Kent-Owens Machine Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 16, 1943

46 N.L.R.B. 1154 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter Of KENT-OWENS MACHINE COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT
WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., LOCAL No. 14
Case No. B-41703.-Decided January 16, 1943
Jurisdiction : machinery manufacturing industry
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question :
refusal to accord recognition to petitioner ; contract in effect for one year
and subject to termination upon 30 days notice held no bar; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production, nonproduction,
and maintenance employees, with specified exclusions ; stipulation as to.
Mr. Charles W. Racine, of Toledo, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Edward Lamb, of Toledo, Ohio, for the U. A. W.
Mr. A. G. Sleundor, of New Castle, Pa., for the I. A. M.
Mr. Wallace E. Royster, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Union, United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
C. I. 0., Local No. 14, herein called the U. A. W., alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Kent-Owens Machine Company, Toledo, Ohio, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Louis Plost, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Toledo, Ohio, on December
'29, 1942. The Company, the U. A. W., and International Association
of Machinists, herein called the I. A. M., appeared, participated, and
were accorded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues
During the hearing the I. A. M: moved to dismiss the petition on
I Pattern Makers League of North America was also served with notice and moved to
intervene at the hearing. Pending ruling on this motion, the U A W. was permitted to
amend its petition so as to exclude patternmakers and patternmakers ' apprentices from the
proposed bargaining unit. The motion of the League to intervene was then withdrawn.
46 N. L. R. B., No. 136.'
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KENT-OWENS MACHINE COMPANY 1155
the ground that the U. A. W. had no true interest in the question of -
representation . The Trial Examiner reserved ruling thereon. The
motion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner 's rulings are free from,
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. On January 4, 1943, the;
I. A. M. filed a brief , which the Board- has considered. ,
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Kent-Owens Machine Company is an Ohio corporation with its
principal plant and offices in Toledo, Ohio. It is engaged in the manu-
facture of milling-machinery and other types of machinery. The
principal raw materials used by the Company are steel, bronze, alumi-
num, and grey iron castings. The Company annually uses raw ma-
terials having a value in excess of $100,000 of which approximately
10 percent comes from points outside the State of Ohio. The annual'
production of milling machinery and other machinery has a value in
excess of $300,000, approximately 75-percent of which is sold and
shipped to points outside the State of Ohio. The Company concedes.
that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the -National
Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
-International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agriculturar
Implement Workers of America, Local No. 14, affiliated with the,
Congress of Industrial Organizations, and International Association,'
of Machinists, Lodge No. 105 of District 57, affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, are labor organizations admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On September 24, 1942, the U. A. W. requested the Company to,
bargain with it as the representative of its employees. The Company
refused to recognize the U. A. )'V. without a further showing as to its
membership among the employees. At the hearing the I. A. M. intro-
duced its contract and membership list into evidence. This member-
ship list, the statement of the Field Examiner, introduced into evi-
dence, and other evidence in the record, indicate that the U. A. W.
and the I. A. M. each represents a substantial number of employees in,'
the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
' The Field Examiner stated that the U. A. W. presented 181 cards of which 144 , dated in
September , October, and November , 1942, bearing apparently genuine signatures , were the
names of persons appearing on the Company ' s pay roll of November 27, 1942. This pay roll
lists 377 employees in the unit . The I A M. membership list shows 311 members as em-
ployed by the Company on December 10, 1942.
1156 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The I. A. M. argues that its contract is a bar to an 'investigation of
representatives. This contract establishes the I. A. M. as the exclusive'
bargaining agency, for the employees in the unit. It is effective Jan-
uary 19, 1942, to January 18, 1943, thereafter for an indefinite period
subject to termination upon 30 days' written notice by either party.
After January 18, 1943, the contract will, be continued only in the
absence of such notice. As stated above, the U. A. W. requested
recognition in September 1942. Under these circumstances, -we find
that this contract is not a bar to an investigation of representatives
and 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
We find, in accordance with the stipulation of the parties, that all
production, non-production, and maintenance 'employees of the Com-
pany at its factory in Toledo, Ohio, but excluding supervisory em-
ployees, clerical employees, watchmen, timekeepers, technical engi-
neers , patternmakers, and patternmakers' apprentices, 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-
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.
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 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Kent-Owens Ma-
chine Company, Toledo, Ohio, an election by secret ballot shall be,
conducted as early-as possible, but not latex than thirty (30) days from
the date of this Direction of Election, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Eighth 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 all em-
ployees of. the Company in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
KENT-OWENS MACHINE COMPANY 1157
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 any who have since quit or been discharged for cause,
to determine whether they desire, to be represented by' International
Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Work-
ers of America, C. I. 0., Local No. 14, or by International Association
of Machinists, Lodge No. 105 of District 57, affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining,
or by neither.