Century-American Corp.

V. I ' 'fli 1-- In the Matter of CENTURY-AMERICAN CORPORATION, WOODSTOCK TYPE- WRITER DIvISION, EMPLOYER and DISTRICT No. 101, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER Case No. 13-RC-133.-Decided- August 23, 1948 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.' Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a panel consisting of Board Members Houston, Reynolds, and Gray. Upon the entire record in this case the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question of representation exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks a unit restricted to production and mainte- nance employees at the Employer's Woodstock, Illinois, plant includ- ing set-up men and working foremen.2 The Employer urges that the proposed unit is inappropriate because it fails to include employees at the Employer's Brodhead, Wisconsin, plant. The parties are also in disagreement with respect to the toolroom employees whom the Peti- tioner would include in, and the Employer exclude from, any unit found appropriate. They agree, however, that office, clerical, and professional employees, guards, and supervisors should be excluded from the appropriate unit. 1 The petition and other formal papers were amended at the hearing to show the correct name of the Employer. 2 The working foremen are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act. 79 N. L. R. B., No. 6. 43 44 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Employer's Woodstock Division includes two plants, the Woodstock plant and the Brodhead plant.' The primary purpose of the Woodstock plant is to produce the finished' typewriter. The Brodhead plant does not produce any finished products. Its primary purpose is to produce parts which go into typewriters. The principal operation performed at the Brodhead plant is the assembling of the segment unit of a typewriter. Although both plants use some of the same type of machinery, the operations at the two plants are different. The evidence indicates that there is some integration of operations between the two plants. No maintenance or toolroom employees are employed at the Brodhead plant. There is a supervisor in charge of the Brodhead plant whose duties and responsibilities are comparable to those of the plant foreman at the Woodstock plant. Both are an- swerable to the Employer's vice president, who is the Woodstock Division plant supervisor. The same working hours, vacation plans, insurance benefits, and grievance, management, and production poli- cies prevail in both plants. Records for both plants are kept at Wood- stock, and the pay rolls for both plants are prepared at Woodstock. It would thus appear that an appropriate unit, in scope, may be one which includes employees of both plants of the Employer. There are factors, however, which would justify a unit confined to employees of the Woodstock plant. Although some of the operations at the two plants are functionally integrated, the record indicates the basic independence of each plant. The two plants are approximately 65 miles apart. There is no interchange of employees between the two plants, and the employees at the two plants have no direct contact with one another. The pay scale at the two plants is different, and there are separate supervisors responsible for adjusting grievances of the employees at each plant. In view of all the foregoing circum- stances, and the fact that there is no history of collective bargaining, we are persuaded that a unit confined to the employees of the Wood- stock, Illinois, plant of the Employer is appropriate.3 Toolroom,'employees: There are approximately 12 employees in the Employer's toolroom, which is located in the Woodstock plant. The tool makers maintain all tools used in the plant, and make new tools and dies to be used in the manufacture of parts. While these employees are a skilled craft group, they work under plant conditions of employ- ment similar to those of other production and maintenance employees. There is nothing in the record which indicates that the interests of the toolroom employees are so different from other production and 3 Matter of Belle Wool Combinq Co ., Dimsion of Joseph Talbot Textile Co., Inc., 78 , N. L. R. B . 1081 ; Matter of Semtinole Manufacturing Company, 74 N. L. R. B. 1090 ; Matter of Burgess Battery Company , 76 N. L. R. B. 820. CENTURY-AMERICAN CORPORATION 45 maintenance employees as to prevent their being -represented in the same unit.-, In view of these circumstances, and the fact that no other labor organization is seeking to represent these employees on a sepa- rate basis, we shall include them.' We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Em- ployer at its Woodstock, Illinois, plant, including toolroom employees and working foremen, but excluding office, clerical and professional employees; guards, and supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 0 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or have been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Dis- trict No. 101, International Association,of Machinists. MEMBER REYNOLDS took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. 4 Production employees are given an opportunity to be promoted into the toolroom. Three of the last five men taken into the toolroom were selected from factory employees. ° Cf. Matter of Western Foundry Company, 77 N. L. R B. 800 ; Matter of Geneva Forge, Inc., 76 N. L. R. B. 497; Matter of California Almond Growers Exchange, 73 N. L. R. B. 1367.