United Steel and Wire Co.

In the Matter Of UNITED STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY and FOREMAN'S ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, CHAPTER ITS Case No. 7-R-,0053.-Decided April 10, 1946 Beaumont, Smith and Harris , by Mr. Percy J. Donovan, of Detroit, Mich., for the Company. *Mr. Carl Brown, of Detroit, Mich., for the Union. Mrs. Margaret H. Patterson, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by Foreman's Association of America, Chapter 178, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affect- ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of United Steel and Wire Company, Battle Creek, Michigan, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert J. Wiener, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Battle Creek, Michigan, on January 30, 1946. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. At the hearing the Company moved to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction. The Trial Examiner referred this motion to the Board. For reasons stated hereinafter, the motion is hereby denied. The Company's request for oral argument is hereby denied. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY United Steel and Wire Company, a Michigan corporation, owns and operates two plants in the city of Battle Creek, Michigan, where it is engaged in the manufacture principally of refrigerator shelving and 67 N. L. R. B., No. 34. 240 UNITED STEEL AND WIRE COMPANY 241 wire baskets. The principal raw materials are steel and steel wire. Purchases for the year 1944 exceeded in value one million dollars. Approximately 95 percent of such purchases originated at points out- side the State of Michigan. During the same year, the value of the Company's finished products exceeded in value four million dollars, approximately 95 percent of which was shipped to points in States other than Michigan. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Foreman's Association of America, Chapter 178, unaffiliated, is a labor organization, admitting to membership supervisory employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the exclusive bargaining representative of supervisory employees on the ground that supervisors are a part of management. In its motion to dismiss the petition, the Company argues that the supervisors in question are not employees within the meaning of the Act. The Company's arguments in support of this contention were fully considered by us in several recent decisions wherein we held that foremen are employees.' We find, in accordance with our deter- mination in those cases, that the Company's foremen and assistant foremen are "employees" within the meaning of Section 2 (3) of the Act. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear- ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em- ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2 We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union seeks a unit of all the foremen and assistant foremen in the Company's two plants. The Company apparently does not object ' Matter of So88 Manufacturing Company, et al, 56 N L R B . 348; Matter of Packard Motor Car Company, 61 N. L R. B 4, and 64 N L. R. B 1212, Matter of L. A. Young Sprting & Wire Corporation, 65 N L R B 298 Matter of The B F. Goodrich Company, 65 N L R. B. 294 ; Matter of The Midland Steel Products Company, 65 N L R B 997, Matter of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation , 66 N. L R . B. 386; Matter of Simmons Company, 65 N. L. R B 984 2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 52 authorization cards bearing names of employees, all of which were listed on the Company's pay roll of June 13, 1945 There are approximately 95 employees in the unit alleged to be appropriate 692148-46-vol 67--17 242 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD to the composition of the proposed unit, but asserts that' the foremen and assistant foremen are part of management and that therefore no unit of such employees would be appropriate. There is an attempt to distinguish the duties and responsibilities of the foremen and as- sistant foremen from those of the foremen in the Packard case. The contention is made that the Union is not independent and that the Board's entertainment of the petition would be against public policy and public interest, All the Company's contentions were considered and disposed of in the Young case,' wherein we held, as we do here, that foremen are employees within the meaning of Section 2 (3) of the Act, and as such are entitled to be placed in some appropriate unit under Section 9 (b) ; that the nature of the duties and responsibilities of the foremen is relevant only insofar as it bears on the question of proper grouping of foremen for collective bargaining purposes; that the difficulties which the Company anticipates will result from its recognition of the supervisory unit, are matters to be settled by the Company and the Union through collective bargaining. The Company's argument with respect to the Union's possible lack of independence is no longer ma- terial since our decision in the Jones t Laughlin case,4 wherein we held that this Board has no power to limit the choice of a collective bar- gaining representative for a unit of foremen to an independent un- affiliated foremen's union. As noted above, the Company does not object to the composition of the proposed unit. We therefore find that all foremen and assistant foremen in the Company's Battle Creek, Michigan, plants constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby 3 Matter of L A, Young Spring & Wire Corporation, supra. 4 Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation , supra. UNITED STEEL AND WIRE COMP.NY 243 DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with United Steel and Wire Company, Battle Creek, Michigan, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preced- ing the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, 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, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Foreman's Association of America, Chapter 178, unaffiliated, for the purposes of collective bargaining. MR. GERARD D. REILLY, dissenting : For the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in Matter of Pack- ard Motor Car Company,5 I am constrained to disagree with the ma- jority opinion. 5 61 N. L. R. B 4.