Aluminum Co. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 2, 1948

76 N.L.R.B. 510 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of ALUMINUM CGDIPANY OF AMERICA, EMPLOYER and
PATTERN MAKERS' LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, PITTSBURGH ASSO-
CIATION, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 6-R-1654.Decided March 2, 1948
Mr. Adrian C. Smith, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Employer.
Mr. George Q. Lynch, of Washington, D. C., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Frank Donner, of Washington, D. C., and Mr. Phillip M. Cur-
ran, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Intervenor.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania, on July 24, 1947, before Ramey Donovan, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Aluminum Company of America, a Pennsylvania corporation, is
engaged in the mining, reduction and manufacturing, and fabricating
of aluminum. The Employer operates numerous plants throughout
the United States ; only the New Kensington Works 2 is involved in
this proceeding. During the past year, the Employer purchased for
use at its New Kensington Plant raw materials valued in excess of
$5,000,000, of which approximately 90 percent was shipped from
points outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. During the same
period, products produced at this plant were valued in excess of
$10,000,000, of which 60 percent was shipped to points outside the
Commonwealth.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
I The Intervenor 's motion to dismiss is denied for the reasons stated herein.
2 This includes the Arnold Plant, Logan's Ferry Plant, and New Kensington.
76 N. L. R. B, No. 81.
510
ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
511
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
The United Steelworkers of America , herein called the Intervenor,
is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclu-
sive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until
the Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate
unit.
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.
I NT. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT: THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all wood and metal pattern makers
and apprentices employed at the New Kensington Works of the Em-
ployer. The Employer and the Intervenor contend that these em-
ployees should continue to be represented as part of a production
and maintenance unit established pursuant to a long history of col-
lective bargaining.
In April 1938, the Board certified the International Union, Alu-
minum Workers of America, CIO, herein called the Aluminum Work-
ers, to represent a unit of production and maintenance employees at
the New Kensington Works, including pattern makers.,' The record
shows that for about 5 years prior to this certification, there existed
on the same comprehensive basis a collective bargaining relationship
between the Employer and the Aluminum Workers under various
names and affiliations of the latter.4 The Aluminum Workers rep-
resented this unit of employees in a succession of master contracts
until July 1944, when it merged with the Intervenor and the latter
continued the bargaining relationship to the present date.
The June 1945 contract contained a maintenance of membership
and check-off provision with an escape period during the first 15 days
of the contract. The pattern makers did not take advantage of this
3 Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 6 N L R B 444
9 From 1933 to 1936 statements of company policy governed this bargaining relationship,
and in 1936 a master collective bargaining contract was executed covering, among other
plants, the Logan's Ferry and New Kensington plants of the Employer.
512 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
escape period but toward the expiration of the contract in December
1946, following a 11/2-day strike, they informed the Employer of
their resignation from the Intervenor. However, the Employer
refused to recognize this withdrawal on the part of the pattern mak-
ers and continued to check off their dues on the ground that the
December 1946 termination date of that contract had been extended
by the parties indefinitely, thereby permitting no escape period. A
new contract was entered into on May 8, 1947,5 and on May 16, 1947,
within the escape period provided, the pattern makers individually
again notified the Employer of their withdrawal from the Intervenor.
Thereafter the Employer ceased checking off dues for these employees.
The pattern makers have participated in the grievance procedure
provided under the Intervenor's contracts and, the record indicates,
still retain and utilize the departmental grievance committee estab-
lished for the pattern shop under this procedure. They have shared
in all the general wage increases negotiated by the Intervenor, includ-
ing the most recent one on May 8, 1947.
All the employees at the Works are governed by company seniority
by departments, which includes the right to transfer to other de-
partments in the event of a lay-off. All hiring is done through a
central employment office. All employees work substantially under
the same general conditions of employment and are subject to the
same set of working rules.
On the other hand, the pattern makers employed at the Works
possess the usual high degree of skill inherent in their craft and are
under the separate supervision of a pattern-maker foreman. More-
over, they work exclusively in the pattern shop which occupies the
entire second floor of one building and they must obtain a pass before
being permitted to leave the shop during working hours.
The Intervenor contends that the aluminum industry, like the basic
steel industry, by reason of its high degree of functional integration,
precludes the establishment of a separate craft unit, which, it argues,
would destroy the present bargaining structure in the industry. We
find no merit in this contention. The record shows that for the past
8 or 9 years the Petitioner has represented a separate unit of pattern
makers at the Employer's Cleveland plant. Moreover, we have on
numerous occasions found appropriate separate units of various craft
groups in the aluminum industry.`
The foregoing facts indicate thirst the pattern makers in this case
constitute a true and homogeneous craft group 7 and that a similar
This contract is still in effect , it is not alleged as a bar.
See Matte, of Aluminum Company of America , 61 N. L . R B 1066 , 1083 ( machinists)
60 N I, R B 278 ( die sinking employees ) , 56 N L R B 216 ( bricklayers)
7 See Matter of Kaiser-Frazer Corporation, 73 N L R. B 109.
'ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA 513
bargaining unit of pattern makers is recognized at another plant of
the Employer and in the industry generally. Under these circum-
stances, we find that the pattern makers may be separately represented."
However, we shall make no final unit determination at the present
time but shall direct an election among all wood and metal pattern
makers and apprentices at the Employer's New Kensington Works,
excluding the pattern-maker foreman and other supervisors. If the
majority of these employees vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken
to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate
unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purpose of collective bargaining with Aluminum Company of America,
Arnold, Logan's Ferry, and New Kensington, Pennsylvania (New
Kensington Works), 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 Sixth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and
203.62, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 5, among all wood and metal pattern makers and apprentices at
the Employer's New Kensington Works, excluding the pattern maker
foreman and other supervisors, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including em-
ployees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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, and
also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstate-
ment, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Pattern Makers' League of North America, Pittsburgh Association,
AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining.'
CFIAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
' Cf Matter of York Corporation, 74 N L R B 934 , Matter of Conebuetaon Engineering
Company, 74 N L R B 556, Matter of The National Cash Register Company, 74
N L R B 1 350
° Having failed to comply with the filing requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of
the Act, as amended, the Intervenor will not be accorded a place on the ballot The Inter-
venor's contentions contained in the document it filed with the Board entitled "Objection
of Intervenoi to Proposed Denial of Status as Party In Interest and Request For Oral
Argument" are Hereby rejected and request for oral argument is hereby denied for reasons
stated in Matter of Rite-Form Corset Company, 75 N L R. B 174.