General Motors Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 15, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 22 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of GENERAL MOTORS PARTS DIVISION, GENERAL MOTORS
CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIR-
CRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW-
CIO)
Case No. 9-R-1646.Decided January 15, 1945
Mr. Larry Benjamin, of Detroit, Mich., for the Company.
Messrs. Harland D. Burcham, J. R. Poland, and W. P. Allen, of
Louisville, Ky., for the Union.
Miss Ruth Rusch, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Union, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America
(UAW-CIO), herein called the Union, alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of General Motors Parts Division, General Motors Corporation,
Louisville, Kentucky, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Benjamin E. Cook, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Louisville, Kentucky, on December 4, 1944. 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. 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
General Motors Corporation is a Delaware corporation which func-
tions through several unincorporated divisions. The Company is one
of these divisions and operates a warehouse at Louisville, Kentucky.
60 N. L. R. B., No. 4.
22
GENERAL MOTORS PARTS DIVISION 23
During the course of the year, approximately 50 percent of the Com-
pany's supplies comes from sources outside the State of Kentucky,
and more than 35 percent of the goods is shipped to points outside the
State of Kentucky.
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 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 QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its warehouse employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Field Examiner, 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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the Union agree in general that the unit should
be composed of the Company's warehouse and maintenance employees,
including plant clerical employees, -and part-time watchmen, but ex-
cluding office clerical employees and all supervisory employees. The
only dispute between the parties concerns the full-time watchmen
whom the Union would include in the unit.
Although there has been no previous history of collective bargaining
at the Louisville warehouse, General Motors Corporation and the
Union have a contract covering employees at seven other warehouses.
This contract provides for a unit described, in part, as "all Parts Stock
Department employees . . . excluding . . . Special Day Watchman,
Full Time Night Watchman ..." 2 In reliance upon this contract,
the Company maintains that the full-time watchmen in the instant
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 18 authorization cards all of
which bore the names of persons listed on the Company's pay roll of October 31, 1944, which
contained the names of 29 employees in the appropriate unit. The cards were dated : 9 in
August 1944, 5 in September 1944, and 4 in October 1944.
2 Provision is made in the contract for negotiating additional bargaining units and incor-
-porating them in such contract.
24 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
proceeding should be excluded from the unit. The Union concedes that
if the watchmen in question devoted their time to the usual duties
performed by watchmen, they should be excluded. However; since
the watchmen spend more than 75 percent of their time doing main-
tenance work, the Union contends that they should be included in
the unit with the rest of the maintenance employees.
The Company employs two part-time watchmen and two full-time
watchmen. They are not militarized, they do not carry arms, and
they are not uniformed. The part-time watchmen work during the
day storing and receiving parts, firing the boilers, and cleaning the
building in addition to making rounds. The parties agree to the in-
clusion of the part-time watchmen.
The full-time watchmen work on the evening and the night shifts.
There are six time clocks in the warehouse which these watchmen
punch every hour. At most, it takes 15' minutes of every hour to make
the rounds in the warehouse and the remainder of their time is spent
in the performance of janitorial duties. In view of the• nature of
the work performed by the so-called full-time watchmen, we can find
no basis for differentiating them from the part-time watchmen. In
asmuch as the Company is not opposed to the inclusion of the part-time
watchmen in the unit and since the major part of the full-time watch-
men's time is spent maintaining the premises, we find no persuasive
reason for excluding the full-time watchmen.s We shall, therefore,
include them in the unit as well as the so-called part-time watchmen,
as maintenance employees. In order to avoid defining the unit in
terms which conflict with the language employed in the afore-men-
tioned master contract, we will not expressly refer to watchmen in our
formal finding.
We find, in accordance with the stipulation of the parties and our
foregoing determination, that all warehouse and maintenance em-
ployees at the Company's warehouse in Lousiville, Kentucky, includ-
ing stockroom or plant clerks, but excluding office clerical employees,
the warehouse manager, warehouse supervisors, and all 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 collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
8 See Matter of Wilson & Co., Inc., 54 N . L. R. B. 1548 ; Matter of Bird Machine Company,
57 N. L . R B. 1112; Matter of C. A. Dunham Company, 57 N. L. R. B. 1451; Matter of John
Deere Plow Company, 58 N. L. R. B. 372.
GENERAL MOTORS PARTS DIVISION 25
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein , subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction . In accordance with the request made by the Union at the
hearing, we shall designate the Union on the ballot as UAW-CIO.
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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with General Motors
Parts Division, General Motors Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky, 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 Ninth
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 appropriate in
Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im-
mediately preceding, the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during the 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 per-
son at the polls, but excluding any 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 or not they desire to be repre-
sented by UAW-CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.