International Harvester Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1101 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, MELROSE PARK
PLANT, EMPLOYER and DIE AND TOOL MAKERS LODGE No. 113, INTER-
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-804.-Decided December 16, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before William J.
Scott, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
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 and International Union, United Automobile,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Local
Union No. 6, CIO, herein called the Intervenor, are labor organiza-
tions claiming to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. The question concerning representation :
During November 1946, the International Union with which the
Intervenor is affiliated, herein called the UAW-CIO, was certified as
the representative of the employees in a residual production and main-
tenance unit at the Employer's Melrose Park plant, including the
employees requested in the instant petition. Since that time, the
Intervenor has been recognized as the bargaining representative for
these production and maintenance employees and has held a series of
contracts covering this unit. On June 24, 1949, the Employer and
the UAW-CIO, acting on behalf of the Intervenor and other locals
representing employees in seven different plants of the Employer,
entered into a memorandum agreement providing for new contracts
to replace the existing local agreements, which were to expire on
87 NLRB No. 102. 1101
1102 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
August 23, 1949.' The master agreement provided that the locals
should enter- into new contracts before August 23, 1949, covering the
appropriate units represented by them, and that such contracts should
incorporate the terms of the existing contacts with certain modifica-
tions set forth therein. The master agreement also contained tire fol-
lowing provisions :
Each of the . . . locals shall have the opportunity to accept or
reject this Agreement. Any local which has not ratified this
Agreement and notified the Company in writing, postmarked no
later than midnight, July 24, 1949, shall be deemed to have rejected
it and as to such local the notices of modification and of termina-
tion previously exchanged between the Company and the Union
shall be considered to be in full force and effect... .
On July 6, 1949, the Petitioner notified the Employer of its interest.
At a meeting of the Intervenor on July 10, the membership voted to
ratify the master agreement of June 24, between the UAW-CIO and
the Employer: On July 18, the Petitioner filed its petition in this.
case. On July 19; the Intervenor notified the Employer by telegram
that it had ratified the master agreement. On August 23, as provided
by the master agreement, the Intervenor and the Employer executed
a new local contract covering the production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Melrose Park plant.
The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the master agree-
ment of June 24, 1949, it a bar to the petition in this case. The
Employer further contends that in view of the enlargement of the
Petitioner's unit request by amendment of the petition at the hearing,
the new local contract of August 23, 1949, is a bar to the amended
petition.' As to the first of these contentions, the quoted language of
the June 24, 1949, agreement discloses that notice of ratification of
this agreement, to be given by the local union to the Employer, was
a necessary condition precedent to the validity of the agreement as
to the employees represented by.the local. As the filing of the petition
in this case preceded the giving of such notice by the Intervenor, we
find that the master agreement of June 24, 1949, is not a bar to the
petition.
As to the second contention, the record discloses that, in its original
petition, the Petitioner requested a unit comprising employees in the
toolroom, machine repair, and mechanical departments of the Em-
ployer's Melrose Park plant. On September 2, 1949, at the hearing,
the Petitioner amended its petition to include similar employees in the
1 These agreements were terminated by notice to prevent automatic renewal in accord-
ance with their terms.
2 Hyster Company, 72 NLRB 937.
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER ' COMPANY 1103
tool grinding-department, and further stated that it was also willing
to-include the employees in the industrial production experimental
department, if the Board should find that the latter ought to be in-
cluded. The unit sought by the Petitioner, both in its petition as
originally filed, and as amended and supplemented at the hearing, is
essentially one of employees engaged in the machinists' craft. We
believe that, although the Petitioner's ultimate unit request embraces
a greater number of employees than those sought in the original peti-
tion, it does not alter the nature, or fundamentally vary the scope, of
the unit sought. In these circumstances, we find that the contract of
August 23, 1949, is not a bar to an election among the employees in the
unit requested by the Petitioner at the hearing.3
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.4
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of tool and die makers.and
related machinists, comprising the bulk of the employees in four
departments, namely, the toolroom, machine repair, tool grinding, and
mechanical departments.
In the alternative, the Petitioner is willing to represent a craft unit
enlarged to include employees with similar skills in the industrial
production experimental department, if we find that such employees.
should be included. The Employer and the Intervenor oppose the
establishment of either of the proposed units, arguing that the history
of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis makes any smaller unit
inappropriate and that, in any event, the proposed unit does not in-
clude all similar categories in the plant.
The departments in question are dispersed throughout the plant. In
each instance, however, they have their own separate shop areas and
separate supervision. The toolroom does work on jigs, fixtures,
gauges, templets, and all types of tooling and related equipment. The
machine repair department is responsible for the maintenance, lubrica-
tion, and rebuilding of all machine tools and related equipment in
the plant, as well as the repair of all types of trucks used at the Em-
ployer's plant. The tool grinding department grinds all the cutting
tools used in the plant. The mechanical department does all the
machine work for the toolroom and machine repair departments. It
S See E. L. Bruce Company, 74 NLRB 1354 , and cases cited therein.
4 The Employer and Intervenor moved to dismiss the instant petition on the ground that
the Petitioner did not have a sufficient showing of interest in the unit requested at the
hearing. These motions were denied. We have frequently held that a Petitioner 's prima
facie showing , is an administrative matter not subject to collateral attack by the parties.
0. D. Jennings & Co., 68 NLRB 516.
1104 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
also does occasional machine work for the industrial production ex-
perimental department and various production departments in case
of machine break-downs or excessive work loads in these departments.
The industrial production experimental department makes and as-
sembles experimental products. Many employees in this department
work on tools, dies, fixtures, and the repair of machinery used in
experimental production.
Certain machinists from the toolroom and machine repair depart-
ments work entirely, or at frequent intervals, in the production and
test floor areas, repairing machinery where break-downs occur. They
are highly skilled and their work is closely related to the .work per-
formed by the other machinists in the toolroom and machine repair
departments. Although they receive their instructions when work-
ing in the production department from the production department
foremen, they remain under the supervision of the toolroom or ma-
chine repair departments foreman. As the actual work situs is not
a true basis for distinguishing between employees similarly classified,
we find that they are properly a part of the machinists' unit sought
by the Petitioner.,'
In addition to the machinists in the departments above enumerated,
the record discloses that there are in the perishable tool department
approximately five employees classified as inspectors-salvage tools,
whom the Employer and the Intervenor contend should be included
in the proposed unit. These inspectors must be all around tool and
cutter grinders and usually have become inspectors by virtue of their
competence acquired while working as grinders in the tool grinding
department. They have skills comparable to those of employees in
the unit sought by the Petitioner and apply these skills in determining
the fitness of tools used throughout the plant.' The Petitioner is will-
ing to include inspectors in the industrial production experimental
department having similar skills. We shall include the inspectors in
both departments in the voting group hereinafter set forth. The
Board has previously found that a unit composed of employees in a
tool department who are engaged in installing, making, and repair-
ing tools, dies, and fixtures may function together for collective bar-
gaining purposes.7 In the instant case, the construction, maintenance,
and repair of tools, dies, and fixtures is a primary function in the
I International Harvester Company, McCormick Works, 82 NLRB 190.
9 The remaining employees in the perishable tool department ( tool crib attendants, tool
salvage men , and laborers ) are not required to exercise any particular degree of skill in
their work and their interests are more clearly allied to those of the remaining production
and maintenance employees than to the employees in the voting group whom the Petitioner
seeks to represent . Sunbeam Corporation, 74 NLRB 976.
'International Harvester Company, McCormick Works, supra ; sunbeam Corporation„
supra.
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY 1105
departments , herein discussed . Therefore we believe that the tool
and die makers, machinists , and related classifications in the depart-
ments primarily sought by the Petitioner , together with the similar
classifications in the industrial production experimental department
and perishable tools department , constitute an identifiable; homo-
geneousgroup with common interests apart from those of other main-
tenance and production employees, such that they may constitute. a
separate unit despite the history of bargaining on a broader basis.8
Likewise, they may continue as part of the production and maintenance
unit in , which they are presently included. Although the Employer
and Intervenor assert that the proposed unit does not include all em-
ployees having similar skills and performing similar duties, they
direct-our attention to no other such employees apart from . those whom
we have included within the voting ' group set forth below. Nor does
the record disclose the presence of any other such employees . Accord-
ingly we shall direct an election in the following voting group :
All employees at the Employer 's Melrose Park Plant, Melrose,
Illinois, in the toolroom , machine repair ,° tool grinding, mechanical,
perishable tool, and industrial production experimental depart-
ments ,l° listed in Appendix A, but excluding the employees in these
departments listed in Appendix B, all office and clerical employees,
guards, professional employees , and supervisors as defined in the Act.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time,
but shall first ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed
in the election hereinafter directed . If a majority vote for the
Petitioner , they will be taken to have indicated their desire to con-
stitute a separate appropriate unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION"
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer,, an election by
8 General Electric Company, Plastic Division of the Chemical Department , 81 NLRB 476.
0 The auto repairmen in the machine repair department sought by the Petitioner to repair
and rebuild mobile equipment such as trucks , tractors, switch engines, and cranes at the
Employer ' s plant. We have previously held that such auto mechanics have skills similar
to those of machinists , and we find them appropriately included in the requested unit.
Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, 82 NLRB 820; Cities Service Refining Corporation, 83'
NLRB 890.
"Although the Petitioner requests the inclusion of-bench hands in the tool grinding
department , it would exclude the bench hands in the industrial production experimental
department . Both classifications are required to have a considerable knowledge of tools
and to be able to work from "drawings and sketches ." We shall include both groups of
bench hands in the voting group. International Harvester Company, McCormick works,
supra.
?' The United Automobile , Aircraft and Agricultural Implement . Workers of America,
CIO, is omitted from the ballot because of the failure of its local , the Intervenor , to comply
with the filing' requirements of section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act. In'the event that
877359-50-vol. 87-71
1106 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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, 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 vacation 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 col-
lective bargaining, by the Die and Tool Makers, Lodge No. 113, Inter-
national Association of Machinists.
APPENDIX A
Department 16-Toolroom
Occupation Number Occupation Nance
B-68-DW13------------------- Boring Mach.-Hd.-Jig.
M-1-C-DW13----------------- Machinist-all round.
T-41-B-DW13---------------- Tool Maker.
Department 17-Machine Repair
M-1-B-DW11 ----------------- Machinist-all round.
M-1-C-DW13----------------- Machinist-all round.
M-5-DW6-------------------- Machinist-Helper.
M-6-B-DW11 ----------------- Machinist-Repair.
R-77-A-DWB----------------- Repairmen-Auto Equipment.
R-77-B-DW10----------------- Repairmen-Auto Equipment.
Department 21-Mechanical Dept., Machinery
B-75-DW12------------------- Boring Machine-Jproz.
G-66-B-DW12---------------- Grinder-all round.
G-88-DW12------------------- Grinder-external.
G-89-DW11------------------- Grinder-internal.
G-90-DW11------------------- Grinder-surface.
L-73-B-DW10---------------- Lathe operator-turret.
Local No. 6 effects compliance within 2 weeks from the date of this Direction, the Regional
Director is instructed to accord Local No. 6, international Union, United Automobile,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, a place on the ballot in
the election directed herein.
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY
Occupation Number Occupation Name
L-82-A-DW8----------------- Lathe operator-engine.
L-82-B-DW11----------------- Lathe operator-engine.
M-1-C-DW13----------------- Machinist-all round.
M-25-A-DWB----------- ______ Mill. Mach. Oper.-Univ.
M-25-B-DW11----------------- Mill. Mach. Oper.-Univ.
P-35-B-DW10---------------- Planer Oper.
S-47-B-DW10------------------ Shaper.
S-62-B-DW11-----------------
-
Shaper-Vertical.
S-150-A-DW7---------------- - Sawyer-Contour.
MTA_________________________ Metal Trades Apprentice.
Department 18-Tool Grinding
B-105-DW9------------------- Bench Hand.
G-65-A-DW7----------------- Grinder-Perish. Tools.
G-65-BDW-9----------------- Grinder-Perish. Tools.
G-65-C-DW11---------------- Grinder-Perish. Tools.
Department 22-Perishable Tools
1-77-DW12------------------- Inspector-Salvage Tools.
Department 70-Industrial Production,'Experimental
B-68-DW13------------------- Boring Mach. Oper.-Jig.
B-98-DW4-------------------- Bench Hands.
E-36-A-DW9----------------- Exp. Gen. Mach. Oper.,
E-36-B-DW11---------------- Exp. Gen. Mach. Oper.
E-36-C-DW12---------------- Exp. Gen. Mach. Oper.
E-38-DW13------------------- Exp. Utility Man.
I-68-DW13------------------- Inspector-Floor.
I-69-DW13------------------- Inspector-Layout.
M-1-C-DW13----------------- Machinist-all round.
M-63-DW12------------------ Mechanic-Assembly.
M-67-DW6------------------- Mechanic-Helper.
----------------- Mechanic-Assembly.
M-70-B-DW11---------------- Mechanic-Assembly.
S-150-A-DW7---------------- Sawyer-Contour.
S-221-DW13------------------ Sheet Metal Dev. Man.
T-41-B-DW13---------------- - Tool Maker.
MTA_________________________ Metal Trades Apprentice-
1107
1108 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
APPENDIX B
Department 16-Toolroom
Occupation Number Occupation Name
L-111-DW1------------------- Laborer.
T-40-B-DW6----------------- Tool Crib Attendant.
Department 17-Machine Repair
-------------- Laborer.
L-145-DW5------------------- Lubricating Attendant.
O-23-DW5-------------------- Oiler Equipment.
Department 21-Mechanical Dept., Machinery
L-11-DW1-------------------- Laborer.
O-23-DW5-------------------- Oiler Equipment.
S-189-DW6------------------- Sawyer-Cut-off.
T-40-A-DW4----------------- Tool Crib Attendant.
T-40-B-DW6----------------- Tool Crib Attendant.
Department 18-Tool Grinding
L-111-DW1-------------------- Laborer.
0-23-DW5-------------------- Oiler Equipment.
T-40-A-DW4------------------ Tool Crib Attendant.
T-40-B-DW6----------------- Tool Crib Attendant.
Department 22-Perishable Tool
L-411-DWI ------------------- Laborer.
.S-235-A-DW4______________- Salvageman-Tools.
S-235-B-DW6----------------- Salvageman-Tools.
T-40-A-DW4_________________ Tool Crib Attendant.
'T-40-B-DW6----------------- Tool Crib Attendant.
Department 70-Industrial Production, Experimental
C-93-DW6--------------------- Checker-Record. M & L.
D-41-B-DW7----------------- Driver Auto, truck.
D-100-DW5------------------- Driver-Ind. Truck.
5-1-DW1---------------------- Janitor.
L-111-DW1------------------- Laborer.
S-189-DW6------------------- Sawyer-Cut-off.
T-40-A-DW4----------------- Tool Crib Attendant.
T-40-B-DW6----------------- Tool Crib Attendant.
L-105 -------------------------- Learner-Non-Productive.
W-50-DW12------------------ Welder-Arc and Gas.