Baldwin Locomotive Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 30, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 803 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, STANDARD STEEL WORKS
DIVISION , EMPLOYER , and DISTRICT No. 3, PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE
OF NORTH AMERICA , PETITIONER
Case No. 6-R-1693.-Decided July 30, 1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in this case was held at Lewis-
town, Pennsylvania, on February 26, 1948, before W. G. Stuart Sher-
man, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Motions to dismiss, made by the Employer and the Intervenor and
referred by the hearing officer to the Board, are granted for the reasons
hereinafter stated.
The request for oral argument made by the Petitioner is denied, as
the record in our opinion adequately presents the issues. All parties
were afforded an opportunity to file briefs and actually did so.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following findings of fact :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Em-
ployer. The Intervenor is a labor organization affiliated with the
Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. The alleged appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a craft unit of all pattern makers and appren-
tices employed at the Employer's Burnham, Pennsylvania, plant. The
Intervenor and the Employer contend that such a unit is inappropriate
because it is inconsistent with the Employer's history of collective bar-
s Permitting intervention by United Steelworkers of America, C. I 0., herein called the
Intervenor , only for the limited purpose of proving a contract bar, was error on'the'part,
of the hearing officer. Matter of American Chain and Cable Co ., Case No 4-R-2752. The
record indicates , however , that the Intervenor was , in fact , permitted to participate in all
phases of the hearing , and we therefore find that no prejudice resulted.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 96.
803
804 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
gaining and with the pattern of collective bargaining in the basic steel
industry as a whole. The record reveals that the Employer's Burnham
plant produces predominantly forged or rolled products and is there-
fore part of the basic steel industry. It was one of 82 plants classified
as "basic steel" by the War Labor Board in 1944. The Intervenor
has represented the employees of the Burnham plant in a plant-wide
unit since its designation in a consent election held on April 16, 1941,
and has held a series of contracts covering such employees since that
time. Until recently, the pattern makers have been actively repre-
sented by the Intervenor and have participated in collective bargaining
on a plant-wide basis.
The record discloses that, at the Burnham plant, a main pattern
shop is located on the second floor of 1 of the 25 buildings included
within the plant facilities. This pattern shop is maintained prin-
cipally for the purpose of keeping patterns in repair, for use in the
steel foundry. Few new patterns are made there; almost all of the
new patterns used at the Burnham plant are made at another one of
the Employer's plants. There are 31 employees on the pattern shop
pay roll, 18 of whom are classified as pattern checkers, pattern makers,
and pattern-makers' apprentices, and 3 as pattern repairmen. These
are the classifications that the Petitioner herein seeks to represent.
The pattern makers and their apprentices are supervised by a pattern-
shop foreman who is directly responsible to the foundry superin-
tendent. An apprentice program for pattern makers is in existence
at the plant.
The Petitioner's contention that the pattern makers and their ap-
prentices at the Burnham plant constitute an appropriate unit, is
based on craft considerations and on the alleged inadequacy of their
representation as part of the present plant-wide unit. Although the
employees whom the Petitioner seeks to represent may be a craft, we
are of the opinion that, partly for the reasons set forth in our recent
National Tube Company decision,2 they ought not to be severed from
the existing plant-wide unit in this instance. We shall therefore order
that the petition be dismissed.
As 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, as
amended.
2 Matter of National Tube Company, 76 N. L. R B. 1199.
BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS
ORDER
805
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
employees of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Standard Steel Works
Division, filed by District No. 3, Pattern Makers League of North
America, be , and it hereby is, dismissed.
798767-49-vol. 78-52