Beckwith Machinery Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 9, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 521 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of BECKWITH MACHINERY COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , A. F. L.
Case No. 6-B-1069.-Decided February 9, 19145
Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay, by Mr. W. D. Armour, of Pitts-
burgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. A. C. Skundor, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Union.
Mr. Jack Mantel, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Association of Ma-
chinists, A. F. L., herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Beckwith Machinery Company, Bradford, Pennsylvania,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Jerome L.
Black, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Bradford, Penn-
sylvania, on January 5, 1945. 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 evi-
dence 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 an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
U
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Beckwith Machinery Company, a Delaware corporation, is engaged
in business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, at Pittsburgh,
Bradford, Wilkes Barre, and Harrisburg. At its Bradford plant,
which is the one involved in this proceeding, the Company sells and
services caterpillar tractors, and construction and oil field equipment.
60 N. L. R. B., No. 100.
521
522 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
During the year 1944, the Company purchased raw materials valued
in excess of $200,000, of which amount 90 percent was shipped -to its
Bradford plant from points outside Pennsylvania. During the same
period, the Company- sold products valued in excess of $260,000, of
which approximately 10 percent was shipped to points outside
Pennsylvania.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Association of Machinists, affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The parties stipulated that on October 8, 1944, the Union advised
the Company by letter that it represented a majority of the employees
and requested recognition as the exclusive bargaining representative.
The Company has refused to grant such recognition.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
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 Company's plant consists of an office, a parts, and a service
department, the latter group being composed of mechanics. The
Union contends, in effect, that all employees in the service and parts
.department, excluding office and supervisory employees, constitute an
appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. The Com-
pany would confine the unit to all service department employees, ex-
cluding the service manager, whom the Union would include.
The Union would include the service manager fir the reason that
this employee works with tools, and is therefore a working foreman.
The record shows that the service manager, also referred to as fore-
man of the mechanics, spends approximately 10 to 20 percent of his
time in working with the mechanics on various repair jobs, but only
'The Board agent reported that the Union submitted 13 authorization cards ; that the
Company's pay roll for the period ending November 19, 1944, contained the names of 10
employees in the alleged appropriate unit, and that the names of 9 persons appearing on
the cards were listed on the pay roll.
_ BECKWITH - MACHINERY COMPANY 523
.in emergency situations., The remaining time is spent in assigning
work to all the mechanics and helpers in the service department; he
approves all requests for parts; makes a final inspection of all com-
pleted jobs; checks and approves all time cards of the service em-
ployees. Having full charge of the shop, the service manager has
authority effectively to recommend hiring and discharge of employees
in his department. Since the service department manager comes
within the Board's customary definition of supervisory employees, we
shall exclude him.
There are only two employees in the parts department,'one of them,
Harmon, was designated as manager of that department a month
before the hearing. A major portion of the time of both employees
is spent performing clerical duties; they also hand out parts which are
requisitioned by the service department mechanics; and unload mer-
chandise and place stock into bins. Hartiton's duties are substantially
the same as those performed by his assistant, Hagborn, and both receive
the same rate of pay. From the record, it does not appear that
Harmon occupies a supervisory status within our customary defini-
tion thereof. Since the duties of the parts department employees are
closely allied to those of the employees in the service department, we
shall include them in the unit.
We find that all employees in the service and parts departments
of the Company's Bradford, Pennsylvania, plant, including the parts
manager, but excluding the service manager, office employees, and all
other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
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 Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
The Union urges that three persons, Hanawalt, Woodell, and Patter-
son, concerning whom the Union filed a charge with the Board alleging
that they have been discriminatorily discharged, be permitted to vote.
We shall permit the three persons to cast separate sealed ballots to be
opened and counted only if the election turns upon their votes, in
which latter event, the final disposition of the representation pro-
524 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ceedings may be deferred until the Board has decided in Case No.
6-C-934 whether or not their discharges were in violation of Section
8 (3) of the Act. Our ruling permitting Hanawalt, Woodell, and
Patterson to vote is not to be interpreted as in any way passing
upon the legality or illegality of their discharges 2
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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article 1II, 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 Beckwith Ma-
chinery Company, Bradford, Pennsylvania, 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 Sixth 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 Hanawalt, Woodell,
and Patterson, and employees who did not work during the said pay-
roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid
6f£, 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 International
Association of Machinists, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
2 See Matter of Ardiee Service, Inc., 52 N. L. R. B . 1509 , and cases cited therein. Cf.
Matter of Enid Cooperative Creamery 488ociation, Case No. 16-R-1013, Third Supplemental
Decision and Certification of Representatives , issUerl January 13, 1945.