American Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 11, 1948

76 N.L.R.B. 647 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of AMERICAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
METAL POLISHERS , BUFFERS, PLATERS AND HELPERS INTERNATIONAL
UNION, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 10-B-2716.-Decided March 11, 1948
Messrs. Jac Chanzbliss and 1-17. G. Alexander, of Chattanooga, Tenn.,
for the Employer.
Mr. Marvin Farmer, of Nashville, Tenn., for the Petitioner.
Mr. James F. Grubbs, of Nashville, Tenn., and Mr. R. C. Higgins,
of Lewisburg, Tenn., for the Intervenor.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held
at Chattanooga, Tennessee, on December 22, 1947, before Frank H.
.Stout, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed..
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
13oard 1 makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
American Manufacturing Company is a Tennessee corporation en-
gaged in the business of manufacturing metal stampings and fabri-
cated wire products. Its principal raw materials are steel and wire.
During the past 12 months the Employer purchased raw materials
of a value in excess of $100,000, more than 90 percent of which was
received from points outside the State of Tennessee. During the
same period, its sales of finished products exceeded $500,000 in value,
of which more than 90 percent was shipped to points outside the State.
. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
1 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned
Board Members [ Houston , Murdock, and Gray].
76 N. L. R. B., No. 100.
647
648 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer-
Stove Mounters' International Union of North America, herein
called the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT; THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING
REPRESENTATION
The Petitioner seeks a craft unit composed of all platers, polishers,
and helpers in the Employer's plant. There are approximately 175
employees in the plant, 7 of whom are in the unit sought by the Peti-
tioner. The Employer and the Intervenor assert that the existing
plant-wide unit, including the employees sought by the Petitioner, is
the appropriate one. The Intervenor has represented these employees
in a plant-wide unit for 7 or 8 years.-' Both the Intervenor and the
Employer agree that their present contract is not a bar to this
proceeding.
It is clear from the record that the unit which the Petitioner seeks
to represent is composed of unskilled manual laborers. The oldest
employee in the plating room, who testified as a witness for the Peti-
tioner, stated that his work was not even semi-skilled, but that he
merely stood at a tank, and, when someone else put a metal part in his
tank, he took it out, rinsed it in hot water, dried it, and placed it on a,
truck. None of the employees so engaged has any technical knowledge
of the composition of the liquids in the tanks, or of the electric charge
carried in each; nor do any of them exercise any independent discre-
tion or judgment on the job. The opinion of all witnesses was that a
new employee could be trained in a few minutes to perform the required
tasks as competently as an employee who had worked there for years.
There is considerable interchange of personnel between the plating
room and other parts of the plant. There is a substantially uniform
wage rate throughout the plant, with a slight differential for employees
who work with paints and acids to compensate them for use of rubber
gloves and damage to their clothes.
We find no justification in the record for severing this group of em;
ployees from the plant-wide unit. Accordingly we find that the
3 The collective bargaining history of the Employer and the Intervenor is outlined in
Matter of American Manufacturing Co, 73 N L. R. B 920 Following the election
directed in that case, the International Association of Machinists has represented employees
in the Employer 's machine shop.
AMERICAN MANUFACTURING COMPANY 649
proposed unit is inappropriate, and we shall, therefore, dismiss the
petition herein.
Inasmuch as we have held that the bargaining unit sought to be
established by the Petitioner is inappropriate for collective bargaining
purposes, we find that no question exists concerning the representation
of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1)
of the Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record in
the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the
petition for investigation and certification of representatives of em-
ployees of American Manufacturing Company, Chattanooga, Tennes-
see, filed by Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Helpers International
Union, A. F. L., be, and it hereby is, dismissed.