Illinois Tool Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 14, 1940

21 N.L.R.B. 660 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS and METAL TRADES DEPART-
MENT OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, ELGIN, ILLINOIS
Case No. R-1737.-Decided March 14, 1940
Tool and Screw Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives:
contioversy concerning representation of employees: refusal of company to
recognize union until certified by Board-Unit Appropriate for Collective
Bargaining : production , maintenance , shipping , and receiving -room employees
at Elgin plant included , and office , full-time clerical , and supervisory employees
excluded, pursuant to stipulation ; controversy as to three employees classified
by Company as janitors , watchmen, and boilermen : included upon request of
Union and over objection of Company-Election Ordered: requested by both
parties.
Mr. Charles F. McErlean, for the Board.
Gardner, Carton and Douglas, by Mr. Erwin W. Roemer, of
Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. J. W. Ramsey, of Rockford, Ill., for the Metal Trades Depart-
ment, for the Machinists, and for the Blacksmiths.:
Mr. William Kaufman, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Mr. Charles
White, of Chicago, Ill., for the Metal Polishers.
Mr. H. A. Plank, of Chicago, Ill., for the 'Firemen' and Oilers.
Hr. David Findling, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On December 28, 1939, Metal Trades Department of the American
Federation of Labor, herein called the Metal Trades Department,
filed with the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago,
Illinois) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees at the Elgin,
Illinois, plant of Illinois Tool Works, Elgin, Illinois, herein called
the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, 49 'Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On February 5,
1940, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
'while the appearances as noted on the official transcript of the proceedings indicate
that J W Ramsey appeared only for the Machinists, he apparently participated in the
hearing as the representative of the Metal Trades Department and the Blacksmiths as well.
21 N. L R. B, No. 63.
660
ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS 661
acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section
3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series
2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice.
On February 9, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the Metal
Trades Department, and the International Association of Machinists,
herein called the Machinists.- Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was
held on February 19, 1940, at Elgin, Illinois, before John T. Lind-
say, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board;
the Company ; the Metal Trades Department ; the Machinists ; In-
ternational Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers,
herein'called the Blacksmiths; Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and
Helpers International Union, herein called the Metal Polishers; and
International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, herein called the
Firemen and Oilers; 3 were represented at, and participated in, the
hearing.` Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-exam-
ine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was
afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing, the Trial
Examiner made several rulings on motions and a ruling on an objec-
tion to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the
rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors
were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Illinois Tool Works, an Illinois corporation having its principal
office and place of business in Chicago, Illinois, is engaged in the
design, manufacture, sale, and distribution of cutting tools and
screws. This case is concerned only with its plant in Elgin, Illinois,
where it is engaged in the manufacture of screws, and where it em-
ployed at the time of the hearing 248 persons.
The principal raw material used in the operations of the Company
at the Elgin plant during the year 1939 was steel wire. During that
2 The Machinists aie one of several craft unions which constitute the Metal Trades De-
partment of the American Federation of Labor See Section II, infra.
8 The Blacksmiths , the Metal Polishers , and the Firemen and Oilers are also among the
craft unions which constitute the Metal Trades Department of the American Federation
of Labor See Section II, infra
4 The Board and the Company were represented by counsel ; and the Metal Trades De-
partment, the Machinists , the Blacksmiths , and the Firemen and Oilers, apparently by
their authorized representatives . See footnote 1, supra. It is not clear whether the
Metal Polishers was represented by counsel or by a representative.
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662 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
year the cost of this raw material, of which approximately 10 per
cent was shipped to Elgin from States other than the State of Illinois,
was in excess of $36,000. During the same period,the total sale price
of the screws manufactured at the Elgin plant, of which approxi-
mately 80 per cent were shipped to points outside the State of Illinois,
was in excess of $50,000.5
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Metal Trades Department of the American Federation of
Labor is a labor organization composed of certain craft unions
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and is authorized
to act on behalf of these craft unions for collective bargaining pur-
poses, "when one or more of these organizations have or claim to
represent people in a particular plant." Among the craft unions
constituting the Metal Trades Department, the following admit to
membership, and claim to represent, employees of the Company at
its Elgin plant : International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop
Forgers and Helpers; International Association of Machinists; Metal
Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Helpers International Union ; and
Firemen and Oilers International Union.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On December 21, 1939, the Metal Trades Department, claiming
to represent a majority of the Company's employees in the Elgin
plant in a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
requested the Company to recognize it as the exclusive representative
of such employees for such purposes." The Company refused to do
so until such time as the Metal Trades Department is certified as sole
collective bargaining agent by the Board.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company at its Elgin plant.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
UPON COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
5 The record does not disclose whether these percentages refer to the value or to the
mass of the raw materials or finished products The Company manufactures tools at its
Chicago plant, which, together with the Elgin plant, was involved in Matter of ,'Illinois
Tool Works, a Corporation and International Association of Machinists, affiliated with the
A. F of L, 17 N. L R B 1016 In that case we found that the Company and its
operations were subject to the jurisdiction of the Board
a It appears from the record that "the unions here involved" made the demand It is
clear, however, that reference thus made is to the Metal Trades Department - See h1.0
Section VI, infra.
ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS 663
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
At the hearing the Company and the Metal Trades Department
agreed, and we find, that all production and maintenance employees
of the Company at its Elgin plant, including shipping and receiving-
room employees, and excluding office employees, full-time clerical
employees, and supervisory employees, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining.'
The Metal Trades Department further requests the inclusion, and
the Company the exclusion, of Louis Choitz, Fred Kurtz, and Harl
Cover, who are classified on the records of the Company as janitors,
watchmen, and boilermen. Approximately 25 per cent of the time
of these employees is spent in patrolling the plant, and the balance
of their time in sweeping and cleaiiing, making boxes, and firing
the boilers used in heating the plant. The interests and problems
of these employees appear to be no different from those of other
maintenance employees of the Company, who, the parties have agreed,
are to be included in the bargaining unit.8 Moreover, there is no
evidence that their duties as watchmen place these three employees
in a confidential and fiduciary relationship to the management of
the Company, or that their inclusion would cause them to relax the
discharge of such duties. Under the circumstances, we are of the
opinion that the janitors, watchmen, and boilermen should be included
in the unit, particularly' where, as here, the only labor organization
involved desires their inclusion.9
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company at its Elgin plant, including shipping and receiving-room
employees, and janitors, watchmen, and boilermen, and excluding
office employees, full-time clerical employees, and supervisory
7 The parties have agreed that the following employees are office employees • Powers,
Cappers , Collingbourne , Wiechmann , Frances Johnson, Chandler , Holle, Fred Kappen, Cas-
tenson, Funk , Korbacher , Ettner and O'Leary; the following are full -time clerical em-
ployees : Feth, Lowell , Glomp , and Ralph Anderson ; and the following axe supervisory
employees : Berthelsen , Wicks, Aldrich Dahlgien , Robert Warner , Kehl, Berg , Neil Robison,
William Linder , Richard Warner, Renwick , Krabbe , Washam, Bechtold, Sjoreen, Collier,
Russell , Baldwin , Fiddler, Phillips, Harper, Havhl , Skibbe , Sass, and William Voss.
8 Choitz , Kurtz , and Cover are Listed ' in an exhibit prepared by the Company, together
with six other employees , as constituting the "Maintenance Department "
9 See Matter of Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company and Industrial Union of
Marine cG Shipbuilding Workers, of America , Local No 16, 19 N. L R B 313, Matter of
Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company and Textile T17orkers Organizing Committee, Local No. 74
of the Committee for Industrial Organization, 13 N L R B. 513, and cases cited in foot-
note 3 therein.
664 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees,10 constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining, and that said unit will insure to employees of
the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and
to collective bargaining, and otherwise effectuate the policies of the
Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing the Metal Trades Department introduced evidence
that a majority of the employees in the unit which we have found
to be appropriate are members of the Machinists, the Blacksmiths,
the Metal Polishers, and the Firemen and Oilers, and thus have
designated the Metal Trades Department as their representative
for the purposes of collective bargaining. However, it did not re-
quest certification on the record as made, but joined with the Com-
pany in requesting an election. We find that the question concerning
representation which has arisen can best be resolved by holding an
election by secret ballot.
At the hearing the parties also agreed that, in the event that the
Board ordered an election herein, all employees in the appropriate
unit who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll period
next preceding the date of the Direction of Election should be
eligible to vote. We construe this agreement to include as eligible
to vote those employees in the unit who did not work during such
pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation, or who were
then or have since been temporarily laid off, and to exclude those
employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause. As
thus construed, we see no reason to depart from the wishes of the
parties in this regard, and we shall direct accordingly.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the rep-
resentation of employees at the Elgin, Illinois, plant of Illinois Tool
Works, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees of the Company at
the Elgin plant, including shipping and receiving-room employees,
and janitors, watchmen, and boilermen, and excluding office em-
ployees, full-time clerical employees, and supervisory employees,10
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
10 See footnote 7, supra
ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS 665
ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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 8, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to
ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with
Illinois Tool Works, Elgin, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be
conducted as early as possible but not later than 30 days from the date
of this Direction of Election, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all production and
maintenance employees of the Company at its Elgin plant, including
shipping and receiving-room employees, and janitors, watchmen, and
boilermen, who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll
period next preceding the date of this Direction of Election, or who
did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding office employees, full-
time clerical employees, and supervisory employees," and also exclud-
ing employees who, between such pay-roll date and the date of the
election, have quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
or not they wish to be represented for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by Metal Trades Department of the American Federation of
Labor.
I" See footnote 7, supra.