Dain Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 29, 1943

52 N.L.R.B. 1034 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of DAIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTUR AL IMPLE-
MENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 74, C. I. O.
Case R-5893. -Decided September 29, 1943
Mr. R. E. White, of Ottumwa, Iowa, for the Company.
Mr. George H. Rose and Mr. Lawrence Carlstrorn, of Milwaukee,
Wis., for the UAW-CIO. .
Mr. P. L. Siemiller, of Des Moines, Iowa, and Mr. Francis Dial, of
Ottumwa, Iowa, for the IAM.
Mr. George J. Hadjino ff, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Union, United Automo-
bile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Local
74, C. I. 0., herein called the UAW-CIO, alleging that a question af-
fecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Dain Manufacturing Company, Ottumwa, Iowa, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Francis X. Helgesen,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Ottumwa, Iowa, on August
25, 1943. At the commencement of the hearing the Trial Examiner
granted without objection a motion of International Association of
Machinists, Local 1465, = herein called the IAM, to intervene. The
Company, the UAW-CIO, and the IAM appeared and participated
in the hearing and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to ex-
amine 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. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
52 N. L. R. B., No. 180.
1034
DAIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
1035
Dain Manufacturing Company, an Iowa corporation with its prin-
cipal office and place of business at, Ottumwa, Iowa, is engaged in the
manufacture, sale, and distribution of agricultural implements. It is
a wholly owned subsidiary of Deere and Company of Moline, Illinois.
The Company is presently engaged in the production of war materials.
The principal raw materials and supplies used by the Company during
the fiscal year ending October 31, 1942, consisted principally of steel,
lumber, castings, wire, and other materials valued at more than
$1,708,000, of which approximately 98 percent was purchased and
shipped from points outside the State of Iowa. During the same
period the total value of finished products manufactured by the Com-
pany was about $2,600,000, of which approximately 92 percent was
shipped to points outside the State of Iowa. The Company concedes
that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricul-
tural Implement Workers of America, Local 74, is a labor organiza-
tion affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
International Association of Machinists , Local 1465 , is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By letter dated June 25, 1943, the UAW-CIO, asserting that it
represented a majority of the Company's employees in the toolroom
and machine shop, requested recognition as the exclusive bargaining
agent for these employees. On July 13, 1943, the UAW-CIO noti-
fied the Company that the unit referred to in its letter of June 25
should be enlarged by adding thereto the employees of Department
P-47, and reasserted its claim to majority representation in the unit
sought. The Company replied by letter refusing to recognize the
UAW-CIO as bargaining agent unless and, until it was certified as
such by the Board.
The IAM is presently certified by the Board as the bargaining agent
for employees in the toolroom and machine shop.' As such bargain-
ing agent it entered into a contract, which was to expire on August
t
1 40 N. L R' B. 580.
1036 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LAbutt RELATIONS BOARD
31, 1943. The demand of the UAW-CIO for recognition was made
prior to the automatic renewal date of the contract , and neither the
Company nor the IAM at this time asserts any contractual bar to the
determination of the question of representation.
Statements of a Board agent and the Trial Examiner , introduced
into evidence at the hearing , indicate that the UAW-CIO represents
a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found ap-
propriate?
We find that a question affecting commerce has arising 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. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The UAW-CIO claims as appropriate for collective bargaining
a unit composed of all tool and die makers, machinists, specialists,
helpers, apprentices, and tool-crib attendants in the toolroom and
machine shop, as established by the Board in a prior case," together
with all production and maintenance employees of the new de-
partment P-47. The IAM claims as appropriate the unit described
above except that, because of indefinite duration of Department
P-47 it would exclude from the unit employees in Department P-47.
The Company takes no position, except that the unit status of De-
partment P-47 should be determined by the Board.
The UAW-CIO also claims that if as a result of an election it
becomes a certified bargaining agent for the unit presently sought,
such unit should be merged with the broad industrial unit of pro-
duction and maintenance employees for which the UAW-CIO was
certified as the bargaining agent.'
As.to the first contention of the UAW-CIO that the unit of tool-
room and machine shop employees should be enlarged by the inclusion
of the employees of Department P-47, the record discloses the fol-
lowing :
Department P-47 was established by the Company in December
1942 for the purposes of manufacturing certain products pursuant
to a subcontract between ' Deere and Company and Curtiss ,Wright
2 The representation showing of the UAW-CIO and the IAM may be summarized as follows :
Total num-
ber
Toolroom and machine shop employees -----------------
Department P-47 employees----------------------------
107
44
Represented
by
UAW-CIO
66
21
Represented
by the
IAM
9
38 N. L. R. B 528.
42 N. L It . B. 986.
DAIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1037
Aircraft Company, Department P-47 is an "emergency" department
created for the duration of war only. In April 1943, the department
employed 70 persons; presently it employs 50 persons with an antici-
pated increase to approximately 80 employees if and when sufficient
materials are available. Original employees in Department P-47
were recruited from the machine shop and during the slack period
they were shifted back to the machine shop and the toolroom. Future
transfers from Department P-47, however, might be made to several
other departments needing men with particular qualifications pos-
sessed by Department P-47 employees. Job classifications and quali-
fications for employees in Department P-47 are substantially the
same as job classifications and qualifications for employees in the
toolroom and machine shop and the work of the two departments is
practically the same. The Company's labor policy applies to Depart-
ment P-47 in the same manner as in other departments; the working
hours, vacation schedules, and other conditions are the same. We
are of the opinion and find that all machine operators, inspectors,
tool-crib attendants, set-up men, janitors, and other production and
maintenance employees of Department P-47, excluding all supervi-,
sors and clerical employees, may properly be included in the unit com-
posed of the toolroom and machine shop employees heretofore
found to be appropriate.
As to consolidation of the two bargaining units, the collective bar-
gaining history of the Company shows that in April 1940 the IAM
filed a petition for investigation and certification of representatives
urging that a separate unit composed of the toolroom and machine
shop employees of the Company was appropriate. The predecessor
of the UAW-CIO, on the other hand, contended that the unit
should be composed of all production and maintenance employees
of the Company, including the employees claimed by the IAM.
Finding the toolroom and machine shop employees may or may not
be included in the broader unit composed of all production and
maintenance employees, the Board deferred the final determination
as to the appropriate unit or units until the outcome of the election
ordered among the employees.5 Following such election the Board
established as a separate unit the toolroom and machine shop em-
ployees and in April-1942 certified the IAM as the bargaining agent
for such employees s In June 1942 the Board also established a ,sec-
ond unit composed of all production and maintenance employees,
excluding the toolroom and machine shop employees,? for whom the
UAW-CIO was certified as the bargaining agent." The IAM entered
529N L R.B 526.
9 40 N L R B. 580.
' 41 N L. R. B. 1056.
42 N . L. R. B. 986.
1038 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
into a contract with the Company covering employees in the toolroom
and machine shop, which contract was to expire on August 31, 1943;
the contract, however, contained an automatic renewal clause and it
does not appear whether a notice of termination of the contract was
filed by any of the parties prior to such renewal date. The
UAW-CIO' is under contract with the Company covering all pro-
duction and maintenance employees, excluding the employees cov-
ered by the IAM contract. Said contract expires on June 30, 1944.
Inasmuch as we have heretofore found that the toolroom and ma-
chine shop employees constitute an appropriate unit for collective
bargaining, subject to our subsequent finding enlarging the unit by
the inclusion of employees of the new Department P-47, and since
the bargaining for such employees has been conducted on this basis,
we, in the interest of stability of collective bargaining relations, shall
-deny the request of the UAW-CIO for consolidation of the toolroom
and machine shop unit with the industrial unit covering the rest of
the employees of the Company.9
We find that all tool and die makers, machinists, specialists, help-
ers, apprentices, tool-crib attendants in machine shop and toolroom,
machine operators, inspectors, tool-crib attendants, set-up men, jan-
itors, and other production and maintenance employees of Depart-
ment P-47, excluding all supervisors and clerical employees in the
machine shop, toolroom and Department P-47, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The parties desire an election.- All parties agree that the Board
should follow its usual policy as to eligibility date. Accordingly, we
shall direct that the question concerning representation- which has
arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employees
in the unit described above who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Election,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein.
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 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
-Matter of Attis Chalmers Manufacturting Company and Local 242, United Automobile,
Aaicraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, 47 N. L. R. B. 631.
DAIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1039
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Dain Manufac-
turing Company, Ottumwa, Iowa, 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 Eighteenth 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 the employees in the unit found appropriate 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 vaca-
tion 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 any who have since quit or been discharged for
cause, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Inter-
national Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Im-
plement Workers of America, Local 74, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, or by International Association of
Machinists, Local 1465, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or
by neither.