Pesco Products Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 20, 1944

56 N.L.R.B. 1541 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter Of PESCO PRODUCTS Co. and INTERNATIONAL UNION7
UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS
OF AMERICA, LOCAL 363 (C. I. 0.)
Case No. 8-R-1.07.-Decided Jwne 920, 194F4
Messrs. Robert 0. Evans and Ed2aard M. Whalley, of Cleveland,
Ohio; for the Company.
Mr. Max W. Johnstone, of Akron, Ohio, and Mr. Herbert Pappin, of
Cleveland, Ohio, -for the Union.
Mrs. Platonia P. Kaldes, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
. AND '
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Union, United Automo-
bile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Local
363 (C. I. 0.), herein called the Union, alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of Pesco Products Co., herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before William 0. Murdock, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Cleveland, Ohio,'on May 4, 1944. The Company and the Union ap-
peared 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., At the close of the hearing, the Com-
pany moved to dismiss*the petition on the ground that'the unit sought
by the Union is not appropriate. The motion was referred to the
Board. For the reasons hereinafter set forth the motion is denied.
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej-
udicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an
opportunity to file briefs with the Board., After the close of the hear-
ing the parties entered into a stipulation to correct certain errors in the
record ; the stipulation is approved and the record is ordered" corrected
accordingly.
56 N. L. R B., No. 278.
1541
1542 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FAOT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Pesco Products Co., a subsidiary of Borg-Warner Corporation, is
engaged almost wholly in the manufacture of materials for the war
effort. It operates two plants in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, referred
to in the record as the Taft Avenue Plant and -the Euclid Avenue
Plant, where it manufactures pumps and aircraft -accessories. The
Company owns the Taft Avenue Plant and leases the Euclid Avenue
Plant from Defense Plant Corporation.
The principal raw materials used by the Company in the course of
its manufacturing operations are steel , aluminum alloys, brass,
plastics, and rubber compositions. While about 90 percent of these
raw materials is purchased by the Company in the State of Ohio,
almost all of such raw materials originally come from outside the
,State of Ohio. Of the finished products-manufactured by the Com-
pany, approximately 80 percent is destined for 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 INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural
Implement Workers of America, Local 363, affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations , is a labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company. ' - -
M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative. of its employees until the
Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.,
A statement of a Board agent; introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees 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.
"The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 403 authorization cards , that
he compared the cards with the Company's pay roll of March 26 , 1944, which contains the
,names of'846 employees in the alleged appropriate unit; and that'a comparison of the
cards with the aforesaid pay roll showed that the Union represented 30 percent of the
'employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
PESCO PRODUCTS CO.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
1543
The Union contends that all production and maintenance employees
.of the Company's Taft Avenue Plant, including tool crib attend-
ants, shipping and receiving clerks, and, a trucker, but excluding super-
visors, foremen, and other supervisory employees, plant-protection
employees, office and clerical employees, planning department clerks,
expeditors, timekeeping department employees, publications depart-
ment employees, engineering department employees such as engineers,
draftsmen, tracers, and blueprint operators, electrical laboratory em-
ployees, experimental laboratory employees, experimental machine
shop employees, and dispensary employees, constitute an appropriate
unit. The principal objection of the Company to the unit sought by
the Union is' that it sets apart, for collective bargaining purposes,
Taft Avenue Plant employees from Euclid Avenue Plant employees.
The Company contends that only a unit comprised of employees of
both plants is appropriate.
The two plants here in question are located about 31/2 miles apart.'
Originally all of the Company's operations were housed in the Taft
Avenue Plant but, due to increased production in filling war contracts,
the Company began operating,the Euclid Avenue Plant to take care,
of the overflow. More than 1,400 people are employed at both plants,
of which approximately 650 are employed in the Euclid Avenue Plant.
Both plants manufacture the same product.
There is some support in the record for the Company's position that
the, two-plant unit is appropriate. Thus, both plants are managed
through central administrative offices which, inter alia, establish wage
rates, schedules, and job classifications, and keep production and other
records,for both plants. Likewise, each plant performs some of the
manufacturing processes for the other. The Euclid Avenue Plant does
carborizing and hardening of parts and some automatic machine work
for both plants. The Taft Avenue Plant sometimes makes tools for
both plants. Parts are fabricated in either plant for the other and
material is transferred between the two plants when necessary. Fi-
nally, hours, base pay, and working conditions are substantially the
same at both -plants and employees of each plant serve on a common
recreation committee.
On the other hand, there are many factors in the record which sup-
port the Union's present petition for a unit of Taft Avenue Plant em-
ployees. The Company maintains separate employment offices for
each plant and a separate supervisory hierarchy consisting of a-plant
superintendent, a general foreman, and departmental foremen. Each
plant manufactures complete production units, and there is practi-
0
1544 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tally no interchange of employees between the two plants 2, While,
as has been indicated above, there is some interchange of tools, mate-
rial, and parts, the small amount of such interchange` is indicated by
the fact that one trucker handles all the transfers as part of his regu-
lar work. Despite the Company's centralized management and con-
trol, the Taft Avenue Plant is separable from the Euclid Avenue
Plant so that collective bargaining confined to it would appear to be
feasible. This feasibility was recognized by the Company in June
1943, when it agreed to- a consent election in a. unit of Taft Avenue
Plant employees- similar to that here requested by the Union. More-
over, while the Union attempted to organize the Euclid Avenue Plant
from June to September 1943; the attempt was unsuccessful and the
organizational drive which preceded the filing of the instant petition
was confined solely to the Taft Avenue Plant. From the foregoing
facts, we are of the opinion that the employees of the Taft Avenue
Plant should not,be deprived at this' time of their right to bargain
collectively under the Act, and we find, therefore, that they may com-
prise a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.'
Our present determination does not preclude a later finding that the
two-plant unit is appropriate when organization has extended more
fully to the Euclid Avenue Plant employees.
The unit sought by the Union is basically one composed of product
tion workers, all of whom are hourly paid. The Company agrees to
the inclusions and exclusions sought by the Union except that it would
include in the unit, while the Union would exclude therefrom, hourly
,paid employees in the experimental laboratory and experimental ma-
chine shop,4 both of which are hereinafter sometimes referred to col-
lectively as the experimental departments.s Employees in these ex-
perimental departments are engaged primarily in the development of
new products, in testing and 'criticizing new products and, to some
extent, products in production,e and in work of a secret nature on
present war products and the development of products and processes
for the post-war period.7 Much of the work these employees ordi-
9 When the Euclid Avenue Plant was first opened in September 1942, ,a "nucleus" of
approximately 75 employees was transferred to it from the Taft Avenue Plant. These
transfers and a very few which have been made since that time are of a permanent nature.
There have been no substantial- transfers of a temporary nature.
sCf. Matter of Mine Safety Appliances Co, Gallery Plant, Gallery, Pa., 55 N. L. R. B.
1190.
'There are 25 hourly paid employees in the experimental laboratory and 22 in the experi-
mental machine shop.
" While the experimental laboratory and the experimental machine shop are two separate
departments , the work of each is closely allied
6 Production units must be built according to definite specifications. Whenever difficul-
ties develop in producing in accordance with the specifications, production parts are sent
to the experimental laboratory for building and testing the unit against the specifications,
and criticizing and making suggestions relating to the operation of the unit.
° When the experimental machine shop employees have nothing else to do, the Company
utilizes their time and machines for the production of small orders which would break into
the production of larger orders if done in the regular machine shops
t
' PESCO PRODUCTS CO. 1545
narily perform is in the nature of engineering work. In fact, the ex-
perimental laboratory is under the direct supervision of the engineer-
ing department which the parties mutually agree should be excluded
from the unit.
Geographically, the experimental departments are housed in a re-
stricted area of the plant to which, for reasons of security, only em-
ployees with special badges are given access: Also housed in this
restricted area are the electrical laboratory and the publications de-
partment, both of which the parties mutually agree should be excluded
from the unit. Production workers are among those who do not have
access to this restricted area.
It is noteworthy that, during the June 1943 consent election above
mentioned, the Company agreed that employees in the experimental
departments should not be permitted to cast ballots. Moreover, the
Union has not attempted to organize employees in the experimental
departments, nor is there any evidence that any of these employees
desire to be represented by the Union. Under all the circumstances,
we are of the opinion that employees in the experimental machine
shop and experimental laboratory should be excluded from the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company's Taft Avenue Plant, including tool crib attendants, ship-
ping and receiving clerks, and the trucker,'but excluding plant-protec-
tion employees, office, and clerical employees, planning department
clerks, expeditors, timekeeping department employees, publications
department employees, engineering department employees such as
engineers, draftsmen, tracers, and blueprint operators, electrical lab-
oratory employees, experimental laboratory employees, experimental
machine shop employes, dispensary employees, supervisors, foremen,
and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, 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-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed d1uring the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
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 Re-
1546 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of NationalLabor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Pesco Products
Co., Cleveland; Ohio, 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 Eighth 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 immediately 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 person at the polls, but excluding those
employees who have since quit or been discharged 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 represented by Inter-
national Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Imple-
ment Workers of America, Local 363, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.