Dixie Electrotype Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 2, 1960

126 N.L.R.B. 924 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

'924 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
I shall further recommend, in view of Local 466's understanding or arrangement
with Moore Electric Company for the operation of an illegal exclusive referral sys-
tem, that Local 466 reimburse the employees of Moore Electric Company for any
dues, fees, assessments, or other moneys paid by them to Local 466 in satisfaction
of the obligations of union membership during the period beginning December 12,
1957 (6 months prior to the service of the charge), and ending on November 5, 1958.
In view of the fact that Local 466 in effect eliminated the objectionable provisions
of the 1957 and 1958 contracts in the November 5, 1958, addendum, and that the
General Counsel does not contend that Local 466's contracts or referral practices
after November 5, 1958, were in any way unlawful, I conclude that a broad cease-
and-desist provision is not warranted. Accordingly, I will recommend that Local
466 cease and desist from in any like or related manner restraining or coercing em-
ployees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.24
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Local Union No. 466, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-
CIO, is a labor organization within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act.
2. By restraining and coercing employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed
them Eby Section 7 of the Act, as found above, Local Union No. 466, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, has engaged in and is engaging in
unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8(b) (1) (A) of the Act.
3. By causing and attempting to cause the members of the Association and non-
member signers of the Association contracts to discriminate against their employees
in violation of Section 8(a)(3), Local Union No. 466, International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor prac-
tices within the meaning of Section 8(b)(2) of the Act.
4. The unfair labor practices found herein affect commerce within the meaning
of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication.]
123 NLRB 1393; Gay Engineering Corporation, 124 NLRB 451; NLRB. v. General
Drivers, Chauffeurs and Helpers, Local Union No. 886, etc. (Unit Parts Company), 264
F. 2d 21, 23 (,CA. 10), and cases therein cited.
as Gay Engineering Corporation, 124 NLRB 451.
Dixie Electrotype Co., Inc. and International Stereotypers' and
Electrotypers' Union Local No. 78 , Petitioner. Case No.10-RC-
4546. March 2, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Aaron Z. Dixon, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has
delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Rodgers, Bean, and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this 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 em-
ployees of the Employer.
126 NLRB No. 108.
DIXIE ELECTROTYPE CO., INC. 925
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.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent in a craft unit the employees
in the electrotype department and rubber plate department at the
Employer's Nashville, Tennessee, plant. The Employer contends that
only a production and maintenance unit is appropriate. There is no
history of collective bargaining.'
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of electrotype, nickel,
rubber and wax rule plates, advertising cuts, and mats for customers
engaged in the printing and advertising industry. Its operations are
divided into three main departments, composing, electrotyping and
rubber plate. In addition it has a maintenance department and a
shipping and receiving department. All operations are carried on
in one building. There are no partitions or walls dividing the area
except that the wax rule section, which is part of the electrotype
department, is located in a partially walled area next to the composing
room. Initially, new plate work starts in the composing room with the
setting of type, after which the form prepared there is sent to either
the electrotype department or rubber plate department, depending
on whether it requires a metal or rubber plate. From either of these
departments it is sent to the shipping and receiving department, where
it awaits delivery to the customer.
The unit sought by the Petitioner comprises 51 employees in the
electrotype department and 9 employees in the rubber plate depart-
ment. The electrotyping operation is divided into the molding sec-
tion, finishing section, and the wax rule section. There are 20 em-
ployees in the molding section, classed as molders, casters, battery men,
and 1 builder. The molders clean forms, pack metal in open places,
and preheat forms received from the composing section before placing
them in the molding presses. The casters take shells that have been
plated from the molds and back them up with electrotype metal. The
battery men place shells in the plastic molds to make them electro-
productive. The builder works from the metallic forms, using a hot
iron, to flow wax into the open places to get more relief in the finished
molds.
There are 28 employees in the finishing section classed as floormen,
finishers, check-over men, and revisers. The floormen separate the
metal plates from the casts, level the plate with a press and cut it to
size with a rotary shaver to insure proper thickness. The finishers
check the plates for defects and cut high lines, or raise low lines of
type to make the plates level. The check-over men also examine plates
IIn 1955 a consent election was held, Case No. 10-RC-3195, in the same unit re-
quested in the petition , involving the same parties. However the Union failed to receive
a majority of the votes cast
926 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
for defects, make necessary repairs with a soldering iron and check
them against the order to verify specifications and quantity. The
revisers work on plates sent in by customers to have changes made
in the index, page numbers, and headings. When not so engaged
they assist the floormen in their duties.
There are two employees in the wax rule section who cut rules in
a wax case to match the copy sent in by the customer. When this work
is slack they assist in the rubber plate department'
There are four press operators and five floormen in the rubber plate
department. The press operators clean master copies, make thermo-
setting molds on the presses, take molds from the forms, cut rubber
gum and mold it into a bakelite mold to produce the rubber printing
plate. The floormen grind plates to proper thickness and mount them
on magnesium, wood or zinc bases, trim and square them to size, and
take proofs. The plates are then sent to the shipping department.
The employees in this department are capable of performing both
operations.
Although the Employer has no formal apprenticeship program it
maintains an on-the-job training program for the training of new
employees. There is generally no interchange of employees between
departments 3
The Board has considered the skills and techniques incident to elec-
trotyping and rubber plate making and has held that employees so
engaged are craftsmen and may form separate appropriate units.'
On the above facts, and the record as a whole, we find that the em-
ployees sought herein are entitled to separate representation. How-
ever, consistent with our opinion in National Cash, Register we find
that the skills required for electrotyping and rubber plate making are
different. Moreover, the Petitioner's constitution treats them as two
separate crafts. Accordingly, we shall establish two separate units.
There remains the unit placement of foremen and leadmen in the
electrotype department and the rubber plate department whom the
Petitioner wishes to exclude on the ground that they are supervisors
within the meaning of the Act. The Employer took no position at
the hearing but wishes the Board to clarify their status.
Charles Dean is the foreman in charge of the rubber plate depart-
ment. He is also a vice president and part owner of the Company.
He has authority to hire and discharge. We find that he is a super-
visor within the meaning of the Act and exclude him from the unit.
P. L. Smith is the foreman in charge of all operations in the mold-
ing section. He assigns and directs the work of the employees under
2 This is the only evidence of occasional interchange between the two groups sought by
the Petitioner.,,
The record indicates that occasionally- four men assigned to the maintenance depart-
ment cut stereotype mats in the molding section to help replenish the supply of mats.
4 The National Cash Register Company, 121 NLRB 408 , and cases cited in footnote 1.
DIXIE ELECTROTYPE CO., INC. 927
him. He is on salary and attends meetings with the other foremen in
the plant. He is responsible for the quality of work and sees that
chemical soltuions are balanced according to specifications.
A. B. Baggott is the foreman in charge of the operations in the
finishing section. His duties are to schedule work and to see that the
proper quality standards are met. Seventy-five percent of his time is
spent in doing manual work. The balance of his time is spent in
assigning and directing the work of employees in his department. He
is paid a salary and reports directly to Vice President Dean.
Gene Curtis is the leadman in the rubber plate department. He is
responsible for the quality of work and sees to it that it goes through
on schedule. He instructs the employees as to which plates should be
worked on, inspects their work, and returns it to the employees if any
defects are found. He is in sole charge of the department whenever
the foreman is absent. He is the highest hourly paid employee in the
department and spends about 60-75 percent of his time doing pro-
duction work.
Smith, Baggott, and Curtis have no authority to hire or discharge
employees nor do they effectively recommend such action. However,
they assign and direct the work of the employees in their departments.
We find on the record that these individuals responsibly direct the
work of the employees assigned to them. Accordingly, we conclude
that they are supervisors within the meaning of the Act and exclude
them from the unit.'
Kenneth Dallas is a leadman in the molding section. He spends
all of his time doing manual work. He has no authority to hire or
discharge nor to effectively recommend such action. He neither
assigns nor directs work nor does he attend meetings of the
supervisors.
Miller Ozment is the leadman in the finishing section. He spends
all of his time doing manual work. In the absence of Foreman
Baggott he takes over but does not exercise full authority when this
occurs. He does not assign or direct the work of the employees with
whom he works. His chief responsibility is to inspect plates for de-
fects and return them to be corrected.
Roy Baker is the leadman in the wax rule section. He spends all
of his time doing manual work. He makes routine assignments of
work to the other employees.
On these facts, we find Dallas, Ozment, and Baker are not super-
visors within the meaning of the Act and shall include them in the
unit.'
5 Wonderkndt Corporation , 123 NLRB 53.
e Waldorf Instrument Company, at at., 122 NLRB 803.
928 DECISIO'ATS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We shall direct elections in the following units which are appro-
priate for collective bargaining purposes under Section 9(b) of the
Act.
(a) All employees of the electrotype department at the Employer's
Nashville, Tennessee, plant, including finishers, molders, casters,
batterymen, the builder, and the leadman in the molding section; re-
vi'sers, check-over men, finishers, floormen, and the leadman in the
finishing section; all wax rule employees and the leadman in the wax
rule section, but excluding all other employees, office clerical em-
ployees, guards, the foreman in the molding section, the foreman in
the finishing section, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
(b) All employees in the rubber plate department at the Em-
ployer's Nashville, Tennessee, plant, including press operators and
floormen, but excluding all other employees, office clerical employees,
guards, the foreman, the leadman, and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
Highway , Truck Drivers and Helpers, Local 107, International
Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America and Food Producers Council, Inc.
Warehouse Employees Union Local 169, International Brother-
hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers
of America and Food Producers Council, Inc. Cases Nos.
4-CD-40 and 4-CD-42. March 3, 1960
DECISION AND ORDER
This proceeding arises under Section 10(k) of the Act, which pro-
vides that "Whenever it is charged that any person has engaged in an
unfair labor practice within the meaning of paragraph 4(D) of Sec-
tion 8 (b), the Board is empowered and directed to hear and determine
the dispute out of which such unfair labor practice shall have
arisen...."
On April 13 and June 24, 1959, Food Producers Council, Inc.,
herein called the Charging Party, filed charges with the Regional
Director for the Fourth Region, alleging that Highway Truck Drivers
and Helpers, Local 107, International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, herein called
Local 107, and Warehouse Employees Union Local 169, International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers
of America, herein called Local 169, had engaged in and were engag-
ing in certain unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section
126 NLRB No. 115.