Mullins Manufacturing Corp.

In the Matter of MULLINS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION and PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA (AFFILIATED WITH THE A. F. OF L.) Case No. R-2467.Decided May 2, 1941 Jurisdiction : pressed steel products, tool, and die manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re- fusal to accord union recognition; election necessary. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : election directed among pattern makers to determine whether or not they desire to constitute a separate unit. Mr. H. F. Kulas and Mr.,C. F. Paumier, of Salem, Ohio, for the Company., Mr. C. D. Madigan, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Pattern Makers. Mr. Meyer Bernstein, of Youngstown,'Ohio, for the S. W. O. C. Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On October 1, 1940, Pattern Makers League of North America, affiliated with A. F. of L., herein called the Pattern Makers, filed with the Regional Director for the Eighth Region (Cleveland, Ohio) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Mullins Manufac- turing Corporation, Salem, Ohio, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur- suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On January 15, 1941, 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 and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. 31 N. L. R. B, No. 86. 532 J MULLINS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 533 On January 22, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the Pattern Makers, and Local Union 1538, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, herein called the S. W. O. C., a labor- organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation; Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on April 11, 1941, at Salem, Ohio, before Max W. Johnstone, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company, the Pattern Makers, and the S. W. O. C. were represented and participated in the hear- ing. 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 several 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' Mullins Manufacturing Corporation, a New York corporation, with its principal office at Salem, Ohio, maintains plants at Salem and Warren, Ohio. This proceeding is concerned solely with its plant at Salem, Ohio, where it is engaged in the production of pressed steel products, tools, and dies. During 1940 the Company purchased steel valued at approximately $2,400,000, about 25 per cent of which was shipped to it from points outside the State of Ohio. During the same period, the Company produced finished products valued at about $4,138,000, approximately 80 per cent of which was shipped by it to points outside the State of Ohio. The Company admits that it is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Pattern Makers League of North America is a labor organization, affiliated with,the American Federation of Labor. It admits to mem- bership. employees at the Salem plant of the Company. Local Union 1538, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial' Organizations. It admits to membership employees at the Salem plant of the Company: III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION During May 1940, the Pattern Makers requested, the Company to- barggin 'with it as the exclusive representative of the pattern makers 534 DECISIONS O1i NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD in the Salem plant of the Company. The Company refused this request stating that it was operating under an exclusive contract with the S. W. 0. C. In July 1937, the Company and the S. W. 0. C. entered into a members-only contract covering the employees at the Salem plant of the Company. In April 1938, the S. W. 0. C. and the Company entered into an exclusive bargaining contract covering all the em- ployees at the Salem plant. In August 1939 and September 1940, the S. W. 0. C. and the Company entered into exclusive bargaining con- tracts covering the employees of the Salem plant. The latter contract expires in August 1941. Prior to the execution of the September 1940 contract, the Company was notified by the Pattern Makers that it desired that the pattern makers 'be excluded from provisions of the contract then being negotiated between the S. W. 0. C. and the Company. There was introduced in evidence a report prepared by the Regional Director showing that the Pattern Makers represents a substantial number of employees in the unit alleged in the petition to be appropriate.' We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that a 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 The Pattern Makers urges that all pattern makers employed in the Salem plant of the Company constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. The S. W. 0. C. opposes the separation of these employees from a plant-wide unit, claimed by it to be appropriate, comprising all production and maintenance em- ployees, including pattern makers, at the Salem plant. The Com- pany employs approximately 1,000 persons at this plant, of whom about 10 are in the unit claimed by the Pattern Makers. 1 The Regional Director reported that the Pattern Makers had presented to him mem- bership application cards signed by 7 of the 13 pattern makers whose names appear on the Company .s pay roll of September 23, 1940. The Regional Director reported therein that the S . W. O. C. had advised him that it had no members among the pattern makers. MULLINS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 535 The pattern makers employed by the Company are a well- established and highly skilled craft requiring a lengthy apprentice- ship. The Pattern Makers has had members in the Salem plant' for the past 25 years, and evidence was introduced tending to show that a majority of the pattern makers at this plant were in 1937 and are at present members of the Pattern Makers and that none are mem- bers of the S. W. 0. C. It appears that from 1927 to 1930 the Com- pany had an arrangement with the Pattern Makers to call upon lit whenever it needed pattern makers. In 1937 the Company called upon the Pattern Makers to furnish it with several employees. - In opposition to the Pattern Makers' petition, the S. W. 0. C. contends that the plan-wide unit which is covered by its contract with the Company is appropriate, that it has bargained for the pattern makers along with other employees under the contract, and that although the pattern makers in the plant were aware of the 4-year bargaining history between the S. W. 0. C. and the Company, they never requested the S. W. 0. C. to make special provision for them in the contracts. Under all the circumstances, including the fact that the Pattern Makers' history of organization at the,,plant antedates that of the S. W. 0. C., we are of the opinion that the unit set up in the con- tracts between the Company and the S. W. 0. C. should not be accorded binding effect, • and that the question of the proper unit for the pattern makers should be determined by the desires of the pattern makers themselves.2 We. shall, therefore, direct that an election be held among the pattern makers at the Salem plant of the Company to determine -whether they desire to be represented by the Pattern Makers or by the S. W. 0. C., for the purposes of collective bargain- ing, or by neither. If a majority of the pattern makers vote for the Pattern Makers they will have indicated their desire to constitute a separate unit, and we shall find that the pattern makers constitute a separate appropriate unit and shall certify the Pattern Makers as the exclusive representative thereof. If a majority votes for the S. W. 0. C., we shall consider that the pattern makers desire to form part of the larger unit established by the contracts. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find 'that the question concerning the representation of em- ployees of the Company can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. The S. W. 0. C. failed to indicate at the hearing whether or not it desired to be placed on the ballot if an election should be held 2 See Matter of General Electric Company and Pattern Makers' League of North Amer- ica, A. P. L., 29 N. L. R. B 162. 536 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD among the pattern makers. We shall direct an election by secret ballot to be held among all pattern makers at the Salem plant of the Company who were employed during the pay-roll period last. pre- ceding the date of this Direction, subject to such limitations and additions as are set forth in the Direction hereinafter, to determine whether they desire to be represented by the Pattern Makers, by the S. W. O. C., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. We shall, however, grant permission to the S. W. O. C. -to have its name withdrawn from the ballot, if it so desires, and if it so notifies the Regional Director in writing within five (5) days from the date of this Direction. Upon, the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: CONCLUSION OF LAW . A question affectipg commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees at the Salem plant of Mullins Manufacturing Corporation, Salem, Ohio, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 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, 49 Stat. 449, 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 authorized by the Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Mullins Manufacturing Corporation, Salem, Ohio, 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Eighth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela- tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all pattern makers at the Salem plant of the Company who were employed during the pay-roll- period imme- "diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not-work during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the United States, _ or temporarily laid off, but excluding employees who have since quit 'or been discharged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Pattern Makers League of North America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, or by. MULLINS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 537 Local Union 1538, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining,, or by neither. Mr. EDWIN S. SMITH, dissenting I dissent from the decision to hold an election among the pattern makers.3 Since April 1938 these employees have been included under a valid exclusive bargaining contract between the S. W. O. C. and the Company covering a plant-wide industrial unit. The acquiescence of the pattern makers over recent years in repre- sentation by the S. W. O. C. renders inapplicable the considerations of earlier organization on a craft basis such as have led me to concur in directions of separate elections for the members of crafts.4 I would dismiss the petition.,, See my dissenting opinion in Matter of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company and International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, Local 248, 4 N. L. R.B. 159. 4 See my concurring opinion in Matter of American Hardware Corporation and United Electrical and Radio Workers of America, 4 N. L R. B. 412. 6 See my dissenting opinion in Matter of General Electric Company and Pattern Makers League of North America, A . F. L., 29 N. L. R. B. 162. i