Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 10, 1938

7 N.L.R.B. 840 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter Of MINNEAPOLIS -MOLINE POWER IMPLEMENT COMPANY
and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , LOCAL No. 1037
Case No. R-701.-Decided June 10, 1938
Farm Implement, Machinery, Structural Steel, and Industrial Engine and
Parts Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy
concerning representation of employees : question of representation not settled
by consent election held pursuant to agreement containing provision prohibit-
ing formal electioneering on day of election and failing to establish machinery
for settling protests based on alleged violations of that provision-Unit Appro-
priate for Collective Bargaining: production employees, excluding supervisory
and clerical employees, timekeepers, assistant foremen, and full-time outside
truck drivers ; stipulation as to=Representatives: eligibility to participate in
choice : employees laid off within 60 days prior to date petition filed ; 30 days'
service with employer-Election Ordered
Mr. Thurlow Smoot, for the Board.
Cobb, Hoke, Benson, Krause and Faegre, by Mr. Paul Christo-
pherson and Mr. Donald Robertson, of Minneapolis, Minn., for the
Company.
Mr. W. A. Heath, of Minneapolis, Minn., for the Machinists.
Mr. Ralph L. Helstein, of Minneapolis, Minn., for the United.
Miss Ann Landy, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On March 11, 1938, International Association-of Machinists, Local
No. 1037, herein called the Machinists, filed with the Regional Direc-
tor for the Eighteenth Region (Minneapolis, Minnesota) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Minneapolis-Moline Power Imple-
ment Company, Hopkins, Minnesota, herein called the Company,
and requested an investigation and certification of representatives
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 4.9
Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On March 11, 1938, the National
840
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 841
Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice.
On March 12, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon the
Machinists, and upon the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Work-
ers of America, Local No. 1138, herein called the United, a labor
organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by
the investigation. ' Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on
March 21 and 22, 1938, at Minneapolis, Minnesota, before Charles
E. Persons, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Board, the Company, and the United were represented by counsel.
The Machinists was represented by a duly authorized representative.
All parties participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings
on motions and objections to the admission of evidence. The Board
has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no
prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings, are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. TILE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company is a Delaware cor-
poration engaged in the manufacture and sale of farm implements and
machinery, structural steel, and industrial engines and parts. It
has manufacturing plants in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Hopkins,
Minnesota; and Moline, Illinois. This proceeding concerns only the
plant at Hopkins, Minnesota. The principal raw materials used by
the Company at all its plants are steel castings, forgings, lumber,
and scrap iron. A considerable portion of these raw materials used
at its two plants in Minnesota is obtained outside the State of Min-
nesota. Approximately 87 per cent of the Company's finished prod-,
ucts manufactured at its Hopkins plant are sold and shipped to
States other than Minnesota.
The gross volume of the Company's sales for 1937 of the products
manufactured at all its plants amounted to $16,535,508 in value.
There are 782 hourly paid employees at the Hopkins plant, 1472 at
842 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Minneapolis plant, and 516 at the Moline, Illinois, plant. The
Company admitted the interstate character of its business.
If. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Association of Machinists, Local 1037, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, ad-
mitting to its membership all production employees of the Company
at its Hopkins plant, excluding supervisory and clerical employees,
timekeepers, assistant foremen, and outside truck drivers.
The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America,
Local No. 1138, is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee
for Industrial Organization, admitting to its membership the same
classes of employees of the Company as the Machinists.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On November 16, 1937, the Machinists filed with the Regional
Director for the Eighteenth Region a petition requesting an investi-
gation and certification of representatives of employees of the Com-
pany at its Minneapolis and Hopkins plants, alleging that the em-
ployees, with certain specified exceptions, at each plant constituted a
separate appropriate bargaining unit. On December 6, 1937, the two
rival unions, the Machinists and the United, reached an agreement
with the Company for the holding of a consent election at each plant
under the supervision of the Regional Director. The consent elec-
tions were conducted separately for each plant on December 22, 1937.
At the Minneapolis plant the consent election resulted in a decisive
victory for the United. At the Hopkins plant the Machinists won
the consent election by a close margin of 15 votes. The losing or-
ganization at each plant promptly protested the result.
Under the terms of the agreement for the holding of the consent
election, the protests of each union charging interference, coercion,
and intimidation by the opposing union were referred to an arbiter
appointed by the Regional Director. Upon the conclusion of hear-
ings on the protests, the arbiter found that the acts of the Machin-
ists in distributing pamphlets branding the United as a communist
organization and threatening the employees with the loss of their
jobs as a result of a boycott against a C. I. O. plant constituted viola-
tion of the agreement. He recommended the certification of the
United as the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees
at the Minneapolis plant and the holding of a new election among
the employees at the Hopkins plant.
As a result of the arbiter's report a second consent election to be
held on February 10, 1938, at the Hopkins plant was agreed upon
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 843
by all the parties. A provision prohibiting formal electioneering
by either union on the day of the election was inserted in the agree-
ment and the clause providing for an arbiter to rule upon protests
was deleted . Seven hundred and two employees of the Hopkins plant
voted in the second consent election held on February 10, 1938. Two
hundred and seventy-two votes were cast for the Machinists and
430 for the United. The Machinists immediately filed a protest and
on March 11, 1938, it filed the petition in this case. The Machinists
claim that the United violated the provision in the agreement pro-
hibiting electioneering on the day of the election. It is not our
function to pass upon the merits of the Machinists ' protest, and we
shall not do so.
Since the consent election agreement contained a provision pro-
hibiting formal electioneering on the day of the election and failed
to establish machinery for settling protests based on alleged viola-
tions of that provision, the question of which union is the exclusive
representative of the employees at the Hopkins plant still remains
unsettled.
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Company at its Hopkins plant.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
at its Hopkins plant, described in Section I above, has a close, inti-
mate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among
the several States and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and
obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce.
v. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
All the parties stipulated that an appropriate unit consisted of
all production employees of the Company at its Hopkins plant, ex-
cluding supervisory and clerical employees , timekeepers , assistant
foremen, and full-time outside truck drivers engaged in delivering
products outside the Hopkins plant , but the United noted a reserva-
tion of its right to raise the question of combining the employees of
the Hopkins and Minneapolis . plants into a single unit in the future.
We find that all production employees of the Company at its Hop-
kins plant , excluding supervisory and clerical employees, timekeep-
ers, assistant foremen, and full-time outside truck drivers , constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that
said unit shall insure the employees of the Company at its Hopkins
844 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plant the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collec-
tive bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing the United introduced in evidence 24 petitions cir-
culated in the Hopkins plant by its members shortly after the sec-
ond consent election was held. In these petitions a majority of the
Company's employees at the Hopkins plant reaffirmed their desire
to be represented by the United, but in view of the unsettled condi-
tion arising out of the two protested consent elections we find that
an election by secret ballot, directed by the Board and conducted
by its agents, is necessary to resolve the question concerning
representation.
All the parties agreed that those eligible to vote in the event that
the Board directed an election should be the employees listed on
the Company.'s pay roll for March 11, 1938, who have had 30 days
of service with the Company prior to that date. The United further
requested that employees who were laid off within 60 days prior to
March 11, 1938, and who have worked for the Company for at least
30 days prior to their lay-off should also be eligible to vote. The
Company maintains a seniority list on the basis of which these em-
ployees will return to work. We are of the opinion that these
employees are entitled to vote in the election. Accordingly, those
eligible to vote shall be (1) the employees listed on the Company's
pay roll for March 11, 1938, who have had 30 days of service with
the Company prior to that date and (2) employees who were laid
off within 60 days prior to March' 11, 1938, and who have worked for
the Company for at least 30 days prior to their lay-off.
On the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the proceeding, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement
Company, Hopkins, Minnesota, within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7), of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production employees of the Company at its Hopkins plant,
exclusive of clerical and supervisory. employees, timekeepers, as-
sistant foremen, and full-time outside truck drivers engaged in de-
livering products outside of the plant, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
845
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended, it is
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Minneapolis -Moline Power . Implement Company, Hopkins,
Minnesota, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within
fifteen ( 15) days from the date of this Direction , under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations
Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regu-
lations, among all production employees of the Company who were
employed by the Company at its Hopkins plant during the pay-roll
period ending March, 11, 1938, and who have had thirty (30) days
of service with the Company prior to that date, including employees
who were laid off within sixty ( 60) days prior to March 11, 1938,
and who have had thirty (30) days service with the Company prior
to their lay-off, exclusive of clerical and supervisory employees, time-
keepers, assistant foremen, and full -time outside truck drivers en-
gaged in delivering products outside of the plant, and those em-
ployees who have since quit or have been discharged for cause to de-
termine whether they desire to be represented by International As-
sociation of Machinists , Local 1037 , affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, or by United Electrical, Radio and Machine
`Yorkers of America, Local No. 1138, affiliated with the Committee
for Industrial Organization , for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, or by neither.