Green Bay Drop Forge Co.Download PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsAug 14, 195195 N.L.R.B. 1122 (N.L.R.B. 1951) Copy Citation 1122 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD gaged in, and is engaging in, unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (1) of the Act. 7. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices effecting com- merce within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. [Recommended Order omitted from publication in this volume.] GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY and UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFL,1 PETITIONER GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BLACKSMITHS, DROP FORGERS AND HELPERS, AFL,2 PETITIONER. Cases Nos. 13-RC-1894 and 13-RC-1926. August 14,1951 Decision and Direction of Elections Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Ivan C. McLeod, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.3 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with these cases to a three- member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 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. 'Herein referred to as the UAW-AFL. 2 Herein referred to as the Blacksmiths *At the hearing, the Blacksmiths, referring to the imminent completion of Its merger with another international union, moved to amend its petition by adding "or Its successor" to its name therein The Intervenor thereupon moved to dismiss the Blacksmiths' petition claiming that the Blacksmiths, because of such current merging, had lost its representative capacity The hearing officer granted the Blacksmiths' motion, and referred the Inter- venor's motion to the Board. We find no merit in the Intervenor's motion However, we do not deem it necessary to amend the petition, as requested by the Black- smiths, as to do so might cause confusion in the minds of the voters at the election be- cause of the indefinite character of the added description. Pittsburgh IMncstone Corpo- ration, 77 NLRB 710 The hearing officer's ruling is therefore ieversed On the other hand, if the merger of the Blacksmiths is consummated before the election and a new name is agreed upon by the merging unions, then the Regional Director, upon propel re- quest, is hereby authorized to substitute the new name on the ballot for that of the Blacksmiths. 95 NLRB No. 140. GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY 1123 4. The appropriate unit : The Blacksmiths requests a unit of all forge shop employees. The UAW-AFL, while seeking a plant-wide production and maintenance unit, does not oppose the exclusion therefrom of the employees sought to be represented by the Blacksmiths. The Intervenor, United Farm Equipment and Metal Workers Council of United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 186, and the Employer con- tend that a plant-wide unit alone is appropriate. The Employer is engaged at Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the manu- facture and sale of drop forge products and precision machinery. The Employer's plant consists of two buildings, located approxi- mately 200 feet apart. In one of these buildings, the forge shop, all the forging operations are performed; all the employees sought by the Blacksmiths work in this building. The other building houses the production machining division in which the forgings are machine finished to customer specification. The Employer operates a job shop and produces forgings on individual order. Although the Em- ployer machine finishes most of the forgings it produces, some forgings are shipped to the customer in the raw form. The record discloses that the Employer has engaged in collective bargaining for about 15 years. Until 1945 the Blacksmiths repre- sented the employees in a single plant-wide unit. Since that time the Intervenor has been the representative in a similar unit.4 The Intervenor's most recent contract, which was not urged as a bar to this proceeding, expired on July 2, 1951. The Blacksmiths' Proposed Unit All the employees sought to be represented by the Blacksmiths work in the forge shop and are engaged in operations directly connected with the forging process. These employees are in job classifications usually found in a commercial forge shop, and include hammermen, upsetter, bulldozer press, and wheelabrator operators, and employees in the die room. The hammermen operate board drop hammers, and it is clear from the record that they are among the most skilled employees in the plant. The hammermen must be able to produce a large variety of forgings, work to close tolerances, and be capable of exercising inde- pendent judgment in the performance of their tasks. The hammermen are, with the exception of the die sinkers, the highest paid employees in the plant, and are required to complete an apprenticeship, or the 4In 1949 separate consent elections were conducted by the Board in the forge shop and in the production machining division. The Intervenor won both elections, and continued to represent the plant -wide unit. 961974--52-vol. 95--72 1124 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD equivalent thereof, in order to qualify for their jobs. The Employer operates an apprenticeship program for hammermen. There are seven hammermen and an equal number of apprentices employed in the forge shop. The 2 die sinkers and the die trimmer in the die room spend most of their time making and maintaining the dies used in the forging process. The other employees in the requested unit are engaged in cutting and heating operations, trimming, straightening, and cleaning the forgings, and in general maintenance work. The skills of these employees vary from that of a machine operator to ordinary laborer, and none of them are craftsmen. All the employees in the proposed Blacksmiths' unit work in close physical proximity to each other, are under the same supervision which is separate from that of the pro- duction machining employees, and are all either directly engaged in the making of forgings or in tasks closely related thereto. There are approximately 50 employees in the projected unit. The hammermen in this case are skilled craftsmen.° The Board has previously found appropriate departmental units containing a nucleus of skilled craftsmen of the type here sought together with less skilled but related employee classifications., In the present instance, we find that the hammermen constitute such a craft nucleus, to which may be added for the purpose of severance the other related forge shop employees.? The Residual Production and Maintenance Group As the UAW-AFL, the Intervenor , and the Employer entered into a stipulation at the hearing with respect to the content of the residual production and maintenance group, containing approximately 250 employees , we shall direct the holding of a separate election among these employees. In accordance with the foregoing , therefore , we shall make no final unit determination at this time , but shall first ascertain the desires of the employees as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. We shall direct elections among the following groups of employees at the Employer 's Green Bay, Wisconsin , plant : (a) All forge shop employees , including all employees in the press and wheelabrator rooms, the forge shop inspector , and all maintenance employees , but excluding all supervisors as defined in the Act. (b) All remaining production and maintenance employees , exclud- ing all office clerical employees , storeroom clerks, timekeepers, time- s See The Plomb Tool Company, 87 NLRB 134 . Cf. International Harvester Company, 87 NLRB 317 , and General Motors Corporation , Chevrolet Forge, Spring and Bumper Division, 80 NLRB 145. "The Plomb Tool Company, supra , and cases there cited 7 See Rockford Drop Forge Company, 73 NLRB 26 and 31 NLRB 155. KEARNEY & TRECKER CORPORATION 1125 study expediters, draftsmen, inspectors, nurses, engineers and "GI" trainees for such jobs, all employees in voting group (a), guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act. If the employees in voting group (a) select the Blacksmiths, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate unit. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this volume.] KEARNEY & TRECKER CORPORATION and LocAL 1083, INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., PETITIONER. Case No. 13-RC-1900. August 14,1951 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing, was held before Richard C. Swander, 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.2 [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds]. 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 organizations involved claim to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. On July 2, 1950, the Employer and the E. I. U., which had been certified by, the Board in 1945 as the bargaining representative of the Employer's production and maintenance employees,3 entered into a 2-year contract, with provision for automatic renewal, and for At the hearing, the Employer and the Intervenor , Employees Independent Union, :affiliated with Confederated Unions of America, herein called the E. I. U., made . various motions to dismiss the proceeding because of ( 1) a contract bar, and (2) failure of the Petitioner , herein called Local 1083, to establish that there has been a bona fide schism in the contracting union . For the reasons set forth in paragraph 3, these motions are `hereby denied. The Employer and the E. I. U. also questioned the sufficiency of the Petitioner ' s showing .of interest at the time of the hearing , and moved to dismiss the petition on that ground. As a labor organization 's showing of interest is an administrative matter to be determined solely by the Board , the motion is denied . Lloyd A. Fry Roofing Company , 92 NLRB 1170. 2 The Employer has requested oral argument . As the record and the briefs, in our opinion, adequately present the issues and the positions of the parties , this request is denied. I Case No. 13-R-2673. . 95 NLRB No. 138. Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation