Chrysler Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 25, 1943

48 N.L.R.B. 512 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter Of '-CHRYSLER . CORPORATION-PLYMOUTH , PLANT and
AMALGAMATED PLANT PROTECTION, LOCAL 114, UAW-CIO (PETI-
TIONER
In the Matter Of CHRYSLER CORPORATION-DoDGE,SLYNCH ROAD. PLANT.
and AMALGAMATED PLANT PROTECTION LOCAL 114, UAW-CIO (PETI-
TIONER
Vases Nos. R-4954 and R-41955 respectively.-Decided March 25, 1943
Jurisdiction : ordnance manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : refusal
to accord petitioner recognition because of prior certification of another organ-
ization ; prior certification, in effect for more than a year, and petitioner's prior
unsuccessful attempt to amend such certification to substitute its name as
bargaining representative, found no bar : previously certified representative
which did not appear at hearing and the continued existence of which was in
doubt; omitted from ballot unless it should give notice of a desire to participate
in the elections directed ; elections necessary.
Units Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : separate units of plant-protection
employees at two of company's plants found appropriate notwithtsanding a
prior determination of a two-plant unit when changes had been made in the
operations and administrative supervision of the two plants.
Mr. Frederick P. Mett, for the Board.
Rathbone, Perry, Kelley, and Drye, by Mr. ,T. R. Iserman, of New
York City, for the Company.
Maurice Sugar and Ernest Goodman, by Mr. Ned L. Smokier; Messrs.
Chester 111. Wheeler and John L. B. Snowden, of Detroit, Mich., for the
'Union.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION ' S
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon amended petitions duly filed by Amalgamated Plant Protec-
tion Local 114, UAW-CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that
questions affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate consolidated hearing upon due notice before
48 N. L. R. B., No. 61.
512
a
t: CHRYSLER CORPORATION=PLYMOUTH 'PLANT, - _ 513
Charles E. ;Persons, Trial Examiner. Said -hearing, was -held at
Detroit, Michigan, on March 2, 1943. The.Board, 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. On March 9, 1943,,the Company filed a brief which
the Board has`considered. ' - . .
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Chrysler Corporation has heretofore been engaged in the manu-
facture of • automobile parts and, accessories. , At the present' time the
Company is engaged almost exclusively in manufacturing munitions
and -military vehicles for the United States Government. The Com-
pany maintains its principal office at Detroit, Michigan. It operates
pl'ants.'at Detroit, Hamtramck, Warren Township, and Marysville,
Michigan; Newcastle, Evansville, and Kokomo, Indiana; and at Los
Angeles, California. It also owns, between 25 and 30 subsidiaries in
the United States. The instant proceeding directly involves- the
plants known as the Plymouth plant and the Dodge. Lynch Road
plant at Detroit, Michigan.
The Company normally manufactures about 1,200,000 automobiles
and trucks per year. From sources outside the State in which each
plant is located, the Company receives approximately 45 percent by
value of, the raw materials used at the plant. Approximately 75 per-
cent by value of, the;,products made at- each plant istransported out
of the -State in which the plant is located., , The aggregate amount
of raw materials used by the Company exceeds $240,000,000 per year.
The value of -the products finished and partly finished at the Com-
pany's plants exceeds $625,000,000 per year.
II. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Amalgamated Plant Protection Local 114 is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of,fhe Company. - -
III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about January 11, 1943, the Union asked the Company to
recognize it as sole bargaining agent of plant-protection employees at
I United Protective workers of America, Local No. 1, also served with notice of hearing,
did not appear.
514 DECISIONS OF' NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Company's Plymouth and Dodge Lynch Road plants. The Com-
pany replied that United Protective Workers of America, herein
called the Protective Workers, .had been certified by the Board as
exclusive bargaining agent of these employees.
On October 31, 1941, in Case No. R--3046,2 a prior representation
proceeding involving employees of the Company, the Board found
that non-supervisory plant-protection employees at the Company's
Plymouth and Dodge Lynch Road plants 3 constituted a' single ap-
propriate bargaining unit and on March 4, 1942, the Board certified
the Protective Workers, the petitioner therein, as exclusive bargain-
ing representative of these employees. On October 28, 1942, the
Protective Workers and the Union jointly moved that the Board
amend the certification to substitute the name of the Union for the
name of the Protective Workers as bargaining representative, alleg-
'ing that'the Protective Workers had become an inactive organization
and that all employees concerned had become dues-paying members
of the Union and desired the Union to represent them for the pur-
poses of, collective bargaining. On November 3, 1942, the Board
denied the -motion. On January 15, 1943, the Union filed the peti-
tions, and on February 6, 1943, the amended petitions, herein. The
Company contends that the instant proceedings are merely devices
adopted by the Union to circumvent the Board's denial of the motion
to amend the certification in the prior representation proceeding and
that for this reason the instant proceedings should be dismissed. We
find P 'o merit in this contention. 'More than 1 year has elapsed since
the Board issued the certification of representatives in Case No.
R-3046. A different bargaining agent now purports to represent these
employees. Under these circumstances, we find that neither the prior
certification of representatives in Case No. R-3046 nor the Union's un-
successful attempt to amend it constitiites a bar to an investigation
2 At the hearing the parties stipulated that the Board and the parties might refer to
matters involved in Case No . R-3046 with the same force and effect as though ' the entire
proceedings in that case were incorporated verbatim herein For the purposes of this
decision , the entire record in Case No. R-3046 , including the pleadings, the evidence taken,
the testimony heard , the exhibits submitted , and the several orders entered thereon, is
hereby made part of the record in the instant consolidated proceedings See Matter of
Chrysler Corporation and United Protective lVoikers of America, 36 N L R. B. 593;
39 N. L R B. 430.
I In Case No . R-3046, these two plants are therein respectively designated as "the Com-
pany s main plant at 6334 Lynch Road" and "the Company 's storage plant and arsenal
at 6700 Lynch Road " The main plant is otherwise known as the Plymouth-Main plant
and is called the Plymouth plant in the instant proceedings • The other plant , described
in'the former proceeding as the "storage plant and arsenal " was at the time of the decision
therein considered an integral part of the Plymouth , plant administration The conversion
of this storage plant into a production plant and the transfer ' of 'the plant from - the super-
vision of the Plymouth plant manager to the supervision of the manager of another Detroit
plant of the Company, known as the Dodge -Main plant, account for the new name of
"Dodge Lynch Road plant, " by which it is designated in the instant proceedings.
CHRYSLER, CORPORATION-PLY MOUTH PLANT, 515
and,determination of representatives based upon the amended petitions
tiled herein.4
A statement prepared by the Regional Director and introduced
into evidence at the hearing indicates that the Union represents a
substantial number of employees in the units herein. found
appropriate."
We find that questions affecting commerce .have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the.'meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
The Union contends that plant-protection employees at the Plym-
outh plant and at the Dodge Lynch Road plant of the Company con-
stitute,, respectively, separate appropriate bargaining units. The
Company takes no.position with respect to, the scope of thebargaining
unit.
Prior to March 1942, the Dodge Lynch Road plant was primarily a
storage plant, which was operated by the Company with the Plymouth
plant as a single manufacturing unit. The plant-protection em-
ployees 6 numbered approximately 100 at the Plymouth plant and 25
to 30 at the storage plant. 'A supervisory employee at each plant
directed the work of the plant-protection employees therein. Both of
these supervisory employees were subject to the plant-protection chief
and plant manager at the Plymouth plant. - Plant-protection em-
ployees at the plants were freely interchanged. Under these condi-
tions, the Board in Case No. R-3046 found that plant-protection em-
ployees at both plants constituted a single appropriate bargaining
unit.
. In and after March 1942 the plant-protection force at the Plymouth
plant was reduced, from 100 to approximately 54 employees. Thee
4 Cf Matter of Pressed Steel Car Company , Inc and Steel Workers Organizing Committee;
41 N L R B.6
5 The Union submitted 43 cards , all of which appear to bear genuine signatures of plant-
protection employees at the Plymouth plant , whose names appear on the January 31, 1943,
pay roll. Of these cards , 41 bear dates in June 1942 ; 2 bear dates in October 1942 There
are approximately 54 plant-protection employees at the Plymouth plant in the unit herein
found appropriate for such employees.
The Union submitted 36 cards , all of which appear to bear genuine signatures of plant-
protection employees at the Dodge Lynch Road plant , whose names appear on the January
31, 1943 ,.pay roll. Of these cards , 27 bear dates between May 1, 1942, and July 1, 1942,
5 between July 1 , 1942 , and September 1, 1942 , 1 between September 1, 1942 , and Decem-
ber 1, 1942; 1 between December 1, 1942, and February 1, 1943, and 2 are undated There
are approximately 41 plant -piotection employees at the Dodge Lynch Road plant in the
unit herein found appropriate for such employees.
0 Plant-protection employees at the Company's several plants in the Detroit metropolitan
area have similar duties , They, guar d the Company's property against espionage, theft,
trespass, and die and accident hazards They enforce safety and disciphnamy regulations
They investigate and report to the proper authorities occurrences which arouse their
suspicions
521247-43-vol 48-34
516' DECISIONS 'OF 'NATIONAL LABOR RELArIOINS BOARD
remained under the direct supervision of the plant-protection chief
and the plant manager of the Plymouth plant. The Company con-
verted the Dodge Lynch Road plant from a storage plant•into a pro-
duction assembly plant, increasing the number-of plant-protection
employees therein to 41. Direct supervision of these employees
remained under a plant-protection- supervisor within the plant, but the
,general supervision of'the plant was transferred from officials at the
Plymouth plant,to officials at the Dodge-Main plant. Following this
shift, plant-protection employees at the Plymouth plant and at the
Dodge Lynch Road plant were no longer interchanged. Since it
appears that the Plymouth plant and the Dodge Lynch Road plant no
longer operate as a single manufacturing unit and that plant-protection
employees therein, are no longer subject to the same administrative
supervision, we-find that plant-.protection employees at the Plymouth'
plant and at'the Dodge Lynch Road plant constitute, respectively,
separate appropriate bargaining units.
In the prior representation proceeding involving plant-protection'
employees at these plants, the Board excluded from the bargaining unit
chiefs, fire marshals, captains,•sergeants, relief sergeants or corporals,
and confidential clerks. We see no reason to make any changes with
respect to the exclusion of these supervisory employees from the
separate' units found appropriate herein. Employees in the same
categories at Dodge-Main and at other Detroit plants of the Company
have'been excluded from the several bargaining units for plant-pro-
tection employees.' We will, therefore, exclude employees in the listed
categories from the units herein found appropriate.
- We find that all plant-protection employees of the Company at the
Plymouth plant and at the Dodge Lynch Road plant, respectively,
excluding chiefs, fire marshals, captains, sergeants, relief sergeants or
corporals, and confidential clerks, constitute separate units appropri-
ate;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 questions concerning representation which
have arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot.
The record indicates that the, Protective Workers has probably
ceased to function as an active labor, organization. The Protective
- Workers did not appear at the 'hearing and may-no-longer be in ex-
istence. We shall therefore not place the name of the Protective
'Matter of Chrysler Corporation ( Highland Paik Plant ) and Local 114 , United Auto-
mobtile,. Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, affiliated with the
C I. 0., 44 N L . R B. 881 ; Matter of Chrysler Corporation and Local 114, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (U. A. W.-C. I. 0.), 46
N. L. R. B, No 51
CHRYSLER CORPORATION-PLYMOUTH -PLANT 517
Workers on the ballot. Since, however, the Protective Workers was
certified as the representative of the employees herein involved, it may-
appear upon the ballot if it gives ,notice to, the Regional Director
within 5 days of the date of the issuance of our Decision and Direction
of Elections, that it desires to participate in the elections."
Those eligible to vote in the separate elections shall be all employees
within each unit found ,appropriate in Section IV, above, who.-were
employed during the' pay-roll -period immediately preceding the date
of the Direction of Elections, subject to the limitations and additions
set forth therein.
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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant-to -Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amende'd,• it-is
hereby '
DIRECTED that, as part of-the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Chrysler Corpo-
ration, Detroit, Michigan, separate 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 Seventh Region, acting in this mat-
ter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among all
employees of the Company within each respective unit found ap-
propriate in'Section IV,,above, ,who were employed during the pay-
roll.period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, includ-
ing employees who did not' work during said pay-roll period because
they were ill or'-.on vacation or. temporarily laid olf, 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 or not
they desire to be represented by Amalgamated Plant, Protection Local
114; UAW-CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
8 See Matter of MIalworth Company and United Steelworkers of America, .C.'I. O., 43
N L. R B. 1368, of Joyce, Inc and United' Shoe Workers of America, Local 122, C 1. 0 ,
40 N. L R . B 509 ; Matter of Union Stockyards Company of Fargo and Local 73, Packing-
house Workers Organizing Committee, C I. 0 , 40 N L R B. 910. -