Ladish Drop Forge Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 21, 1944

57 N.L.R.B. 1468 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of LADISH DROP FORGE COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF BLACKSMITHS , DROP FORGERS & IIELPERS (AFL);
AND INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS (AFL)
Case No. 13-R-2453.Decided August 01, 1944
Messrs. H. M. Knoeller and C. C. Gladson, both of Cudahy, Wis.,
'for the Company.
Messrs. A. J. Eberhardy, P. L. Sierniller, and David Tischner, all
of Chicago, Ill., for the AFL.
Mr. J. G. Meiner, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Die Sinkers.
Mr. W. 0. Sonnemann, of Milwaukee, Wis., for the CIO.
Mr. Joseph C. Wells, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION,
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Black-
smiths, Drop Forgers & Helpers (AFL); and International Associa-
tion of Machinists (AFL), herein collectively called the AFL, al-
leging that a question had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Ladish Drop Forge Company, Cudahy, Wisconsin, herein
called-the Company, the National Lsbor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert T. Drake, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on June
29, 1944. The Company, the AFL, Milwaukee Die Sinkers Lodge No.
140 of the International Die Sinkers Conference, herein called the Die
Sinkers, and Uiiited Steelworkers of America (CIO), herein called
the CIO, 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 opportunity to file briefs
with the Board. -
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
57 N. L. R. B., No. 232.
1468 5
LADISH DROP FORGE COMPANY
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
1469
Ladish Drop Forge Company, a Wisconsin corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture and sale of rough and machined drop forgings
and operates its only plant at Cudahy, Wisconsin. The Company
annually purchases raw materials having a value in excess of $2,000,000,
of which approximately 80 percent is shipped to the plant from points
outside the State of Wisconsin. The annual sales of the Company
have a total'value in excess of $5,000,000, approximately 80 percent of
which represents the value of products sold and shipped from the plant
to points outside the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Liternational Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop'Forgers & Helpers,
and International Association of Machinists, both affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, are labor organizations admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
Milwaukee Die Sinkers Lodge No. 140 of the International Die
Sinkers Conference is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company. -
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to Inem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. I HE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Tie Company has refused to grant recognition to the AFL as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees until
the AFL has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Field Examiner and a supplemental statement by
the Trial Examiner, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicate
that the AFL represents a substantial number of employees in the
units hereinafter found appropriate.'
'The Field Examiner reported that the AFL submitted 405 designation cat ds, and that
329 of these bore the names of employees listed on the Company's pay roll for-the period
ending May 20, 1944, which pay-roll contained the names of 1,113 persons in the alleged
appiopiiate unit
At the hearing the AFL submitted to the Trial Examiner 20 additional designation cards
The Ti ial Examiner stated that 16 of the cards submitted bore the names of persons listed
on ,the same pay roll.
The Field Examiner further, repot ted that the CIO was requested in writing on May 25,
1944, to submit i epresentation evidence, if any, but failed to do so.
1470 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
.representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 ( 6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
The AFL contends that employees of the Company working in the
steel stores department, forge shop, and ,the maintenance and repair
department, excluding clerical employees, janitors, watchmen, sweep-
ers, matrons, charwomen, the steel stores department liaison man, the
forge-shop safety inspector, and supervisory employees, constitute
an appropriate unit for the purpose's of collective bargaining.. The
Company contends that the appropriate unit comprises all its pro-
duction and maintenance employees, excluding all employees working
on dies or parts used to complete forgings.2 The CIO contends that
a plant-wide unit of production and maintenance employees is appro-
priate.3 'Neither the CIO nor the Company took'any position' with
respect to those employees specifically excluded by the AFL from
the unit it proposed. '
The CIO' and the Company in 1940 agreed to a consent election
among all production and maintenance employees of the Company,
excluding die sinkers, apprentices, learners, probationary employees,
and supervisory employees. Pursuant to this agreement the Board
held an election on October' 11, 1940, in which the CIO was the only
participating union. The employees who voted chose not to be repre-
sented by the CIO. -Since about the time this election was held, the
Company has recognized the Die Sinkers as the bargaining represent-
ative of its employees working on dies or parts of dies used to com-
plete forgings. The CIO states that it presently is organizing the
Company's employees, but, as indicated above, has submitted no rep-
resentation evidence, and has not indicated any desire to participate
in an election at the present time. ,
The Company's plant is divided into 16 production departments
and a maintenance and repair department. Each of the production
departments is under the direct' supervision of its 'own foreman, and
each of these departments performs a separate and distinct function
in the manufacture of the. Company's products. The maintenance
and repair department is comprised of approximately 244 employees
and operates to service all production departments and maintain the
2 The Company since 1940 has recognized the Die Sinkers as the bargaining representative
of all its employees working on dies or pacts of (lies used to complete foigings , \one of
these employees constitutes a part of the unit alleged to be appropriate by the AFL
s The Die Sinkers appeared for the sole purpose of disputing the appiopriatene's of the
unit proposed by the CIO.
4,These are , viz, steel stores, forge shop , heat treating , cleanune , straightening , grinding
and salvage , production machine , die room . painting, galvanizing , shipping , flange store,
stockroom, power plant , inspection , and`metalluigical.
LADISH DROP FORGE `COMPANY 1471,
plant premises. There are approximately 2,331 employees, exclusive
of supervisory employees, in the 16 production departments, and
approximately 843 employees, exclusive of supervisory employees, in
the forge shop and steel stores department. The various departments
in the .plant are not organized on the basis of any difference in the
skills or rates of pay of the.employees working in such departments.
However, there is nothing in the record to indicate that employees
are frequently transferred from one department to another on a tem-
porary basis. The AFL seeks to represent only the employees in the
steel stores department, the forge shop, and the' maintenance and
repair department. It has not attempted nor been requested to repre-
sent,employees of the Company in a plant-wide unit, and no other
union at present seeks to represent the Company's employees on this
broader basis. It appears that organization of all employees of the
Company in the optimum unit for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing is not probable within a reasonable time, and, therefore, we can
perceive no -valid reason why the employees in the departments' de-
siring collective bargaining should be denied their rights 'on the
ground that employees in the other-departments of the plant appar-
ently have no such desire.5 Accordingly, we find' no merit in the con-
tentions of the Company and the CIO with respect to the appropri-
ateness of a unit less than plant-wide in scope.
While it is customary to include maintenance and repair employees
with production employees in a plant-wide industrial unit, we deem it
improper to include such employees in a. production unit confined to
two departments of a plant where only approximately one-third of all
the production employees work in those two departments, and where
the maintenance and repair department is organized to service all
production departments.e Therefore, we shall find appropriate at
the present time separate units comprisecl'of employees in the mainte-
nance and repair department and employees in the forge shop and
,steel stores department. However, these findings will not preclude a
finding at some later date that a larger, more inclusive unit is then
appropriate.
We find that the following groups of employees constitute units
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of'Section 9 (b) of the Act:
(1) All employees of the Company in its maintenance and repair
department, excluding clerical employees, janitors, watchmen,
sweepers, matrons, charwomen, and all supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
5 See Matten of Gardner -Richardson Company, 52 N L R . B 1260; Matter of,Standard
Overall Company, 53 N. L R. B 960
' Matter of Real Silk Mosiety , Mzlls, Inc, 54 N L: R B. 399.
1472 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action; and " - ,
(2) All employees of the Company in its steelstores department
and its forge shop, excluding clerical employees and the liaison man
in the steel stores department, janitors, sweepers, and the 'safety inspec-
tor in the forge shop, and all supervisory employees with authority to
hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that 'the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by elections by secret ballot among the employees
in the appropriate units who were employed during the pay=roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Ladish Drop Forge
Company, Cudahy, Wisconsin, elections by secret'ballot shall be con-
ducted 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 Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Sections 10 and ,11, of said Rules `and Regulations, among the
employees in the units found appropriate- in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during,
the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tem-
porarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but exclud-
ing those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause
and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the
elections, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
jointly-by International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers &
Helpers, and International Association of Machinists, both affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.