Corona Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 11, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 583 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of CORONA CORPORATION and METAL SPINNERS & SILVER
PLATED HOLLOW WARE UNION, LOCAL No. 49, INTERNATIONAL JEWELRY
WORKERS UNION (AFL)
Case No. 2-R-5470.-Decided March 11, 1946
Hays, Wolf, Schwabacher, Sklar do Epstein, by Mr. Solomon I.
Sklar, of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. Mortimer Sperling, of New York City, for, the Metal Spinners.
Mr. John H. Wood, Jr., of counsel to the Board,
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Metal Spinners & Silver Plated
Hollow Ware Union, Local No. 49, International Jewelry Workers
Union (AFL), herein called the Metal Spinners, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Corona Corporation, Jersey City, New Jersey, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Daniel Baker,
Trial Examiner. The hearing' was held at New York City, on
October 25, 1945. The Company and the Metal Spinners appeared
and participated.' All parties were afforded full opportunity to
be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner referred to the
Board for ruling a motion of the Company to dismiss the petition.
For reasons stated hereinafter, the motion is hereby denied. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudi-
cial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded
opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
i Although it was served with notice, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
Local Union No. 3 (AFL ), herein called the I . B. E. W., did not appear and participate
in the proceeding.
66 N. L. R. B., No. 78.
583
584 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Corona Corporation is organized under the laws of New Jersey.
It manufactures marine lighting equipment , lighting fixtures , lamps,
and screw machine parts at its only plant in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The Company annually purchases raw materials in excess of $500,000
in value , more than 75 percent of which is shipped to its Jersey City
plant from points outside New Jersey . The Company annually
manufactures finished products in excess of $1,000,000 in value, more
than 90 percent of which is shipped to points outside New Jersey.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Metal Spinners & Silver Plated Hollow Ware Union, Local No. 49,
is a labor organization, affiliated with the International Jewelry
Workers Union, American Federation of Labor, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
III. TIRE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In 1937 the Company and the I. B. E. W. entered into a closed-
shop agreement covering all hourly rated production employees. The
parties continued similar agreements each year thereafter up to and
including 1944. In December of that, year, they commenced nego-
tiations for a new contract which was finally executed in late
February or early March of 1945. Early in February, however,
before the execution of the new agreement, the business agent of
the Metal Spinners informed the president of the Company that
the three spinners employed in the plant desired separate representa-
tion by his union. In support of its motion to dismiss the petition,
the Company contends that the foregoing agreement constitutes a
bar to this proceeding because the parties had orally agreed on all
the terms thereof on December, 27, 1944, prior to notice of the Metal
Spinners' representation claim. This position is without merit in
view of the Board's well-established rule that a contract is not a
bar unless it has been reduced to writing and signed prior to the
giving of notice of a representation claim by a rival union .2
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
2 Matter of Standard Oil Company of California, 58 N. L. R. B. 560 ; Matter of Eicor,
Inc, 46 N. L. R. B. 1035.
CORONA CORPORATION 58 5
hearing, indicates that the Metal Spinners represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit alleged to be 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. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Metal Spinners seeks a unit composed of the three spinners
who operate the Company's spinning lathes and constitute the spin-
ning department. The Company contends that the spinners are
appropriately included within an industrial unit of all production
employees and that this position is supported by the Company's
history of collective bargaining with the I. B. E. W.
Each of the contracts negotiated by the Company and the
I. B. E. W. since 1937 listed the spinners among the other job classi-
fications for which wage rates were shown, and all the contracts
were applicable to the spinners as well as to the other employees in
matters relating to hours, vacations, holidays, and other conditions
of employment. With the exception of two occasions hereinafter
discussed, the spinners have received the same general wage adjust-
ments granted to all the employees. In addition, although none of
the spinners were members of the I. B. E. W., one of them served
for 3 or 4 years on the shop committee as the representative of the
spinning department.
On the other hand, the record discloses the following evidence to
support the contention of the Metal Spinners that the spinners con-
stitute a separate appropriate unit. Metal spinning is a highly skilled
craft of long standing both in this country and abroad. Training
periods of from 3 to 10 years are required to qualify as a spinner,
and the total number of such qualified spinners in this country is
reported to be less than 800. The work performed by the spinners
for the Corona Corporation is so specialized and highly skilled that
it cannot be duplicated by any other skilled employees of the
Company.
The record further shows that the spinners were members of the
Metal Spinners long before the organization of the I. B. E. W. in
the Company's plant, two of them having become members before
beginning work with the Company some 12 years ago. Despite the
closed-shop contracts between the Company and the I. B. E. W.
since 1937, the spinners have never been requested nor required to
become members of the I. B. E. W., and none of them has joined
8 The Field Examiner reported that the Metal Spinners submitted three cards , bearing
the names of three employees , listed on the Company 's pay roll of April 1945,
There are three employees in the unit alleged to be appropriate,
586 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
that union. By 1942, the I. B. E. W. had discontinued the practice,
mentioned above, of inviting the spinners to send a representative
to the shop committee. On a number of occasions, the spinners have
demonstrated their identity as a group by acting either directly or
through the Metal Spinners in their relations with the Company,
and in 1937 and 1945, so secured substantial wage increases for them-
selves beyond the general increases granted the other employees. In
1945, when their protest against inclusion in the unit represented
by the I. B. E. W. resulted in a 6-day work stoppage in the spinning
department, the Company negotiated with representatives of the
Metal Spinners in securing their return to work. A further indica-
tion that the Company has recognized the special position of the
spinners is the fact that the Company at various times has requested
the Metal Spinners to supply it with additional spinners.
It is apparent from the foregoing facts that the spinners are a
highly skilled craft group who over a considerable period of years
have sought to establish separate representation in their bargaining
relations with the Company. Whatever they have evinced by their
partial acquiescence in the plant-wide collective bargaining carried
on by the I. B. E. W., it has not, in our opinion, caused them to
lose their identity. These circumstances, including the absence of
any objection by the I. B. E. W.,4 lead us to the conclusion that the
spinners may constitute either a separate bargaining unit or remain
part of the existing plant-wide unit.r, We shall, therefore, make
no present determination of the appropriate unit, but shall reserve
such finding pending the results of the election hereinafter directed to
ascertain the desires of the spinners themselves. We shall direct that
an election by secret ballot be conducted among all the Company's
spinners , excluding the spinner foreman and all other supervisory em-
ployees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action 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, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by the Metal
Spinners.6 If the employees select the Metal Spinners as their bar-
gaining representative, they shall constitute a separate appropriate
unit; otherwise they shall remain part of the plant-wide production
unit presently represented by the I. B. E. W.
A See footnote 1, supra.
6 See Matter of The Columbus Bolt Works Company, 62 N. L. R. B. 978; Matter of
Bethlehem Steel Company, Sparrows Point Plant, 64 N. L. R. B. 352; and Scott Paper
Company, Cut-Rite Division, 64 N. L. R. B. 1236.
"At the bearing, the Metal Spinners requested the Board to issue certification on the
record . The request, ruling on which the Trial Examiner reserved for the Board, is
hereby denied in the absence of a stipulation by all the parties consenting to such certifi-
cation. Matter of Gladewater Refining Company , 64 N. L. R. B. 696, and cases cited therein.
CORONA CORPORATION
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
587
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 3, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Corona Corpora-
tion, Jersey City, New Jersey, 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 Second 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
employees in the voting group described 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 dis-
charged 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 Metal Spinners & Silver Plated Hollow Ware
Union, Local No. 49, affiliated with the International Jewelry Workers
Union (AFL), for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.