Blaw-Knox Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 19, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 209 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of UNION STEEL CASTINGS DIVISION OF BLAW-KNOX COM-
PANY, EMPLOYER and PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA,.
PITTSBURGH ASSOCIATION, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 6-RC-349.-Decided January 19, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Erwin Lerten,.
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. United Steelworkers of America, CIO, herein called the Inter-
venor, contends that its current contract with the Employer is a bar
to this proceeding. The Employer and the Intervenor excuted a con-
tract on June 1, 1947, td terminate on May 31, 1949. On July 26,1948,
the parties entered into a supplemental agreement which, with certain
modifications, extended the contract of June 1, 1947, until May 31, 1950.
The Petitioner filed its petition on March 24, 1949.
We find that neither the 1947 contract nor the 1948 extension agree-
ment is a bar to this proceeding. The 1947 contract is not a bar because
the petition was filed prior to the expiration date of that contract.
The 1948 extension agreement is not a bar because it is a premature
extension of the 1947 contract, the original term of which has expired.'
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to sever from the multiplant unit of
employees presently represented by the Intervenor, a unit of all pat-
1 Western Electric Company, 87 NLRB 544; Gimbel Brothers, Inc., 87 NLRB 449;
A. 0. Smith Corporation, 86 NLRB 466 ; Bethlehem Steel Company, Shipbuilding Division,
86 NLRB 577.
88 NLRB No. 55.
209
210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ternmakers, pattern checkers, and patternmakers' apprentices em-
ployed at the Employer's Union Steel Castings Division. In the
alternative, the Petitioner requests a unit of these employees in all
of the Employer's divisions. The Intervenor contends that the pro-
posed craft unit is not appropriate in view of a history of collective
bargaining on a multiplant basis for production and maintenance
employees, and because of the integrated nature of the Employer's
^operations.2 It takes the position that the appropriate unit should
consist of all production and maintenance employees at all divisions
of the Employer engaged in manufacturing operations. In the event,
however, that the Board finds this unit to be inappropriate, the Inter-
venor contends that the unit should be (1) all production and mainte-
nance employees in the divisions which are covered by the current
:agreement between the Employer and the Intervenor, or (2) all pro-
duction and maintenance employees at the Union Steel Castings
Division. The Employer takes no position with respect to the pro-
posed units.
The Employer's Operations
The Employer operates six manufacturing divisions. They are
the Blaw-Knox Division at Blawnox, Pennsylvania ; the National
Alloy Division at Blawnox, Pennsylvania; the Lewis Foundry and
Machine Division at Groveton, Pennsylvania; the Union Steel Cast-
ings Division at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; the Pittsburgh Rolls Divi-
sion at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and the Buflovak Division at
Buffalo, New York. Patternmakers and pattern checkers are em-
ployed only at the 'Union Steel Castings Division and the Lewis
Foundry and Machine Division.
The Bargaining History
Since 1937, the Employer and the Intervenor have had collective
bargaining agreements covering the production and maintenance em-
ployees at all of the divisions except the Buflovak Division. When the
Buflovak Division was acquired by the Employer on April 30, 1945,
the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, CIO,
herein called the UE, had a collective bargaining agreement with the
seller for the production and maintenance employees at that plant.
This contract was assumed by the Employer, and has continued in
effect until the present time.
2 The Intervenor argues that the Employer's operations are part of the "basic steel"
industry, and therefore a craft unit should not be severed from the present industrial unit.
The Employer and the Petitioner contend that the Employer's operations are not part of
the "basic steel" industry. On the record before us, we find no merit in the Intervenor's
contention that the Employer's operations, and particularly the divisions with which we are
herein concerned, are part of the "basic steel" industry.
UNION STEEL CASTINGS DIVISION OF BLAW-KNOX COMPANY 211
The Employer has recognized the Pattern Makers League of North
America, herein called the League, as the bargaining representa-
tive for patternmakers and apprentices at the Lewis Foundry and
Machine Division since 1932. At the present time there is no written
contract covering these employees, but the parties are operating pur-
suant to an oral agreement.
Since about 1932, the Union Steel Castings Division has had a
verbal agreement with its patternmakers that when there is any in-
crease in wages, they will receive whichever raise is larger-the one
obtained by the League for patternmakers in job shops in the area,
or the increase obtained by the Intervenor for the Employer's pattern-
makers.3 As a result of this agreement, patternmakers and appren-
tices at the Union Steel Castings Division have at times received
greater wage raises than the other production and maintenance em-
ployees at that division. The Intervenor made no objection to this
procedure.
The Employer has a uniform labor relations policy for the five divi-
sions covered by the contract with the Intervenor.' Contracts be-
tween the Employer and the Intervenor are negotiated by a labor rela-
tions committee consisting of the Employer's coordinator of indus-
trial relations and two of the division heads. The Buflovak division
handles its own contract negotiations with UE, with the coordina-
tor of industrial relations and the chairman of the labor relations
committee acting in an advisory capacity.
The Patternmakers Unit
There are approximately six patternmakers, four pattern checkers,
two patternmakers' apprentices,-and four pattern storage men in the
pattern shop department of the Union Steel Castings Division, all of
whom work under the supervision of the pattern shop foreman. The
employees in the unit sought by the Petitioner spend most of their time
in the pattern shop which is located in a separate building.6 The
pattern storage men spend about 90 percent of their time working in
two other buildings where patterns are stored.6
$ The chairman of the Employer ' s labor relations commitee testified that he thought it
advisable for the patternmakers ' to belong to both the Petitioner and the Intervenor,
because they then could get the higher of the two raises.
4 The heads of all divisions are supposed to clear any proposed changes in labor rela-
tions policy with the coordinator of industrial relations . This rule is sometimes ignored
by the division heads.
6 On complicated jobs, the pattern checkers frequently check the first mold in the foundry
to see that the cores are all in their proper place.
6 The plant at the Union Steel Castings Division consists of a number of buildings cover-
ing an area of approximately 5 miles.
882191-51-15
212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The patternmakers spend. the greater part of their time making new
patterns .7 They also repair old patterns. The pattern checkers check
the work of the patternmakers, and also patterns sent to the plant by
job shops and customers. The Employer has no formal apprentice-
ship program for patternmakers 8 All patternmakers. must have
served an apprenticeship of 5 to 6 years in order to be hired by the
Employer. The patternmakers and pattern checkers are the most
skilled and the highest paid nonsupervisory employees at the Union
Steel Castings Division.9
The pattern storage men handle the storage of, and keep records of,
the patterns. Their duties are not in any way connected with the
making or repairing of patterns.
Conclusion
It is clear that the Employer's patternmakers and pattern checkers
constitute a well-recognized craft group, such as the Board has fre-
quently held may be represented in a separate unit notwithstanding
their previous inclusion in a broader unit.10 The Board normally
requires that craft severance be coextensive with an established multi-
plantunit.11 As these craftsmen are employed only at this Employer's
Union Steel Castings Division and Lewis Foundry and Machine Divi-
sion, we shall permit the severance of these employees at those two
divisions," taken together as a single unit. However, we shall make
no final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the
desires of the employees as expressed in the election hereinafter
directed.
Accordingly, we shall direct that an election be held among all pat-
ternmakers, pattern checkers, and patternmakers' apprentices em-
ployed at the Employer's Union Steel Castings Division, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, and Lewis Foundry and Machine Division, Groveton,
Pennsylvania, excluding all other employees and supervisors 13 If a
majority of these employees select the Petitioner as their bargaining
7 The majority of their work is with wood patterns , but they occasionally make metal
patterns.
8 Because there is no formal program , it will take the apprentices approximately twice
as long to complete their training at this division as it would take at a job shop having
a regular apprenticeship program.
8 The pattern checkers ' work requires that they be skilled patternmakers.
10 The Westinghouse Air Brake Company, 85 NLRB 1133 ; Aluminum Company of Amer-
ica, 85 NLRB 915; Lynchburg Foundry Company, 83 NLRB 415; TV. A. Jones Foundry Qr
Machine Co., 83 NLRB 211.
"American Viscose Corporation , 79 NLRB 958.
12 Cf. American Steel Foundries, 85 NLRB 19.
18 In view of the nature of their duties, we shall exclude the pattern storage men from
the unit. The Westinghouse Air Brake Company , supra ; The Buckeye Steel Castings Com-
pony, 75 NLRB 982. Dow Chemical Company, Bay City Division, 77 NLRB 328.
UNION STEEL CASTINGS DIVISION OF BLAW-KNOX COMPANY 213
representative, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to
constitute a separate unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 14
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the. Region in which this case was heard,
and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Relations Board
Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appro=
priate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during
the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction
of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-
roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid
off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are
not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be
represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Pattern Makers
League of North America. Pittsburgh Association, AFL, or by United
Steelworkers of America, CIO, or by neither.
"Either participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by , the Regional Director . have its name removed from the ballot.