Superior Metal Products Co.

In the Matter of SUPERIOR METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O. Case No. 18-R-1399.-Decided Ja7uary 18, 1946 Mr. Albert L. Wolfe, of New York City, and Mr. J. N. Welscher, of St. Paul, Minn., for the Company. Messrs. Fullerton Fulton, and Joseph Kretche, of St. Paul, Minn., for the Steelworkers. Q Messrs. James Ashe, and Fred Lutz, of St. Paul, Minn., for the I. A. M. Messrs. Timothy E. Halloran and William Gydesen, of St. Paul, Minn., for the Federal Union. - Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by United Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the Steelworkers, alleging that a question affect- ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Superior Metal Products Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Clarence A. Meter, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at St. Paul, Minnesota, on October 25, 1945. The Company, the Steelworkers, International Association of Machinists, District 77, herein called the I. A. M., and Federal Labor Union No. 21727, AFL, herein called the Federal 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. 65 N. L. R. B, No. 91. 552 SUPERIOR METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY 553 Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Superior Metal Products Company, a Delaware corporation, has its principal office and place of business in St. Paul, Minnesota, where it is engaged in the manufacture of milk cans, milk bottle crates, and dairy metalware. During the year 1944, the Company purchased for use at its St. Paul plant, raw materials valued in excess of $300,000, of which approximately 70 percent was shipped to it from points outside the State of Minnesota. During the same period, the Com- pany manufactured finished products, valued in excess of $500,000, of which approximately 85 percent was shipped from the Company's plant to points outside the State of Minnesota. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. It. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Steelworkers of America is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to mem- bership employees of the Company. International Association of Machinists, District Lodge No. 77, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. Federal Labor Union No. 21727 is a labor organization, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Steelworkers as the exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the Steelworkers 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 Steelworkers represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' The Field Examiner reported that the Steelworkers had submitted 100 cards, bear- ing the names of 94 employees listed on the Company's pay roll of production employees, dated September 22, 1945, containing 184 employees in the claimed unit of production employees At the time of the hearing, the Company employed 155 production employees and 16 machinists and maintenance employees. The I . A. M. and the Federal Union evidenced their Interests by virtue of a contract with the Company. 554 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 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 APPRORIATE UNIT In its petition as originally filed, the Steelworkers claimed an appropriate unit consisting of all production employees, excluding supervisory employees, office employees, machinists and maintenance men. At the hearing, the Steelworkers amended its petition by including in its proposed unit machinists and maintenance men,' employees presently represented by the I. A. M. as the result of a series of collective bargaining agreements with the Company.3 The Steelworkers, whose position is shared by the Company, contends that its present claim of a plant-wide unit, including machinists and maintenance employees, is supported by the practice of the Federal Union and the I. A. M. of negotiating jointly with the Company upon a plant-wide basis. The I. A. M. and the Federal Union oppose the unit sought by the Steelworkers only insofar as they maintain that ma- chinists and maintenance employees should not be included together with the production efnployees.4 With respect to the contention of the Steelworkers that the history of collective bargaining establishes the appropriateness of a plant- wide unit, the record reveals that, while the Federal Union and the I. A. M. have, for purposes of convenience, customarily executed joint bargaining contracts covering both production employees and the group of machinists and maintenance employees, these contracts have been composite agreements, executed by individual representatives of the I. A. M. and the Federal Union. In the negotiation and admin- istration of these agreements, the separate interests of the group of craft machinists and maintenance employees have been carefully pre- served, not only in the separate recognition by the Company of the I. A. M. as the exclusive bargaining representative of such employees, but also in the separate handling of grievances for employees in this group by a representative of the I. A. M. Under the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the history of collective bargaining does not establish the appropriateness of a plant-wide unit, but on the contrary indicates the appropriateness of preserving the separate identity of the production group on the one hand and the group of The Steelworkers stated at the hearing, however, that in the event the Board should find a plant-wide unit inappropriate, it desired to urge as an alternative position that the unit as originally claimed was appropriate. The I A âi has been the recognized bargaining representative since October 12, 1938, of a multiple-craft unit consisting of tool and die makers, machinists, die setters, and millwrights 4 All parties also agree to the exclusion of clerical employees, technical employees, sales- men, superintendents and their assistants, and foremen SUPERIOR METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY 555 machinists and maintenance employees on the other . Accordingly, in view of the history of collective bargaining , we shall exclude the machinists and maintenance employees from the unit of production employees hereinafter found appropriate.' We find that all production employees of the Company , excluding clerical, office and technical employees , machinists and maintenance employees,6 salesmen, superintendents and their assistants , foremen, and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge , discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em- ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro- priate 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 employeed 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 DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Superior Metal Products Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, buthot later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the-direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Eighteenth 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 Regula- tions, among employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, 5 The record indicates that the Steelworkers has confined its organizational campaign to employees of the production group and has submitted no specific evidence of representation among the machinists and maintenance employees . Moreover, the I A Df , which cur- rently represents these employees , is not requesting an election among them , conse- quently, we shall not at this time make a determination of representatives for this group Cf. Matter of Tobacco By-Products if Chemical Corporation, 64 N. L R. B 252. Included under this classification are all the craft , employees presently represented by the I A M. Since the employees claimed by the I A. M have been excluded from the appropriate unit, and this organization apparently asserts no interest in the production employees who form the appropriate unit , we shall omit its name from the ballot in the election herein- after directed. 556 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately 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 they desire to be represented by United Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0., or by Fed- eral Labor Union No. 21727, AFL, for the purposes of collective bar- gaining, or by neither. Jl i.