Smith & Caffrey Co.

In the Matter Of SMITH & CAFFREY COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL AssoCIATION BRIDGE Smuort RAL ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS LOCAL UNION #612 Case No. R-3279.-Decided January 8, 1912 Jurisdiction : iron and steel products manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re- fusal to accord union recognition until certified by the Board ; motion to dismiss petition on ground that there had been no prima facie showing that the union represented a majority of employees in the appropriate unit, over- ruled where it is established that the union has been designated by a substantial number of employees in the unit; election necessary. Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance em- ployees in the structural and ornamental departments of the Company's plant, exclusive of supervisory, office, and clerical employees, watchmen and relief watchmen, held to constitute an appropriate unit, notwithstanding the desire of the Company for a unit which would also include production and mainte- nance employees in the foundry department, where the work of the three departments is not highly interdependent, and in view of the fact that the petitioner has no jurisdiction over the foundry employees, but has organized employees in the unit sought, and no other labor organization is now claiming to represent employees in a larger unit. Fraser Brothers, by Mr. Henry S. Fraser, of Syracuse, N. Y., for the Company. Mr. George S. Cooper, of Syracuse, N. Y., and Mr. William F. Baiuers, of Buffalo, N. Y., for the Union. Mr. Joseph A. Wickes, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE On September 5, 1941, International Association Bridge Structural Ornamental Iron Workers Local Union #612, affiliated with the A. F. of L., herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Third Region (Buffalo, New York) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa- tion of employees of. Smith & Caffrey Company, Syracuse, New York, 38 N. L. R. B, No. 20. 90 SMITH & CAFFREY COMPANY 91 herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and cer- tification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On October 31, 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. On November 4,1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear- ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on November 10, 1941, at Syracuse, New York, before Peter J. Crotty, the Trial Examiner duly designated by' the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company was represented by counsel, the Union by representatives, and all partici- pated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing upon 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 com- mitted. The rulings are hereby affirmed. For the reasons noted below an oral motion to dismiss the petition, made by the Company, is hereby denied. On November 21, 1941, the Company filed a brief which the Board has duly considered. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Smith & Caffrey Company is a New York Corporation engaged in the manufacture of structural steel, ornamental iron, and gray iron castings. Its principal office and place of business is in Syracuse, New York, where its plant is located. During the year ending August 31, 1941, there were shipped to the Company's plant raw materials of the value of at least $100,000, of which about 60 percent repre- sented shipments made to its plant from points outside the State of New York. During the same period of time there were shipped from its plant finished products of the 'value of at least $300,000, of which about 2 percent represented shipments made from the plant to points outside the State of New York. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 92 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED International Association Bridge Structural Ornamental Iron Workers Local Union $612 is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to its membership produc- tion and maintenance employees in the structural and ornamental departments of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION By letters dated June 11, 1940, and September 22, 1941, the Union requested the Company to engage in bargaining conferences with its representatives. The Company has not accorded recognition to the Union, and at the hearing stated through its president that it was unwilling to recognize the Union until it had been certified by the Board. At the hearing the Company orally moved that the petition be dismissed on the ground that there had been no prima facie showing that the Union represented a majority of the employees in the unit, claimed by the Union as appropriate. The same contention was made in the Company's brief. We overrule this contention, since we are of the opinion that it is sufficient, in order to obtain an election, for a union to establish that it has been designated by a substantial number of employees in the appropriate unit. A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at the hearing, shows that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit here- inafter found 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 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. 1 The Regional Director reported that the Union presented to him 10 applications for membership slips bearing the names of persons who appeared on the Company's pay roll of October 20 , 1941 , as employees in the unit alleged as appropriate. Two of these application slips were dated in September 1939, 5 in 1940, and 3 in 1941 . There are ap- proximately 22 employees in the unit alleged , and hereinafter found, to be appropriate. SMITH & CAFFREY COMPANY V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT 93 The Company's plant is divided into three departments, i. e., struc- tural, ornamental, and foundry. The Union requests a unit composed of all production and maintenance employees in the structural and ornamental departments of the plant, exclusive of supervisory, office, and clerical employees. It seeks to exclude the foundry department. The Company contends that the appropriate unit should include all production and maintenance employees in the entire plant, exclusive of supervisory, office, and clerical employees.2 It argues, in support of this contention, that its entire business is operated as a single integrated enterprise with each part related to and dependent upon the other.3 Each of the three departments, i. e., ornamental, structural, and foundry, is housed in a separate building. While the entire plant is under the control of a general superintendent, there is a super- intendent or a foreman in charge of each of the three departments. There are approximately 18 employees in the structural department, 4 in the ornamental department, and 38 in the foundry. The struc- tural department is engaged in the fabrication of structural steel. The flat steel is received from the mills in lengths of from 40 to 65 2 The Company employs a watchman and a relief watchman . It is not clear whether or not the parties desire these men to be included in the appropriate bargaining unit. How- ever, since the Union seeks to limit the bargaining unit to the employees of the structural and ornamental departments , and the watchman and the relief watchman regularly cover the entire plant, it would appear that the Union wishes that they be excluded . Since we are limiting the bargaining unit to the employees of the structural and ornamental de- partments , as hereinafter appears, we shall exclude them from the appropriate unit. 8 In support of its contention as to the appropriate unit the Company relies upon Matter of National Vulcanized Fibre Co., Newark Fibre Division and Local 138, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America , C. I. 0., 36 N. L R B., No"5 , where the Board held that a unit sought by the Union and composed exclusively of the production and mainte- nance employees in the fibre mill of the company 's Newark plant was not an appropriate unit, and that the production and maintenance employees of the company 's paper and fibre mills at this plant should be included within a single unit , in view of the functional coherence, interdependence, and integrated character of the operations of the paper and fibre mills , the similarity of the work and working conditions of the two mills , their joint supervision and joint plant facilities , the company's uniform labor policy and interchange of paper and fibre employees , and the union 's attempts to organize the employees in both the paper and the fibre mills. It should be noted that in that case the manufacturing process involved was a continuous one from the entrance of the raw materials into the paper mill until the fibre and fibre products were ready for shipment from the plant, and that practically all the paper manufactured in the paper mill was used in the operations of the fibre mill . However, in the principal case 80 or 90 percent of the castings made in the foundry are not used in the structural or ornamental departments , but go to customers in the state in which they leave the foundry. Moreover, in the principal case the employees of the foundry are not eligible to membership in the Union , and it has made no attempt to organize them, whereas in Matter of National Vulcanized Fibre Co. the paper mill employees were eligible to membership in the union , it intended to include them in its organization in the future, and had already made some attempts to organize them, 8 or 10 of the approximately 31 employees in the paper mill having signed application cards for membership in the runion 94 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD feet, is cut to smaller sizes in the structural department, and in some cases is sent to customers without any further fabrication, while in other cases it is punched or riveted or welded in the structural de- partment, and then sent to customers. The ornamental department is engaged in the manufacture of ornamental iron, such as stairs, railings, and building work. The foundry is engaged in making gray iron castings. From 80 to 90 percent of these castings are sent to customers in the state in which they leave the foundry. However, the remainder are sent to the structural and ornamental departments, where they are used in the making of articles produced in those de- partments. Certain articles which are produced in the structural and ornamental departments, such as flasks and patterns, are sent to the foundry whenever articles of steel are required for use in the foundry. In times of slack work men are frequently transferred from one department to another, and men from ' each of the departments are often assigned to help out in other departments temporarily. There is a uniform labor policy throughout the plant as to wages, hours, and vacations. The pay roll for the whole plant is kept in one book, is made up at the same time, and all employees are paid at the same time. However, the names of the employees in each department are listed separately on the pay roll. There is very little variation in the comparative skills required in the different departments. The production and maintenance employees in the structural and ornamental departments are eligible for membership in the Union. However, the Union does not have jurisdiction over the employees in the foundry. A representative of the Union testified without con- tradiction that the Moulders' Union of the American Federation of Labor has jurisdiction over the employees in the foundry. It appears that no attempt to organize these employees has been made by any labor organization. We do not consider that the three departments are so interdepend- ent that the Union should be denied, under the circumstances herein presented, a unit confined to the employees in the ornamental and structural departments. It is significant that the Union has organ- ized only the employees in the ornamental and structural depart- ments and that its jurisdiction is limited to the employees in these departments. No other labor organization is now claiming to repre- sent employees in a larger unit. To hold inappropriate the unit sought by the Union would be to deny to employees who have organ- ized the benefits of collective bargaining. Upon the entire record, we find that all production and mainte- nance employees in the structural and ornamental departments of the Company's plant at Syracuse, New York, exclusive of supervisory, SMITH & CAFFREY COMPANY 95 office, and clerical employees, watchmen, and relief watchmen, con- stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that such unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise will effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret ballot. The Union requests that those eligible to vote in such elec- tion shall be determined on the basis of the Company's pay roll imme- diately preceding the date of the Union's petition of September 5, 1941, but it advances no reason for this request. The Company desires that, if an election is directed, it shall be held in accordance with the Board's usual practice as to eligibility date. We believe that the purposes of the Act will be best effectuated by determining eligibility as of the present date. We shall direct that all employees in the appro- priate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Decision and Direction of Election, sub- ject to such limitations and additions as are hereinafter set forth in the Direction, 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 : CONCLUSIONS OF LAw 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the rep- resentation of employees of Smith & Caffrey Company, Syracuse, New York, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. All production and maintenance employees in the structural and ornamental departments of the Company's plant at Syracuse, New York, exclusive of supervisory, office, and clerical employees, watch- men, and relief watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur- poses of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) 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 Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Rela- tions 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 96 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD with Smith & Caffrey Company, Syracuse, New York, 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 Third 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, among all the production and maintenance employees in the structural and ornamental departments of the plant of Smith & Caffrey Com- pany at Syracuse, New York, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately 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 supervisory, office, and clerical employees, watchmen, relief watchmen, and em- ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented for the purposes of col- lective bargaining by International Association Bridge Structural Ornamental Iron Workers Local Union #612, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.