General Electric Company Records, 1938-1967
Collection Number: 5331

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
General Electric Company Records, 1938-1967
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5331
Abstract:
U.S. NLRB decision on General Electric and International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers 1960 Contract Negotiations.
Creator:
General Electric Company
Quanitities:
2.67 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English

Biographical / Historical

At the time of these negotiations, General Electric Company was the fourth largest industrial corporation in the United States. It manufactured over 200,000 individual products ranging from toasters to turbines.
Approximately 120,000 of its 250,000 employees were represented by labor organizations. There were no nationally certified unions or multi-plant units in the company, each union being represented on a plant by plant basis. The company conducted national bargaining with three of the one hundred odd unions representing it's workers, these being the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, (UE), the Pattern Makers League of North America, and the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, (IUE). The latter union was certified as bargaining agent for approximately 70,000 G.E. employees in 1950 as a result of the expulsion of the UE from the Congress of Industrial Organizations for alleged communist activities. One year contracts were successfully negotiated between the company and the IUE between 1950 and 1955. In 1955 the parties entered into a five year agreement which included a wage escalator clause and provisions for a reopening of the contract in 1958 on the question of employment security. The contract terms set forth by the company in the 1955 agreement were apparently regretted during the period of economic decline that began in 1957. This attitude was reflected in the hard economic line taken by the company in the 1958 bargaining session, which ended in a stalemate. The stage was thus set for the 1960 contract negotiations, the company intending to keep costs down while the union hoped to recoup the losses it suffered in 1958.
THE 1960 NEGOTIATIONS
Preparations for the negotiations commenced at meetings between company and union officials on January 26, April 1 and April 26 at which time the company supplied the union with information and materials deemed vital to the impending negotiations. It was agreed at these meetings that negotiations of the employment security issue would open on June 13, approximately two months before the contract date for the opening of formal negotiations. The union presented the full slate of its demands at the June 13 meeting and requested that full negoitations commence at an earlier date than scheduled.
Formal negotiations between the parties opened on July 19 and continued through 45 meetings, ending on October 22, after a three week strike. The I.U.E. filed charges against the company before the National Labor Relations Board on September 21, October 4, October 14, 1960 and March 16, 1961 charging the company with unfair labor practices under sections 8(a) 1, 3 and 5, and sections 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
The specific charges against the company under Section 8 (a) (7) (to interfere with, restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7), stemmed from the company's policy of bargaining with local units in derogation of the union's status as national bargaining agent. Section 8 (a) (5) (to refuse to bargain collectively with representatives of the employees) was allegedly violated by the company's refusal to supply vacation and pension information to the union during the course of negotiations. Section 8 (a) (3) (discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or conditions of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization) was con- sidered to have been violated when the employer refused to reinstate twenty workers who had been replaced during the strike. These violations were incurred by the employer as defined under sections 2 (6) and (7) of the N.L.R.A.
On April 1, 1963 N.L.R.B. trial Examiner Arthur Leff issued an intermediate report finding the company guilty of the aforementioned violations and recommended that the company cease and desist from such further activities. In addition to specific charges, the examiner criticized the company's overall approach to and conduct of bargaining. In finding such, he attached the cease and desist order to the bargaining tactics, thereby ruling that the Bulwaristic strategy was not in the interest of true collective bargaining. The ruling of the trial examiner was upheld by a majority decision of the NLRB in its decision on December 6, 1964.

U.S. NLRB decision on General Electric and International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers 1960 Contract Negotiations.
Included are transcripts of the proceedings before the trial examiner and the board; materials detailing the prosecution of the case; the company's defense; and a General Electric information kit.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
Conditions Governing Use

This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Preferred Citation

General Electric Company Records #5331. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Materials

Related Collections: /3017: Abraham Cohen "Coordinated Bargaining at General Electric: An Analysis" Dissertation Supporting Documentation 5886: GE "Leaders Discussion Guide to HOBSO" 6081 mf: GE (Schenectady, NY) Publication "Works News" on Microfilm

SUBJECTS

Names:
United States. National Labor Relations Board.
General Electric Company
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.
International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers.
Subjects:
Arbitration, Industrial -- United States.
Electric industry workers -- United States.
Electric industry workers -- Labor unions -- United States.

CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Box 1 Folder 1
The General Counsel's Brief to the Trial Examiner
Scope and Contents
321 pp.
Box 1 Folder 2
Appendices to the General Counsel's Brief to the trial examiner
Scope and Contents
87 pp.
Box 1 Folder 3
General Counsel's Reply Brief to the Trial Examiner
Scope and Contents
52 pp.
Box 1 Folder 4
Intermediate Report (decision of the trial examiner)
Scope and Contents
113 pp. 4 copies
Box 1 Folder 5
General Counsel's Brief in Support of Exceptions and in Support of the Intermediate Report
Scope and Contents
49 pp.
Box 1 Folder 6
Decision and Order of the National Labor Relations Board
Scope and Contents
11 pp. 4 copies
Box 1 Folder 7
Press release of the NLRB announcing the decision
Scope and Contents
8 pp.
Series Company's defense
Box 1 Folder 8
Respondent's Brief for Trial Examiner: Part I.
Scope and Contents
217 pp.
Box 1 Folder 9
Respondent's Brief for Trial examiner: Part 11.
Scope and Contents
100 pp.
Box 1 Folder 10
Respondent's Reply Brief for Trial Examiner
Scope and Contents
87 pp. 2 copies
Box 1 Folder 11
Respondent's Exceptions to the Intermediate Report
Scope and Contents
78 pp. 2 copies
Box 1 Folder 12
Respondent's Brief in Support of its exceptions to the Intermediate Report
Scope and Contents
24 pp.
Series General Electric information kit
Box 1 Folder 13
General Electric's press release
Scope and Contents
Issued on December 16 at Press Conference in Washington and New York
Box 1 Folder 14
Background summary and evaluation of NLRB decision.
Box 1 Folder 15
Editorial comment in New York press and other Newspapers.
Box 1 Folder 16
ER News story
1964
Scope and Contents
Dated December 21, 1964.
Box 1 Folder 17
Sample employee communication following announcement of the NLRB decision.
Box 1 Folder 18
Background materials covering events leading up to NLRB decision announced on December 16, 1964.
1964
Box 2 Folder 10
Excess Profits Tax - Book No. 11
Box 2 Folder 1
How Big is Our Job?
1948
Box 2 Folder 18
GE-Annual Report: 1946, 1948
1946-1948
Box 2 Folder 17
Stabilization of Industry by Gerard Swope
1931
Box 2 Folder 16
GE Publications
Box 2 Folder 15
Camp Nola
Box 2 Folder 14
GE--Annual Reports: [1938, 1939, 1941, 1943-1945]
1938-1945
Box 2 Folder 13
something to Read Book 18
Box 2 Folder 20
General Electric - Employee Relations News Letter
1952
Box 2 Folder 11
Educational Facilities for Employees of the General Electric Company Schenectady Works
Box 2 Folder 21
GE - Employee Relations News Letter
1953
Box 2 Folder 9
Employee Communication : Executive Summary
Box 2 Folder 8
Charles Edward Wilson
1949
Box 2 Folder 7
Story of X-ray
Box 2 Folder 6
General Electric Company Research Laboratory - No. 953, 1100
Box 2 Folder 5
Research and Innovation
Box 2 Folder 4
Story of Lightning
Box 2 Folder 3
Story of GE Research
Box 2 Folder 2
Story of Steinmetz
Box 2 Folder 12
Where does the money go
Box 2 Folder 30
GE Communicator
1950
Box 2 Folder 39
Employee Communication in Connection with 1966: General Electric negotiations
1967
Box 2 Folder 38
GE - Job Evaluation
1938
Box 2 Folder 37
GE - Salary Evaluation
1938
Box 2 Folder 36
Apprentice Training Courses Schenectady Works
Box 2 Folder 35
General Electric Pension Plans
1946
Box 2 Folder 34
Constitution and By-Laws
1943
Box 2 Folder 33
What about a Fourth Round of Wage Increases?
1949
Box 2 Folder 19
Employees Annual Suggestion Report
1954
Box 2 Folder 31
Tentative New Departure, Bristol: Supervisory Education and Training Program
1944
Box 2 Folder 40
Flight Propulsion Division - Evendale Plant Newscaler
1960
Box 2 Folder 29
Careers in the Electrical Industry
Box 2 Folder 28
General Electric Round Table: Guide for Supervisors
Box 2 Folder 27
Supervisor's Guide to General Electric Job Information
Box 2 Folder 26
You and General Electric: A handbook
Box 2 Folder 25
Supervisor's Handbook on Employee Relations
Box 2 Folder 24
GE - Employee Relations News Letter (1956-1958, 1960)
1956-1960
Box 2 Folder 23
GE - Employee Relations News Letter
1955
Box 2 Folder 22
GE - Employee Relations News Letter
1954
Box 2 Folder 32
Safety Pamphlets
Box 3 Folder 3
General Electric News - Evendale Plant
1960
Box 3 Folder 2
Schenectady News
1960
Box 3 Folder 1
General Electric News: 1957-1960 [no year/vol. is complete]
1957-1960