, after a tem-
porary training period spent in the factory proper, 'become salesmen . We are of the
opinion that all employees who are employed only temporarily in production work for the
purpose of training as salesmen , should be excluded from the unit.
4
760 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees, under them. -they may make recommendations in this re.
gard. Eacli of them is in charge of from 2 to 15 production em-
ployees. They are hourly paid; their records are used in determining
job costs; and they judge the efficiency of the production. employees.
Since these assistant foremen do possess some supervisory powers such
as the authority to recommend the hire or discharge of production
employees, and since they were 'not specifically included in the con-
tract unit , we shall exclude them from the appropriate unit.
Factory clerical employees: The AFL and the Company would ex-
clude, while the Independent desires to include , factory clerical em-
ployees in the appropriate unit. This group is comprised of about
28 employees who work in small offices located in the production
departments. - They keep production records and check customers'
orders ,as they are received by the Company. They are responsible
to the general production foreman and carry the same departmental
number on the pay roll as the production employees and are paid on
an hourly basis. Factory clerical employees were covered by the
contract between the Company and the Independent. Since they work
'in the production departments , perform functions directly related to
production work, and were included in the contract unit, we shall
include the factory clerical employees in the unit.
General office clerical employees: The AFL and the Company
desire to exclude, while the Independent would include , general office
clerical employees in the appropriate unit. These employees work
in the Company's 'main office , performing purely clerical duties. They
were not covered by the contract between the Company and the Inde-
pendent . Inasmuch as they do not perform functions related to
production 'work, and since they were not covered by the contract
between the Company and the Independent, we -shall ' exclude the
general office clerical employees from the appropriate unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company, including factory clerical employees, but excluding execu-
tives, superintendents , foremen and assistant' foremen, janitors, em-
ployees hired for training purposes, employees in the customers' sales
department , watchmen, guards, laboratory employees, and general
office clerical employees , constitute ''a -unit appropriate for the pur-
poses 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 means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees in the appropriate ` unit who were employed during the
CHICAGO MOLDED PRODUCTS CORPORATION 761
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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor .
Relations 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 the Chicago
Molded Products Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, 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 Thirteenth Region, act-
ing 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 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 employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Rubber
and Plastic Workers' Union, Local 20911, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, or by Independent Plastic Workers' Union,
unaffiliated, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.