American Sheet Metal Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 13, 1946

69 N.L.R.B. 467 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of AMERICAN SHEET METAL WoRKs and UNITED STEEL-
WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 15-R-1635.-Decided July 13, 1946
Mr. Samuel Lang, of New Orleans, La., for the Company.
Mr. Michael J. Neary, of New Orleans, La., for the Union.
Mr. Lewis H. Ulraan, 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
American Sheet Metal Works, New Orleans, Louisiana, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before C. Paul Barker, Trial
Examiner. The hearing was held at New Orleans, Louisiana, on May
8, 1946. The Company and the Union appeared and participated.
All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine 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,1 the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
American Sheet Metal Works is a corporation having its office and
plant in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is engaged in the fabrication,
sale, and distribution of sheet metal products. The principal raw
materials used in connection with the operations of the Company are
1 A portion of the testimony at the hearing was inadvertently lost when the reporter
ran out of tape. The Company has submitted a stipulation covering this testimony , signed
by all of the parties , which is hereby accepted ; the record is corrected accordingly.
69 N. L . R. B., No. 56.
467
468 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
steel, copper, aluminum, lumber, paint, and hardware. Annually, the
Company uses raw materials valued in excess of $100,000, 60 percent
of which is purchased outside of the State of Louisiana. Annually,
it manufactures finished products valued in excess of $200,000, approx-
imately 60 percent of which is shipped and sold outside the State of
Louisiana.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to mem-
bership 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 certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
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
In accordance with a stipulation of the parties, and upon the entire
record, we find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company, excluding clerical employees and all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend`
such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.2
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We are of the opinion that the question concerning representation
which has arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
The C. I. O. requested at the hearing that the pay roll used to de-
termine eligibility to vote in the election be one between the dates
March 21, 1946, and April 13, 1946. This request is based upon testi-
mony in the record that from the day the petition herein was filed,
2 The unit herein is substantially the same as the unit found appropriate in two previous
,cases involving the Company (Matter of American Sheet Metal Works, 33 N. L. R. B. 750,
and ibid, 41 N. L. R. B. 1383). In these cases a journeyman and an apprentice were
excluded from the unit. The journeyman is no longer employed and the apprentice is
now employed as a mechanic within the unit agreed upon by the parties.
AMERICAN SHEET -METAL WORKS 469
March 21, 1946, to the day of the hearing, May 8, 1946, 35 of the em-
ployees within the unit petitioned for had been separated from employ-
ment and that more severances were contemplated at the time of the
hearing as a result of a shortage of raw materials occasioned by a
strike in the steel industry.
The record discloses that when the hearing was held the Company
was operating on odds and ends of steel that it had on hand and that it
had no expectation of receiving new shipments for a considerable
period of time. Moreover, the Company has no policy concerning the
reemployment of persons separated from its employ. Accordingly,
and based upon all the peculiar facts presented in this case, we find
that the employees who were laid off up to the time of hearing were
not temporarily laid off, within our usual meaning of that term."
The Union's request for an eligibility date prior to the separations is
denied.
The Company opposes an election at this time as its officers are
contemplating possible changes in the nature of the Company's busi-
ness which, if placed in effect, would require a smaller working force
composed chiefly of skilled workers. It urges that if these plans
materialize and an early determination of representatives is made the
workers retained might be represented by a bargaining agent that
they did not choose. Finally, the Company urges that if it should
return to its former operations and enlarge its working force, its em-
ployees at that time might also be represented by a bargaining agent
that they did not choose. The Company's contentions are not novel
and we find no merit in them.
We perceive no reason to delay an immediate determination of rep-
resentatives because of these speculative considerations. Should either
of these hypotheses materialize , however, and other requisite facts be
proved, we shall at an appropriate future time entertain a new petition
within less than 1 year from the date of any certification we may issue
in the present proceeding.'
Those eligible to vote in the election hereinafter directed shall be
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 Direc-
tion.
3In his testimony the Company's president stated at one point that he considered the
severed employees to be temporarily laid off . But a reading of his entire testimony per-
suades us that, for all practical purposes, these eiuployees have been definitively separated
from the Company 's employ, although there is some likelihood that they may be rehired if
and when full operations are resumed.
4 See Matter of M. P. Molder , Inc., 56 N . L. it. B. 16 , and Matter of Aluminum Company .
of America, 52 N. L. it. B. 1040, for the prerequisites to the entertainment of a new
petition less than 1 year from the issuance of a certification.
470 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 American Sheet
Metal Works, New Orleans, Louisiana, 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Fifteenth 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 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
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, CIO, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.