Ford Motor Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 1, 1943

47 N.L.R.B. 209 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of FORD MOTOR COMPANY and MECHANICS EDUCATIONAL
-SOCIETY OF AMERICA, AFFILIATED WITH CONFEDERATED 'UNIONS OF
AMERICA -
Case No. R-4700.Decided February 1, I943
Jurisdiction : ordnance manufacturing industry
Practice and Procedure : petition, dismissed when no appropriate unit within its
scope; proposed unit comprised of a designated group,of employees in the
engineering laboratory building of one plant of Company held inappropriate,
when they constituted an integral and indistinguishable, part of the entire
plant's operations and petitioner's original organizational campaign was one
which embraced all employees of the plant in a`single unit
Mr. I. A. Capizzi ,and,Mr. Malcolm L. Denise, of Detroit, Mich., for
the Company.
Mr. Lewis F. Brady, of Detroit, Mich., for the MESA.
Cllr. Maurice Sugar and Mr. Ernest Goodman, of Detroit, Mich., for
the UAW-CIO.
'Miss Melvern R. Krelow, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon amended petition duly filed by Mechanics Educational So-
ciety bf America, affiliated with Confederated Unions of America,
herein called the MESA, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Ford Motor
Company, Dearborn, Michigan, herein called the Company, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Robert J. Wiener, Trial Examiner., Said hear-
ing Was held at Detroit, Michigan, on December 28, 1942. The Com-
pany, the MESA, and International Union, United Automobile,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW-
CIO), herein called the UAW-CIO, appeared, participated, and Were
afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses, and to introduce evideiice bearing'on the issues. The Trial
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209
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210 DECIS-IONT S OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed.
At the hearing the UAW-CIO made a motion to dismiss the petition
on the ground that the unit requested by the MESA is inappropriate.
For reasons hereinafter set forth, the motion is hereby granted.1
On January 11 and 12, 1943, the UAW-CIO, the Company, and the
MESA filed briefs which the Board has considered.
On January 14, 1943, a stipulation to correct the transcript of record,
entered into between the parties on January 12, 1943, was filed with
the Board.' The stipulation is hereby'made a part of the record.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Ford Motor Company, a Delaware corporation having its principal
executive offices in Dearborn , Michigan , was until February •1942,
principally engaged in the manufacture ,. assembly, sale , and distri-
bution of automobiles and automobile trucks and various types of
automobile parts and accessories . The Company owns, operates, and
maintains assembly plants in many States throughout the United
States. The West Dearborn plant is the only plant here involved.
Since February 1942, the Company has been engaged at all of its plants
in Detroit , highland Park, and Dearborn , Michigan, and at its new
plant, known as the Willow Run Bomber plant situated near Ypsilanti,
Michigan , principally in the manufacture and/or assembly of ordnance
and other materials for the armed services of the United States.
Between 10 and 80 percent in value of the productive materials used
in the manufacturing or assembly operations conducted in the above-
mentioned plants, the total value of which exceeds $1 ,000,000 monthly,
is shipped to said plants from points outside the State of Michigan.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National - Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Mechanics Educational Society of America is a labor organization
affiliated with Confederated Unions of America, admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
1 The UAW-CIO further contended that the employees here involved are covered by a
collective bargaining contract between the Company and the UAW-CIO, executed on
November 4, 1942, which contract it asserts is a bar to a determination of representatives.
In view of our finding , hereinafter set forth , we deem it unnecessary to make a determina-
tion of this contention.
2 The Company filed a letter with the Board in lieu of a brief.
FORD MOTOR COMPANY 211
International Union , United Automobile , Aircraft and Agricultural
Implement Workers of America is a labor organization affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations , admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III. THE ,ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
At the hearing the MESA contended that a unit consisting of all
hourly rated employees in the Dearborn engineering laboratory build-
ing of the West Dearborn Plant, the garage attached to that building
by an arcade, and the nearby main powerhouse building, but excluding
supervisory employees, salaried office clerks, farm employees, students,
pay-roll department and plant-protection employees, former farm-
maintenance employees now appearing upon the Dearborn engineer-
ing laboratory pay roll, and all men working within the alleged unit
who retain identification badges from other plants of the Company, is
appropriate.3 The UAW-CIO contended that the, unit sought by the -
MESA is inappropriate, and as stated heretofore, requested dismissal
of the petition. It further contended that if the Board did not dismiss
the petition, the appropriate unit should comprise all production, ai'id
maintenance employees of the West Dearborn and the River Rouge
Plants of the Company, or in the alternative, all production and main-
tenance employees of the West Dearborn Plant. The Company took
no position with respect to the appropriate unit. -
The principal issue which this case presents is whether a designated
group of employees in the engineering laboratory building of the
West Dearborn Plant of'the Company constitutes a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the Act.
The West Dearborn Plant of the Company consists of the engineer-
ing laboratory, and airframe, airport, and fiber processing buildings,
which form a compact geographical unit. The functions performed
at the West Dearborn Plant are varied. In the main powerhouse,
power is produced for all the West Dearborn operations. In - the
engineering laboratory building are located the executive offices and
the pay-roll department for the West Dearborn Plant. The cafeteria
for the entire plant personnel is also located in the engineering lab-
oratory building. There is a large group of maintenance employees
at the Plant who work throughout the'Plant, and in addition do all
3It appears that the unit finally alleged by the MESA as appropriate , at the hearing,
is considerably smaller than the one originally alleged to be appropriate The original
petition set forth the unit as all hourly rated employees at the laboratory , airport, and
auframe buildings wearing Dearborn badges, and farm -maintenance employees wearing
farm badges ,' excluding supervisors , pay-roll and set vice -department employees. That unit
was twice amended prior to the hearing.
212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL . LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the maintenance work on the Henry Ford Farms. Some of these
employees are stationed at the engineering laboratory building, and
some in buildings other than the engineering laboratory building.
The maintenance superintendent at the engineering laboratory build-
ing is maintenance superintendent for the entire West Dearborn Plant.
In addition to the garage attached to the engineering laboratory build-
ing,'there are garages attached to each of the other buildings. The
bulk of the work performed at the engineering laboratory building
is closely integrated with work performed in the airframe laboratory
building. Thus iroducts are developed and formulated into clay
models in the engineering laboratory building, and the wood models
are made at the airframe building where test assembly lines- are run
before products go into mass production in the manufacturing units
of the Company. Employees who work in the pattern shop at the
airframe building sometimes work in the pattern shop at the engineer-
ing laboratory building. It is clear, therefore, that the nature of the
,work of the group of employees whom the MESA seeks to set apart
as an appropriate unit is indistinguishable from that of the other
employees in the West Dearborn Plant. Moreover, the MESA's origi-
nal organizational campaign was one which embraced all employees
of the West Dearborn Plant of the Company in a single unit.
The employees of the engineering laboratory building constitute
an integral and indistinguishable part of the entire West Dearborn
Plant of the. Company. We are of the opinion that, under the cir-
cumstances, the unit sought to-be established by the MESA is inap-
propriate for'the purposes of collective bargaining.'
I\'. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining.' unit sought to be established by the petition
is inappropriate, as stated in' Section III, above, we find that no
question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of
the Company in an appropriate bargaining unit.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and
certification of representatives of employees of Ford Motor Company,
Dearborn, Michigan, filed by Mechanics Educational Society of-Amer-
ica, affiliated with Confederated Unions of America, be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
' At the hearing the MESA indicated that it did not desire to participate in an election
in a unit other than that which it alleged as appiopiiate
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