Gullett Gin Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 12, 1947

72 N.L.R.B. 1101 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of GULLETT GIN COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED STEEL-
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 15-R-19419.-Decided March 12, 1947
Mr. L. A. Molony, of New Orleans, La., and Mr. J. J. Wallace, of
Amite, La., for the Employer.
Messrs. J. Bouche and Michael J. Neary, of New Orleans, La., for the
Petitioner.
Miss Eleanor Schwartzbach, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at New
Orleans, Louisiana, on October 22, 1946, before Jerome A. Reiner,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Gullett Gin Company, a Louisiana corporation, is engaged in the
manufacture, sale and distribution of cotton gin machinery and Navy
bombs at Amite, Louisiana. During the year ending June 30, 1946,
the Employer purchased raw materials consisting of steel and other
products, amounting in value to $50,000, 80 percent of which was
shipped to its plant from points outside the State of Louisiana. Dur-
ing the same period the Employer sold finished products valued in
excess of $50,000, 80 percent of which was shipped to points outside
the State of Louisiana.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
72 N. L. R. B., No. 192.
1101
1102 DECISIONS Or NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations , 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
The scope of the unit
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance
employees at the Employer's plant, excluding all office, clerical and
supervisory employees. The Employer contends that the employees
in the pattern shop, the foundry, the machine shop, and the blacksmith
shop should be excluded from the unit because these shops are in
separate buildings, the work in each shop is different, the interests
of the employees in the several shops are divergent, and there is no
intermingling of the employees of one shop with those of another.
The Employer's plant consists of a pattern and wood shop, a foun-
dry, a galvanized sheet metal shop, a sheet metal and assembly shop, a
machine shop, a blacksmith shop, a rib room, a press shed, a paint
shop, and a shipping shed, all housed in different buildings. All of
the buildings and shops of the Employer are situated close together
in one enclosure. All shops do related and integrated work, per-
forming one or more of the operations required for the production of
cotton gin machinery. Through its central office, the Employer di-
rects the work to be performed by the different shops. At the time
a production order is issued, each shop receives its set of orders and
instructions required to complete the machine. At least three or four
shops work on some part of the requirements for any machine built.
The pattern makers in the pattern and wood shop prepare patterns
for use in the foundry. The foundry manufactures castings which
are sent to the machine shop where the necessary machine work is
done on them. The blacksmith shop makes such parts as the various
shops need, and the employees in the rib room grind parts manually
for the use of the machine shop. From the machine shop the work
GULLETT GIN COMPANY 1103
goes to the sheet metal and assembly shop to be fabricated into parts
and assembled. The galvanized sheet metal shop makes part of the
sheet metal used in the finished product. After the machinery is com-
pleted, it is sent to the paint shop to be painted, and then it is sent
to the shipping shed. The paint shop employees work throughout the
plant wherever their services are needed. The shipping shed serves
all shops in the plant.
While there is no interchange of employees, except between the
galvanized sheet metal shop and the sheet metal and assembly shop, all
employees are subject to substantially the same working conditions,,
and all are under the jurisdiction of a plant superintendent.
In view of the functional integration among the various shops of
the Employer's plant, and the absence of organization among the
employees concerned along craft lines, and any past bargaining his-
tory, production and maintenance employees at the plant comprise a
single appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Disputed categories
The Employer would include , and the Petitioner would exclude, the
following employees :
Assistant foremen 2-These employees spend about 20 percent of
their time in production work. The remainder of their time is devoted
to supervision of the work of 8 to 10 employees assigned to them.
Their hourly wages are higher than those of the employees they super-
vise. The assistant foremen have authority effectively to recommend
the hire, discharge , promotion , and transfer of their subordinates.
Inasmuch as it appears that the assistant foremen are supervisory em-
ployees within our accepted definition , we shall exclude them from
the appropriate unit.
Leaderiaen 3-While the Employer did not specifically list leader-
men among those alleged to have supervisory authority, and during
the early part of the hearing stated that it did not contend that these
men are supervisory employees , it later changed its position , urging
that they are supervisory employees.
Although leadermen direct and check the work of other employees,
they spend by far the greater part of their time performing the same
or similar duties as are performed by the employees under their super-
vision . They do not have authority to change the status of employees
working under them. Although they make recommendations, their
recommendations only lead to an investigation of the facts. We find
' On occasion, the foundry workers stop work 15 to 20 minutes earlier than the employees
in the other shops.
2 Jules Carona and Obie Bennett.
'Elmer Hayden and Oscar Hughes.
731242-47-vol. 72-71
1104 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
that leadermen have no substantial supervisory authority, and we shall
include them in the unit.
Watchmen-There are three watchmen in the plant whose work is
predominantly custodial. They guard the premises against unlawful
intrusion, and are armed only at night. They also guard against un-
authorized removal of Employer property. They have no supervisory
authority, and it does not appear that their conditions of employment
are in any way different from those of the other employees sought to
be included in the unit. Inasmuch as their functions are essentially
custodial, rather than monitorial, we shall, in accordance with our
usual policy, include watchmen in the unit.
The blacksmith'-The Employer employs one blacksmith who does
all the skilled blacksmith work required in the plant. He has one
helper under his supervision who assists him only in work entailing
manual labor, and not in connection with his work as a blacksmith.
We are of the opinion that the blacksmith is not a supervisor within
our customary definition of the term, and we shall, therefore, include
him in the unit.
The electrician 5-The electrician does no major electrical work, but
performs general electrical maintenance work throughout the plant.
He is not a licensed electrician. A laborer, who does no electrical work,
is assigned to help him. It is clear the interests of the electrician are
closely akin to those of other production and maintenance employees,
and we shall, therefore, include him in the unit.
°"G. I. Trainees"-The Employer has on its pay roll about 15 veterans
of World War II, referred to in the record as "G. I. Trainees," who
are engaged in various classifications of production work, pursuant to
an apprenticeship agreement entered into between the State of Louisi-
ana and the Employer. The agreement, which is for a period of 4
years, provides for rates of pay and hours of work. The wage schedule
provides for percentage increases every 6 months. At the end of the
indentured period the trainee may become a regular employee, and,
as such, will receive the same pay as other employees performing
similar work.
The Employer contends that the trainees should not be included
in the unit, urging that individual contracts, covering their working
conditions, renders it unnecessary for any labor organization to bar-
gain for them. We find no merit in this contention. The trainees
are employed on production work in the same manner as other em- .
ployees, and have a reasonable expectation of eventually becoming
ordinary employees. We are of the opinion that they have sufficient
, Jesse Woodall
6 Alyus Hall
GULLETT GIN COMPANY 1105
interest in collective bargaining to warrant their inclusion in the unit6
We find that all production and maintenance employees, at the
Employer's plant at Amite, Louisiana, including all leadermen, watch-
men, blacksmiths, electricians, and "G. I. Trainees," but excluding as-
sistant 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, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. TIIE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
On January 7, 1947, subsequent to the hearing in the instant case,
United Cotton Gin Workers' Association of Amite, Louisiana, herein
called the Association, filed with the Board a motion requesting a place
on the ballot in any directed election. Inasmuch as it appears that the
Association was formed subsequent to the hearing and secured its
designations thereafter, the motion is hereby denied.7
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot, subject to the
limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Gullett Gin Company, Amite,
Louisiana, 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 Di-
rector for the Fifteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National 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 unit found appropriate in Section
1V, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
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
Matter of Atlantic Towing Company, 71 N I. R B 640; Matter of Westbrook Manu-
facturing Company, 72 N. L R B 851
°platter of Grand Central Airport Company, 70 N L R B 1094, Matter of Swift and
Company, 68 N L R. It 440, Matter of Ford Motor Company (Chicago Branch), 66 N L.
R. B 1317.
1106 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
United Steelworkers of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.