Kalamazoo Stove and Furnace Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 10, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1041 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of KALAMAZOO STOVE AND FURNACE COMPANY and
UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 7-R-19-33.-Decided May 10, 19415
Mr. Sylvester J. Pheney, for the Board.
Mr. Louis J. Colombo, of Detroit, Mich., for the Company.
Mr. Robert A. Wilson, of Washington, D. C., and Mr. Garrett T.
Troff, of Kalamazoo, Mich., for the Mounters and Molders.
Mr. Nicholas J. Rothe, of Detroit, Mich., for the CIO.
Mr. Bernard Goldberg, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Steelworkers of America,
C. I. 0., herein called the CIO, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Kala-
mazoo Stove and Furnace Company, Kalamazoo , Michigan , herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Walter Wilbur,
Trial Examiner . Said hearing was held at Kalamazoo , Michigan, on
March 6, 1945. The Company, the CIO, International Molders and
Foundry Workers Union of North America , A. F. L., herein called
the Molders , and International Stove Mounters Union, A. F. L.,
herein called the Mounters , appeared and participated . All parties
were afforded full opportunity to be heard , to examine and cross-
examine witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed . All parties were afforded
an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Kalamazoo Stove and Furnace Company is a Michigan corpora-
tion having its manufacturing plants and principal place of business
61 N. L. R. B., No. 175.
1041
1042 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Company is presently engaged in
manufacturing war materials for the United States Government.
During the 1944 calendar year, the Company purchased raw materials
for use in its manufacturing operations valued at more than $1,000,000,
of which 60 percent was purchased outside the State of Michigan and
shipped into that State from other States;' the finished products pro-
duced at the plants were shipped to users outside the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
11. TI IE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North
America and International Stove Mounters Union, both affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, are labor organizations admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION ; THE ALLEGED
APPROPRIATE UNIT
On December 20, 1944, the CIO filed its petition in the instant pro-
ceeding requesting a unit of all production and maintenance employees
at both plants of the Company , excluding clerks , guards, and all super-
visory personnel . The Company , the Mounters , and the Molders con-
tend that presently existing contracts constitute a bar to this
proceeding.
The Company , whose regular business is in the manufacture of
stoves and furnaces , has maintained collective bargaining relations
with the Molders and the Mounters for many years . As a member of
the Manufacturers ' Protective & Development Association , the Coln-
pany has been a party to Association -wide contracts , called conference
agreements , with the Molders covering the employees within the juris-
diction of the latter . It has also concurrently entered into separate
collective bargaining contracts with the Mounters limited to employees
of the Company represented by that organization . The most recent
conference agreement between the Association and the Molders is for
the period from January 1 , 1945, to December 31 , 1945. The most
recent regular contract with the Mounters was for the 1941 calendar
year and provides for automatic renewal from year to year unless
either party serves notice in writing of a desire to change the agree-
ment at least 30 days prior to the expiration date of any contract year.
No notice of a desire to terminate this agreement has ever been given
by either party to the contract.
KALAMAZOO STOVE AND FURNACE COMPANY 1 043
In the summer of 1942, the Company temporarily discontinued the
manufacture of stoves and converted its facilities to the making of
armor plate and aeronautical products. To meet the new situation
arising from the conversion to war work, a joint committee of employee
members of the Mounters and Molders was selected to negotiate sup-
plementary agreements with the Company covering the new conditions
then obtaining in the plants. On June 23, 1942, such an agreement
covering rates of pay in new occupations was executed and on July 21,
1942, pursuant to the terms of the June 23 agreement, "Defense Rules
and Regulations" were adopted. This latter document contains the
following preamble :
Whereas the entry of our Country into war has disrupted all
normal production schedules and introduced many new problems
for both labor and management, it has seemed wise to supplement
the agreements under which we have been working with the fol-
lowing articles dealings (sic) with the defense program specifi-
cally. However, nothing in these articles shall be construed as
abrogating the spirit or intent of the Conference agreements now
in force or as altering the established channels of recourse for the
settlement of disputes. [Italics supplied.]
Article II of the same "Defense Rules and Regulations" further
provides:
For purposes of negotiation, all union employees shall be con-
sidered one body and represented collectively by a joint com-
mittee of their own selection, known as the Executive Commit-
tee and referred to hereafter as the Committee. Committee
members shall be active employees and members in good standing
in one of the local unions affiliated with either the I. M. & F. W. U.
or the Stove Mounters International Union. All negotiations
shall be carried on under and governed by the Conference Agree-
ments and the agreement with the International Stove Mounters
Union now in force. [Italics supplied.]
In the summer of 1943 a second plant of the Company commenced
manufacturing war materials. Although the original supplementary
agreements were not by their terms limited to plant #1, now "Defense
Rules and Regulations" with an identical preamble, were adopted
effective August 1, 1943, to cover plant #2.
It is apparent that, by their express terms, as set forth above, the
supplementary agreements were not intended to supplant the princi-
pal Molders and Mounters agreements but to be ancillary thereto.
Consequently, whether or not any of these agreements may be held
a bar to this proceeding must be determined by the termination pro-
visions of the extant principal contracts. Viewed in this light, the
1044 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
agreements, insofar as they affect the Mounters, operate as a bar since
the primary contract with the latter union was automatically renewed
prior to the CIO's initial claim to representation on December 20,
1944. The 1945 conference agreement between the Molders and the
employers' association is in a somewhat different category. That
agreement, although executed on December 20, 1944, became effective
subsequent to the date on which the CIO filed its petition. Under
established principles of the Board a petition filed prior to the
effective date of a contract although subsequent to its execution is
sufficiently timely to prevent such a contract from being a bar, Ac-
cordingly, we find that the 1945 conference agreement is not a bar to
this proceeding. However, the employees of the Company covered by
the conference agreement, who might under other circumstances con-
stitute an appropriate unit, cannot do so in the instant case in view of
the long established bargaining history for such employees on an As-
sociation-wide basis, and we so find.
Since we have found that the contract between the Mounters and
the Company is a bar insofar as the employees represented by the
Mounters is concerned, and that a unit limited to the employees of the
Company covered by the conference agreement is inappropriate, we
find that no question has arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of the Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record
in the case, the Board hereby orders that the petition for investiga-
tion and certification of representatives of employees of Kalamazoo
Stove and Furnace Company, Kalamazoo, Michigan, filed by United
Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0., be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
I Matter of Lycomting Dilistion-The Aviation Corporation, 56 N L. R B 803; Matter of
Foster-Grant Co., Inc , 54 N L. R B 802. The fact that the filing of the petition was not
preceded by a demand for recognition is immaterial . See Matter of Portland Lumber
Mills, 56 N. L . it. B. 1336.