General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 30, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 415 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED
ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO,
PETITIONER
Case No. 1-R-3638.Decided June 30, 1947
Mr. E. J. Ritter, of Bridgeport , Conn., for the Employer.
Messrs. 0. Herbert Salter and Donald Tormey, of Boston , Mass., for
the Petitioner.
Mr. Walter Donovan , of Boston , Mass., for the Intervenor.
Mr. Roy 0. Goldin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held
at Lowell, Massachusetts, on May 12, 1947, before Thomas H. Ramsey,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
General Electric Company, a New York corporation, is engaged at
its Jackson Street plant in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the manufacture
of electrical parts and equipment. The Employer annually purchases
for use at this plant raw materials valued at over $1,000,000, of which
approximately 90 percent represents shipments to it from sources out-
side the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Employer annually
ships from this plant finished products valued at over $2,000,000, ap-
proximately 90 percent of which represents shipments to points outside
the Commonwealth.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
'The record herein has been corrected in certain respects to conform with the request
of the Employer.
74 N. L.R.B,No.74. 415
755420-48-yol 74-28
416 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, herein called the
Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Em-
ployer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On March 3, 1947, the Petitioner requested recognition of the Em-
ployer as the bargaining representative of the Employer 's employees.
The Employer replied that it could not grant such recognition in
view of its contract with the Intervenor. The petition herein was
filed on March 3, 1947, and the amended petition followed on March
18, 1947. At the hearing, the Intervenor urged its contract as a bar
to this proceeding.
On June 12, 1946, the Intervenor and the Employer entered into a
collective bargaining agreement covering the employees involved
herein. With respect to its duration, the contract provided that it
was to be "in full force and effect for a period of one year and there-
after from year to year unless either party gives the other party
ninety (90) days' advance written notice of cancellation of said
agreement ." Neither party has ever given notice to the other of its
desire to terminate the contract. As noted above, on March 3, 1947,
shortly before the operative date of the automatic renewal notice
clause of the contract, the Petitioner asserted its claim to represen-
tation and filed its petition.
The Intervenor contends that the contract bars an election at this
time 'under the principle enunciated in the Reed Roller Bit case,2
viz, that a contract of 2 years' duration will ordinarily preclude a
determination of representatives until shortly before its terminal
date. With respect to its position as to the duration of the contract,
it argues that the instrument as drawn is, in effect, one of 2 years'
duration or longer, subject only to the possibility of termination at
the end of 1 year by either party giving timely notice to the other, a
possibility which did not materialize. We cannot agree with the
Intervenor's position. It is evident from the language of the dura-
tion clause that the contractual relationship is one of one year's dura-
tion subject to automatic renewals for annual periods thereafter.
And the Board has continued to hold, in cases subsequent to the
Reed Roller Bit decision, involving similar contracts, that the filing
2 72 N. L. R B 927.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 417
of a petition during the initial 1-year term but before the operative
date of the automatic renewal notice clause operates to remove the
contract as a bar to a current determination of representatives.3 Ac-
cordingly, inasmuch as the petition was timely filed herein, we find
that the contract cannot bar a current determination of representa-
tiveS.4
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accordance with the agreement of all the parties, that
all production and maintenance employees of the Employer, at its
Jackson Street, Lowell, Massachusetts, plant, excluding office and
clerical employees, plant-protection workers, executives, foremen, and
all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 5
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with General Electric Company,
Lowell, Massachusetts, 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 First Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately 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 emplbyeees in the armed
8 Cf Matter of Swartzbaugh Mfg. Co , 73 N. L R B. 538 ; Matter of White Furniture
Company, 73 N L. R B 805
4 Although the amended petition followed the operative date of the automatic renewal
notice clause, it made only minor changes in the requested unit and, therefore, did not
impair the effectiveness of the original petition on the contract bar issue . See Matter of
General Electric X-Ray Corporation, 72 N L. R B. 1245 , Matter of The City Ice and
Fuel Company, 73 N. L R B 303
5 Anv participant in the election herein may , upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.
418 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the
polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be repre-
sented by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America,
CIO, or by International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, AFL, for
the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.