Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 29, 1944

56 N.L.R.B. 1785 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of CONSOLIDATED VuLTEE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION and
INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT &. AGRICuL-
TURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW-CIO), LOCAL 904
Case 21-R-2340:-Decided June X9,1944'
Mr. Frederick: C. Bryan, of San Diego;. Calif., and Mr. George C.
Ford, of. VulteeFField; Calif., for the Company.
Katz, Gallagher d Margolis, by Mr. Milton S: Tyre, of Los Angeles,
Calif., for the Union.
Mr: Glenn L. Moller, of cou'nsel: to the, Board,.
DECISION
AND'
DIRECTION'.OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition' duly filed by International' Union, United Auto-
mobile; Aircraft &' Agricultural Implement Workers of America
(UAW-CIO), Local' 904, herein called the Union, alleging that a
question. affecting, commerce had arisen. concerning the representation
of employees' of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, Downey,
California,. herein called the Company, the' National Labor Relations
Board, provided for any appropriate hearing upon due notice before
George. Ii. O'Brien;, Trial Examiner. Said hearing wad. held' at Los
Angeles, California, on May 9, 1944. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportu-
nity to beheard,.to examine:andcross-examine witnesses, and to intro-
duce evidence bearing on the issues. At the close of the hearing, the
Company moved-that the petition-be dismissed, principally on -the
ground 'that' the unit is inappropriate. For the. reasons appearing
hereinafter, the motion is denied. 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
Consolidated 'Vultee Aircraft Corporation, a Delaware corpora-
tion, has its main office and plant at San Diego, California, where it
56 N. L. R. B, No. 318.
1785
1786 DECISIONS, OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
is engaged in the design, manufacture, development, and sale of air-
craft, aircraft parts and accessories" and in the delivery of aircraft to
the United States Government. The Company operates 11 divisions
located in various States of the United States. During the period of
10 months, beginning December 1, 1942, the Company purchased mate-
rial, "supplies, and • equipment amounting in value to more* than
$100,000,000 of which more than 50 percent was obtained from points
outside the State of California., During the same period the Company
sold products amounting in value to more- than $200,000,000. At the
present time the Company' is engaged exclusively in the manufacture
of military aircraft and -its sales are made to the United States
Government. '
The Company admits and we find that-it is engaged in
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
. International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural
Implement Workers of America (UAW-CIO), Local 901, affiliated
,with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.'
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused. to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of nurses in its employ until the
Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit found 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
The Union contends that all nurses in the employ of the Company
at its Vultee Field Division, excluding the first-aid coordinator and
head nurse, constitute an ' appropriate bargaining ,unit. The Com-
pany contends that the nature of the duties of the nurses are such as to
.make them representative of management, comparable to supervisors,
3 The Board agent reported that the Union submitted 9 application for membership cards
bearing the apparently genuine signatures of persons listed on the Company's pay roll
of April 15 , 1944, and that said pay roll contained the names of 10 employees in the
appropriate unit.
CONSOLIDATED VULTEE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 1787
and that therefore they should not be held to constitute an appro-
priate bargaining unit. _ .
The nurses work under the supervision of the plant doctor, who is
in turn responsible to the personnel director . They are stationed at
the plant hospital and at the three first -aid stations which are placed
at convenient locations in the plant . Their functions " are to give first-
aid treatment to employees and provide routine medical treatment.
They determine whether an employee needs hospitalization , whether
or not ' an injured or ill employee should be permitted to continue work-
ing, and make reports as to the physical health of employees. In
brief, they perform the customary functions of registered nurses.
Their hours of work are the same as those of production employees.
Like production ' employees , they are paid on an hourly basis and
receive their checks weekly. Like production employees , they receive
the same bonus for second and third shift work . In the course of the
year they come into contact with approximately 90 percent of the
workers in the plant. The Company contends that because employees
may be laid off or discharged as a result of the reports made by the
nurses, the nurses have authority to recommend changes in the status
of employees and are therefore supervisory employees . This conten-
tion ' is obviously without merit . It may be a function of a nurse to
make recommendations concerning hire, discharge , or other changes
in the status of ordinary employees , but such recommendations are
based upon the nurse's findings and judgment respecting the physical
condition of the employees in question ; they are in no sense discip-,
linary or otherwise related to the character of the employees' per-
formance of their duties . We find that the nurses are not , supervisory
employees and, accordingly, we find that they may comprise a unit
appropriate for bargaining.'-
Attached to the medical unit is a first -aid coordinator , a former
Naval pharmacist 's' mate who gives first -aid courses to the production
employees . Both parties agree that he should be excluded from the
appropriate unit and we see no reason to depart from their agree-
ment. The evidence indicates that the head nurse has authority effec-
tively to recommend the hire and discharge of the nurses under her
supervision. The parties are agreed that she should be excluded from
the unit and we so find.
The Union urges that if the nurses select the Union as their collective
bargaining agent, they should be merged into the existing production
and maintenance unit which the Union presently represents. Although,
as stated above, we do not believe the nurses to be representatives of
3Tattei of I' lectr,e 4 uto - Tote Company, 50 N L R B 68
ti
1788 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
management, their interests and training ire sufficiently different from
those,of the production and maintenance employees that we are per-
suaded that they should constitute a unit separate from the produc-
tion and maintenance employees. The request of the Union is there-
fore denied.3
We find that all nurses in the employ of the Company at its Vultee
Field-Division, Downey, California, excluding the first-aid coordi-
nator, the head nurses, '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 col-
lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 ^(b), of the Act.
V.' THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
i
We shall direct that the question, concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed' during the pay-
rol'l' period- immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion 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 3,,it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Consolidated
Vultee Aircraft Corporation, Downey, 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 Regional Director for the Twenty-first 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 approp riate 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
3
We find no merit in the Company's objection that the nurses may not be represented
by the same union which represents the production and maintenance employees. See
Matter of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, et al., 50 N. L. R. B. 958 and cases- cited
therein.
CONSOLIDATED VULTEE AIRCRAFP CORPORATION 17891- '
the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in per-
son 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 International Union, United Automobile,
Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW-
CIO),Local 904 affiliated with the Congress of Industrial' Organiza-
tioris,for°the,purposes of collective bargaining.
581784-45-vo1. 56-114