Signode Steel Strapping Co.

In the Matter Of SIGNODE .STEEL STRAPPING COMPANY ," EMPLOYER and DIE AND TOOL MA]ERs LODGE No. 113, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER Case No. 13-RC-504.-Decided April 26,1949. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before John P. von Rohr, 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.2 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 three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members 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 Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The appropriate unit : The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all employees in the tool- room, and in Department 51 and in Department 52, including tool " The name appears as amended at the hearing. 2 It its brief the Employer asserts that the petition should be dismissed on the grounds that ( 1) the hearing officer called the Employer's personnel officer as a witness without first serving him with a subpoena , (2) the Petitioner has not made the substantial showing of interest required by the Board, and ( 3) the unit position of the Petitioner is not sup- ported by the weight of evidence . We find no merit in these contentions. The Board has frequently held that the hearing officer may-call witnesses and elicit testimony in repre- sentation cases in discharging his duty of compiling a complete record (Matter of Ohio Power Company, 71 N. L. R. B. 384 ). The service of a subpoena need not precede the calling of a witness . It has also held that the showing of interest is an administrative matter which is not subject to collateral attack by any of the parties (Matter of 0. D. Jennings Company, 68 N. L. R. B. 516 ). We find, in relation to the third contention of the Employer, that the record is sufficient to support the findings hereinafter made. 83 N. L. R. B., No. 22. 184 SIGNODE STEEL STRAPPING COMPANY 185 makers, jig borers, lathe operators, machinists, apprentices, grinders, tool keeper, tool crib attendant, model makers, boring mill operators, millwrights, and mechanics, excluding maintenance department em- ployees and supervisors. In its brief, however, it indicated a willing- ness also to include maintenance department machinists, millwrights, and grinders in the unit if the Board considers such inclusion desir- able. The Employer denies the appropriateness of either unit pro- posed by the Petitioner. The Employer manufactures machinery and steel strappings used to bind packing boxes. Its Chicago operations, which are involved in this proceeding, are carried on in four interconnected buildings. The employees in the alternative unit proposed by the Petitioner work in four separate departments located in different sections of these four buildings. They include the following : Toolroom employees: The workers in this department include tool makers, jig borers, machinists, lathe operators, grinders, an apprentice, a tool crib attendant, and a tool keeper. These employees make and repair tools, dies, and production machinery. In order to qualify for their jobs all employees in the department, except the tool keeper and the tool crib attendant, must have served a 4-year apprenticeship and must have had 5 to 10 years' experience in toolroom work. They are required to work to close tolerances, and must be able to work from sketches, blueprints, and oral instruction. The tool keeper and the tool crib attendant issue supplies to the toolroom employees. Departments 51 and 52: These departments are subdivisions of the Engineering Department, although they are separately supervised and are located in different buildings. Department 51 constructs ex- perimental machinery and builds improved parts for existing ma- chinery. Employees doing this work have the classifications of ma- chinists, lathe hands, mechanic erectors, and millwrights. Their skill and training are comparable to that of the toolroom employees. De- partment 52 constructs small parts for experimental machinery and also builds special strapping machines. The employees of this de- partment comprise machinists, boring mill operators, mechanics, and model makers. All of them have skill and training similar to that of employees in the toolroom and in Department 51. Maintenance department: Several classifications in the toolroom and in Departments 51 and 52 are also found in the maintenance de- partment. These employees, machinists, millwrights, and grinders, erect, move, and repair machinery' located in the production depart- ments and in the toolroom. The rate of pay is identical with that of employees in similar classifications in the toolroom and in Depart- ments 51 and 52. 186 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The employees described, with the exception of the tool crib -attend- ant and the tool keeper in the toolroom, all have similar interests aris- ing from a common background of skill, training, work, and working conditions: We find that they comprise a homogeneous group who may constitute a separate appropriate unit .3 We shall include the tool crib attendant and the tool keeper in the unit because, although without the craft skill of the other employees, they work in close association with, and under the same supervision as, the skilled em- ployees in the toolroom.4 We find that all tool makers, jig borers, machinists, grinders, lathe operators, apprentices, the tool keeper, the tool crib attendant, model makers, boring mill operators, millwrights, and mechanics in the tool- room, the maintenance department, and Departments 516 and 52 of the Employer's Chicago, Illinois, plant, excluding supervisors as de- fined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col- lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (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 super-, vision 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, as amended, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 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 in or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who 'have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired .or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding em- ,ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Die and Tool Makers Lodge No. 113, International Association of Machinists. ' a Matter of Line Material Company, 80 N. L. R. B. 1599; Matter of J. 1. Case Company, ,79 N. L. R. B. 1070. 4 Matter of Line Material Company, supra. This includes the leadman in Department 51 who, although he helps direct the work of other employees in the department, has no authority to affect the status of such employees. We find that he is not a supervisor within the Act's definition . Matter of General Steel Tank Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 1345.