Day & Zimmermann, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 5, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 347 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of DAY & ZIMMERMANN, INC: and UNITED CONSTRUCTION
WORKERS, AFFILIATED WITH UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA
Case No. 4-R-1595-.-Decided April 5, 1945
Drinker, Biddle and Reath, by Mr. Howard H. Coburn, of Phila-
delphia, Pa., and Mr. Homer H. Maxwell, of Cressona, Pa., for the
Company.
Mr. Martin L. Brennan, of Williamstown, Pa., Mr. Howard R.
Sneddon, of Shenandoah, Pa., and Mr. George Bias, for the U. C. W.
Mr. Philip M. Curran, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Mr. Kenneth Bender,
of Pottsville, Pa., for the C. I. O.
Mr. Thomas Mallon, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the M. T. D.
Mr. E. Hefefinger, of West Lawn, Pa., for the Electrical Workers.
Mr. Stanley N. Lentz, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Machinists.
Mr. Thomas A. Ricci, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS*
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Construction Workers, affil-
iated with United Mine Workers of America, herein called the
U. C. W., alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Day & Zimmermann, Inc.,
Cressona, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice before Charles W. Schneider, Trial Examiner. Said hearing
was held at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, on February 6 and 7, 1945. The
Company, the U. C. W., United Steelworkers of America, Local Union'
#339, C. 1. 0., herein called the C. 1. 0., the Metal Trades Department,
A. F. L., herein called the M. T. D., the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, A. F. L., herein called the Electrical Workers, and
the International Association of Machinists, A. F. L., herein called the
*The Decision and Direction of Elections , issued on April 5, 1945, was, pursuant to a
stipulation of the parties, subsequently amended by the Board and, as amended , appears
in printed form.
61 N L. R B., No. 48.
347
348 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Machinists, 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'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 :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Day & Zimmermann, Inc., a Maryland corporation, operates a plant
at Cressona, Pennsylvania, where it is engaged in the reclamation,
repair, and salvage of ordnance materiel which is sent to the plant
from overseas and front various points within the United States. The
plant is owned by the Defense Plants Corporation and is leased to the
Company. At peak production the Cressona plant processes in excess
of 100,000 tons of material weekly. This material is received almost
entirely from sources outside the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
and, after processing, is shipped almost entirely to points outside that
State. The Company also operates a plant at Burlington, Iowa. This
proceeding solely concerns the employees of the Cressona plant.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Construction Workers, affiliated with the United Mine
Workers of America, is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
United Steelworkers of America, Local Union #339, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Metal Trades Department, International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, and International Association of Machinists, all affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, are labor organizations ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the U. C. W. as
the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees
until the U. C. W. has been certified by the Board in an appropriate
unit.
DAY & ZIMMERMANN, INC. 349
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the U. C. W. represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit it alleges to be appropriate."
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. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The U. C. W. and the C. I. 0. request a plant-wide unit of all pro-
duction and maintenance employees, subject to certain specified ex-
clusions, in the Company's operations, plant engineering (mainte-
nance), inspection, and traffic departments, and some clerical em-
ployees in the comptroller (general office) department, excluding
supervisory personnel. With the exception of timekeepers, whom
it would exclude as confidential employees, the Company is in agree-
ment with the U. C. W. and the C. I. 0.
The Electrical Workers requests a unit of electricians, electricians'
helpers, and the light cleaner, in the plant engineering department,
and crane operators and crane operator trainees in the operations
department.
The Machinists requests a unit limited to certain employees in the
plant engineering department, consisting of machinists, maintenance
mechanics and helpers, machine tool operators, the combination
welder, the electric welder, crane repairmen, and the automobile
mechanic.
The M. T. D. requests a unit essentially limited to plant engi-
neering department employees, comprising pipe fitters, carpenters and
helpers, laborers, boiler operators, relief men, line attendants and
helpers, greasers, mechanical sweeper operators, the oil recovery at-
tendant, and the saw filer. It also would include in the unit the
steam locomotive operator from the operations department. With
1 The following table summarizes the above -mentioned statement prepared by the Board's
Field Examiner
Number of
N b rum e of
employees in the Designations designations
it all ed tun eg o
b i t
submitted checked against
e appropr a e
by that union
pay roll
Name of Union :
U. C. W---------------------------- 1, 319 610 ---
C. 1. 0----------------------------- 1 , 319 614 ---
M. T. D---------------------------- 100 20 18
Electrical workers ------------------ 48 30 26
Machinists ------------------------- 39 10 10
*Pay roll for period ending December 31, 1944. The Field Examiner did not
check the designations of the U. C. W . and the C. I. 0. against the pay roll because
of the low turn-over among the employees in the unit they seek and because the
designations they submitted are of recent date.
639678-45-vol 61-24
350 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
very few exceptions, this proposed unit encompasses all employees
in the maintenance department aside from those sought by the
Electrical Workers and the Machinists.
The Company's Cressona plant is primarily a reclamation depot to
which are sent a great variety of machines, guns, vehicles, and
ordnance parts from distant battlefields. The materiel arrives in
boxes which. enter the one-half mile long plant at one end and are
carried through the building on hand carts, trucks, a locomotive, and
cranes. As the material arrives it is sorted and inspected and then
directed to different groups of workmen who rebuild some of it, re-
crate undamaged or unused parts, discard useless materiel and ship
out all that can be used again. For this continuous salvage operation,
the Company employs a great diversity of workmen and its oper-
ations are highly integrated. It seeks to coordinate closely the work
of all its employees because the type of material that arrives is not
known in advance, Government priorities on different parts change
from day to day, and there is always a great urgency for immediate
shipments.
Employees in the operations department work on the salvage
materiel itself, sorting, inspecting, rebuilding, marking, crating, and
shipping it. Their duties compare to ordinary production workers.
The plant engineering department is a maintenance group, including
electricians, machinists, carpenters, and a number of other employees
together with their respective helpers. Their work consists of keep-
ing in repair the building and all permanent fixtures, as well as the
great variety of equipment used in the Company's operations. In
the inspection department are a group of inspectors and inspector
trainees who inspect the materiel before and after it has been worked
on. In the traffic department are truck drivers, a chauffeur, a brake-
man, a conductor, and a steam locomotive operator. These employees
work together with the production employees on company property;
the truck drivers sometimes make pick-ups or deliveries outside the
plant. In the comptroller department are the Company's clerical
and fiscal employees. Some of them are in the office or are confi-
dential employees, and others, whom the U. C. W., the C.' I. 0., and
the Company agree to include in the bargaining unit with produc-
tion and maintenance employees, work throughout the plant in close
contact with operations employees.
Since the Company operates the plant as an integrated unit on a
departmental basis, it is clear that a plant-wide unit as sought by the
C. I. 0. and the U. C. W. would be feasible for collective bargaining
purposes.
We are not persuaded, however, that the alleged craft units requested
by the Electrical Workers, the Machinists, and the M. T. D. are appro-
DAY & ZIMMERMANN , INC. 351
priate. The Electrical Workers seeks to represent electricians in the
plant engineering department, but does not request the electricians
employed in the operations department. Its unit, therefore, would be
limited to a portion of a craft. On the other hand, the unit it seeks
includes crane operators who work in the operations department, and
are neither electricians nor maintenance men. Crane operators work
in close cooperation with production employees and their duties never
include repair work. Clearly the unit requested by the Electrical
Workers is not appropriate.
In like fashion, the unit requested by the Machinists, although
limited to the plant engineering department, is neither homogeneous
nor complete. It is substantially a unit of machinists, but it includes
welders and automobile mechanics. This unit also includes categories
of employees having their counterparts in the operations department,
such as machine tool operators and automobile mechanics. For these
reasons, we do not believe that the unit sought by the Machinists is an
appropriate one.
The categories of employees which the M. T. D. seeks to combine in a
bargaining unit likewise have no common denominator. It seeks, in
effect, a residual unit in the plant engineering department, plus the
locomotive operator from the traffic department. • Such a unit is neither
craft, functional, departmental, nor homogeneous. It, therefore, is
not appropriate.
Viewing the various categories of employees sought by the A. F. L.
unions as a group comprising the Company's plant engineering depart-
ment, however, there appears a functionally and departmentally dis-
tinct unit that may well be appropriate for collective bargaining pur-
poses. All the employees sought by the Electrical Workers (except
for the crane operators who properly belong with the operations
department employees), the groups sought by the Machinists, and
those sought by the M. T. D. (except for the locomotive operator who
properly belongs with the traffic department employees), work under
the plant engineer and their duties are limited to repair and mainte-
nance of company property and equipment. In the Company's depart-
mental organization they form a distinct and separate group. We
also note that the Electrical Workers and the Machinists made the
alternative request that, in the event the Board should not grant their
requests for craft units, but should hold that a unit encompassing the
plant engineering department may be appropriate, they desire to be
represented on the ballot for such a unit by the M. T. D., without their
separate names appearing.
In view of the foregoing facts, it appears that all plant engineering
department (maintenance) employees, except those specifically ex-
cluded by a stipulation of the parties, may comprise a separate appro-
352 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
priate bargaining unit, or that all the Company's production and main-
tenance employees , as more specifically set forth below, may comprise
a single unit for collective bargaining purposes. Under these circum-
stances, we shall defer our determination of the appropriate unit or
units. Such determination shall depend, in part, upon the results of
the elections which we hereinafter direct.
The U. C. W. and the C. I. O.,would include 13 timekeepers whom
the Company employs in the comptroller department. The Company
urges that they be excluded as quasi-confidential employees who are
associated with management. Timekeepers work under the pay-roll
timekeeper in a room set off from, the operations employees. They
remove time cards from the punch time clocks after each shift and
prepare time sheets. They check these time records against others
made by the foremen. Except for occasional contacts with production
Employees, the timekeepers do clerical work in their separate office.
We are of the opinion that these timekeepers are essentially clerical
employees having separate interests and we shall exclude them from
both voting groups described below.
We shall direct elections by secret ballot to be conducted among the
employees of the Company in the following groups who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of our
Direction of Elections, subject to the limitations and additions set
forth therein :
(1) All employees in the plant engineering department, including
leadmen and gang leaders,2 but excluding janitors, janitor leadmen,
general maintenance clerks, foremen's clerks, janitresses, matrons,
utility department engineers, draftsmen, the reproduction machine
operator," the plant engineer, foremen, superintendents, the master
mechanic, the chief designer, the chief electrician, and all other super-
visory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, disci-
pline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effec-
tively recommend such action, to determine whether they desire to be
represented by Metal Trades Department, A. F. L., by United Con-
struction Workers, affiliated with the United Mine Workers of Amer-
ica, by United Steelworkers of America, Local Union #339, C. I. 0.,
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by none of them ;
(2) All remaining production and maintenance employees in the
Company's operations, plant engineering, inspection, and traffic de-
2 All parties agree to include leadmen and gang leaders . The record discloses that these
employees perform the same duties as other production and maintenance employees and
have no power to make recommendations affecting the status of other employees.
s All parties agree that janitors and janitor leadmen should be included in the residual
group All parties agree that janitresses and the matrons should be excluded from both
groups because their work is largely limited to the general offices. All parties are also in
agreement to exclude from both groups utility engineers , draftsmen , and the reproduction
machine operator as technical employees . The parties further agree to exclude general
maintenance clerks and foremen 's clerks from both groups.
DAY & ZIMMERMANN, INC. 353
partments, including leadmen and gang leaders, crane operators and
crane operator trainees, the locomotive operator, all categories of em-
ployees in the comptroller department listed in Schedule "A" annexed
hereto, but excluding all employees listed in Schedule "B" annexed
hereto, all employees in the administrative, industrial engineer-
ing, planning, industrial relations, process engineering, and pro-
curement departments, timekeepers, 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, to determine whether they desire to be repre-
sented by United Construction Workers, affiliated with the United
Mine Workers of America, by United Steelworkers of America, Local
Union $339, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions 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 Day & Zimmer-
mann, Inc., Cressona, Pennsylvania, separate elections by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervi-
sion of the Regional Director for the Fourth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, subject to
Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among
the employees in Groups (1) and (2), 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 any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elections,
to determine :
1. Whether the employees in Group (1) desire to be represented for
the purposes of collective bargaining by United Construction Workers,
affiliated with the United Mine Workers of America, by United Steel-
workers of America, Local Union #339, C. I. 0., by Metal Trades
Department, A. F. L., or by none of them; and
2. Whether the employees in Group (2) desire to be represented for
the purposes of collective bargaining by United Construction Work-
354 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ers, affiliated with the United Mine Workers of America, by United
Steelworkers of America, Local Union #339, C. I. 0., or by neither.
SCHEDULE A
Employees in the Comptroller Department included by stipulation
1. Receiving checker
2. Storekeeper
3. Tool crib attendant
4. Stores clerk trainee
5. Checker
6. Receiving leader
7. Order filler
8. Material checker
9. Storeroom attendant
10. Stores clerk
11. Stores leader
12. Order taker
13. Delivery man
14. Employee sales clerk
SCHEDULE B
Operations Department
1. General superintendent
2. Foreman
3. General foreman
4. Foreman trainee
5. Supervisor
6. Superintendent
7. Foreman's clerk
8. Probationary foreman trainee
9. Probationary foreman
Plant E'iigineerirng Department
1. Plant engineer
2. Foreman
3. Superintendent
4. Master mechanic
5. Chief designer
6. Chief electrician
7. Utility department engineer
8. Draftsmen
9. Reproduction machine op-
erator
10. Janitress
11. Matron
Inspection Department
1. Assistant chief inspector 3. Inspection foreman
2. Supervisor of inspection office 4. General foreman
1. Traffic manager
Traffic Department
2. Garage foreman