Crescent Tool Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 19, 1956

115 N.L.R.B. 1586 (N.L.R.B. 1956)

1586 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
or proceeding with the election, in the face of such interference, know-
ing that another election could not be held for 12 months should the
election be lost. To prevent the wrongdoer from thus profiting from
his own wrong the Board formulated the A d P rule.
It seems to me that what the majority is doing in this case is pre-
cisely the very thing the Board in A & P tried to correct. It is here
permitting the Employer to benefit from his own unfair labor prac-
tice because the Petitioner decided to go to a second election instead
of requesting that it be postponed indefinitely until the effects of
the Employer's unfair labor practices were dissipated. Yet, under
the A c P rule the Petitioner was fully privileged to proceed with
the election without being foreclosed from urging the Employer's
misconduct as a basis for invalidating the election, if it lost. Con-
versely, the Employer was put on notice when it signed the stipula-
tion for certification upon consent election that if it thereafter en-
gaged in unlawful interference, the election would be set aside in
the event the Petitioner was unsuccessful.
As I find that neither the A & P rule nor its underlying purpose
estops the Petitioner from urging the Employer's objectionable con-
duct, I would set aside the election and order a new one. In my
opinion, only such a decision will effectuate the policies of the Act
and preserve, rather than frustrate, the employees' right freely to
determine whether they desire to be represented in their collective
bargaining by a labor organization.
Crescent Tool Company ' and International Die Sinkers Con-
ference, Petitioner. Case No. 3-KC-1700. June 19, 1956
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Murry S. Freeman,
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 Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer's
i The name of the Employer is shown as corrected at the hearing.
2 The International Association of Machinists , Local 1551 , was permitted to Intervene
upon the basis of its current contract with the Employer covering , among others, the
employees herein concerned.
115 NLRB No. 259.
CRESCENT TOOL COMPANY 1587
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.3
4. The Petitioner seeks to sever a craft unit of all employees in the
Employer's die department who work on dies or parts of dies used in
the manufacture and completion of forging at its Jamestown, New
York, plant, with the usual exclusions. The employees who work on
dies or parts of dies in the die department consist of approximately 22
out of 24 employees in that department which is part of an overall unit
of approximately 537 employees who have been represented by the
Intervenor. The employees sought by the Petitioner comprise those
in the classifications of diesinker I, diesinker II, trimming diemaker,
Keller machine operator, die repairman I, and die repairman 11.4
The Employer and the Intervenor oppose the severance of employees
from the production and maintenance unit, contending that the prin-
ciples announced by the Board in American Potash d Chemical Cor-
poration 5 are not applicable to the instant proceeding. Thus, they
argue that the unit sought is not a true craft capable of severance un-
- der the American Potash rule.
In the American Potash case, the Board announced that henceforth
severance would be permitted only where the requested unit consti-
tutes a true craft consisting of a distinct and homogeneous group of
skilled journeymen craftsmen, their apprentices and helpers, and the
petitioning union traditionally represented the craft whose severance
was sought. As to the latter principle, it is well established and con-
ceded by the parties that the Petitioner has traditionally represented
craftsmen in the diesinker trade.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and sale of mechani-
cal handtools. It operates a die shop known as department 88 where
employees work on forging dies and in allied operations. The highest
paid and skilled employee in the dieshop is the diesinker. Employees
in this classification are divided into two groups-diesinker I and die-
sinker IT. The diesinkers as a group appear to perform the usual
diesinker duties in the making of forged dies, including among other
functions, the knurling and finishing of dies. Both their rates of pay 6
3 The Petitioner has made an adequate showing in the voting group hereinafter
established.
4 The composition of the unit requested by the Petitioner was variously expressed.
In its petition , the unit requested is "all employees working on dies or parts of dies
used in the manufacture and completion of forgings ." At the hearing, the Petitioner
explained that "the unit requested in the petition embodies a skilled craft." It was
admitted at the hearing that dieshop employees in classifications of machinist and
specialist , respectively, do not work on dies.
6 107 NLRB 1418.
6 The diesinkers receive hourly rates which range from $1.88 for those in classification II
to $2 08 for those in classification I. The latter group includes the foremen whose hourly
rate is 6 cents over that of the other employees in this classification.
1588 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
I
and the fact that the duties of the diesinkers cannot be performed by
production employees without an extensive amount of training, indi-
cate that the diesinkers are a skilled group of craft employees.
Closely allied to this group are the trimmer diemakers whose duty
is to take a forging and make a die the same form as the forging in
order to trim off excessive metal. This skilled worker is recognized as
part of the diesinking trade.' The remaining dieworking employees
in the classifications of Keller machine operator, die repairman I, and
die repairman II perform duties of a less skilled nature which consist
largely of repetitive operations. Although it appears that these and
other tool- and die-room classifications have been occupied by some of
the diesinkers in their employment experience with the Employer, the
latter maintains no apprenticeship, either formal or informal, by which
employees normally progress within definite time limits from such
classifications to the classification of diesinker. Under the circum-
stances, we find that the work of employees in classifications other than
diesinker I and II, and trimmer diemaker, is not sufficiently skilled or
within the line of progress to diesinker classification to warrant in-
cluding the employees in such classifications in the voting group here-
after established."
We find that a craft unit consisting of employees in the classifica-
tions of diesinker and trimmer diemaker to be a true craft group
within the diesinker craft .9 In view of the foregoing and upon the
entire record, we further find that the following group of employees
may, if they so desire, constitute a craft group of employees. We shall
direct a self-determination election among all diesinkers I and II
and trimmer diemakers, employed at the Employer's Jamestown,
New York, operations, excluding all other employees and supervisors
as defined in the Act.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time.
If in the election herein directed, a majority of the employees vote
for the Petitioner, the Regional Director is instructed to issue a certi-
fication of representatives for the unit herein described, which in these
circumstances we find to be appropriate for purposes of collective
bargaining. If, on the other hand, a majority do not vote for the
Petitioner, these employees shall remain a part of the existing unit
and the Regional Director is instructed to issue a certificate of results
of election to that effect. .
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
7 See John Deere Harvester Works of Deere & Company, 114 NLRB 348; International
Harvester Company, 90 NLRB 1905, 1907.
8 John Deere Harvester Works of Deere 4 Company , Supra.
9 See footnote 8, supra.