Grinnell Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 13, 1947

72 N.L.R.B. 1177 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of GRINNELL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and UNITED
ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN PLUMBERS & STEAMFITTERS OF THE
UNITED STATES AND CANADA, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. 10-B-1757.-Decided March 13, 1947
Mr. Roger T. Clapp, of Providence, R. I., and Mr. M. F. Goldstein,
of Atlanta, Ga., for the Employer.
Mr. Martin F. O'Donoghue, of Washington, D. C., Mr. Samuel
Roper, of Sheffield, Ala., and Mr. C. F. Voss, of Atlanta, Ga., for
the Petitioner.
Messrs. Charles C. Mathias and Charles Bell, of Atlanta, Ga., for
the Intervenor.
Mr. Melvin J. Welles, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Atlanta,
Georgia, on October 1, 1946, before William M. Pate, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case , the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Grinnell Corporation, a Delaware corporation, has its principal
office at Providence, Rhode Island, and operates plants in Rhode
Island, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia. We are concerned only with
its Atlanta, Georgia, plant in this proceeding. At its Atlanta plant,
the Employer is engaged in the manufacture, sale, distribution and
installation of automatic sprinkler systems, pipe fittings, pipe hangers,
and related products. During the year ending September 1, 1946,
the Employer purchased, for its Atlanta plant, raw materials valued
72 N. L. R. B., No. 207.
1177
1178 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
at approximately $100,000, of which 90 percent was shipped to the
Atlanta plant from points outside the State of Georgia. During the
same period, the Employer manufactured at its Atlanta plant ap-
proximately 3,000 tons of finished products, consisting principally
of pipe fittings, of which approximately 70 percent was shipped to
points outside the State of Georgia.
The Employer admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent. employees of the Employer.
United Steelworkers of America, herein called the Intervenor, is
a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organi-
zations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning,
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of employees of the pipe shop
and fabricating departments of the Employer's Atlanta plant. The
Intervenor contends that the history of bargaining on a production
and maintenance basis precludes the establishment of a separate unit
of employees of the pipe shop and fabricating departments. The Em-
ployer takes no position with respect to the appropriateness of any
unit.
The Atlanta plant of the Employer is composed of 10 departments,
including the melting, molding, core room, cleaning, machine shop,
toolroom, fabricating, pipe shop, pattern shop, and shipping depart-
ments. All of these departments, except the pipe shop, fabricating,
and shipping departments, are engaged in the production of flanges
and fittings. The shipping department, as its name implies, is
concerned with shipping finished products to various consumers.
Inasmuch as almost all the pipe fabricated in the pipe shop and fabri-
cating departments is used in other plants of the Employer, the ship-
ping department is concerned primarily with routing and shipping
GRINNELL CORPORATION 1179
the flanges and fittings manufactured in the other departments. Both
the pipe shop and fabricating departments are engaged in the fabrica-
tion of pipe, which includes cuttino, and threading, bending and weld-
ing, and placing lap-joints on pipe. These 2 departments are under
separate supervision from the other departments in the plant, and
are housed in a building separate from the building occupied by all
the other departments. The pipe shop and fabricating departments
perform an integrated operation, which does not depend on the opera-
tion of the other departments in the plant.
The employees of these two departments, including benders, weld-
ers, set-up men, painters, markers, inspectors, checkers, tack welders,
blacksmiths, and lap-joint operators, are all highly skilled employees;
their skills require from 3 to 4 years' experience. The work of these
employees can be done by no other employees in the plant.
For example, an ordinary welder does not qualify for work in the
fabricating department; welders in this department are required to
pass a special test, the "Hartford steam boiler test." Under ordinary
circumstances, there is no interchange of employees between these two
departments and the other departments in the plant.' The employees
in the pipe shop and the fabricating departments perform all of their
work in their own departments, except for a small amount of time
spent by the welders on maintenance and repair work, amounting to
less than 1 percent of the working time of these employees. We are
convinced that, under all the circumstances, the employees of the
pipe shop and the fabricating d eparimerit constitute a true and well
identified craft group. Furthermore, similar craft groups exist inin ZD
the industry for the purposes of collective bargaming.2
The Intervenor contends, however, that the bargaining history on
a production and maintenance basis precludes the establishment of
the unit sought by the Petitioner. On April 24, 1944, the Board
found appropriate a production and maintenance unit, including
employees of the pipe shop and the fabricating departments at the
Employer's Atlanta plant.' At that time, however, only the United
Steelworkers of America, the present Intervenor, claimed to repre-
sent employees of the Employer at the Atlanta plant, and there was
no consideration by the Board of the inerits of a separate unit of
employees of the pipe shop and fabricating departments. The Inter-in
I It appears from the record that at the time of the hearing the pipe shop and fabricating
departments were not operating because of the refusal of members of the Petitioner to
install pipe fabricated by employees who do not belong to that organization As a tear
porary measure , therefore , the employees of these departments have been given "pick-up"
jobs in other departments
2 See, e g, Matter of Crane Co.; 62 N L R B 1089. -
3 Matter of Grinnell Company , Inc, 55 N . L R B. 1476.
1180 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
venor was certified as the bargaining representative of all production
and maintenance employees on June 24, 1944, and on March 5, 1945,
the Employer and the Intervenor executed a contract which continued
in effect until March 5, 1946.4
The bargaining history on a production and maintenance basis was
commenced a relatively short time before the Petitioner, on February
2, 1946, requested recognition as the bargaining representative for the
employees in pipe shop and fabricating departments; a written con-
tract on this basis has existed for only 1 year. Furthermore, the
employees in these departments are, as we have described, a homo-
geneous and identifiable craft group, which is customarily repre-
sented separately for the purposes of collective bargaining. And
they have never had an opportunity in a Board election to indicate
whether they desire to be represented in a craft unit or in a plant-
wide unit. We are of the opinion that they should now be given that
opportunity.5
Accordingly, we shall direct that an election be held among the
employees of the pipe shop and fabricating departments of the Em-
ployer's Atlanta, Georgia, plant, excluding all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend
such action.
At this time we shall make no determination of the appropriate unit.
Such determination will depend, in part, upon the results of the
election. If the employees in the pipe shop and fabricating depart-
ments select the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to be established as a separate bargaining unit; if they select
the Intervenor they will be taken to have indicated their desire to
remain a part of the existing production and maintenance unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 6
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Grinnell Corporation, Atlanta,
Georgia, 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, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
* Although this contract provided for automatic renewal for yearly periods in the ab-
sence of a prescribed notice to terminate given by either party to the agreement, the
Employer gave such notice to the Intervenor.
5Matter of National Aniline Division, Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation, 71
N. L. R B. 1297; Matter of International Minerals and Chemical Corporation ( Potash
Division ), 71 N. L. R B. 878. See Matter of E. I. du Pont do Nemours d Co., Inc.
( Spruance Plant ), 72 N. L R B 361.
Any participant in the election herein may , upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.
GRINNELL CORPORATION 1181
tor for the Tenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, among the employees in the voting'group described in Section
IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who
did not work during 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 those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be represented
by United Association of Journeymen Plumbers & Steamfitters of the
United States and Canada, A. F. of L., or by United Steelworkers of
America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither.