Jarecki Machine & Tool Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 12, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 930 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of JARECKI MACHINE & TOOL COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
PATTERN MAKERS ASSOCIATION OF GRAND RAPIDS, AFFILIATED WITH
PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 7-R-2612.-Decided August 12, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing of-
ficer of the National Labor Relations Board . 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
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 labor organizations named below claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. The question concerning representation :
Local 944, International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW-CIO), herein
called the Intervenor, and the Employer entered into a contract dated
April 20, 1946, which by its terms was to remain in effect until April
20, 1947, and to continue indefinitely thereafter in the absence of a 60-
day notice to modify or terminate. On March 7, 1947, the Petitioner
filed its original petition in this proceeding, which petition was
amended on December,29, 1947. On or about March 26, 1947, the
Intervenor notified the Employer of its desire to enter negotiations for
modification of the existing contract. On May 8, 1947, the Intervenor
and the Employer executed a "supplement" embodying certain changes
1 The motion of the Employer to dismiss the petition is denied for reasons hereinafter
stated
* Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 133.
930
JARECKI MACHINE & TOOL COMPANY 931
in the provisions of the 1946 contract, including wage revisions effec-
tive as of April 28, 1947, and extending the term of the contract to
April 28, 1949.
Both the Intervenor and the Employer contend that the contract
of 1946, with the "supplement" of May 8, 1947, constitutes a bar to a
current determination of representatives. We find no merit in this
contention. As the filing of the petition herein preceded the execu-
tion of the new contract of May 8, 1947, and as, at the time of the
filing of the petition, the 1946 contract had been renewed for an in-
definite period, thus having become one of indefinite duration, neither
contract, under established Board principles, constitutes a bar to this
proceeding.
We likewise find no merit in the further contention of the Employer
that the Board is precluded from making a present determination of
representatives because of the provisions of Section 103 of the amended
Act. As the contract of May 8, 1947,,was executed during the pend-
ency of the present petition, it is not preserved by Section 103 of
the amended Act.2
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. The appropriate unit; the determination of representatives :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all non-supervisory journey-
men pattern makers, pattern model makers, and apprentices employed
in the Employer's tool and die division. The Employer and Inter-
venor contend that these employees are more properly represented in a
plant-wide unit presently represented by the Intervenor.
The Intervenor has represented the employees of the Employer
since its first contract in 1941. At the time of the original contract,
3 pattern makers were employed, and this number remained constant
throughout the war years. Post-war conversion led to an increase
in the number of pattern makers engaged, and the indications are that
a complement of approximately 12 pattern makers will be maintained.
The pattern makers are skilled craftsmen, requiring an extensive ap-
prenticeship before qualifying as journeymen. Their work is per-
formed in the pattern shop, which is separated from the rest of the
plant by a glass partition and is under separate supervision. The
pattern makers are among the highest paid of all skilled tradesmen in
the shop, and are not interchanged with other employees.
We have frequently held that pattern makers with duties similar
to those performed by the employees herein constitute a craft group 3
z Matter of National Tube Company, 76 N. L R. B 169.
Matter o f Combustion Engineering Company, Inc , 74 N L. R B 556; Matter of Kaiser
Frazer, 73 N. L R. B 109.
932 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
which may appropriately be represented for collective bargaining pur-
poses in a separate unit. We shall , however, make no final unit de-
termination at the present time, but shall direct an election among all
journeymen pattern makers , pattern model makers, and apprentices
employed in the tool and die division of the Employer 's plant at Grand
Rapids, Michigan , excluding all supervisors as defined in the Act, and
shall be guided in part in our unit determination by the desires of these
employees as expressed in such election . If a majority of these em-
ployees select the Petitioner as their bargaining representative, they
will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate
unit. If, however , they select the Intervenor , they will be taken to
have indicated their desire to remain a part of the existing plant-
wide unit represented by the Intervenor.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
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 super-
vision 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-Series 5, among the em-
ployees in the voting group 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 vaca-
tion 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 they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by Pattern Makers Association of Grand Rapids, affiliated
with Pattern Makers League of North America, AFL, or by Local
944, International Union, United Automobile , Aircraft and Agricul-
tural Implement Workers of America (UAW-CIO), or by neither.