Crane Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 14, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 1035 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of CRANE CO., CHICAGO WORKS PLANT, EMPLOYER and
MISCELLANEOUS WAREHOUSEMEN'S UNION, LOCAL No. 781, A. F. L.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R-4309.-Decided August 14, 1947
Pope and Ballard, by Mr. Minier Sargent, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Employer.
Messrs. Joseph E. Crubbins, Lester Asher, and Patrick J. Doyle, of
Chicago, Ill., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Philip M. Curran, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Mr. Orvil J. Kincaid,
of Chicago, Ill., for the Intervenor.
Mr. John J. Gallione, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Chicago,
lllinois, on May 26, 1947, before Max Rotenberg, 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 the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Crane Company, an Illinois corporation, is engaged in the manufac-
I are of valves, fittings, and plumbing supplies at its Chicago Works
Plant, which is the only plant involved in this proceeding. The Em-
ployer purchases annually materials, valued at more than $1,000,000,
approximately 50 percent of which comes from points outside the
State of Illinois. Its annual sales are valued at more than $1,000,000,
approximately 50 percent of which represents shipments to points
outside the State of Illinois.
i Office Employees International Union, Local 28, served with notice of hearing , did not
appear.
74 N. L. R. B., No. 175.
1035
1036 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
United Steelworkers of America, herein called the Intervenor, is It
labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organi-
zations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The ,Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees in the Order Depart-
ment of the Employer 's Chicago Works Plant , excluding supervisory
employees . The Intervenor moves to dismiss the petition , alleging
that, since the employees involved herein are plant clerical employees,
the appropriate unit should include all plant clerical employees, ex-
cluding supervisory employees . The Employer takes no position.
In addition to clerical employees at its general office at 826 South
Michigan Avenue, Chicago , who are not directly involved in this pro-
ceeding, the Employer has in its several plant departments about 1,000
plant clerical employees , of whom about 135 work in the, Order De-
partment . Order Department employees perform clerical duties in
connection with the processing of orders that come to the plant through
the Employer 's general office from customers and the Employer's
branches. They review orders for correctness of description and seg-
regate those requiring special attention and other questions that may
be involved . These orders are then sent to the Planning Department
or the Order-filling Department , where they are distributed to ap-
propriate sections for further processing.
Order Department employees perform their duties in several sec-
tions in various parts of the plant. The principal section is in the
Tower Building, but there are eight other sections scattered through-
out the plant . Each section has a supervisor who reports to the man-
ager of the Order Department, who, in turn , is responsible to the vice
president in charge of manufacturing , who also has jurisdiction over
the Billing , Planning , Accounting, Standards , and other departments.
Order Department employees work in close proximity with plant cler-
icals in other departments , among which there are occasional trans-
fers and interchange of personnel . They are hired by the general em-
ployment office of the Employer , work under substantially the same
conditions , are paid in the same manner , and receive substantially
CRANE CO., CHICAGO WORKS PLANT 1037
the same scale of wages, vacations, and other benefits as are accorded
clerical employees in other plant departments.
There is no history of collective bargaining concerning the Em-
ployer's plant clerical employees, except those in the Shipping De-
partment.2 The Petitioner is not attempting to organize plant clericals
other than those in the Order Department. The Intervenor, how-
ever, is presently engaged in organizing clerical employees on a plant-
wide basis.
Employees in the Order Department do not possess peculiar skills
and are not subject to special working conditions; they are not an
independent or functionally coherent group; and they have neither
duties nor interests sufficiently distinct from those of other plant
clerical employees of the Employer to justify their establishment as a
separate bargaining unit .-3 Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition
filed herein.
IV. TILE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the Petitioner
is inappropriate, as stated in Section III, above, we find that no ques-
tion has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the
Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record
in the case , the Board hereby orders that the petition for certification
of representatives of employees of Crane Co ., Chicago Works Plant,
Chicago, Illinois, filed herein by Miscellaneous Warehousemen's
Union, Local No. 781 , A. F. L., be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
2 The Petitioner presently represents all hourly paid employees in the Shipping Depart-
ment, having gained recognition as their bargaining representative following a consent
election in Case No. 13-R-2405. The Intervenor presently represents the production and
maintenance employees of the Employer, having gained recognition following certification
in a Board-directed election, 62 N. L. It. B 1089.
3 Matter of Piper Aircraft Corporation, 73 N. L. R. B. 914; Matter of Engineering and
Research Corporation, 72 N. L It. B. 1471.