Danly Machine Specialties, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 14, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 696 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of DANLY MACHINE SPECIALTIES, INC., EMPLOYER and
UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA,
C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 2-R-6600.-Decided November 14, 1946
Ir. Owen Fairweather, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer.
Frank Scheiner, by Mr. Morton Friedman, of New York City, for
the Petitioner.
Mrs. Platonia P. Kaldes, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed, the National Labor Relations Board on
June 28, 1946, conducted a prehearing election pursuant to Section
203.49 of National Labor Relation Board Rules and Regulations--
Series 4, among the employees of the Employer in the alleged
appropriate unit to determine whether or not they desired to be repre-
sented by the Petitioner for the purposes of collective bargaining. At
the close of the election a Tally of Ballots was furnished the parties.
The Tally shows that there were approximately 18 eligible voters, that
all of these eligible voters cast ballots of which 17 were for the Peti-
tioner, 1 was against the Petitioner, and none was challenged.
Pursuant to Section 203.55 of the Rules and Regulations, the Board
thereafter provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
George Turitz, hearing officer. The hearing was held at New York
City on August 22, 1946. 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Danly Machine Specialties, Inc., is an Illinois corporation engaged
in the manufacture, assembly, and warehousing of die sets and die-
makers' supplies. It operates and maintains for this purpose a factory
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696
DANLY MACHINE SPECIALTIES, INC. 697
and warehouse in Chicago, and warehouses and assembly plants in
several States of the United States, including one at Long Island City,
New York, the plant here in question. In the course of its operations
at the Long Island City plant during the past year, the Employer
used materials and parts valued at more than $250,000, all of which
were shipped to said plant from points located outside the State of
New York. During the same year, the value of the finished products
assembled by the Employer at the Long Island City plant was in
excess of $250,000, two-thirds of which represents such products sold
by the Employer and shipped by it from the said plant to purchasers
located outside the State of New York.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization, claiming to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
accordingly, we shall exclude Kuchta from the unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce 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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties stipulated at the hearing that the appropriate unit
should be composed of all production and maintenance employees,
excluding the office clerical employees, executives, the foreman,' and
all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action. The parties were in
dispute, however, as to the supervisory status of Alex Kuchta, the
assistant foreman.
Kuchta schedules production, assigns work to the employees, regu-
lates the flow of work, instructs and warns employees concerning
errors in their work and takes steps to prevent minor infractions of
discipline. While he also does considerable manual work such as
making minor repairs, and operating machines, such manual work is
done primarily by way of replacing absentees or helping out em-
ployees who are exceptionally busy; in actual practice, the major
portion of his time is spent in directing the operations of the em-
i Identified as Yost.
'698 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees. While Yost, the foreman, is his superior, the record shows
that Yost spends 1 or 2 hours away from the shop each day attending
to shipments and 6 or 7 hours each day operating a machine. The
normal work day is 10 hours with one-half hour for lunch. In Yost's
absence, Kuchta is in full charge of the shop. Yost is the only one
consulted with respect to the hiring of employees in the shop and the
pay increases granted them. Kuchta, however, is consulted by both
Yost and the branch manager as to the men's efficiency and is relied
upon for recommendations as to the transfers of employees under his
supervision. We are of the opinion that Kuchta is a supervisory
employee within the meaning of our customary definition thereof and,
accordingly, we shall exclude Kuchta from the unit. ,
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Em-
ployer at its Long Island City plant, excluding office clerical employees,
the foreman, the assistant foreman, executives, and all other super-
visory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline,
or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The results of the election held prior to the hearing show that the
Petitioner has secured a majority of the valid votes cast and that
there were no challenged ballots. No objection has been raised to the
conduct of the election or to conduct affecting the results of the elec-
tion. Accordingly, we shall certify the Petitioner as the collective
bargaining representative of the employees in the appropriate unit.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
IT Is HEREBY CERTIFIED that, United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, C. I. 0., has been designated and selected by a
majority of all production and maintenance employees of Danly Ma-
chine Specialties, Inc., at the latter's Long Island City, New York,
plant, but excluding office clerical employees, the foreman, the as-
sistant foreman, executives, and all other supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, as their representative for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, and pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the aforesaid organiza-
tion is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages,
hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.