International Harvester Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 18, 1943

48 N.L.R.B. 273 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY and LOCAL #402, -
UAW-CIO
Case No. R-4900.-Decided March 18, 1943
Jurisdiction : motor trucks manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-.
'fusal to recognize the union pending determination by the Board of the
majority, status of the union in an appropriate unit usual pay roll directed
to•be used to determine eligibility, notwithstanding that the union desired a
pay roll as of the date it had requested company to bargain ; election necessary.
Unit
,
Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : plant protection- department, ex-
cluding. the chief of plant protection, the assistant, chief,, and lieutenants,
notwithstanding company's contention that they should not be considered
employees within the meanmg'of the Act, and the union's desires that they
be included in the unit with production and maintenance employees.
Messrs. F. L. Innis, Austin L. Patton, Clinton Shaw and Thomas F.
Campbell, of Springfield, Ohio, for the Union.' -
Messrs. H. E. Palmer and H. B. Rose, of Springfield, Ohio, for the
Company.
Mr. Robert Silagi, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Local #402, UAW-CIO, herein called
the Union , alleging that a question affecting commerce had arismcon-
cerning the representation of employees of International Harvester
Company, Springfield , Ohio, herein called , the Company , the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due -
notice before James A. Shaw, Trial Examiner . Said hearing was
held at Springfield , Ohio, on February 16, 1943. The Company and
the Union appeared , participated , and were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross -examine witnesses , and to intro-
duce evidencebearing on the issues. ' The Trial Examiner 's rulings
made at-, the, hearing Mare free-from prejudicial error and are ' hereby
affirmed.
48 N. L . R. B., No. 36.
273
274 DEiCISIONS OF • NATIOI`TAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
International Harvester Company is a New Jersey corporation with
its principal offices in Chicago, Illinois. It operates plants in eight
States, including the plant at Springfield, Ohio, which alone is con-
cerned in this proceeding. At its Springfield plant the Company
manufactures motor trucks and related items. At the present time
the Springfield plant is exclusively engaged in the manufacture of
trucks and war materials for the United States Government. During
the year 1942, the value of the raw materials purchased by the Com-
pany for its Springfield plant amounted to several millions of dollars,
a very substantial part of which represents materials shipped to it
from points outside the State of Ohio. 'During the same period the
Company manufactured products at its Springfield plant valued at
approximately $35,000,000, 95 percent of which was shipped to points
outside the State of Ohio.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the. National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION ' IN VOLVED
Local #402 of the United Automobile, Aircraft, and Agricultural
Implement Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In October 1942 and subsequently on November 12, 1942, the Union
informed the Company that it represented a majority of the em-
ployees in the unit herein found appropriate and requested recogni-
tion as their bargaining representative. The Company refused this
request pending a determination by the Board of the majority status
of the Union in- an appropriate unit.
A. statement of a' Field Examiner of the Board, 'introduced into
evidence 'at, the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub-
stantial number, of employees in the appropriate'unit -
.'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 59 application cards, all of
which bore apparently genuine original 'signatures ; that 26 of the cards were dated between
May 1942 and October' 1942, and 33 ' of the cards were undated ; that the names of '44
persons whose names appeared on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of
February 9, 1943, which contained 69 persons in the appropriate unit. , ,^
hNTE,RNATI!ONAL HARVESTER COMPANY 275
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 petition filed by the Union seeks "watchmen" -as the employees
in the appropriate unit. The record reveals that by "watchmen" is
meant all employees in Department No. 53.2 This includes the follow-
ing groups : chief of plant protection, assistant chief of plant protec-
tion, lieutenants, all of whom are excluded from the unit by agreement;
and guards and watchmen.
In Department No. 53 the Company employs 25 guards who are
.armed and sworn in by the Army as auxiliary military police. Their
duties,are to guard and protect war material, war premises and war
utilities from damage or destruction by the enemy or otherwise. They
may make arrests for violation of Federal law, as well as for violations
of orders and regulations issued by military authority, and in this
-capacity are subject to the Articles of War and Military Law. The
guards wear no distinctive uniform except for hats with an insignia,
belts and holsters, and revolvers.
There are 40 watchmen who patrol buildings, inspect them for fire
prevention and good housekeeping, check water valves, look after
sprinkler systems, watch for prowlers, check passes of strangers in
the plant, and punch clocks. They are also required to report viola-
tions of the safety rules by production and maintenance employees to
a safety committee which is composed of equal numbers of representa-
tives of management and labor. The watchmen wear no uniform
and are not armed.
The Company contends that plant-protection employees are not
properly to be considered employees within the meaning of the Act
.and, therefore, do not constitute an appropriate unit. It maintains
that the duties of these men are confidential in nature, that their war
time obligations as auxiliary military police cannot be satisfactorily
performed while members of a labor union, and that their interests
are closely related to those of management. -This argument has often
2 At the hearing the Company moved to amend the Union 's petition so as to designate
the appropriate unit as "the Plant Protection Department " rather than as "watchmen,"
the terns used by the Union. The Company stated that Department No 53, which was
formeily called the `Fire and Watch Department," had its name changed to "Plant Pro-
tection Department" in the early part of February 1943 The Union opposed the motion
on the ground that Depaitment No. 53 was generally known throughout the, Springfield
plant as the Fire and Watch Department and that the employees therein were not ac-
quainted with the designation Plant Protection Department . The motion was denied;
however , the parties agreed that the employees covered by the term " watchmen" included
those persons as enumerated above.
521247-43-vol 48-19
276 DECIr1ONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
been considered and rejected by the Board.' It-was advanced by the
Company and rejected by the Board in a previous case affecting plant-
protection employees at the Company's McCormick Works.4'
On May 11, 1942, the Company entered into a contract with the
Union for a unit which consists of "all employees of the Company
except salaried' employees, foremen, assistant foremen, watchmen,
and confidential clerks." The Union now desires that employees in
Department No. 53 be included in this unit. In support of its conten-
tion, the Union shows that watchmen were included in the unit cov-
ered by a prior contract between the Company and the Independent
,Automotive Association, Incorporated; that the Company maintains
a system of plant seniority which covers the employees in Depart ment
No. 53; and that -recent"transfers to and from Department No. 53
and the production and maintenance department have been made. The
Board's policy, however, is to keep plant-protection employees separate
from production and maintenance'employees.5 The interests of the
two groups are not -sufficiently similar to warraii't"their merger. Spe-
cial oblibations are imposed upon the former, particularly in war
time, which makes the preservation of their identity in a separate unit
desirable. ' '
We find that all employees of, the Company iii Department No. 53,
formerly khow"n as`the Fire and Watch Department, and presently
known as the Plant Protection Department, but excluding the chief of
plant'protection, the assistant chief-of plant protection, and lieuten-
ants, constitute a 'unit appropriate for, the purposes 'of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. -THE DETERMIN ATION OF REPRESENTATIVES '
The Union desires that the pay roll of November 14, 1942, be used
as the eligibility date for determination of representatives because
that was the date on which it formally requested collective bargain-
ing rights for the watchmen. The Company, however, states that
-since that date there have been numerous changes made in its Plant
Production Department and, therefore, desires that the Board's usual
,practice in this regard be followed. We shall direct that the question
concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election
3 See Matter of Chrysler Corporation, Highland Part Plant and Local 111,, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement 117oikers of Anierica, affiliated with the
C I. 0 , 44 N L R' B 881 and cases cited theiein, also Matter of Cr amp Shipbuilding
'Company and Industrial Union of Mantic and Shipbuildiny Workeis of America, Local
No Ii2, 46 N L R B 1186
4Matter 6f McCormick Works International Harvester Company and United Farm Equip=
meat and Metal Workers of America, affiliated with the C 1 0, 44 N L R B 1132
S See Matter of Julius Petersen; an• indizidual, and Marine Metal Trades Council of
the Port of New York and Vicinity and International Brotherhood of Boilerinalers, Iron
Shipbuilders and helpers of Amei ica, A F L, et al, 46 N L It. B 1049
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY 277
by secret ballot among the employees_ in the appropriate unit who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of the Direction herein, subject to the limitations and addi-
tions 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 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 representa-
tives for-the purposes of collective bargaining with International,
Harvester Company, Springfield, Ohio, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible. but not later than thirty (30)
clays from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vi^-Ion of the Regional Director for the Ninth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
lo-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 Local #402, UAWV-CIO for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Mn. Joi-IN M. 1IousToN took no part in the cdnsicleration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.