Bucyrus-Erie Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 12, 1942

41 N.L.R.B. 939 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of BIIOYRUS-ERIE COMPANY and STEEL WoRSERs
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE (C. I. 0. )
Case No. R-3816.Decided June 12, 1942
Jurisdiction : machinery manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition ; supplementary agreement executed
after notice of rival union's claim of representation held no bar; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees at one of the Company's plants, excluding supervisory employees; the
chief inspector; designers; janitors in the industrial relations department;
male clerks in the rating and routing division, the iron foundry, and the stores
and stock department; female clerks, typists, and stenographers; and dis-
patchers and timekeepers.
Mr. F. B. Quinn, of Erie, Pa., and Mr. Leo Mann, of Milwaukee,
Wis., for the Company.
Mr. Philip M. Curran, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the S. W. O. C.
Mr. John A. Spaeder, of Erie, Pa., for the E. M. B. U.
Mr. William F. Sch arnikow, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Steel Workers Organizing Committee,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, herein called
the S. W. O. C., alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Bucyrus-Erie Company,
Erie, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before W. G. Stuart Sherman, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Erie, Pennsylvania, on May 11, 1942. The Company, the S. W.
O. C., and Excavating Machinery Builders' Union of Erie, Pennsyl-
vania, unaffiliated, herein called the E. M. B. U., appeared, partici-
pated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
41 N. L. R. B., No. 168.
939
940 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Bucyrus-Erie Company, a Delaware corporation with plants at
Erie, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; Evansville, Indiana; and
South Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is engaged in the production, sale, and
distribution of power shovels, drag lines, cranes, tractor winches,
trailers, and gun carriage mounts. The present proceeding is con-
cerned only with the Company's plant at Erie, Pennsylvania. During
the calendar year 1941, the Company purchased raw materials valued
in excess of $1,500,000 outside the State of Pennsylvania for use in
its Erie, Pennsylvania, plant. During the same period, the Company
sold over $5,000,000 worth of the products manufactured at its Erie,
Pennsylvania, plant, 93 percent of which was sold and shipped to pur-
chasers outside the State of Pennsylvania. The Company admits that
it is engaged in commerce, within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Steel Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
Excavating Machinery Builders' Union of Erie, Pennsylvania, is
an unaffiliated labor organization, admitting to membership em-
ployees of the Company. -
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize the S. W. O. C. and asserts
that'an existing contract with the E. M. B. U. is a bar to the present
proceeding. - -
The E. M. B. U. has been recognized by the Company since August
24, 1937. On April 2, 1941, the Company and the E. M. B. U. signed
a contract dealing generally with terms and conditions of employ-
ment. This contract was to remain in force "until January 1, 1942,
and thereafter, until thirty (30) days after either party hereto gives
notice in writing to the other of its desire to amend, alter, or change
particular provisions of said agreement." On November 19, 1941,
the E. M. B. U. requested the Company to make a new contract.
After two , or three conferences, however, the Company and the
E. M. B. U., on- December 16, 1941, executed a "supplement" to the
existing contract, amending some of the provisions and extending the
term "until January 1, 1943, and thereafter until thirty ,(30)-.days
BUCYRUS-ERIE COMPANY 941
after either party hereto gives notice in writing to the other of its
desire to amend, alter, or change particular provisions of said agree-
ment." In the meantime, the Company had received a letter from the
S. W. 0. C., dated November 25, 1941, advising it that the S. W. 0. C.
represented a majority of-the employees in the appropriate unit and
claimed recognition. The petition herein was filed on December 26,
1941.
Since the supplement to the original contract was made with
knowledge of the S. W. 0. C.'s rival claim of majority representa-
tion, and since the term of the original contract expired on January 1,
1942, 7ieither the supplement nor the original contract is a bar to the
present proceeding.'
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced in evidence at
the hearing, shows that the S. W. 0. C. represents a substantial num-
ber of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company- at its Erie, Penn-
sylvania, plant, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2,(6)
and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
At the hearing, the parties reached agreement as to the inclusion
or exclusion of every category of the Company's employees except a
group of employees known as dispatchers and timekeepers, whom the
Company and the E. M. B. U. would include and- the S. W. 0. C.
would exclude. Aside from this group, the parties agreed that the
appropriate unit consists of all production and maintenance em-
ployees,3 excluding supervisory employees ; the chief inspector ; de-
I See Matter of Grant Stoiage Batteries Company and Unsted Electrical Radio & Machine
1loikeis of America, Local 11110, 35 N L R B 453, Matter of Philadelphia Dairy Prod-
ucts Co ., Inc. and Local Industrial Union No. 1119, Congress of Industrial Organizations, 36
N. L R B 737.
2 The Regional Director reported that the S . W. O. C. submitted 3173 applications for
membership , of which 5 were dated from July 1940 to May 1941 , inclusive ; 67 in June
1941 ; 103- in July 1941 ; 30 in August 1941; 20 from September to December 1941, ' inclu-
sive ; and 148 were undated. Of these cards , 242 bear the apparently genuine , original signa-
tures of persons whose names are on the Company's pay roll for the appropriate unit tis
of March 1 , 1942 There are approximately 660 employees in the appropriate unit
3 The parties stipulated that the following classifications of the Company 's employees
should be included in the appropriate unit as production and maintenance employees : pro-
duction chasers ; inspectors ; truckers ; chip wheelers and sweepers ; crane operators and
hookers ; jig attendant ; service men to machine operators ( formerly classified as male clerks
in the machine shop ) ; stock room attendants ; packers and shippers ; locomotive and lift-
truck operators ; power plant engineers and firemen ; truck drivers ; machinists ; machinist
apprentices ; carpenters and riggers ; electric welder ; oiler and belt lacer ; electricians ; tool
makers ; tool dressers , tool grinders ; window tenders ; unskilled and semi-skilled laborers ;
cupola tenders ; repairmen ; receiving clerks in the stores and stock department ; store-room
attendants ; welders ; welder aprentices , cleaners ; erectors , assemblers . and testmen ; struc-
tural workers ; structural apprentices , smiths ; carpenters and loaders , molders ; molder
apprentices ; coremakers , coremaker apprentices ; poke out men ; chippers and grinders ;
pattermnakers ; and patternmaker apprentices.
942 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
signers'; janitors,in'the 'industrial relations department; 'male clerks
in the rating and routing division, the iron foundry, and the stores and
stock department; and female clerks, typists and stenographers.
_'The, dispatchers and timekeepers, of whom there are four, have a
small office in the erecting shop building. They are hourly paid
workers within the jurisdiction of the production manager. The pro-
duction office sends them written descriptions, and sometimes draw-
ings, of the work to be done in the erecting department and the weld-
ing and plate divisions. The dispatchers and timekeepers then assign
the jobs to workmen who report at the dispatching office. When the
jobs are completed under the supervision of the shop foremen, the
workmen again report to the dispatchers and timekeepers, who keep
a record of the time spent on the jobs and assign further work. For
efficient distribution of the work, dispatchers and timekeepers must
be familiar with the type of job at which each workman is most
proficient and also with the character and amount of the work which
the shop has on hand. Although they must consult with the foremen,
they rarely go into the shop, do no heavy work or work with tools,
and are not subject to the foremen's supervision or control. On all
the facts, we are of the opinion that the dispatchers and timekeepers
should be excluded from the unit. -
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company at its Erie, Pennsylvania, plant, excluding supervisory
employees; the chief inspector; designers; janitors in the industrial
relations department; male clerks in the rating and routing division,
the iron foundry, and the stores and stock department; female clerks,
typists and stenographers; and dispatchers and timekeepers, consti-
tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
The parties stipulated that the Company's pay roll of March 1,
1942, be used to determine the eligibility of employees to vote in any
election ordered by the Board. We shall direct that the employees
of the Company eligible to vote in the election shall be those in the
appropriate unit whose names appear on the Company's pay roll of
March 1, 1942, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
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 III, Section 8, of National' Labor
BUCYRUS-ERIE COMPANY 943
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 Bucyrus-Erie
'Company,' Erie,- 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. supervision
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, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in.the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, whose names
appear on the Company's pay roll of March 1, 1942, including em-
-ployees whose names do not appear on that pay roll because they
were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training
of the United States, or temporarily laid off,'but excluding any who
have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Steel Workers Organizing Com-
mittee (C. I. 0.), or by Excavating Machinery Builders' Union, of
Erie, Pennsylvania, unaffiliated, for the'purposes of collective' bar-
gaining, or by neither.