A. O. Smith Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 17, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 1050 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of A. O. SMrrH CORPORATION (KANKAKEE WORKS), EM-
PLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BLACKSMITHS, DROP
FORGERS AND HELPERS, AFL , PETITIONER and INTERNATIONAL ASSO-
CIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC--85 and 13-RC-10u.-Decided August 17, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held
before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. For
reasons hereinafter stated, the motions of the Employer and the Inter-
venor for the dismissal of the petition of the I AM on the ground that
it seeks an inappropriate unit, are denied. The hearing officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. The Employer refuses to recognize either the International
Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, AFL, herein
called the AFL, or the International Association of Machinists, herein
called the IAM, as the exclusive bargaining representative of any of the
employees of the Employer until either has been certified by the Board
in an appropriate unit.
The Employer and the Fabricated Metal Workers Local Union
No. 24158, herein called the Intervenor, urge their supplemental bar-
gaining agreement as a bar to both petitions. The supplemental
* Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 144.
1050
A. 0. SMITH CORPORATION 1051
agreement between the Employer and the Intervenor covering only
the subject of wage rates was executed on September 8, 1947, and was
designed to supplement, in accordance with the provisions in the basic
bargaining agreement since reopened, the original wage rates therein
set forth. Although the supplemental agreement was executed prior
to any demands by the Petitioners for recognition, such agreement
was not a full collective bargaining agreement containing the usual
substantive provisions concerning conditions of employment. We
have recently held that such a supplemental agreement does not
achieve such stability in labor relations that it should operate as a
bar to a representation proceeding.' Accordingly, we find that the
present supplemental agreement is not a bar to these proceedings.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The AFL, in agreement with the Employer and Intervenor seeks,
consistent with the present contract unit, a unit composed of all pro-
duction and maintenance employees, including group leaders, janitors,
and shop clerical employees,2 but excluding outside truck drivers,
stationary boiler firemen, and water tenders, employees in the Per-
sonnel, Purchasing, Sales, Production Control, Traffic, Accounting
and Engineering Departments, and all supervisors. The IAM, on
the other hand, seeks two separate and distinct craft units to be carved
out of the general production and maintenance unit, and consisting
of (1) all toolroom employees in Department 13 and those employees
in the General Maintenance Department (No. 11) who are involved
in the overhauling, dismantling, and repair of machines, excluding
supervisors and all other employees of the Company; and (2) all
electricians in Department No. 11, excluding supervisors and all other
employees of the Company.
The principal business at the, Employer's plant at Kankakee, Illi-
nois, is the manufacture of water heaters. The Maintenance Division
consists of several departments of which one is Department 13, known
as the tool and machine room, and another is Department 11, known
as General Maintenance. All employees in Department 13 are jour-
neymen tool and die makers who have served their apprenticeships
and are recognized as skilled mechanics. They work in the toolroom
separated from the rest of the plant by a partition and have separate
supervision. They fabricate. and repair parts, tools, and dies. Em-
Matter of Laclede (has Light Co, 76 N. L. R. B 199.
'Included in this-category are shipping and-receiving clerks, pacts department clerks,
and material handlers.
1052 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees of varying skills are located in Department 11, General Main-
tenance. Among these employees are men who do the work of mill-
wrights, electricians, pipe fitters, carpenters, and painters. They are
recognized generally as skilled workmen.3 The employees in General
Maintenance referred to as millwrights dismantle defective machinery,
have the broken parts repaired or replaced by the employees in the
tool and machine room and thereafter reassemble and put the ma-
chinery in working order. The IAM contends and we find that those
employees in General Maintenance who do the work of millwrights
may, together with the tool and die makers, constitute a craft unit.
The employees in General Maintenance who do electrical work are
journeymen electricians who devote their time to the overhauling,
maintenance, and repair of motors and other electrical equipment in
the plant. The IAM seeks to represent these electricians in a separate
craft unit.
We have frequently held that millwrights, machinists, and tool
and die makers constitute a craft group which may be appropriately
included for collective bargaining purposes in a production and
maintenance unit or in a separate unit .4 Likewise, electricians have
been generally recognized as an appropriate craft group.5 Under
these circumstances, we believe that they should now be given an
opportunity to demonstrate in a Board election whether they desire
representation on a separate basis or as part of the production and
maintenance unit. Accordingly, we shall make no final unit deter-
mination at the present time but shall direct elections among the
following groups of employees at the Employer's Kankakee, Illinois,
plant:
(a) All toolroom employees in Department 13 and employees in
the General Maintenance Department (No. 11) who are involved in
the overhauling, dismantling, and repair of nlachines,6 excluding all
supervisors and all other employees of the Company;
(b) All electricians in Department 11, excluding supervisors and
all other employees of the Company; and
(c) All remaining production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Kankakee, Illinois, plant, including group leaders, jani-
tors, and shop clerical employees ,7 but excluding outside truck drivers,
3 The personnel classification of each employee in General Maintenance, regardless of
skill, is designated merely as Maintenance Class A or Class B.
* See Matter of Dazey Corporation, 77 N. L. R. B., No. 66; Waldorf Paper Products,
76 N L R B. 127; Matter of American Can Co., 75 N. L. R. B. 1127.
S Matter of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp., 75 N. L. R. B. 1276, Matter of Goodrich
Chemical Co., 75 N. L. R. B. 1142.
s Included herein are employees classified as Maintenance Class A and B who perform
the work of millwrights.
1 See footnote No. 2.
A. O. SMITH CORPORATION 1053
stationary boiler firemen and water tenders, and employees in the
Personnel,8 Purchasing, Sales, Production Control, Traffic, Account-
ing and Engineering Departments and all supervisors.
If the majority of employees in voting group (a) select the IAM,
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a
separate appropriate unit. Likewise, if the majority of employees
in voting group (b) select the IAM, they will be taken to have indi-
cated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS"
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elections
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but npt later
than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203;61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, among the em-
ployees in the voting groups described in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacatiton or temporarily laid off, but excluding employees who
have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been
rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also ex-
cluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to
determine :
(1) Whether the employees in voting group 4 (a) desire to be rep-
resented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Asso-
ciation of Machinists, or by International Brotherhood of Black-
smiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, AFL, or by Fabricated Metal
Workers Local Union No. 24158, or by none;
(2) Whether the employees in voting group 4 (b) desire to be rep-
resented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Asso-
ciation of Machinists, or by International Brotherhood of Black-
smiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, AFL, or by Fabricated Metal
Workers Local Union No. 24158, or by none; and
(3) Whether the employees in voting group 4 (c) desire to be rep-
resented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers, AFL, or
by Fabricated Metal Workers Local Union No. 24158, or by neither.
Guards ale carried as part of Personnel and are thereby excluded.
Anv participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.