The Plomb Tool Co.

In the Matter of THE PLOMB TOOL COMPANY, J. P. DANIELSON DIVI- SION, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BLACK- SMITHS, DROP FORGERS AND HELPERS, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER Case No. 3-RC-238.-Decided November 18, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before David F. Doyle, 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 labor organizations involved claim,to represent certain em- ployees 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 determination of representatives: The Petitioner is seeking to represent the Employer's forge depart- ment employees, who are at present part of a larger unit represented by International Association of Machinists, Lodge #1791, the Inter- venor herein. The Employer, a manufacturer of hand tools, employs approximately 200 employees. Its manufacturing process involves a number of separate operations performed in the following order : forging, annealing, cold trimming, sand blasting, cold striking, ma- chining, heat treating, sandblasting, finishing, and assembling. The forge department is composed of 11 drop hammer operators 2 2 forge shop millwrights, and 1 steel handler. There is a fourth classi- 1 After receiving the Petitioner's request for recognition on March 8, 1949 , the Employer entered into a contract with International Association of Machinists , Lodge #1791, the Intervenor herein. An unfair labor practice charge was filed by the present Petitioner, but the matter was settled by agreement on the part of the Employer that it would not recog- nize the Intervenor as bargaining representative of the employees in the unit which the Petitioner seeks to represent. No question of contract bar is involved herein. These employees are also referred to in the industry as "hammermen" and as "drop forgers." 87 NLRB No. 28. 134 THE PLOMB TOOL COMPANY 135 fication, forge wheeler, in this department, but at present no one is employed in that capacity. The drop hammer operators install or help install the dies in their hammers, adjust the hammers as to force and frequency of the blow, heat the billets of steel to the required degree, and forge them to the desired shape. Tolerances of from 5/ oooths to 1/1000th of an inch are required. The tolerance is gov- erned not only by the die but also by its continued alignment and by the force and frequency of the blow. The hammer operator is respon- sible for these three elements. Testimony varied as to the length of time required to train a drop hammer operator to work at the Em- ployer's plant, but it appears to require an_ average of about 2 years 3 The forge shop millwrights are charged with the maintenance and repair of the hammers and forging machines with which the hammer operators work. According to the Employer's job summary, such em- ployees must have 1 year's experience in their trade plus 4 years' gen- eral experience in a forge shop. The steel handler and the forge wheeler transport raw material and equipment, respectively. Both work under close supervision and neither is required to possess any special skill. The forge department is separated from the rest of the plant on three sides by a brick wall and on the fourth side'by a partial wall. Working conditions vary from those in other departments in that constant high temperatures make it necessary for employees in this department to possess unusual physical stamina, and ability to with- stand heat.4 The forging department is separately supervised, and its employees have their own separate locker room. Transfers from this department to others are made only during slack periods to keep senior employees working. Occasionally one of the forge shop mill- wrights may be required to help one of two other millwrights in the plant who do general maintenance work. The bargaining history of the plant reveals that in about 1941, a group of employees consisting primarily of employees of the forge department, formed an independent labor organization, and con- tracts covering the forge department were negotiated. In 1944 this independent labor organization became affiliated with the Intervenor. After a year, the Intervenor extended its coverage to all the employees of the Employer except those in the metal polishing department, who 3 The time required for training hammermen was estimated at from 1 to 3 years by the former manager and vice president of the Employer , at from 2 to 4 years by two experienced hammer operators , and at about 18 months in the job summary prepared by the Employer. The abilities of the individuals being trained , the number of hammers mastered , and the number of operations mastered on each hammer, cause variations in the training period required. 4 Employees in the heat treating department are frequently, but not continuously, subject to high temperatures. 136 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD have been represented for many years by Metal Polishers, Platers, Buffers and Helpers International Union. Since this expansion by the Intervenor, the forge department has been represented as part of the larger unit. From the above facts, it appears that the drop hammer operators at the Employer's plant possess a high degree of skill, and that a substantial period of time is required for them to attain proficiency in their work. It is true that in General Motors Corporation, Chevro- let Forge, Spring and Buomper Division,-' we concluded that the ham- mer operators did not possess sufficient skill to warrant their severance from the established unit. In that case, however, the hammer opera- tors, who were employed in a mass production operation, were re- quired to master only one hammer or forging machine and a rela- tively small number of operations, and their speed of operation rather than their independent judgment was stressed. The difference be- tween the drop hammer operators herein and those in the General Motors case is the difference between a craftsman whose tasks require .versatility and independent judgment and a'skilled machine operator whose tasks, however complicated, are essentially routine. We have previously found appropriate departmental units con- taining a nucleus of skilled craftsmen together with less skilled but related employee classifications, even though there were other em- ployees in the plant possessing skills and performing work compar- able to the less skilled employees in the unit.° We find the employees of the forge department constitute such a group. The Intervenor's motion to dismiss on the ground that the unit sought is inappropriate is therefore denied. Nor does the fact that the forge shop employees previously designated an organization which was later also selected by the production and maintenance employees militate against grant- ing them an opportunity at this time to express their desire for or against separate representation.7 Accordingly, we shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed in the election hereinafter directed. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate bargaining unit. In accordance with the foregoing, we shall direct that an election be held among all the forge department employees at the Employer's Jamestown, New York, plant, excluding guards, professional em- ployees, supervisors, and all other employees. 80 NLRB 145. International Harvester Company, 79 NLRB 1452; International Harvester Company (Indianapolis Works), 82 NLRB 740. 7 Western Electric Company, Incorporated, 85 NLRB 563. THE PLOMB TOOL COMPANY 137 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, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were em- ployed 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 re- instated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, American Federation of Labor, or by International Asso- ciation of Machinists, Lodge #1791, or by neither. MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.