Standard Forgings Corp.

In the Matter Of STANDARD FORGINGS CORPORATION and LODGE 1720, AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL & TIN WORKERS OF NORTH AMERICA, S. W. O. C., C. I. O. In the Matter Of STANDARD FORGINGS CORPORATION and INTER- NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, (A. F. OF L.) Cases Nos. R-1958 and R-1959.-Decided August 26, 1940 Jurisidiction : forging manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: refusal to accord recognition to union; conflicting claims of rival representatives; elections necessary. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : entire plant as a single unit or (1) employees classed under the generic term "machinists" and (2) forge-department employees and all other production and maintenance employees, excepting machinist, as separate units; with other factors evenly balanced, determining factor is desire of employees; determination of unit dependent upon elections. Practice and Procedure Although Board has previously dismissed representation proceedings where two unions subject to discipline by the same parent body have dis- agreed over the extent of their jurisdiction,_ here held, where one of the com- peting unions is chartered by and subservient to the other, although both are affiliated with the same parent body, that the desires of the chartering union should prevail, and that the subservient union may not properly participate in an election where the employees over, which it claims jurisdiction are also within the jurisdiction of the superior union. McAleer, Dorsey, Travis, and Young, by Mr. Raymond B. Young, of Hammond, Ind., for the Company. Mr. John J. Brownlee, of Chicago, Ill., for the Amalgamated. Mr. J. W. Ramsey, of Rockford, Ill., for the Machinists. Mr. A. J. Eberhardy, of Rockford, Ill., for the Brotherhood.- Mr. J. G. Meiner, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Die Sinkers. Mr. Bonnell Phillips, of counsel to the Board. DECISION' AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS STATEMENT OF THE CASE On March 20, 1940, Lodge 1720, Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America, herein called the Amal- 26 N. L. R. B., No. 122. 1339 1340 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD gamated, through Steel Workers Organizing Committee, C. I. 0., and. on April 19, 1940, International Association of Machinists, A. F. of L., herein called the I. A. M., filed with the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois), two separate petitions, each alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen. con- cerning the representation of employees- of Standard Forgings Cor- poration, Chicago, Illinois, herein called the Company, at its East Chicago, Indiana, plant,. and each requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On June 10, 1940, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board . acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation in each case and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hear- ing upon due notice; and, pursuant to Article III, Section 10 (c) (2) of said Rules and Regulations, ordered that the two cases be con- solidated. On June.12, .1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of. hearing in the consolidated cases, copies of which were duly served, upon the Company, the Amalgamated, the I. A. M., and upon Chicago Die Sinkers Lodge #1512, of the International Association of Machinists, herein called'the Die Sinkers.. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was begun at East Chicago, Indiana, on July 10, 19,40, before Robert Rissman, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. Following an adjournment granted. at the request of counsel for the I. A. ' M.; the hearing was resumed and terminated-on July 24, 1940. In the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner granted the motions to intervene respectively of the .Die Sinkers and of International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, A. F. of L., herein called the Brotherhood. -All parties were. represented by counselor by union officers and partici- pated in the hearing. , Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence .bearing on, the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made a number of rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Standard Forgings Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is engaged in the manufacture of railroad, tractor, automobile, and miscellaneous STANDARD FORGINGS CORPORATION 1341 forgings at East Chicago, Indiana. The Company's principal office is in Chicago, Illinois, and it maintains sales offices in many of the principal cities in the United States. The principal raw materials used by the Company in the manufacture of its products are steel, coal, fire brick, fuel oil, and acid. Of these, fire brick in the amount of 90,000 pieces, and fuel oil in the amount of 1,625,272 gallons were purchased by the Company from points outside the State of Indiana during the year beginning April 1, 1939 and ending March 31, 1940. During the same period, the Company sold and shipped to points outside Indiana 17,350 net tons of railroad forgings, 10,241 net tons of tractor forgings, 8,220 net tons of automobile forgings, and 1,976 net tons of miscellaneous forgings. Approximately 539 production and maintenance workers were employed by the Company at the time of the hearing. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Lodge 1720, Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America, is a labor organization affiliated, through the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It admits to membership production and mainten- ance employees of the Company. International Association of Machinists is a labor organization, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to mem- bership production and maintenance employees in certain departments of the Company. . Lodge #1512, Chicago Die Sinkers, is a labor organization chartered by the International Association of Machinists, which, in turn, is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to mem- bership die sinkers employed by the Company.. . International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to membership production and maintenance em- ployees in certain departments of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The .Amalgamated and the I. A. M. have requested that they be recognized as the exclusive bargaining -representative of employees within units which they claim are appropriate for collective bargaining purposes. The Company, while signifying its willingness to bargain with these organizations as the representatives of their respective memberships in the plant, has refused to grant to them the exclusive recognition which they desire. There was introduced in evidence a report of the Regional Director showing that the Amalgamated represents a substantial number of 1342 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Company employees. At the hearing the I. A. M. submitted to the Trial Examiner an affidavit listing the names of Company employees who hold membership in that organization. By comparison with a Company pay roll the Trial Examiner determined that the names listed in the affidavit represent a substantial number of the employees in the unit which the I. A; M. alleges is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of the employees of the Company. IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the. question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT All the organizations involved desire to represent certain groups of production and maintenance workers at' the Company's East Chicago, Indiana, plant, and all agree that the Company's super- visors, clerical employees, watchmen, and janitors' should be ex- cluded from the units which they claim are appropriate for collective bargaining purposes. The Company has taken no position in regard to these employees. We shall exclude supervisors, clerical employees, watchmen, and janitors from the elections which we shall direct.. The Amalgamated claims as an appropriate unit all production and maintenance employees of the Company. The I. A. M., however, has petitioned for recognition as the bargaining agent of "all produc- tion and maintenance employees employed in the departments known as the general machine shop, small machine shop; die turning depart- ment, die sinking department, sheet metal department, axle cutting department, axle turning department, and axle shed." The employees in the above-named departments constitute, so far as the record dis- closes, substantially all the employees who could normally be classed under the generic term "machinists." They. could constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargaining purposes, and we shall therefore permit them to indicate by vote whether they wish to be represented I It was shown at the hearing that the two janitors employed by the Company are engaged in cleaning and caring for the plant 's executive offices and locker rooms. The Amalgamated , the I . A: M., and the Brother- hood all moved to amend their respective petitions and motion of intervention to exclude janitors and watchmen from the alleged appropriate units. STANDARD FORGINGS CORPORATION 1343 as a separate unit or as part of the plant-wide unit proposed by the Amalgamated? The Brotherhood, in its petition of intervention, claims as an appropriate unit "all men employed by the company in its forge departments, and all other factory employees . . . excluding those employees regularly employed in the departments known as general machine shop, small machine shop, die turning department, die sink- ing department, sheet metal department, axle cutting department, axle turning department, and axle shed." It will be noted that the Brotherhood, under this definition, desires to represent all production and maintenance employees of the Company except those in the unit which the I. A. M. has alleged is appropriate.' Counsel for the Amalgamated, which also desires to represent such employees as a part of an industrial unit, stated at the hearing that unless the Board should find that the industrial unit is the sole appropriate unit in the plant, the Amalgamated would not oppose a separate election among these employees. Since, as we have before indicated, the Company's machinists may properly constitute a separate collective bargaining unit, we shall direct that a separate election be held among the Company's forge-department employees and all other production and maintenance employees, excepting those employed in the various departments named in the I. A. M. petition, to determine whether they desire to be represented by the Brotherhood or by the Amalgamated. . The Die Sinkers claims as an appropriate unit all die sinkers em- ployed by the Company. The I. A. M., however, also desires to represent these employees in the inclusive machinists' unit and, consequently, have opposed the Die Sinkers' motion for the separate investigation and certification of bargaining representatives for the Company's die sinkers. We have before dismissed proceedings wherein two unions subject to discipline by the same parent body have disagreed over the extent of their jurisdiction.4 It will-be noted, however, that although the Die Sinkers and the I. A. M. are both affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, the Die Sinkers is chartered by and is subordinate to the International Association of 2 Matter of The Globe Machine and Stamping Co., and Metal Polishers Union , Local No. 8, et of., 3 N. L. R. B. 294, and subsequent cases. 3 As before stated, all the organizations involved desire the exclusion of supervisors , clerical employees, watchmen , and janitors , and we have above found that these employees should not be permitted to partici- pate in the elections which we shall direct. Ztfatter of Aluminum Company of America and Aluminum Workers Union, No. 19104, 1 N. L. R. B. 530; Matter of Axton-Fisher Tobacco Company and International Association of Machinists, Local No. 681, and Tobacco Workers International Union, Local No. 16, 1 N. L. It. B. 604; Matter of Showers Bros . Furniture Company and The Upholsterers , Furniture , Carpet and Awning Workers , Linoleum Workers Union, Local No. 184, 4 N. L. R. B. 585; Matter of Curtis Bay Towing Company and Marine Engineers Beneficial Associa- tion No. 5, 4 N. L. R. B. 360. But cf. Matter of Long-Bell Lumber Company and International Association of Machinists Local No, 1850, of al., 16 N. L. R. B., 892. 1344 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Machinists.' Since the I. A. M. desires to include within the unit which it claims is appropriate the Company's die sinkers, and since the I. A. M. has opposed the motion of the Die Sinkers for separate certification as a bargaining unit, we are of the opinion that the Die Sinkers cannot properly be accorded a separate election. We shall, therefore, direct one election among the production and maintenance employees in the departments known as the general machine shop, small machine shop, die turning department, die sink- ing department, sheet metal department, axle cutting department, axle turning department, and axle shed to- determine whether they desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by the I. A. M., by the Amalgamated, or by neither, and another election among the forge-department employees and all other produc- tion and maintenance employees excepting those employed in the above-named machinists' departments to determine whether they desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by the Brotherhood, by the Amalgamated, or by neither. In the event that the Amalgamated receives a majority of the votes cast in each election the production and maintenance employees in the entire plant will constitute a single appropriate unit and we shall certify the Amalgamated as the exclusive representative thereof. In the event that each election results in a majority choice of different organiza- tions, we shall certify each of the organizations so chosen as the bar- gaining representative of the separate appropriate unit in which it achieved a majority. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES As before stated, we shall direct two separate elections among the employees of the Company to determine their respective bargaining agents and we shall await the outcome of these elections before making a determination of representatives. All parties agree and we shall direct that the employees within the respective election units whose names appear on the Company's pay roll immediately preceding this Decision and Direction of Elec- tions, including those who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or those who were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding those who have since, quit or been discharged for cause, shall be eligible to vote. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: A See Section II, infra. STANDARD 'ORU`INOS CORPORATION 1345 CONCLUSIONS OF LAW A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of Standard Forgings Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and' Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 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 8, of. National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Standard Forgings Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, at its East Chicago, Indiana, plant, elections 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, (1) Among the production and maintenance employees employed in the departments of the plant known as general machine shop, small machine shop, die turning department, die sinking department, sheet metal department, axle cutting department, axle turning department, and axle shed, whose names appear on the Company's pay roll im- mediately proceding this Direction of Elections, excluding supervisors, clerical employees, janitors, and watchmen, and those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, but including those who were ill, on vacation, or temporarily laid off, to determine whether they desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America, S. W. O. C., C. I. 0., by International Association of Ma- chinists, A. F. of L., or by neither; and (2) Among all the remaining production and maintenance em- ployees whose names appear on the Company's pay roll immediately preceding this Direction of Elections, excluding supervisors, clerical employees, janitors, and watchmen, and those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, but including those who are ill, on vacation, or temporarily laid off, to determine whether they desire to be represented for the purposes of collective bargaining by Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America, S. W. O. C., C. I. 0., by International Brotherhood of Black- smiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, A. F. of L., or by neither. 1346 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD MR. EDWIN S. SMITH, concurring in part and dissenting in part: I would concur in dismissing the Die Sinkers' request for a separate election on the grounds given in the majority opinion. For the reasons expressed in other dissenting statements,' and in the absence of any previous history of collective bargaining on behalf of the craft groups, other than the Die Sinkers, here seeking separate representa- tion, I would find appropriate the larger industrial unit of employees. 6 See, for example , Matter of Allis- Chalmers Manufacturing Company and International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, Local 248, 4 N. L . R. B. 159, 175.