General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 24, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1010 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY (LYNN RIVER WORKS),
EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL DIE SINKERS' CONFERENCE, PETI-
TIONER
Case No. 1-RC-383.-Decided February 24, 194.9
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing of-
ficer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby confirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner, International Die Sinkers' Conference, is a labor
organization claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, CIO, International
and Local 201, herein called the Intervenors, are labor organizations
claiming a contractual interest to represent employees of the Em-
ployer.
3. The Employer and the Intervenors contend that a present col-
lective bargaining agreement is a bar to the present petition. The
petition was filed on April 27, 1948, after this contract had been
automatically renewed on April 1, 1948, but before its modification
on June 11, 1948. The changes in the modified contract included
an extension of the term from 1 year to 2 years. We find that the con-
tract is not a bar to this proceeding. When the parties to a contract
extend the expiration date of the contract, they "open" the contract so
as to permit a rival union to raise a question concerning representa-
tion. Furthermore, it is clear that the extended contract cannot be
a bar to the proceeding, as the filing of the petition preceded the,
execution of such agreement.'
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
1 Beattie Manufacturing Company, 77 N. L. It. B 361 ; Eppinger & Russell Co., 78 N. L.
R. B 1178; General Electrtic Company, 3-RC-90, issued November 4, 1948.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 153.
1010
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1011
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of die room employees consisting of
"all men working on dies or parts of dies, used in the manufacture
and completion of forgings," but excluding foremen's clerks, pay-
roll clerks, sweepers, machine repairers, draftsmen, office and clerical
employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as defined
in the Act. The proposed unit includes die sinkers, Blanchard grind-
ers, grinders, benchers, die polishers, inspectors, die makers, machin-
ists all around, machinists on tools and dies, Kellers, shapers, planers,
welders, duplicators, and tool crib attendants. These employees work
primarily in the die room, which is known as Department 15, and
which together with the adjoining forge shop makes up the drop
forge and die division located in Building 42 of the Employer's Lynn
River Works.
The Employer and the Intervenors contend that only a unit coex-
tensive with the Lynn River Works is appropriate because of the
history of collective bargaining with the Intervenors on this basis,
and also because the work of the die room employees is asserted to be
'integrated generally with that done in the entire River Works and in
particular with the forge shop.
To support their contention that the die room employees are not
a sufficiently distinct group to be set apart for bargaining purposes,
the Employer and the Intervenors point to the fact that there are
certain grinders, tool crib attendants, welders, and duplicators in the
proposed unit whose work stations or tasks are not restricted exclu-
sively to the die room. The record shows that grinders in the die
room sometimes work on materials other than dies. Two die grinders
are assigned to the forge shop; however, they repair dies and are
under die room authority. The tool crib situated in the die room
supplies the forge shop to a small extent, but it largely serves the die
room. The welding shop is in the forge room; but the welders weld
impressions and repair broken trimmers, punchers, or dies. Some
of the duplicators, whose duties are also in the die sinking field, are
in a nearby building because of the lack of space in the die room.
Dies are at one stage taken to another part of Building 42 for hard-
ening by employees not included in the Petitioner's proposed unit,
after which they are returned to the die room for additional proc-
essing. Although there is common supervision by an assistant gen-
eral foreman over both the die room and the forge shop, the die room
employees are separately supervised by their own foremen .2
2 A foreman of the forge shop , who has charge of 40 or 50 employees in that section, also
"keeps a watchful eye" on the 4 third-shift employees in the die room , but they work inde-
pendently without his direction.
829595-50-vol 81-65
1012 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employers and Intervenors contend, also, that the die room
employees are interchangeable with employees in other parts of the
River Works. However, with the exceptions already indicated, die
room employees do not normally go into other sections to perform
any work, nor do employees from other sections ordinarily come into
the die room to perform any operations connected with die sinking.
When lay-offs occur, some interdepartmental transfers take place.
Die sinkers themselves, however, possess such special skills that it is
not customary to transfer employees from other departments to the
die room to serve in that capacity. Where transfers are made to other
die room jobs that are higher paying and new to the transferees, the
transferees have to undergo training for some months, at two steps
below the job rate.
We find, notwithstanding the evidence relied upon by the Em-
ployer and the Intervenors, that the employees in the Petitioner's
suggested unit, except the tool crib attendant, whose duties do not
require skill in die work, constitute a functionally cohesive and dis-
tinct craft group. These employees all perform tasks that are part
of the skilled process of preparing dies used to complete forgings,
and they comprise a group which the Board has frequently found to
be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.3 Therefore,
we believe that the employees specified below may, if they so desire,
constitute a separate craft unit notwithstanding the history of collec-
tive bargaining on a plant-wide basis. However, as the inclusion of
these employees in the existing plant-wide unit is also appropriate,
we shall not make any unit determination until an election has been
conducted. If the majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken
to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargaining
unit.
Accordingly, we shall direct that a separate election be held among
the employees in the following group :
All employees in or attached to the die room, including die sinkers,
Blanchard grinders, grinders, benchers, die polishers, inspectors, die
makers, machinists all around, machinists on tools and dies, Kellers,
shapers, planers, welders, and duplicators, but excluding tool crib
attendants, foremen's clerks, pay-roll clerks, sweepers, draftsmen,
machine repairers, office clericals, guards, professional employees,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.
3 Ford Motor Company, 80 N. L. R. B 1094 , The Atwater Manufacturing Company,
76 N L R. B 542; Tremont Manufacturing Company, 74 N. L R. B 959; The Peck, Stow
d Wilcox Company , 73 N. L. R B . 1256, Duro Metal Products Company, 73 N. L R. B
368 ; Phoenix Manufacturing Company, 64 N. L R. B. 472, Crane Company , 62 N L R. B
1089; Revere Copper and Brass , Incorporated (Dallas and Ordnance Divisions), 61
N. L R. B . 392, Snap-On Tools Corporation , 55 N. L. R B 813 ; Aluminum Company of
America, 54 N. L. R. B 782 ; Duff-Norton Manufacturing Company, 48 N. L. R B. 1148.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1013
We shall not place the Intervenors' names on the ballot because
they are not in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the
Act 4
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purpose of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended,
among the employees described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did
not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or
reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective
bargaining, by International Die Sinkers' Conference.
MEMBER GRAY took no part in the consideration of the above De-
cision and Direction of Election.
4 Rite-Form Corset Company, Inc , 75 N. L. R B. 174.