Armour and Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 29, 1949

84 N.L.R.B. 813 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of ARMOUR AND COMPANY, EMPLOYER and AUTOMOBILES
MECHANICS LODGE, No. 701, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION -or MA-
CHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-408.-Decided June 29,1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Richard C.
Swander, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the Provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner, and United Packinghouse Workers of America,
CIO, and its Local 347, herein together called the Intervenor, are labor
organizations claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
3. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting of all em-
ployees of the Employer's auto repair department at its Chicago plant
including mechanics, body and fender men, their helpers and appren-
tices, stockmen, greasers, and tire repairmen, excluding all other clas-
sifications, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act: The Inter-
venor and the Employer assert that the employees sought by the Peti-
tioner may not appropriately be severed from the existing production
and maintenance unit.
In January 1947, following a consent election, Local'347 was certified
as the representative of a unit consisting of all employees in the Em-
ployer's garage at 45th and Packers Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, "ex-
eluding office ,and clerical employees and supervisors. This unit
included, the employees here _ sought as a separate unit by the.Peti-
tioner, together with several other classifications of garage employees,
such as washers, paper handlers, dumpers, and other laborers who work
in the general area of the garage building. Following this certifica-
tion, the Intervenor bargained for these employees together'with the
84 N. L: R: B.; No. 88.
8f3'
853396-50-vol. 84-55
814 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
production and maintenance employees , for whom it held a Nation-
wide master contract , which had become effective as of December 19,
1946.1 , On August 11, 1948 ,-the Employer and the Intervenor entered
into a new master agreement . Except for an interval during which the
Employer raised a question as to the continuing majority status of
Local 347 ,2 the Employer has, continued to recognize-the Intervenor as
representative of the employees in the Chicago operation , including
the garage employees, and lias continued to deal with it under the
terms of the master contract covering all production and maintenance
employees.
The employees sought to be' represented by the Petitioner, work
under separate supervision , in a separate area on the first floor of the
garage building , where, they service and grease gasoline -driven and
Diesel cars , trucks, tractors, and lifts , used in and above the Employer's
Chicago plant . The mechanics , some of whom purchase tlieir on
tools, perform engine rebuilding , battery , charging and installing, re-
pairs to electrical^wiring , and tire and body work . Among those clas-
sified as mechanics are welders who do some mechanical work when
they are not engaged in welding. The stockmen order and'distribute
parts and tools . The greasers perform the work that their name
implies.
The mechanics and the welders are required to have a certain amount
of experience and skill before employment in the auto repair depart-
ment. There is, however, no apprenticeship system in the shop and
employees are assigned from job to job as they acquire more or less
skill in their various trades. One employee is classed as a student
mechanic, but no definite training schedule has been set for him, nor
has he been assigned any specific period within which his training is to
be completed. A substantial part of the work in the shop is compara-
tively unskilled, such as repairing tires, charging batteries, and greas-
ing and oiling motor vehicles. Neither the stockmen nor the greasers,
1 Since 1939 , the Employer has negotiated Nation-wide master contracts with the,
Intervener , for and on behalf of its locals , covering the Employer ' s production and
maintenance employees
2 On July 24 , 1948, the Employer , having observed a diminution in the number of.
dues check-offs among its Chicago employees , filed a representation petition seeking
an election among the production and maintenance employees in its Chicago operation.
This petition was dismissed by the Board ' s Regional Director on August 24, 1948, because
Local 347 was not then in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and ( h) of the Act.
The Employer and the Intervenor assert that , pursuant to the terms of a certain
letter appended to the national contract , the Employer again accorded recognition to
Local 347 immediately following the dismissal of the Employer 's petition, and that the
master contract as applied to the Chicago employees , constitutes a bar to the petition
in this case The Petitioner asserts that as of October , 8, 1948 , the date of filing of its
petition , the, Employer had not again formally recognized Local 347 as representative
of the ' Chicago employees. It is clear that , in any event , the Employer has resumed
recognition of Local 347 as the representative of these employees . In- view of our
decision -as- to the proposed unit hereinafter set forth , we find it unnecessary to resolve
the contiact bar issue raised by the parties.
ARMOUR 'AND COMPANY 815
who are among those sought to be included in the unit, do any me-
chanical work. The record discloses that there are other skilled main-
tenance mechanics employed in the Chicago plant, whom the Petitioner
does .not seek to- represent . The record does , not, however ,reveal, their
exact classifications nor the nature - of their duties 3 -
In view- of- the, entire , record, we believe that the employees sought
to be _ represented_by the Petitioner' do not constitute, a skilled craft
group, or a unit which on any other basis may be severed from the
broader unit of which they presently are 'a part 4 Accordingly, we
find that no question exists concerning the representation of employees
within an appropriate unit and shall therefore direct that the petition
be dismissed. "
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and
certification of representatives of employees of Armour and Company,,
Chicago, Illinois, filed by the Automobile Mechanics Lodge, No: 701,'
International Association -of Machinists be, and it hereby is, dis-'
missed.
5 The record discloses only- that there are, among a group of employees, who work
under the supervision of the 'master mechanic, employees classified as machinists, to-`
gether with steamfitters, plumbers, electricians, and millwrights.
4 Matter of Gulf Oil Corporation, 79 N. L. R. B. 1274, and cases cited therein. Cf.
utter of Cities Service Refining Corporation, 83 N. L. R. B. 890: