Servel, Inc.

In the Matter of SERVEL, IN c. and UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO &. MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O. Case Nos. R-4853 and R-4854.-Decided March 09, 1943 Jurisdiction : ordnance manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: dis- pute as to the appropriate unit; election necessary Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : unit confined to foundry depart- ment found appropriate notwithstanding prior determination that a plant- wide unit was appropriate, when among other considerations, previous de- cision did not result in the certification of a bargaining representative and in that proceeding the question of establishing the foundry as a separate unit was not in issue ; unit restricted to the breech casing department, held not to constitute a sufficiently definable and. identifiable group,to warrant its. establishment as a separate appropriate unit. Mr. John J. Manning, of Indianapolis, Ind., for the Board. Messrs. Chadbourne, Hunt, Jaeckel d Brown, of New York City, by Mr. Newton D. Crane, of New York City, and Mr. Isidor Kahn, of Evansville, Ind., for the Company. Mr..William Sentner, of St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. James Payne, of Evansville, Ind., for the Union. Mr. Glenn L. Moller, of counsel to the Board. DECISION ORDER AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petitions duly filed by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Or- ganizations, herein called the Union, alleging that questions affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Servel, Inc., Evansville, Indiana, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board thereafter consolidated the cases and provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Charles E. Persons, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at In- dianapolis, Indiana, on February 4, 1943. The Company and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full, opportunity to-be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to intro- 48 N. L R. B., No. 90. 712 SERVEL, INC. 713 duce evidence bearing on the issues . At the' beginning of the hear- ing, at the close of the petitioner's evidence , and at the conclusion of all the evidence , the Company moved to dismiss the petitions. The Trial , Examiner • denied this motion on the first two occasions and on the third referred it to the Board for final disposition . For the reasons appearing hereafter, the motion is sustained •withirespect to Case No. R-4853 and denied with respect to Case No. R-4854. Toward the end of the hearing the petitioner moved to amend its petition to exclude from the unit claimed by it to be appropriate in Case No., R-4854, Department 11, composed of the pattern makers, and "tempo- rary employees." This motion was also referred to the Board. The motion to amend is granted. The Trial Examiner made other rulings at the hearing, all of which we have reviewed and found to be free from prejudicial error. They ' are hereby affirmed. Both parties filed briefs which we have duly considered. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Servel, Inc., is a Delaware corporation normally- engaged in the manufacture and sale of refrigerators, electric commercial refrigera- tion machines, and allied products. Its plant is located in Evansville, Ifftliana, covers 60 acres of ground, and is housed in a large number of buildings. The Company is now engaged in the manufacture of war materials, including airplane wings; airplane engine cylinder heads, cartridge cases, bomber turrets, army field ranges, and breech casings. During the past several years, the Company has purchased annually raw-materials valued at more than $1,000,000, approximately 75 percent of which was shipped to the Evansville plant from points outside the State of Indiana. During the same period the Company's annual sales have also been in excess of $1,000,000, approximately 75 percent of which was shipped from the aforesaid plant to points outside the State of Indiana.' H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Electrical, Radio & Machine `Yorkers of America, is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION A. The Foundry Division -On or about November 5, 1942, the Union requested recognition from the Company-as the exclusive bargaining agent for the employees of 714 DECPSIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the Foundry Division. The Company refused to extend such recogni- tion upon the ground that it doubted the Union's claim that it repre- sented a majority of the employees in the foundry and upon the further ground that the unit claimed was inappropriate for the reason that a plant-wide unit was the appropriate unit, which fact had already been established by the Board.' A statement of the Regional Director for the Board, introduced in evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub- stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appro- priate? B. The Breech Casing Department On or about October 5, 1942, the Union requested recognition from the Company as the exclusive bargaining agent for all the machine operators employed in the Breech Casing section of the Company's operations, excluding clerical workers, supervisors, foremen, assistant foremen, group leaders, and inspectors. The Company refused to extend such recognition on the ground that the Union did not represent a majority 'of the employees in the proposed unit and on the further ground that the proposed unit was inappropriate. 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 A. The Foitndnj The Union contends that a unit of all employees of the Foundry Division , excluding- inspectors , foremen, assistant foremen, Division-, superintendent, assistant superintendent, supervisory employees, tern- porary employees, and pattern makers, is appropriate. The Company takes the position that the Board's finding of a plant- wide unit in the prior case is determinative of the unit issue in this proceeding. Alternatively, it asserts that if the question is subject to reexamination, the record in the present case shows that a unit smaller than a plant-wide unit is inappropriate. There are five-departments in the Foundry Division , consisting of the gray iron molding department, core room, cast iron' cleaning 1 Matter of Servel, Inc. and Local 1002, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, C 1 0 , 35 N L R . B 733, decided September 24, 1941. In that proceeding a former local of the same union here involved filed a petition for an election and certification among all production and maintenance employees The Board ordered an election, but before the election was held , the Union requested leave to withdraw its petition. The Board granted this request on October 9, 1941, "without prejudice ." 35 N L R. B. 738. 2 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 100 membership cards of which 86 bore the apparently genuine signatures of employees whose names appear on the Company's pay roll of November 6, 1942. The pay roll contained the names of 212 em- ployees in the Company's Foundry Department. SERVEL, INC. ' -715 department, aluminum assembly and cleaning department, and the pattern shop. The pattern shop is located in a different building, completely separate from the other departments of the Foundry. The Union has made no effort to organize its employees. The other four departments are located in a single room. The Foundry, in addition to producing various items used by the Company in manu- facturing its own products, produces items which are sold to other firms. Aluminum cylinder heads for airplane engines produced for another company, constitute most of the Foundry's production. Other products of the Foundry include parts for cast iron field ranges ,for the Army, various parts for refrigerators and heaters, dies used .elsewhere in the plant and zinc nodes which are used in the plating -department. . ' The Foundry normally employed about 170 men, and at the present time has about 250 persons on its pay roll, an increase of about 70. Of this complement of employees about 170 are employed in work classifications not found in any other department. There are other departments of the Company in the same building as the Foundry, but they are separated from the Foundry by walls or wooden parti- tions. The one exception to this, the machine service department, is partially partitioned. The previous decision referred to by the Company did not result in the certification of a bargaining representative and the parties did not engage in collective bargaining on the basis of the unit established therein nor on any other basis. Furthermore, in the prior proceeding the question of establishing the foundry as a separate unit was not an issue. Here the record shows that the foundry is a well-defined department or division, that the employees therein are engaged in operations not performed in other departments, and that the skills required in the foundry differ materially from those required else- where in the Company's operations. There has been no bargaining on a plant-wide or other basis. We have frequently found that a foundry department constitutes an appropriate unit.3 -Moreover, the employees in the Foundry have shown a greater interest in collective bargaining, and the fact that the rest of the plant is not yet organized is no reason for depriving them of the present opportunity to bargain collectively. We find, therefore, that the foundry employees comprise an appropriate unit, but our determination in this respect does not preclude a finding at another time that a plant-wide unit is appropriate. 3 Matter of E T. Fraam Look Co et al and International Molders £ Foundry Workers' Union of North America (A. F. of L.), 39 N. L. R B. 202; Matter of Rosendale Foundry CC Machine Company and International Molders and Foundry Workers, Local Union 46, affiliated with the A F of L, 35 N. L. R. B. 1; Matter of American Scale Company and Frank Daven- port and Local #149, International Molders Union of North America, affiliated with Ameri- can Federation of Labor, 19 N. L. R. B. 124. 716 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The.group of so-called temporary employees whom the Union seeks ,to exclude was defined by the Union to mean any employee who has not ,.been employed in the Foundry for at, least 6 months. Exclusion of 'employees of less than 6months' service in the Foundry would elim- ,inate at least 30 employees in the Foundry 'from' the unit. There is no showing that any significant proportion of these newer employees - are unlikely to remain as permanent employees. We shall include them in the unit. - We find that the employees in the Company's Foundry Division, ex- cluding inspectors, foremen, assistant foremen, the divisional super- intendent, assistant superintendent, all other supervisory employees, and all employees in Department 11, consisting of the Pattern Shop, constitute a unit appropriate fbr purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. B. The Breech Casing Department The Union contends that a unit of all machine operators in the Breech Casing Department, excluding clerical workers, supervisors, -foremen, assistant foremen, group leaders, and inspectors, is appro- priate. The Breech Casing Department is a new section of the Com- pany's operations, having been set up to produce-breech casings, which constitute a part of a certain type of mihtary,gun. It was organized and created during the retooling period and includes such machinery and tools as could be converted from former uses to this work, together with such additional new machinery as was necessary. The depart- Inent occupies a little less than 25 percent of the floor space of one of the buildings. ,It is separated from adjoining departments only by -lines marked on the floor and by aisles. The department employs about 200 employees, 89 of whom have been transferred from other departments. When the Company's normal operations are resumed the department will be dismantled and its convertible machinery and 'employees distributed among other departments. Almost all of the 'work in the Breech Casing Department is machine work, comparable to that performed in other departments, and, 185 of the 200 employees are in job classifications which are also found in numerous other departments of the plant. From all the facts, it does not appear that the Breech Casing Depart- ment constitutes a sufficiently definable and identifiable group to war- rant its establishment as a separate appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find that the machine operators employed in the Breech Casing 'Department of Servel, Inc., do not constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. -Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition for investigation and` certification of employees in the Breech Casing Department. SERVEL, INC. 1'. TIIE 1)ETFRDMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES 717 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 Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. ORDER Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of the ,employees of the Breech Casing Department of Servel, Inc., filed by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, C. I. 0., in ,case No. R-4853 be, and it hereby is, dismissed. DIRECTION OF ELECTION S By virtue of slid 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 Servel, Inc., Evaiisville, Indiana, 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 Fourteenth 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 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 any such 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 or transferred to another de- partment to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining. MR. JOAN M. HOUSTON took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.