Goslin-Birmingham Manufacturing Co.

In the Matter of GOSLIN-BIRMINGHAM MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL MOLDERS AND FOUNDRY WORK- ERS UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 10-RC-565.-Decided June 30, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Morgan G. Stanford, 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 three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Murdock]. 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 and the United Steelworkers of America, CIO, herein called the Intervenor,l are labor organizations claiming to repre- sent employees of the Employer.2 3. The Intervenor contends that a contract entered into between it and the Employer on May 31, 1948, is a bar to the present petition. i The Intervenor, although not in compliance with Section 9 ( f), (g), and (h) of the amended Act, was permitted to intervene on the basis of its current contract with the Employer. 2 Subsequent to the hearing herein, Lodge No. 271 , International Association of Ma- chinists, herein referred to as the IAM, filed with the Board a "Motion to Intervene and Place on Ballot for Residual Unit." The IAM, having a contract covering employees in the machine shop and assembly floor, was not served with a Notice of Hearing and did not appear at the hearing . The employees sought by the JAM are separate from those involved in the present proceeding . Since the question of the appropriateness of the over-all unit was not raised by the Petitioner in the instant case and only collaterally by the Intervenor and there being no evidence of a request by the IAM for recognition for this unit , the motion is denied. Moreover, the IAM has failed to show that at the time of the hearing herein it had sufficient showing of interest among the employees in the unit it seeks to warrant inter- vention. Cf. Matter of Lufkin Foundry & Machine Company, 83 N. L. R. B. 768. 84 N. L. R. B., No. 106. 957 853396-50-vol 84--64 958 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD By its terms the 1948 contract was to continue in effect until May 31, 1949, subject to automatic renewal from year to year thereafter, unless notice to modify or terminate was given by either party 60 days before its anniversary date. No such notice has been given by either party. Petitioner requested recognition of the Employer by telephone on March 30, 1949. Petitioner filed the original petition on March 31, 1949. By letter, dated April 1, 1949, the Petitioner again requested recognition of the Employer. Employer received this letter on April 4, 1949, and by return mail dated that same day, refused such recogni- tion. The amended petition was filed April 15,1949. Inasmuch as the Petitioner notified the Employer of its claim and also filed its petition with the Board before the operative date of the automatic renewal clause in the contract, we find that the 1948 contract is not a bar to these -proceedings a We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The appropriate unit : The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all employees in the foundry department of the Employer's Birmingham , Alabama, plant, exclud- ing all clerical and/or office employees , technical or professional em- ployees, inspectors , timekeepers , watchmen, guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer and Intervenor contend that the proposed unit is inappropriate , inasmuch as the employees sought are not skilled journeymen , and that their work is not of a true craft character and forms an integral part of the production process. Pursuant to the results of a Board-ordered election,' the Intervenor was certified on April 14 , 1944, as the collective bargaining representa- tive of all production and maintenance employees of the Employer, in- cluding employees in the foundry department and plate shop, but ex- cluding all employees in the pattern shop and in the machine shop and assembly floor.5 Contractual relations were entered into in 1945 and ,have continued since that time; both parties contend that the presently existing unit is the only one appropriate. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of equipment for the chemical, sugar, paper, and allied industries . This equipment is ' Matter of Maine Central Transportation Co., 80 N. L R B. 281; Matter of Philadelphia ,Suburban Transportation Company (Red Arrow Lines ), 79 1Q L. R. B. 448. 4 Matter of Coslin-Birmingham Manufacturing Company, Inc., 55 N. L R. B. 304. 5 At the same time the International Association of Machinists was certified as the collective bargaining representative of the employees of the machine shop and assembly floor and has represented them since that time The Pattein Makers League of North America was also at that time certified as the collective bargaining representative of the employees in the pattern shop, but no contract was ever entered into and no present bargaining . relationship exists. GOSLIN-BIRMINGHAM MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC. 959 largely specialty machinery. The Employer employs about 500 em- ployees, of whom. approximately 145 are in the proposed unit. The Employer's operations are under centralized management but con- sist of 2 branches, the Birmingham and the Goslin branches. The Bir- mingham branch consists of the machine shop and assembly floor. The Goslin branch is located about 200 yards from the Birmingham branch and consists of the foundry shop, pattern shop, plate shop, building and grounds department, and sales department. Each shop or department is located in a separate building, the buildings being located 50 to 75 feet apart. The foundry manufactures grey iron castings. The plate shop fabricates steel and does steel welding. The pattern shop produces the patterns that are used in the foundry shop. The castings from the foundry are sent to the machine shop and assembly floor for finishing and assembling. There is no connection between the operations of the foundry and the operations of the plate shop. Each department or shop has its own superintendent and subordinate supervisors. There are separate time clocks, separate bathhouses, and separate pay rolls maintained for the foundry, plate shop, and machine shop. There is practically no interchange of employees from the foundry to the other departments. However, welders from the plate shop are sent to the foundry for temporary assignment to weld castings. Buildings and grounds department employees circulate through the plant doing work in all departments. The Employer's president, J. T. Hartson, testified that during April or May 1948, cement molding was introduced at the plant and at the present time 95 percent of all molding done is cement molding. Both the Employer and Intervenor contend that this new process requires only limited training and, as a.result, obliterates any craft lines which might have previously existed in the plant. Hartson further testified that there is no apprenticeship program in effect in any of the depart- ments and that a person could learn to be a cement molder in a few days. However, Intervenor's contract with the Employer, introduced in evidence, shows, and Hartson also testified, that molders and core- makers are classified into three classes according to skill, "A, B, and C." 'There is also a classification of "molder helper." Molders' helpers are presently paid per hour $1.045, molders-class "C" are paid $1.145, molders-class "B" are paid $1.285, and molders-class "A" are paid $1.56. Hartson was unable to state the average amount of ex- perience necessary in order to qualify as a molder in any of the desig- nated classes; he acknowledged that recently journeymen molders 960 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD with 4 years' experience had been hired at $1.56 per hour. Further, a 'number of young men have been hired to learn to become molders. They are paid $0.925 per hour and after a 90-day probationary period are raised to $0.975 per hour. Hartson testified that none of them have yet been raised to a molders' pay rate. An employee witness testified that he started working for the Em- ployer 8 years ago as an apprentice molder and had advanced to the job of class "A" molder. This witness testified that the skill require- ments for a molder working with cement are the same as for a molder working with sand. By reason of the foregoing facts and for the complete record it is clear that the nature of the work performed and skills required in the foundry are essentially different from the duties and skills required in other departments of the plant. Inasmuch as the foundry workers are a homogeneous group of work- ers functionally distinct from the other employees of the Employer and constitute a historically recognized occupational group, we find that they may be represented in a separate unit if they so desire,6 notwithstanding a history of collective bargaining on a more inclusive basis. However, we shall make no final unit determination pending the outcome of the election hereinafter directed. If a majority of the foundry employees vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit. Accordingly, we shall direct that a separate election be held among the employees in the following voting group : All employees in the foundry department of the Employer's Bir- mingham, Alabama, plant, excluding all clerical and/or office em- ployees, technical or professional employees, inspectors, timekeepers, watchmen, guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act? We shall not place the Intervenor's name on the ballot because it is not in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act" DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by a Matter of W. A. Jones Foundry & Machine Co ., 83 N. L. R. B. 211; Matter of The Fayscott Corporation, 78 N. L. R. B. 1256; Matter of Hart-Carter Company, 74 N. L. R. B. 115. ' There is a carpenter and two helpers, and millwright and one helper permanently assigned to the foundry. These employees make plates and core boxes for foundry operations and report directly to the foundry superintendent . Because their working conditions and interests are closely allied on a permanent basis with the other foundry employees we shall include them in the proposed unit. Matter of W. A. Jones Foundry & Machine Co., supra. s Matter of The Kinsman Transit Company, 75 N. L. R B. 150 ; Matter of General Electric Company (Lynn River Works ), 81 N. L. R. B. 1010. GOBLIN-BIRMINGHAM MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC. 961 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 voting group described 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 ill 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 ex- cluding 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 International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America, AFL.