Allison Steel Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 31, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 221 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ALLISON STEEL MANUFACTURING COMPANY and
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , RANGER DISTRICT
LOCAL 49, A. F. OF L. '
Case No. 21-R-258/,.-Decided March 31,1545
Mr. Frank Snell , of Phoenix , Ariz ., for the Company.
Mr. T. M. Barber, of Phoenix, Ariz ., for the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Association of Machinists,
Ranger District Lodge 49, A. F. of L., herein called the Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Allison Steel Manufacturing Company,
Phoenix, Arizona, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Charles M. Ryan, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
Phoenix, Arizona, on February 21, 1945. The Company and the
Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to
be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. During the course of the hearing the
Company moved to dismiss the petition. The Trial Examiner re-
served ruling thereon. The motion is hereby denied. 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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Allison Steel Manufacturing Company is an Arizona corporation
with its plant at Phoenix, Arizona, where it is engaged in fabricating,
61 N. L. R B, No. 24.
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222 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
erecting, and jobbing of steel- products. During 1944 the Company
purchased materials valued in excess of $1,000,000, approximately
95 percent of which was shipped to it from points outside the State
of Arizona. During the same period the Company sold products
valued in excess of $2,000,000, approximately 60 percent of which was
shipped to points outside the State of Arizona.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Association of Machinists, Ranger District Lodge 49,
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refused to recognize the Union as the exclusive col-
lective bargaining representative of the employees involved herein until
such time as the Union is certified by the Board.
A statement of a Board Field Examiner, introduced into evidence
at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be 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.
TV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges that all machinists, helpers, and welders in the
machine shop at the Phoenix plant of the Company, excluding super-
visory employees, constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. The
Company contends that the appropriate unit should consist of all its
production and maintenance employees in the Phoenix plant.
The machine shop at the Phoenix plant is located it a separate room
and employees working therein are segregated from the other em-
ployees. They work under the supervision of a separate foreman and
there is no interchange of employees between the machine shop and
other departments of the Company. Although there is some evidence
that 1 year or 2 prior to 1943 the Company had verbal understandings
with International Association of Iron Workers on a plant-wide basis,
no such understanding has existed since 1943; and the International
Association of Iron Workers has had no interest among the employees
of the Company since that time. The employees in the machine shop
i The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 22 application cards There
are approximately 33 employees in the appropriate unit.
ALLISON STEEL MANtTFACTtIRINC COMPANY 223
are required to have a high degree of skill. We have frequently found
that employees such as those sought by the Union here comprise a
sufficiently skilled, identifiable, and homogeneous group which could
properly be represented either as a separate collective bargaining unit
or as a part of a more comprehensive one. In the instant proceeding
no labor organization is claiming to represent any of the remaining
employees at the present time. Accordingly, we conclude that the
unit sought by the Union is appropriate at this time.
We find that all machinists, helpers, and welders in the machine
shop 2 at the Phoenix plant of the Company, excluding supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recom-
mend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees 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 Allison Steel Man-
ufacturing Company, Phoenix, Arizona, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Twenty-first 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 Regula-
tions, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section
IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
2 It appears that the Company may find it necessary, because of lack of space in the shop,
to locate some of the machine shop employees outside the machine shop Employees at
both locations , however, will continue to be supervised by the machine shop foremen. Our
use of the term "machine shop " is to be deemed as including machinists and related em-
ployees even though they may not all be physically located in the machine shop.
224 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls,
but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause
and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elec-
tion, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by In-
ternational Association of Machinists, Ranger District Lodge 49,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes
of collective bargaining.