Eastern Tool & Mfg. Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 19, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1315 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of EASTERN TOOL & MFG. CO., INC. and UNITED STEEL-
WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 2-R-5417.-Decided May 19,1945
Mr. T. L. Chisholm, of New Brunswick, N. J., for the Company.
Mr. Clarence Talisman, of Newark, N. J., for the C. I. O.
Mr. Joseph P. Dallanegra, of Newark, N. J., for the Independent.
Mr. Jack Mantel, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a first amended petition duly filed by United Steelworkers
of America, C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. O., alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning 'the representation of em-
ployees of Eastern Tool & Mfg. Co., Inc., Bloomfield, New Jersey,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before John J.
Cuneo, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Bloomfield, New
Jersey, on March 21, 1945. The Company, the C. I. 0., and Indepen-
dent Tool, Plating & Wire Forming Workers Union, Inc., herein
called the Independent, 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. Subsequent to the hearing, the Company
filed a motion for rehearing on the ground that the Trial Examiner
improperly excluded evidence which was intended to show that the
Independent represented a majority of the employees on August 23,
1944. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, the motion is hereby
denied. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with
the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
61 N. L . R. B., No. 212.
1315
1316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Eastern Tool & Mfg. Co., Inc., a New Jersey corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture of metal components for ammunition, wire forms,
and other metal specialties at its plants located at Bloomfield, Belle-
ville, and Montclair, New Jersey. All of the aforesaid plants are
involved in this proceeding. During the year ending on or about
February 15, 1945, the Company purchased raw materials consisting
of steel wire, cold rolled steel, copper alloys, and copper wire, valued
in excess of $500,000, of which approximately 90 percent was shipped
to its plants from points outside the State of New Jersey. During
the same period, the Company manufactured finished products valued
in excess of $1,000,000, of which approximately 90 percent was shipped
from its plants to points outside the State of New Jersey.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Cbmpany.
Independent Tool, Plating & Wire Forming Workers, Inc., is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The parties stipulated that the Company has refused to grant rec-
ognition to the C. I. O. as the exclusive bargaining representative of
its employees until the C. I. O. has been certified by the Board in an
appropriate unit.
On February 24, 1942, after the Independent had been certified as
bargaining representative as the result of a consent election conducted
under the auspices of the Board, the Company and the Independent
entered into a written bargaining contract. This contract was auto-
matically renewed for 1 year on February 24, 1943. In March 1944,
the Independent defeated the C. I. O. in a consent election and on
April 4, 1944, was again certified by the Regional Director as the ex-
clusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees. There-
after, the Company and the Independent were in continuous nego-
tiations until August 23, 1944, at which time a new contract was exe-
cuted and made retroactively effective as of February 24, 1944. The
terms of the contract provided that it should remain in full force and
EASTERN TOOL & MFG. CO., INC. 1317
effect until February 24, 1945, and thereafter from year to year, unless
30 days before the expiration of any year of the life of the contract
either party notified the other of its intention to terminate the agree-
ment. By letter dated January 18, 1945, the C. I. O. notified the Com-
pany that it represented a majority of its employees, and on February
8, 1945, filed its petition herein. The Company and the Independent
claim that the contract was automatically renewed on February 24,
1945, and therefore constitutes a bar to the present proceeding.
The Board has repeatedly held that a contract executed or auto-
matically renewed after the employer has received notice that a rival
union challenges the contracting union's status as the exclusive bar-
gaining representative is no bar to a determination of representatives.
Since the Company received notice of the C. I.O.'s representation claim
prior to the automatic renewal date of the contract, we find that the
contract is not a bar to a present determination of representatives.1
The Independent further contends that since at the time of the hear-
ing it had been the statutory bargaining representative for less than
1 year under the Board's certification of April 4, 1944, that such certifi-
cation is a bar to the instant proceeding. We find no merit in this
contention, since the certification is now over a year old and is there-
fore no bar to a new determination of representatives. We also find
no merit in the Company's motion for rehearing on the ground that
the Trial Examiner improperly excluded evidence which was intended
to show that the Independent represented a majority of the employees
on August 23,1944, when the current contract was executed. We are of
the opinion that no issue is raised herein as to the majority representa-
tion status of the Independent as of that date.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
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 i THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The C. I. O. and the Independent claim that the appropriate unit
should consist of all production and maintenance employees of the
' See Matter of Craddock -Terry Shoe Corp , 55 N L R B. 1406 , and cases cited therein.
2 The Board agent reported that the C I 0 submitted 135 application -for-membership
cards , dated between November 1944 , and February 1945, 130 of which bore the names of
persons appearing on the Company's pay roll of February 22, 1945. which listed 371
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate The Independent claims an interest
in the proceeding by virtue of its current contract.
The Board agent further reported that the American Federation of Labor and United
Construction Workers, U. Al W. A , were requested in writing to submit representation
evidence , but failed to do so.
1318 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Bloomfield, Belleville, and Montclair, New Jersey plants of the Com-
pany, including probationary employees, truck drivers, factory
clerical employees, inspectors, porters, receiving clerks, watchmen
and guards, but excluding office and other clerical employees, execu-
tives, foremen, and all other supervisory employees. The Company
is in agreement with respect to the scope of the unit, but contends that
watchmen and guards who were not included in the unit established
by the prior contracts between the Company and the Independent,
should be excluded.
The Company employs one watchman and nine guards who pre-
viously had beeen militarized. The Independent and the C. I. O.
would now include them since they are no longer militarized. The
record reveals that they exercise no supervisory powers and that they
are not monitorial in their relation to other employees. Since they
were not included in the prior bargaining contracts, we shall direct
that a separate election be held among the watchmen and guards to
determine their desires with respect to the matter.3 Accordingly, we
shall make no finding with respect to the appropriate unit or units
for employees of the Company pending the outcome of the elections.
We shall direct that separate elections be conducted among the
employees in the separate voting groups described below, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of the Direction of Elections herein, subject to the limitations and
additions set forth in the Direction :
1. All production and maintenance employees of the Bloomfield,
Belleville, and Montclair, New Jersey plants of the Company, in-
cluding probationary employees, truck drivers, factory clerical em-
ployees, inspectors, porters, receiving clerks, but excluding watchmen
and guards, office and other clerical employees, executives, foremen,
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.
2. All watchmen and guards, excluding supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action.
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 represent-
See Matter of Pittsburgh Equitable Meter Company, 61 N L. R. B. 880.
EASTtRN TOOL & MFG. CO., INC. 13i9
atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Eastern Tool &
Mfg. Co., Inc., Bloomfield, New Jersey, elections 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 Second 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 separate voting groups 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 the 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 whether they desire to be represented by
United Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0., or by Independent Tool,
Plating & Wire Forming Workers Union, Inc., for the purposes of
collective bargaining, or by neither.
MR. JOHN M. HOUSTON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections.
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