Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 4, 1943

50 N.L.R.B. 113 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

1
In the Matter of FAIRCHILD AIRCRAFT DIvisiox OF FAIRCHILD EN-
GINE & AIRPLANE CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED
AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF
AMERICA, (UAW-CIO)
Case No. R-5272. -Decided June 4,'1943
Mr. Anthony Molina, of Baltimore, Md., for the Board.
Mr. Gregg Coughlin, of Burlington, N. C., for the Company.
Messrs. Maurice Sugar and M. L. Smokier, of Detroit, Mich., and
Mr. Frank J. Bender, of Baltimore, Md., and Mr. A. H. Attaway, of
Burlington, N. C., for the Union.
Mr. Arthur Leff, of counsel to the Board.'
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by International Union, United
Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
(UAW-CIO), herein called the Union, alleging that a question af-
fecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Fairchild Aircraft Division of Fairchild Engine & Airplane
Corporation, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Mortimer Riemer, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at.
Burlington, North Carolina, on April 29 and 30, 1943. The Company
and the Union appeared, participated; and were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to in-
troduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial-Examiner's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. Following the hearing, the Company and the Union filed
briefs which the Board has considered.
60 N L. R. B., No. 26.
113
114 IDEMSffONS iOiF NATIONAL LABOR RELAPIONTS1 ROA'RD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corporation is a Maryland corpora-
tion, operating plants at Hagerstown, Maryland; Farmingdale, New
York; and Burlington, North Carolina, where it is engaged in the
Inanufacture, sale, and service of aircraft engines and airplanes. This
proceeding concerns only the Fairchild Aircraft Division of Fair-
child Engine & Airplane Corporation located at Burlington, North
Carolina. Construction of the Company's plant at Burlington was
commenced in April 1942, and at the time of the hearing was 95 per-
cent completed. Production at said plant started in November 1942.
The entire plant, equipment therein, 85 percent of which was installed
and in operation at the time of the hearing, and grounds are owned
by the Defense Plant Corporation and are under lease to the Company.
The Company manufactures airplanes for the United States Army Air
Forces, herein called the U. S. A. A. F., on a cost plus fixed fee contract
basis. All raw materials used in the finished product and all parts
are purchased by the Company but remain the property of the U. S.
A. A. F., the Company acting as custodian thereof during the process
of manufacture. The greater part of the raw materials used in con-
structing the plant and the equipment therein came from without the
State of North Carolina. In the period from April 1, 1942 through
December 31, 1942, the Company purchased for use at its Burlington
plant in excess of $500,000 worth of raw materials, approximately 90
percent of which was purchased outside the State of North Carolina.
During the same period of time in excess of $5,000 worth of finished
products were shipped from Burlington, North Carolina, to points
outside of said State. The Company contemplates that its entire
production at its Burlington location will be for use of the U. S.
A. A. F.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural
Implement Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting. to member-
ship employees of the Company.
I
I
FAIRCHILD AIRCRAFT DIVISION
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
115
At the hearing, the parties stipulated that in or about November
1942, the Union advised the Company that it represented a majority
of its employees and requested that it be recognized as exclusive bar-
gaining agent for such employees, but that the Union's request was
refused, the Company stating that it had no knowledge of the Union's
asserted majority representation and that, in addition, it would not
grant the,Union's request until such time as it was certified by the
Board.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter 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 .2
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
In its amended petition, the Union requested a unit consisting of all
production and maintenance employees, excluding guards, technical,
office, clerical, and supervisory personnel. At the hearing, the Union,
without departing from its original position that a production and
maintenance unit is appropriate, clarified its position by indicating
specific employee classifications which it desired included or excluded.
The Union requested that the following be included : leadmen and
leadwomen, stock chasers, timekeepers (factory), shipping and re-
ceiving, employees, factory clerks, inspectors and senior inspectors,
stores department employees, trainees, and truck drivers. The Union
requested that the following be excluded : plant guards and plant-pro-
tection employees, executives, office clerical employees, trainee instruc-
tors, supervisory employees, foremen and assistant foremen, chief
inspectors and assistant chief inspectors, expediters, tool design em-
ployees, tool engineers, liaison men, and flight test and delivery em-
1 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 453 membership application
and authorization cards, 441 of whichs bore apparently genuine original signatures ; that
the names of 367 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll for
March 27, 1943, which contained the names of 652 production and maintenance em-
ployees ; and that the cards were dated between October 1942 and March 1943, inclusive,
except for 143 cards which were undated. ,
? At the close of 'the Union's case and again at the close of the hearing the Company
moved to dismiss the petition. The Company contended that because less than half of
its contemplated full complement of employees were employed at the time of the hearing,
no question of representation existed at that time, and that no election in this case should
be ordered until a substantial majority of such full complement were employed. For the
reasons indicated in Section V, below, the said motion is denied.
116 ' DE IISQONS OF NATIIONAL LABOR RELA' IONSI BOARD
ployees.8 The Company did not object either at the hearing or in its
brief, to the exclusions requested by the Union, or to the inclusion of
trainees and truck drivers. Issue was joined, however; on the requested
inclusion of the employee categories discussed below :
Leadmen and leadlvomem: Leadmen,4 depending on the department'
in which they are employed, supervise the work of from 4 to 15 em-
ployees working under them. Their primary function is to guide and-
instruct the employees whose work they supervise. In the machine
shop, which may be cited as a typical example, there is a general ma-
chine shop foreman, a foreman in charge of each shift, assistant fore--
men who assist the shift foreman generally, and leadmen who are
charged with the supervision, of specific groups of employees within
the shop. Leadmen set up the machines according to blue prints, in-
struct employees in their duties, supervise the machine operations,
and check the finished product. Leadmen spend only 15 to 20 percent
of their time in actual production work. They receive a higher rate
of pay than employees working under them. Although leadmen, them-',
selves, do not have the right to discharge or discipline employees, their
recommendations carry particular weight when such action is consid-
ered. Leadmen participate with foremen and representatives of the
Company's personnel department in rating employees under them at
periodic intervals, and promotions are, in part, based upon such rat-
ings. Leadmen attend foremen meetings which are held weekly for
the purpose of discussing production and planning problems. In view
of the fact that the functions of the leadmen are to a considerable ex-
tent supervisory in character, we are of the opinion that they should
be excluded from the production and maintenance unit sought by the.
Union, and we so find.
Stock chnasers: The function of employees in this category is to
route and accelerate the movement of materials between departments
and of operations within a department. Their work requires tech-
, nical knowledge. They are clothed with a certain amount of authority.
over leadmen and foremen with respect to planning and production,
procedures in departments. ' It appears that the Company. considers
the stock chasers to be synonomous with, and to fall' within the
classification of, expediters whom the Union would exclude. In the
past we have excluded stock chasers and expediters from production
8 Stated by departments , the Union would exclude all employees in the following de-'
partments : service, clerical ; tabulating cost ; flight test and delivery ; engineering ; ad-,
ministration ( general accounting ) ; personnel ; first-aid;, purchasing , pay roll timekeep-
ing -auditors ; production planning ; and protection . The position of the Union was that'
the employees in these departments were not production and maintenance employees. The,
Company did , not object to the exclusion of employees in said departments.
A The term , leadmen , as used heieiu , includes leadwomen. " '' "'
I
FAIRCHILD AIRCRAFT DIVISION 117
and maintenance units,s, and since no special circumstances appear
in this case to support a departure from our previous practice, we'
shall exclude them here.
Timekeepers (factory) : The primary duty of employees in this.cate_'
gory is to check and tabulate time cards. Their headquarters are in
the accounting department. Although they spend most of their time`
at the factory department to which they are assigned, they are not
permanently stationed at any given department but are shifted about
from time to time. We are of the opinion that their work and
interests are more closely related to that of the administrative em-
ployees of the Company than to that of the production and mainte-
nance employees, and shall, therefore, exclude them from the unit.
Shipping, receiving, and stores department employees: Most of the
work of the shipping department consists of shipping spare parts
to other plants. The employees in this department check such parts
and crate and otherwise prepare them for shipment. The receiving
department receives and checks materials and arranges for their dis-
tribution.) The work performed by employees in the receiving de-
partment is similar to that of employees in the shipping department.
The function of the stores department is to store materials to be used'
later in production departments and to issue such materials to the'
production departments as' required. Alhough some clerical record`
work is performed in each of these departments, and a number of
employees may be engaged principally in'the performance of such
clerical work, We are of the opinion that, because of their location
in the plant and the nature of their functions, the employees in these'
departments have interests in common with production and mainte-'
nance employees, and we shall include them in the unit.
Factory clerks: The employees in this category are permanently
stationed in factory departments and, in the main, assist foremen fh'
clerical tasks which the latter do not have time to perform. In view
of the fact that the factory clerks are not associated with the estab-
lished clerical departments and are an integral part of the production'
process, we are of the opinion that their interests are more closely,
aligned to,that of production employees than to that of office clerical'
employees. We shall, therefore, include them in the uliit.
Inspectors and senior inspectors : These employees inspect, check,
measure, and test, and otherwise pass on the quality of work produced.
They require a substantial 'period of training in shop mathematics
and the application of technical standards, in the use of precision
5 See Matter of Julian P. Fiiez & Sons, Division Bendix Aviation Corp and Aircraft
Radio Association, 47 N L. R B 43 ; Matter of The New Britain Machine Company
and United Electrical , Radio & Machine Workers of America , (C I 0.), 48 N L R B
263; Matter of The Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company and International Association
of Machinists Lodge 539, A F. L , 44 N. L. R B. 1259.
536105-44-vol 50-9
I
118 DE'OISIIONS OF \TAT'TO\^AL LABOR RFLAT'I,O\S BOARD
measuring instruments,,and,in the interpretation, of engineering data.
Senior' inspectors perform-similar duties, except that their work
corresponds in supervisory function to that of leadmen. • • Under :all
the circumstances and in light of the fact that the Union in its petition
requested the exclusion of technical employees, we are of the opinion
,that,inspectors and senior inspectors should be excluded from,the unit.,
We accordingly find that all production and maintenance employees
of'the Company at Burlington, North Carolina, including shipping,
employees, receiving employees; stores department'employees, factory
clerks, trainees, and truck drivers, but,excluding plant guards, office
clerical employees, timekeepers,'trainee instructors, inspectors (of all
grades), tool design employees. 1•iaison men,,stock chasers, expediters,
tool engineers, technical employees, flight test.and delivery employees,
executives, leadlnen, l'eadwomen, foremen, assistant foremen, and other
supervisory employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purpose
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9, (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The,Company, contends that, because its plant is 'in the process of
expansion, no election,should,be ordered until a substantial percentage
of Pits contemplated maximum complement of, personnel is employed.
According to its latest, estimate the Company "expects. to expand its
pay roll until it reaches approximately 4,093 employees.' • It expects its,
expansion program to be completed by October 31,1943. On ApriF24,
1943, the Company's.pay roll contained the names of 1,474 employees,
or 36, percent of the contemplatedi ultimate total.. The Company's
latest estimate ,indicates that, on May 31, 1943, the Company, expects
to have on its pay, roll' 1,853 employees, or 45 percent of its expected
full complement, and that,by June 30, 1943, it expects to` have, on its
pay, roll 2,321• employees, which; is equivalent, to 57' percent 'thereof.
If these estimates,are. correct, it appears that approximately '50 per-
cent of the anticipated full number of 3,183 employees will have been
employed by now.
,Under these circumstances we do not believe that.the employees of.
the-Company, should be deprived of their right 'at the present time to
bargain collectively; as provided by the Act.' We will accordingly
proceed with an immediate determination of representatives in the
unit, found above to be appropriate. '
We shall direct that the, ,question concerniiig 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-roll
period` immediately prece'diiig the, date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and, additions set forth in the
Direction. '
FAIRCHILD AIRCRAFT DIVISION 119
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
1
By virtue of and pursuant to the'power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represent-
atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Fairchild Air-
craft Division of Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corporation, an election
by secret -ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
thaw thirty -(30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifth Region,
acting 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 those employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural
Implement Workers of America, (UAW-CIO), for the purposes of
collective bargaining.