Dayton & Waldrip Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 17, 1940

24 N.L.R.B. 780 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of DAYTON & WALDRIP COMPANY and LODGE 2018,
AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS OF
.-NORTH AMERICA, THROUGH THE. STEEL WORKERS ORGANIZING COM-
MITTEE, AFFILIATED WITH• THE C. I. O.
Case No. R-1749.-Decided June 17, 19410
Foundry and Machine Shop Products Industry-J risdiction: employer chal-
lengesy jurisdiction of Board over the subject matter-Investigation of Repre-
sentatives: controversy concerning representation. of employees ; employer dis-
putes majority status-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: all pro-
duction and maintenance employees at plant, excluding supervisory employees,
employees having the authority to hire and/or fire, watchmen, and clerical
workers; stipulation as to-Election Ordered.
Mr. Marion A. Prowell and Mr. Alba B. Martin, for the Board.
Latham ct Watkins, by Mr. Paul R. Watkins and Mr. Richard
Lund, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Join Despol, of Maywood, Calif., for the Union.
Mr. Daniel J. Harrington, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 23, 1940, Lodge 2018, Amalgamated Association of
Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of North America, through the Steel
Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the C. I. 0.1 herein
called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Twenty-
first Region (Los Angeles, California), a petition, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Dayton & Waldrip Company, Hollydale, Cali-
fornia, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation
and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act,. 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
On February 16, 1940, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and
1 Also--designated in the record as Steel Workers Organizing Committee and as ' Steel
Workers Organizing Committee , C. I. 0. At the hearing the Union and the Company
stipulated that the Union 's name be set out correctly wherever it appears in the record,
and the Trial Examiner so ordered.
24 N. L. R. B., No. 81.
780
DAYTON & 11,ALDHIP COMPANY 781
Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation. and
authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On February 20, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
upon the Union.2 Pursuant to the notice a hearing was held on
March 1, 1940, at Los Angeles, California, before Thomas H. Ken-
nedy, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Board, the Company, and the Union were represented by counsel
or by a representative, and all participated in the hearing. Full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and to cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all
parties. No objections to the introduction of evidence and no excep-
tions to rulings of the Trial Examiner were made at the hearing.
During the course of the hearing the Company, the Union, and
counsel for the. Board stipulated and agreed to certain facts and to
other matters, for the purposes of these proceedings. The Company
challenged the jurisdiction of the Board over the subject matter.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds
that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
On April 25, 1940, subsequent to the hearing, there was lodged
with the Board a certain stipulation and agreement in writing,
entered into :by the Company, the Union; and counsel for the Board,
setting forth certain facts for consideration by the Board as part of
the record herein. The Board hereby approves said stipulation-and
directs that it be filed instanter as part of the record herein.
Upon the entire -record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Dayton & Waldrip Company is a California corporation, with its
place of business at Hollydale, California. It is engaged in the
manufacture, distribution, and sale of foundry and machine-shop
products. It maintains a plant at Hollydale where its products are
manufactured.
In the course of manufacture the Company uses the following raw
materials: coke, pig iron, and scrap iron. Since 1935 it has purchased
2 Copies of the notice of hearing were also served upon the Central Labor Council (of
Los Angeles ), upon Local No. 92, International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, Iron Ship-
builders & Welders of America, and upon Los Angeles Industrial Union Council. None
of these organizations appeared at the hearing and there is no showing in the record
that any organization - other than the Union purports to represent any of the Company's
employees.
782 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.
and now purchases all the coke and pig iron used'by it from H. L. E.
Meyer, Jr., Company, herein called the Meyer Company, on order from
time to time to an agent of that company at Los. Angeles, California.
The business relationship between the two companies has been carried
on throughout the period without substantial change. California pro-
duces no coke or pig iron and supplies of these materials purchased by
the .Company from - the Meyer.Company have been obtained by the
Meyer Company from places outside the State of California, par-
ticularly England, India, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Company
purchases from the Meyer Company an average of 24 carloads or ap-
proximately 720 to 960 tons of coke annually, and about 450 tons of
pig iron _annually.' From 1935 until the outbreak of the.present
European war in September 1939 the coke which the Company pur-
chased was imported by the Meyer Company almost entirely from
England, and the pig iron was imported entirely from India. Between
25 and 40 per cent of the coke delivered in this period to the Company
under purchase from the Meyer Company was transported by boat
from England to California, thence transshipped directly by common
carrier railway cars to the Company's railway spur, at its plant in
Hollydale. The remaining percentage of the coke- was shipped to the
Company from San Pedro, California, out of stores of coke obtained
from England and maintained at San Pedro by the' Meyer Company:
During the same. period from 10 to 50 per cent of the pig iron delivered
to the Company was transported by boat from Calcutta, India, to
California, thence placed upon railway cars and transported directly
to the above-mentioned spur of the Company. The remaining per-
centage of the pig iron was shipped to the Company from stores of
Indian pig iron, apparently maintained by the Meyer Company at
San Pedro. Since September 1939, 15 to 20 per cent of the coke pur-
chased by the Company from the Meyer Company has been shipped
by common carrier railway cars directly from Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
to the Hollydale plant of the Company on order of the Meyer Com-
pany. , The remainder of the coke has been delivered to the plant from
previously accumulated supplies of English coke at San Pedro. Also
since that date all the 'pig iron delivered to the Company has been
Indian pig iron shipped from storage. Although there is no showing
whether the Meyer Company proposes or will be able to replenish its
stores of coke with supplies from England, or of pig iron with supplies,
from India, it is evident, and we find, that that company will be re-
quired in the future to obtain further -supplies of these raw' materials
outside the State of California.. The record shows that the Meyer
Company maintains from 12,000 to 20,000 tons of coke and about 1,600
. 3 This figure is derived from the 1939 and 1940 purchases of pig iron . Such 'purchases
amounted to 473 tons during 1939 and 120 tons during the first quarter of 1940.
DAYTON & WALDRIP COMPANY 783
-tons of pig iron in storage . All scrap iron used by the Company,
.amounting in 1937 to 2,836 tons, is purchased and obtained from junk
dealers in and about Hollydale. - -
In 1937 the. Company sold approximately $354,000 worth of the
-products manufactured at the Hollydale plant. Eight hundred and
thirty-three dollars worth of these products was sold to a customer in
.Utah and shipped from the plant to the customer 's place of business
.-in that State. The remainder of these products was sold and shipped
from the ' plant to customers located in California. Approximately
-$53,485 4 worth of the products sold and delivered to such California
customers in 1937 was used by them as parts in machines or equipment
which they produced and which were sold and shipped to customers of
such customers located outside California. Since 1937 and at the
present the amount of finished products of the Hollydale plant sold
and shipped by the Company to customers outside California , and the
-amount of finished products sold and shipped to customers in that
State and used by such customers as'parts in machines or equipment
sold and shipped by them to their own customers outside the State,
are the same as `for 1937, above set forth. -
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Lodge 2018, Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin
porkers of North America, through the Steel Workers Organizing
Committee, affiliated with the C. I. -0., is a lodge of Amalgamated'
Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of North America, a
labor organization affiliated with. Steel Workers Organizing Com-
mittee and Congress of Industrial Organizations. It admits to
membership production and maintenance employees of the Company.
, This 8gure . is derived from Board :Exhibit No . 3, said exhibit setting forth the amount
-of purchases of.the Company 's products made by its customers respectively in 1937, and ,
from Boiird Exhibits Nos. 3-A, 3-B, 3-C, 3-I, 3-J, 3-K, 3-N, 3-Q, and 3-S, said exhibits
being letters ;written by,,certain ' of these customers in reply to - a request by the Board
for information concerning the proportion of such products purchased by said customers
in 1937 which were "sold as parts of machines or equipment outside the State of Cali-
fornia." Some of these replies set forth the requested proportion in dollars , and others
in percentages of total purchases . While some of these replies contain certain ambigui-
ties,.we have construed their statements in the light of the inquiry to which they were
responsive , and other relevant matters. None of the parties objected to the admission
,of any of the afore-mentioned exhibits or challenged the statements therein contained.
We have given weight to statements of amount or percentage stated in the letters to be
approximations , since they were made by companies or individuals presumably having
knowledge thereof . The following chart sets forth the amount of products , as shown or.
otherwise deduced from and established by statements in the indicated exhibits, pur-
chased by customers in 1937 and used as parts in equipment or machines shipped out of
California :
Exhibit : - --Amount Exhibit : ' , Amount
3-A ---------------------- $1, 161. 00 3-N---------------------- $5,780.00
----------- - I---------- 373. 68 3-Q---------------------- 27, 975.00
3-C---------------------- 181.43 3-S---------------------- . 247.00
3-I---------------------- 9,876.00
3-J------------=--------- 4,750.00 Total ------------------ 53,485.00
3-K --------------------- 3.242.00
784 DECISIONS OF' NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Union claims that it represents a majority of the employees.
of the Company within an appropriate collective bargaining unit.
The Company questions the claim of the Union that it represents a.
majority of such employees.
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
the employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has:
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to.trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and'
tends to lead to labor disputes. burdening. and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company, the Union, and counsel for the Board stipulated
and agreed that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company employed at its Hollydale, California, plant,' excluding
supervisory employees, employees having the authority to hire and/or
fire, watchmen,. and clerical workers, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining. We see no :reason for not
so finding. Accordingly, we find that all production and main-
t.enance employees'of..the' Company employed at- its "Hollydale,-Cali-
fornia, plant, excluding supervisory employees, employees having
the authority to hire and/or fire, watchmen, and clerical workers,,
constitute a unit appropriate for the 'purposes of collective bargain-
ing and' that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the
full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bar-
gaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We are of the opinion, and we find, that the question concerning
representation which has arisen.can best be resolved by the holding
of an election by secret. ballot among employees in.the appropriate
unit to determine their desires with regard to representation. Ac-
cordingly we shall direct that an election by secret ballot be held
subject to such limitations as may be stated in the Direction of
Election.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
DAYTON & WALDRIP COMPANY
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
785
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
-sentation of employees of Dayton & Waldrip Company, Hollydale,
California, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees of the Company
employed at its Hollydale, California, plant, excluding supervisory
employees, employees having the authority to hire and/or fire, watch-
men, and clerical workers, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
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 Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRE, CT D'that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Dayton & Waldrip Company, Hollydale, California, .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 of Election,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the-
Twenty-first Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National
Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said
Rules and Regulations, among all production. and maintenance em-
ployees of Dayton & Waldrip Company, Hollydale, California, at
the Company's Hollydale plant who were employed during the pay-
roll period next preceding.the issuance of this Direction, including
employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation and employees who were then or have since
been temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory employees, em-
ployees having the authority to hire and/or fire, watchmen, clerical
workers, and employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Lodge 2018, Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Work-
ers of North America, through. the Steel Workers Organizing Com-
mittee, affiliated with the C. I. 0., for the purpose of collective
bargaining.