American Gear & Mfg. Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 8, 1945

62 N.L.R.B. 201 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of MAURICE A. WHITE, DOING BUSINESS AS AMERICAN
GEAR & MFG. CO. AND AMERICAN STOCK GEAR COMPANY' and UNITED
STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 13-R-2914.-Decided June 8, 1945
Messrs. Harold M. Keele and John H. Boord, of Chicago, Ill., for
White.
Messrs. Oakley H. Mills and George H. Staley, of Chicago, Ill., for the
'Union.
Mr. Joseph J. Zyrkowski, of Chicago, Ill., for the Pattern Makers
League.
Mr. Louis Monas, 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 Union , alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Maurice A. White,
doing business as American Gear & Mfg. Co. and American Stock Gear
Company, Chicago , Illinois, herein called White , the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Leon A. Rosell , Trial Examiner . Said hearing was held at Chicago, Illi-
nois, on April 16, 1945. White , the Union , and the Pattern Makers League
of North America , Chicago Association , herein called the Pattern Makers
League, appeared and participated . All parties were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses , and to intro-
1 Name amended to conform to the testimony elicited at the hearing
2 The Pattern Makers League appeared solely for the purpose of protecting its contract interest
in pattern makers who are employed by White only at the Lmdahl plant foundry , hereinafter dis-
cussed. It withdrew from further participation in the hearing when it appeared that neither White
nor the Union sought to include any of the foundry employees in the bargaining unit,
62 N L. R. B, No. 34.
201
202 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
duce 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 an 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 WHITE
Maurice A. White operates two plants in Chicago, Illinois, under the
trade names of American Gear & Mfg. Co. and American Stock Gear
Company. These plants, known as the Clearing and Lindahl plants, man-
ufacture special gears in accordance with specifications' During 1944,
White purchased raw materials for the Clearing plant valued in excess of
$750,000, 90 percent of which was obtained from sources outside the State
of Illinois. During the same period, his sales at the Clearing plant were
valued in excess of $5,000,000, 90 percent of which was shipped to points
outside that State. White is almost wholly engaged in the production of
materials for war purposes.
We find that White is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations,, is a labor organization admitting to membership
\\Thite's employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
White has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the exclusive
bargaining representative of certain of his employees until the Union has
been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
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 appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of White's employees, within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
a It appears that the Clearing plant is operated under the name of American Gear & Mfg Co., and
the Lindahl plant under the name of American Stock Gear Company. The Lundahl plant, taken
over by White in 1943, consists of a machine shop and a foundry As previously indicated , neither
of the parties desires to include the foundry workers in the-bargaining unit At the Lindahl plant
machine shop , stock gears ale also manufactured
i The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 158 authorization cards, and that then e
were approximately 427 employees in its alleged appropriate unit of Clearing plant employees The
Trial Examinei stated on the record that the Union submitted 9 additional authorization c.uds
There are approximately 80 employees engaged it the Lindahl plant machine shop
0
»1Ea1CAN GEAR St NIFC, CO.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
203
The Union seeks a unit of production and maintenance employees
engaged solely at White's Clearing Plant, asserting that it has limited its
organizing activities to such employees . White, however, urges as appro-
priate a unit embracing the production and maintenance employees at his
Lindahl machine shop as well as those at his Clearing plant.
The Clearing plant and Lindahl plant machine shop are within several
miles of each other. The machines they use, their manufacturing processes,
and their finished products are identical. If the manufacturing process
has been started at one, any succeeding operational step may be performed
at the other. Employee skills, duties, wage schedules, seniority interests,
and working conditions are similar , and interchange of employees and
machines feasible! There is centralized supervision ,' one grievance pro-
cedure, and a single personnel policy. From the foregoing facts, and absent
a history of collective bargaining based on a different grouping of workers,
we are persuaded that the appropriate unit should consist of the produc-
tion and maintenance employees of both the Clearing platit and the Lindahl
plant machine shop.'
Controversy also centers about the following categories , White urging
their inclusion , and the Union their exclusion :
Nspectors:' The Union contends they are supervisory employees They
check and examine the product while in the process of production, and also
upon completion. They may discuss the results of their inspection with the
individual production employee concerned , report their findings to his
foreman, and consult with their own immediate superiors as well. In the
course of their examinations , unfinished or completed products may be
scrapped and the operation of defective machines temporarily halted. How-
ever, their primary function is to subject to scrutiny the material and
machine involved, not the worker. They receive training similar to that
given to machine operators, are hired, in most instances, as inspectors, and
are required, as are machine operators, to'be familiar with the reading of
blueprints. They are assigned to production department units, supervised
by production .personnel as part of the production division, and are hourly
hourly paid as are other production workers They occasionally are trans-
ferred to the position of machine operator and machine operators are some-
times made inspectors . It is evident that their work is closely associated
s In 1944, shortly after operations were commenced at the Lundahl plant machine shop, about 40
employees and a corresponding number of machines were transferred there from the Clearing plant
Since then , from 12 to 15 employees were transferred to the Lindahl machine shop from the
Clearing plant and 4 or 5 from the Lindahl plant machine shop to the Clearing plant; some transfers
of supervisory employees also have been made between these 2 operations
9 The employees at both operations are under 'the top supervision of the chief engineer in charge
of manufacturing.
7 Cf. Matter of Newman Cotton Mills, 57 N. L. R. B 917
Floor inspectors (departmental ) ; final inspectors ; and gage inspectors
204 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
with production, and that they are not supervisory employees. We shall
include them.°
Checkers These employees ascertain the time spent by machine oper-
ators on various production jobs. Their findings, translated into time
tickets, are used by the office timekeeping department to determine individ-
ual job labor costs. This work was previously performed by the-machine
operators themselves, but was turned over to the checkers to avoid a
necessary cessation of work on the part of operator and machine. A produc-
tion supervisor is officially in charge of them. They are hourly paid as are
production workers. It is clear that these employees, performing their
duties in the plant under production supervision and under working condi-
tions similar to those of production employees, should be placed in the
unit, since their functions are like those of plant clericals." We shall,
therefore, include them.
Guards • These employees perform the usual duties associated with their
classification, including the checking of employee identification, and the
punching of clocks. Although not armed, -they are militarized and uni-
formed. In accordance with our usual practice of not including such em-
ployees in production and maintenance units, we shall exclude them.11
We find that all production and maintenance employees at White's
Clearing plant and Lindahl plant machine shop, including the stock chaser,
instructor and set-up, assistant receiving clerks,' checkers, and inspectors,
but excluding office clericals, militarized guards, receiving clerk, chief ship-
ping clerk, traffic manager, chief inspector, assistant chief inspector, super-
visors (also known as assistant foremen), foremen," and all other super-
visory 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 col-
lective 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 an election by secret ballot among the employees in
the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of the Direction of'Election herein, subject to
the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
0 See Matter of Sangamo Electric Company, 59 N L R B 364
10 See Matter of Shartle Brothers Machine Company, 57 N L R. B 1546
11 See Matter of National Founds y & Machine Corporation, 57 N L R B 1535
12 Stock chaser, instructor and set-up, and assistant receiving clerk are not supervisory employees
within the meaning of our customary definition ,
13 Receiving clerk, chief shipping clerk, traffic manager, chief inspector , assistant chief inspector,
supervisors (also known as assistant foremen), and foremen are supervisory employees within the
meaning of our customary definition
AMERICAN GEAR & MFG. CO. 205
- 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 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 Maurice A. White, doing
business as American Gear & Mfg. Co. and American Stock Gear Com-
pany, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as
possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direc-
tion, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Thirteenth 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 the employees in the unit found appropriate
in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did
not work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 election, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by United Steelworkers of-
America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining.