Barrett Equipment Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 14, 1943

52 N.L.R.B. 1373 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of BARRETT EQUIPMENT COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT No. 9
Case No. 14-R-715.-Decided October 14, 1943
Messrs . Charles H. Spoehrer and A. A. Ahner, both of St. Louis,
Mo., for the Company. -
Mr. Robert Troup, of St. Louis, Mo., for the I. A. M.
Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board. I
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Association of Machinists,
District No. 9,1 herein called the I. A. M., alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Barrett Equipment Company, St. Louis, Missouri, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Keith W. Blinn,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on Sep-
tember 3,1943. The Company and the I. A. M. appeared, participated,
and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
At the hearing, the Company moved for a dismissal of the petition
herein on the ground that the unit sought by the I. A. M. is inappropri-
ate; said motion was referred by the Trial Examiner to the Board.
For reasons stated in Section IV herein, the motion is denied. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an oppor-
tunity to file briefs with the Board.'
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
1 We take judicial notice of the fact that the International Association of Machinists is
now affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and all papers in this proceeding are
amended accordingly.
2 Subsequent to the hearing , the Company moved to file affidavits indicating interchange
of personnel between other departments of the Company and the machine shop . The Union
filed a statement in opposition . In view of the fact that the evidence offered is merely
cumulative, the motion is hereby denied.
52 N. L . R. B., No. 227.
1373
1374 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Barrett Equipment Company, a Missouri corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of automobile brake service
equipment. For this purpose, it operates and maintains a plant located
in St. Louis, Missouri, with which we are concerned herein. During
the fiscal year ending April 30, 1943, the Company purchased raw ma-
terials for use at its St. Louis plant valued at approximately $900,000,
part of which, valued at approximately $163,000, was received from
points outside the State of Missouri. During the same period, the
Company's finished products were estimated in value at approximately
$1,750,000, of which about $120,000 represents the value of the finished
products shipped to points outside the State of Missouri. The Com-
pany admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Association of Machinists, District No. 9, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization ad-
mitting to membership'employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize the I. A. M. as the exclusive
bargaining representative of the Company's employees on the ground
that the unit sought by the I. A. M. is inappropriate.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the I. A. M. represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate .3
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
The I. A. M. seeks a unit comprised of all employees of the Company
engaged in its machine shop, excluding watchmen, office and clerical
employees, and those employees customarily defined by the Board as
supervisory. The Company contends that the unit should consist of
8 The Regional Director reported that the I. A. M. submitted 22 designation cards, 21 of
which bore apparently genuine original signatures ; that the names of 13 persons appearing
on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll of July 28, 1943, which contains the
names of 24 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that the cards, were dated between
July 1 and July 10, 1943.
BARRETT EQUIPMENT COMPANY 1375
all its employees with the exception of watchmen, clerical and office
employees, and supervisors.
The record discloses that the Company's plant consists, as of the
date of the hearing, of four adjacent buildings separated by party
walls through which entrances have been built; that the employees in
the unit sought by the I. A. M. are located in what is known as the
"machine shop" which is in Building "A"; that the machine shop is
physically separated from other departments of the Company; that
the employees engaged therein, by reason of their training, possess
skills differing from those possessed by other employees lacking such
training or experience; that the machine shop employees consist of
workers generally designated as machinists or operators ; and that they
are accountable only to their own supervisors, and not to those of other
departments. The evidence further reveals that there has been, until
recently, little interchange between these employees and those of other
departments, and that such interchanges have been of a temporary,
incidental or minor nature; 4 and that the major portion of the machine
production work of the Company, other than that done outside the
company premises, is performed in the machine shop by the employees
which the I. A. M. seeks to represent.
The record further discloses that the Company has had no previous
history of collective bargaining; that the I. A. M. is the sole labor
organization which has, thus far, evinced an interest in representing
any of the employees of the Company; and that it has confined its
organizational activities to the employees engaged in the machine shop.
We have frequently found that employees similar to those which the
I. A. M. seeks to represent constitute a cohesive and identifiable
group; 5 we have also held that such employees might well be included
within an industrial unite However, in view of the fact that no labor
organization seeks to represent the employees of the Company upon
the basis of the wider unit, no question concerning representation
exists with respect thereto. Therefore, without precluding future re-
consideration of the appropriateness of the industrial unit, we find,
at this time, that all employees of the Company engaged in its machine
There is some evidence that certain employees in the machine shop who perform the
major portion of their work there also perform work on machines located in other depart-
ments of the Company. Conversely , there are a few employees in other departments who
use machines located in the machine shop. However, the work performed by these latter
employees is in conjunction with their duties in the other departments , and the major
portion of their time is spent in departments other than the machine shop. Other tham
with respect to these employees , the contention of the Company that there is frequent
interchange of employees between the departments is not borne out by the record. We
are of the opinion that these interchanges are not such as destroy the functional coherence
of the unit hereinafter found appropriate.
5 Matter of American Steel Foundries , 51 N. L . R. B. 78; Matter of Armour & Com-
pany, 49 N. L . R. B. 733 ; Matter of General Batteries , Inc., 27 N. L. R. B . 1021, at 1033;
Matter of Waterbury Clock Company , 4 N. L. R. B. 120.
$ Matter of American Steel Foundries, supra; Matter of Armour & Company, supra.
I
1376 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
shop, excluding all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of
employees, or effectively recommend such action, and all other em-
ployees of the Company, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.7 '
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 em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the,
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
k
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Barrett Equip-
ment Company, St. Louis, Missouri, 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 supervision
of the Regional Director for the Fourteenth 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 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, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
International Association of Machinists, District No. 9, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
' A contrary finding would postpone indefinitely the right of an identifiable and cohesive
group to bargain collectively. To hold thus would be clearly against the spirit of the Act.
See Matter of Indianapolis Water Company, 48 N. L. it. B. 1399.