Adler Metal Products Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 15, 1946

67 N.L.R.B. 328 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of ADLER METAL PRODUCTS CORP. and UNITED STEEL-
WORKERS OF AMERICA , C. I. O.
Case No. 14 R-1360.-Decided April 15, 1946
Messrs. Jack Adler and Meyer Blocker, of St. Louis, Mo., for the
Company.
Mr. Robert W. McVay, of St. Louis, Mo., for the Union.
Mr. James Zett, 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 CIO, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Adler Metal Products Corp., St. Louis, Missouri , herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap-
propriate hearing upon due notice before Ryburn L. Hackler, Trial
Examiner. The hearing was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on February
15, 1946. The Company and the Union appeared and participated.
All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-exanfine 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Adler Metal Products Corp. is a Missouri corporation with its
office and principal place of business in St. Louis, Missouri, where it
is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of metal office
furniture and fixtures.
During the period from September 1, 1945 to January 31, 1946, the
Company purchased raw materials valued at approximately $15,000
67 N. L. R. B., No. 45.
328
ADLER METAL PRODUCTS CORP. 329
of which approximately 63 percent was purchased outside of the State
of Missouri. During this same period, the Company manufactured
finished products valued at approximately $50,000, of which $1,200
in value represents extra-State sales. The balance of the finished
products, valued at approximately $49,000, was sold in St. Louis,
Missouri, to the American Metal Products Corp. which in turn sold
and delivered 90 percent of such products outside the State of
Missouri.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The United Steelworkers of America is a labor organization , affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the Union
has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of the Trial Examiner, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.,
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 APPROPRIATE UNIT
Both the Union and the Company agree that the appropriate unit
consists of all production employees of the Company, excluding
clerical employees and the superintendent. The Company, however,
would include, and the Union exclude, foremen.
The testimony of the Company's president indicates that the fore-
men have authority to make reports and recommendations as to the
hire, discharge, and discipline of employees. The foremen accord-
' The Trial Examiner reported that the Union submitted 38 application for membership
cards, bearing apparently genuine signatures; 12 cards were postmarked, and 7 dated, in
November 1945, 2 were dated in February 1946, and 17 were neither dated nor postmarked.
The Company objected to this statement being read into the record on the ground that
the cards represented a very small fraction, at best, of its current employees. It contended
that the signatures were of former employees who worked for the Company only 3 or 4
days. The Company declined to furnish a pay roll, but offered to check the names against
a pay roll, and furnish the Board with exact data on the period of employment of the
persons whose signatures appeared on the cards. This offer was rejected by the Trial
Examiner on the ground that disclosure of the names would be contrary to established
Board policy.
There are approximately 34 employees in the appropriate unit.
330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ingly will be excluded from the appropriate unit as supervisory
employees.
We find that all production employees of the Company at its St.
Louis, Missouri, plant excluding clerical employees, foremen, the
superintendent and any other supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Company contends that an election would be inappropriate
at the present time because it does not have a full working comple-
plement, and because there has been a serious turn-over 2 among
its employees since its operations, which were closed down by the
War Production Board in 1942, were recommended in late August
1945. The Company has been operating against odds, with a skeleton
crew averaging 30 employees, but it has managed to produce com-
pleted steel cabinets, and will continue to do so in the future, with
the skeleton crew if necessary. The Company's president testified
that all departments, though under-manned, were operating at the
time of the hearing. Its present complement is clearly a representa-
tive group, and constitutes 30 percent of its anticipated full comple-
ment. We are therefore of the opinion that an election at the present
time is appropriate.
The record does not afford a basis for exact predictions as to the
number of additional employees the Company is likely to recruit
within a definite number of months. We shall, however, entertain a
new representation petition affecting the employees involved herein
within a period less than 1 year, but not sooner than 6 months, from
the date of any certification that we may issue in the instant proceed-
ings, upon proof (1) that the number of employees in the appropriate
unit is more than double the number of employees eligible to vote in
the election hereinafter directed; and (2) that the petitioning labor
organization represents a substantial number of employees in the
expanded unit.4
2 At the hearing the president of the Company testified that : it had hired 127 employees
since August 1945; there were 34 in its employ at the time of the hearing ; its highest
employment peak attained in this period netted 40 -50 employees ; only a very small per-
centage of its employees remained longer than a week ; it had discharged only 1 em-
ployee , and its estimated full complement was 115 employees.
3 The Company declined to produce a pay roll or other pertinent data which would
reveal its employment prospects with any degree of exactness For over 5 months the
Company had unsuccessfully endeavored to attain a complement of 115 employees. At the
hearing the president of the Company testified that he anticipated , with a little luck in
hiring and retaining employees , a full complement within 120 days.
4 Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 52 N. L . R. B. 1040; Matter of Westing-
house Electric & Manufacturing Co., 38 N . L. R. B. 404.
ADLER METAL PRODUCTS CORP. 331
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed 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 Adler Metal Prod-
ucts Corp., St. Louis, Missouri, 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 Fourteenth 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 Regulations,
among employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above,
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work dur-
ing said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily 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 or not they desire to be represented by
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.