Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 11, 1943

50 N.L.R.B. 427 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

1
In the Matter of'WESTINGHousE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY
and UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA,
C.I.O.
Case No. R-5345.Decided June 11, 1943
Mr. Robert D. Blasier, of Pittsburgh , Pa., for the Company.,
Mr. David Scribner , of New York City, and Mr. Thomas Flanagan,
of Sunbury , Pa., for the Union.
Mr. Glenn L. Moller, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company,
Sunbury, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before William F. Guffey, Jr., Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Sunbury, Pennsylvania, on May 11, 1943. The Company and the
Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to
be.heard, to examine and dross-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.
On May 29, 1943, the parties filed'a stipulation, making certain correc-
tions of the record. Said corrections are hereby approved and ordered
incorporated in the record.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, a Pennsylvania
corporation, is engaged in the manufacture and distribution of elec-
trical and radio equipment of all kinds at plants and warehouses in all'
50 N. L R. R. No RR
427
428 DECISQONS OF NAT+IIONtAL" LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
parts of the United States. During the year 1942, the Company did
a total business of $487,174,551, and on December 31, 1942, had 97,423
employees. Among the Company's, operations is a plant located at
Sunbury, Pennsylvania, the only operation involved in this proceed-
ing, where it manufactures radio equipment. From March 1942, when
,this plant began production', until the date of- the. hearing, over 50
percent of the raw materials used at the plant was shipped to the plalit
from points outside the State of Pennsylvania, and during the same
period over 50 percent of the finished products of the plant was shipped
to points outside the State of Pennsylvania.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,•is a labor organization
admitting to membership" employees of the' Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On several occasions since July 1942, the Union has requested recog-
nition as the exclusive bargaining representative of the production
and maintenance employees at the Company's plant at. Sunbury,
Pennsylvania. The Company Ihas refused to grant such recognition
until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of the Regional Director, 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 Union, in its amended petition, contends that all production
and maintenance employees, including group leaders, inspectors, and
production clerks and helpers, and excluding foremen, assistant fore-
men, employees of higher supervisory rank than foremen,' the chief
production clerk, guards, and time-study employees, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The Company agrees that the unit sought by the Union is appro-
priate except that it would exclude from the unit inspectors, on the
'The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 484 membership cards, 348
of which bore apparently genuine original signaturees of persons whose namese appeear on
the Company 's pay roll of April 24 , 1943 , which contained the names of 682 employees in
the appropriate unit. Six of the cards were duplicates.
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WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 429
ground that their work affects the: earnings of production employees,
and production clerks and their helpers, on the ground that they are
clerical employees.
,The Sunbury plant is, in effect, an extension of the Company's
plant at Baltimore and is under the same general management. The,
Union has a contract with the Company ,at the Baltimore plant,
covering production and maintenance employees. Both the Union
and the Company have interpreted that contract as including inspec-
tors and production clerks within the definition of the term "produc-
tion and maintenance employees." The Union's first contract with
the Company at the Baltimore plant was dated April 1, 1941, and a
successor contract was executed on April 1, 1942, the latter contract
being for an indefinite period. Bargaining negotiations to consider
possible changes in the contract took place in the spring of this year.
The Company; has never objected to the inclusion in the appropriate
unit of the inspectors or production clerks at the Baltimore plant.
The inspectors are responsible for making certain that the finished
products conform to specifications and contain no flaws. Some of
their work requires only visual inspection ; some requires the use of
micrometers and other measuring instruments. Production' plans
and blueprints afford a. general guide to the inspectors, but they must
also exercise some individual judgment as to the quality of the,
finished products. Items which the inspectors reject are marked,
and records are made of the defective items. Copies of the records
are distributed to the inspection foreman, to the employees respon-
sible for the defective items, and to other interested persons. The
inspectors do not discuss faulty workmanship with employees. This
is done entirely by the inspection foreman. The inspectors work
beside the production employees. There are 63 inspectors and, ac-
cording to the report of the Regional Director, a large majorityhave
designated the .Union as their bargaining representative.2 The Union
has represented inspectors on 'several occasions in the presentation of
grievances. At a recent meeting with the Union's grievance com-
mittee, at which a grievance was presented on behalf of inspectors,
the Company contended that the inspectors are not skilled, require no
specialized knowledge, and were therefore not entitled to a higher
wage classification. The Company did not contend, at this confer-
ence, that the Union could not properly represent inspectors. Under
all the circumstances and especially in view of the bargaining history.
both at the Baltimore plant and at the plant here involved, we shall
include the inspectors in the appropriate unit.
Production clerks and their helpers, the other category of eth-
plpyees in dispute, are responsible for scheduling the delivery of
'The Regional Director reported that 48 of the cards submitted by the Union bore the
signatures of inspectors.
430' DEaSIIOONSi, OF NAT710NAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
materials to production employees. ' Their, work is mostly clerical
and they do not ordinarily handle material or do any kind of manual
labor. They work at desks which are located throughout the factory.
They are responsible to a chief production clerk rather than to the
foremen of the departments which they assist. They are,paid on a
weekly salary basis. Production clerks' helpers. are really appren-
tices; -they occupy temporary positions as helpers until they are
trained and qualified to be production clerks. They are paid on an
hourly basis, but the Company plans to change them to, a weekly
salary basis soon: At the Baltimore plant the Company employs
about 200 production clerks and 50 helpers. Like inspectors, they
have there been considered -by all the parties as coming within the
category of production and maintenance employees.
We have previously held that factory clerical employees, such as
these production clerks, may appropriately be included in units of
production and 'maintenance employees .3 The only union involved
in this proceeding seeks to include them in the unit; and the parties
have themselves treated such employees as part of a production and
maintenance unit in the Baltimore plant. We shall include them
in the unit. '
Group leaders, who the parties have agreed should be included in the
appropriate unit, operate machines • and work beside the other em-
ployees in their groups. They participate in the group bonus pay-
ments and, when disputes arise over computation of bonus payments,
the group leaders represent, the employees,at conferences where the
disputes are resolved. They are paid from 2 cents to 7 cents per
hour more than production workers in their groups. The Company
and the Union. have agreed that group leaders employed by the
Company in many. of its other plants are properly included -in units
of production and maintenance emplQyees. We shall include them
here.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Company's Sunbury, Pennsylvania, plant, including inspectors, pro-
duction clerks and production clerks' helpers and group leaders, but
excluding foremen, assistant foremen, all supervisory employees
ranking above foremen, clerical employees, and the chief production
clerk, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gining 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 Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, 33 N L R. B. 789;
Matter of Chicago Molded Products Corporation, 49 N L . R B 756.
WESTINGEIOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 431
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 represent-
atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Westinghouse
Electric & Manufacturing Company, Sunbury, Pennsylvania, an elec-
tion 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 Fourth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules
and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropri-
ate 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 United Electrical, Radio &
'Machine Workers.of America, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.