American Steel Foundries

In the Matter of AMERICAN STEEL FOUNDRIES, EMPLOYER and PAT- TERN MAKERS' LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 14-RC-659.-Decided July 6,1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in this case was held in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 19, 1949, before Glenn L. Moller, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 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 Intervenor, United Steelworkers of Am- erica, CIO, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. The question concerning representation : The Employer and the Intervenor contend that an existing con- tract between them constitutes a bar to this proceeding. The Em- ployer has recognized the Intervenor, or its predecessor, as the col- lective bargaining representative of its production and maintenance employees since 1937, and for the past 7 years the parties have entered into a series of multiple-plant 1 contracts for such employees. The current contract, as did previous ones, excludes among various craft groups, the wood pattern makers at six plants 2 and the metal pattern makers at one plant.3 This contract was executed on May 9, 1947, and had a June 1, 1949, termination date. Pursuant to a wage reopening I These plants are located at Granite City (the only plant involved in this case ), East St. Louis, and Galesburg, Illinois ; Hammond and East Chicago, Indiana ; Alliance, Ohio ; Verona, Pennsylvania , and Newark, New Jersey. Although it appears that the Employer operates a ninth plant , the record does not disclose its location . We assume, for the pur- poses of this decision, that the Intervenor's contract is company-wide, and subject to the usual rules applicable in multiple-plant situations. 2 Granite City, East St. Louis, Hammond , East Chicago, Alliance, and Verona. Alliance. 85 N. L. R. B., No. 7. 19 857829-50 ----vol. 85-3 20 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD provision, the Employer and the Intervenor executed a supplemental agreement on August 11, 1948. This agreement, however, not only adjusted wage rates but also extended the termination date to June 1, 1950. The petition in this case, requesting a unit of all employees in the metal pattern department of the Granite City plant, was filed on March 17, 1949. The Employer and the Intervenor argue that the supplemental agreement of August 11, 1948, was entered into in good faith for the purpose of stabilizing wages at a time when no adverse representation claim was pending, and that the petition in this case should be dis- missed because it was not filed within a reasonable time after August 11, 1948. They do not deny that there was a premature extension of the original contract, but urge that the familiar Board practice of refusing to treat a prematurely extended contract as a bar to a repre- sentation proceeding should not be applied in this case. We do not agree. The premature extension doctrine is necessary to preserve to employees the right to challenge the representative status of an in- cumbent union at predictable and reasonable intervals, and we see no reason to amend this principle as suggested here.4 As the petition was filed before the contract's original expiration date, which has now passed, the contract cannot operate as a bar in this cases We find that a question affecting commerce 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 appropriate unit : In its petition, the Petitioner requested a unit of all employees in the metal pattern department of the Granite City plants The Employer and the Intervenor contend that these employees are not true craftsmen, and therefore ought not to be severed from the pro- duction and maintenance unit now represented by the Intervenor. The work done in the metal pattern department of the Granite City plant consists, essentially, of the preparation of metal. patterns, neces- 4 See Matter of Celanese Corporation of America, 83 N. L. R. B. 103; Matter of United States Finishing Company, 79 N. L. R. B. .699; and Matter of Blair..Limestone Company, 70 N. L. R. B. 689. 5 Matter of Republic Steel Corporation, 84 N. L. R. B. 483 , issued June 23, 1949. 6 At the hearing, without objection, the Petitioner orally amended the petition to include employees in the wood pattern department. For some years the Petitioner has been the contract representative, on a noncertified basis, of a six-plant unit of patternmakers, including the wood patternmakers at Granite City. The Petitioner stated that it amended the petition in.order to obtain the benefit of a Board certification for the wood pattern- makers. However, as the amendment covers a group of employees who are but a part of the multiple-plant unit , we hereby dismiss the petition as to them. See Matter of Poultry Producers of Central California, 78 N. L. R. B. 1067; Matter of Standard Brands, Inc., 75 N. L. R. B. 394. AMERICAN STEEL FOUNDRIES 21 sary for repetitive production, from the wood patterns created by the wood patternmakers. The work is done with machine and hand tools, but the department does not contain all the machine tools needed in a completely equipped metal pattern department. Some of the machine work, therefore, is done in the machine shop, which adjoins the metal pattern department. The employees in the metal pattern department vary in skill from top pattern craftsmen to apprentices. Their rates of pay are among the highest in the plant, and are almost identical with those received by the machinists.7 Although there is no fixed apprenticeship requirement in the metal pattern department, there are presently 2 employees in the department serving a 4-year apprentice- ship. There are approximately 40 employees in the metal pattern department; of these, 5 have served pattern making apprenticeships, and at least 5 others have served other craft apprenticeships. The 2 pattern making departments are 300 yards apart, in separate build- ings, but both are supervised by the general pattern foreman. Serv- ing under the latter are foremen for each of the departments. The Board has uniformly considered patternmakers among the very highest skilled of all craftsmen, and has consistently found such employees to constitute a craft group entitled to separate representation despite a history of collective bargaining on a more comprehensive basis.8 While it is true that the record in this case reveals that the employees in the metal pattern department do not exercise the whole gamut of skills within the patternmakers' craft, they nevertheless perform the usual functions of patternmakers engaged in the making and finishing of metal patterns. We find that the employees in the metal pattern department constitute a craft group, and that they may, if they so desire, constitute a separate unit not withstanding their pre- vious inclusion in a broader unit.° Under established Board principles, craft severance should be co- extensive with an established multiple-plant unit.10 The Petitioner has, for many years, represented many, but not all, of the Employer's patternmakers, and for 6 years it has negotiated multiple-plant con- tracts covering wood patternmakers at six of the Employer's plants, including Granite City.11 The metal patternmakers of the Alliance plant are also included in the current contract,12 but the metal pattern- 4 The machinists constitute a separate unit , excluded from the Intervenor 's production and maintenance unit, and are represented by another labor organization. 8 Matter of Standard Stoker Company, Inc., 77 N . L. R. B. 1369 ; Matter of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 75 N. L. R. B.. 638; and Matter of General Electric Company, 58 N. L. R. B. 57. 9 See Matter of American Chain and Cable Company, Inc., 77 N. L. R. B. 850. 10 Matter of American Viscose Corporation, 79 N. L. R. B. 958; Matter of T. C. King Pipe Company, et al., 74 N . L. R. B. 468. 11 The other five plants are : East St . Louis, Hammond , East Chicago , Alliance , and Verona. 1R Effective for 2 years from June 1, 1948. 22 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD makers at East St. Louis and Granite City are presently a part of the production and maintenance units at those plants. There are no metal patternmakers at the other three plants covered by the Petitioner's contract. Although the record does not disclose whether there are any metal patternmakers at the Newark plant, it is clear that all patternmakers at that plant are included in the production and maintenance unit of the Intervenor's contract. As some metal pat- ternmakers are already in the Petitioner's contract unit, we see no objection to the separate severance of the metal patternmakers at Granite City from the production and maintenance unit. Accordingly, we shall direct that an election be held among all ,employees 18 in the metal pattern department of the Employer's Gran- ite City, Illinois, plant, excluding all other employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. If a majority of these employees select the Petitioner as their bargaining representative, they may be repre- sented by the Petitioner for the purposes of collective bargaining as a part of the unit of patternmakers it currently represents. If a ma- jority of the employees vote against the Petitioner, we shall dismiss the petition. DIRECTION OF ELECTION 14 As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes 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 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 exclud- ing employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to deter- mine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Pattern Makers League of North America, AFL. 13 The laborer , who is an unskilled maintenance employee, is excluded from the unit in accordance with the agreement of the parties. 14 As the Intervenor has not effected compliance with the filing requirements of the Act, it will not be accorded a place on the ballot.