Ludlow Manufacturing and Sales Co.

In the Matter of LUDLOW MANUFACTURING AND SALES COMPANY and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, C. I. O. Case No. 4-R-1995.-Decided April 29,1946 Mr. Lewis H. Van Dusen, Jr., of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Com- pany. Mr. George Nejmeh, of Allentown, Pa., for the Union. Mr. Lewis H. Ulman, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by Textile Workers Union of America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Ludlow Manufacturing and Sales Company, Allentown, Pennsyl- vania, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Helen F. Humphrey, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Allentown, Pennsylvania, on March 29, 1946. The Company and the Union ap- peared and participated.' All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to intro- duce 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. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Ludlow Manufacturing and Sales Company 2 is a Massachusetts corporation, having plants in various parts of the United States, en- 2 The United Textile Workers of America , A. F. of L., herein called the United, was also served with notice but did not appear or participate 2 At the hearing the parties amended the Company's name to read as herein set forth. 67 N. L. R. B, No. 117. 954 LUDLOW MANUFACTURING AND SALES COMPANY 955 gaged in the manufacture of jute products. We are here concerned solely with its plant in Allentown, Pennsylvania. During the year 1945 all of the raw materials used by the Company at its Allentown plant were shipped from points outside the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania. During the same period the Company manu- factured finished products at its Allentown plant amounting in value to more than $1,000,000, approximately 50 percent of which was shipped to points outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Textile Workers Union of America is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member- ship 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 its employees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear- ing. indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.3 We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen coinerning the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. Ii'. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union urges that all production and maintenance employees at the Company's Allentown, Pennsylvania, plant, excluding clerical employees, foremen, section hands, and all other supervisory em- ployees, constitute an appropriate unit. The Company contends that maintenance employees, gate watchmen, and watchmen-firemen should also be excluded from the bargaining unit. From October 8, 1941, until December 31, 1942, the United and the Company operated under a contract which included maintenance em- ployee-, in a single unit with production employees of the Company's Allentown plant. It further included watchmen-firemen, but it ex- cluded gate watchmen. With this bargaining history in mind, we turn to a more detailed discussion of the disputed categories. 3 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 96 authorization cards, bearing the names of 90 employees listed on the Company's pay roll of February 23, 1946, and that the cards are dated 61 in January , 1946, and 29 in February, 1946 There are approxi- mately 286 employees in the appropriate unit. 956 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Maintenance employees : The work of the maintenance employees at the Allentown plant varies from simple maintenance jobs to the construction and repair of machinery and is performed under the ulti- mate supervision of the master mechanic. Iii view of the close rela- tionship and necessary integration between the work of the main- tenance employees and that of the production employees, and in view of the history of collective bargaining at the Allentown plant, we shall include the maintenance employees together with the production employees in the same bargaining unit.4 Gate watchmen: The Company employs three gate watchmen who are uniformed but not armed nor deputized. Among other things, the Company points to the fact that they were not embraced by the United's contract. As a controversy exists concerning the identity of their interests with those of the production and maintenance work- ers, and as they were excluded from the contract with the United, we shall exclude gate watchmen from the bargaining unit.' Watchmen-firemen: The Company has four employees classified as watchmen-firemen. They maintain the fires in the boilers, patrol the premises, check on the plant sprinkler system, report violations of smoking rules, and do lumber salvage and add jobs under the direc- tion of the General Foreman of the maintenance department. They are not uniformed, armed, nor deputized. It is apparent that these workers are not monitorial plant protection employees in the strict sense of the term. Since they were encompassed within the terms of the contract with the United, we shall include them in the bargaining unit." We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Com- pany's Allentown, Pennsylvania, plant, including watchmen- firemen, but excluding gate watchmen, clerical employees, foremen, section hands, and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean- ing 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 4 See Matter of The Connecttcut Malleable Casting Company, 66 N L. R. B. 506 ; Matter of Scrtpto Manufacturing Company, 65 N L. R. B. 45; Matter of Fogel Refrigerator Com- pany, 61 N. L. R. B 695, and cases cited therein. 5 See Matter of West Virginia Coat and Coke Corporation, 64 N. L. R. B. 767. 6 See Matter of Coleman Enterprise Corporation, 62 N. L. R. B. 549. LUDLOW MANUFACTURING AND SALES COMPANY 957 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 Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela- tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Ludlow Manu- facturing and Sales Company, Allentown, Pennsylvania, 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 direc- tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fourth 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 Sec- tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period im- mediately preceding 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 Textile `Yorkers Union of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining.