Layne & Bowler, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 14, 1950

90 N.L.R.B. 1872 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of LAYNE & BOWLER, INC., EMPLOYER and UNITED STEEL-`
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER and LOCAL No. 66, INTER-
NATIONAL MOLDERS AND FOUNDRY WORKERS UNION OF NORTH
A]NIERICA, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 33-RC-430 and 32-RC-234.Decided August 14, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Vance M. Fry, hearing officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with these cases to a three-
member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Styles].
Upon the entire record in these cases the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of
the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of the employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. United Steelworkers of America, CIO, the Petitioner in Case
No. 32-RC-230, herein called the Steelworkers, contends that produc-
tion and maintenance employees at the Employer's Memphis, Tennes-
see, plant, excluding office and clerical, technical, and professional
employees, watchmen, guards,; and all supervisors, constitute a single
appropriate bargaining unit. The Machinists contend that employees
in the machine shop, maintenance department, and the pit shop con-
stitute an appropriate bargaining unit. Pattern Makers League- of
North America, Memphis Association, A. F. L., an intervenor, herein
called the Pattern Makers, contends that all pattern makers and their
1 After the close of the hearing, International Association of Machinists, Lodge No. 61,
herein called the Machinists, an intervenor, moved to correct the transcript of the record
made at the hearing in these proceedings, serving on all parties it copy of the motion. In
the absence of any objection to the motion, the motion is granted. The transcript made at
the hearing is deemed corrected in respect to the matters set forth in the motion.
90 NLRB No. 243.
1872
tLAYNE, & BOWLER, INC. 1873
apprentices , excluding the pattern makers' clerk and supervisors, con-
stitute an appropriate bargaining unit. Local No. 66, International
Molders & Foundry Workers Union of North America , AFL, the
Petitioner in Case No . 32-RC-234 , herein called the Molders, contend
that employees on the Employer 's foundry payroll at the plant, in-
cluding all employees engaged in core making , molding, casting, and
cleaning operations , constitute an appropriate bargaining unit.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of deep well turbine
pumps, well screens, and well casings at its Memphis , Tennessee , plant.
The plant operations are divided into several departments and sectors,
all interrelated and coordinated for the production of the Employer's
final products . These operations fall functionally within three
principal groups : ( 1) The foundry ; ( 2) the machine shop and pit
shop; and ( 3) the receiving and stores and shipping departments. It
;seems clear that the plant -wide unit proposed by the Steelworkers is
an appropriate bargaining unit for the Employer 's production and
maintenance employees . Since 1916 , however, the Molders has bar-
gained for the foundry employees ; since 1938 , the Machinists, for
employees in the machine shop, maintenance department , and pit shop ;
and for a number of years the Pattern Makers , for pattern makers
and their apprentices . It would therefore appear that these smaller
groups, urged as units by the several craft organizations , may also be
appropriate for bargaining purposes.
The Molders' group,: The employees sought by the Molders are
foundry employees , numbering approximately 88 and listed on the
foundry payroll . They include employees engaged in core making,
molding, casting, and cleaning operations. Molders and their ap-
prentices , core makers and their apprentices , molders' and core makers'
helpers, shake -outs, sand cutters, cupola crew, metal pourers, brass and
aluminum melters , cleaners , shapers, grinders , sand mixers , foundry
crane men , and foundry laborers are the principal classifications listed
on this payroll . As noted above , the. Molders has represented these
employees since 1916 . In 1942, however , as a result of an arbitration
finding growing out of a War Labor Board proceeding , the Molders
,extended its traditional bargaining unit limited to the foundry em-
ployees to include certain other employees , at the Employer 's plant not
-expressly covered by the then existing Machinists ' unit. Specifically,
these employees added to the Molders' bargaining unit in 1942 were
employees in the stores and receiving and shipping departments, who
receive incoming materials , deliver materials to be processed from one
-department to another , store partly fabricated materials , and crate
and otherwise prepare for shipment the outgoing plant products.
903847-51-vol. 90-11.9
1,874 DECISIONS OF. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
They. include truck drivers, crane operators, clean-up men, and labor-
ers, numbering approximately. 38 employees. In the instant proceed-:
ing, -the Molders contends that its traditional unit, limited to foundry
employees, is appropriate for bargaining. purposes and would exclude
the receiving, stores, and shipping departments employees added to
the foundry unit in 1942.
The Machinists' group: Employees in the machine shop include the
highly skilled tool makers and skilled machinists with their ap-
prentices, set-up men, and inspectors; the semiskilled machine opera-
tors, testers, assemblers, and filers ; and certain unskilled workers such
as clean-up men and sweepers. As vacancies occur, qualified employees
in unskilled classifications advance to semiskilled classifications; test-
ers, assemblers, and filers become machine operators; machine opera-
tors advance to machinists' apprentices; apprentices advance to
machinists; and machinists advance to tool makers. Set-up men
and inspectors are qualified machinists. A crane operator stationed
in the machine shop is also on the machine shop payroll. The
maintenance department, under machine shop supervision and closely
coordinated with the machine shop, includes millwrights, millwright
trainees, welders, automotive mechanics, and laborers. The main-
tenance department repairs equipment all over the plant and includes
a garage with automotive mechanics and a washer. Millwrights and
machinists work closely together. In the maintenance department
and the machine shop are most of the usual machine shop tools.
Employees in the pit shop, under separate immediate supervision,
include welders, welder (machine) operators,' machine helpers, and
laborers. Employees are transferred from the pit shop to the ma-
chine shop. Material processed in one shop is transferred to the other
for processing and then returned for further processing. There are
approximately 102 employees in the unit sought by the Machinists.
The Pattern Makers' group: Pattern makers and their apprentices
make patterns for use at the Employer's plant. They are six in
number, and work in the separately located pattern shop under the
pattern shop foreman. They constitute . a traditional" craft group.
The Pattern Makers has represented pattern makers and their appren-
tices at the Employer's plant as a separate bargaining group for
some time. 0
As noted above, the plant unit sought by the Steelworkers is appro-
priate for bargaining purposes. On the other hand, the separate
units sought by. the Molders, the Machinists, and the Pattern Makers,
.respectively, are essentially traditional groupings like those which,
even absent bargaining history, we have found may constitute separate
(LAYNE! & BOWLER, INC. 1875
units appropriate for collective bargaining purposes.2 At the Em-
ployer's plant, there has been substantial bargaining in the proposed
separate units. The Steelworkers, despite its desire for a single unit,
and the several craft unions do not disagree with respect to the classi-
fications of employees urged for inclusion in the several separate bar-
gaining groups. Under these circumstances, we shall at this time,
make no findings with respect to the. unit or units appropriate for
employees at the plant, deferring such conclusions until separate
elections shall have been held among these several employee groups.
We will limit the group sought by the Molders to include only all
employees on the foundry payroll; the group sought by the Machinists
to include all employees on the payroll of the machine shop and main-
tenance department and pit shop ; and the group sought by the Pattern
Makers to pattern makers and their apprentices, excluding the pattern
maker clerk and supervisors.
The following employees constitute the respective voting groups :
1. All employees on the Employer's foundry payroll, including
molders and their apprentices, core makers and their apprentices,
molders'. and core . makers' helpers, shake-outs , sand cutters, cupola
crew, metal pourers, brass and aluminum melters, cleaners, shapers,
grinders, sand mixers, foundry crane men, clean-up men, foundry
laborers, leader men, and hourly ratedworking foremen, but excluding
supervisors.
2. All machine shop, maintenance department, and pit shop em-
ployees, including tool makers and machinists and their apprentices,
millwrights, millwright trainees, set-up men, inspectors, saw opera-
tors, garage employees, filers, machine operators, assemblers, testers,
welders, welder operators, and crane operators, but excluding
supervisors.
3. All pattern makers and their apprentices, excluding the pattern
maker clerk and supervisors.
.4. All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
plant, including employees in the stores and receiving and shipping
departments, but excluding office and clerical employees and all em-
ployees included in voting groups 1, 2, and 3, and all supervisors.
The Molders, the Machinists, and the Pattern Makers each desires
to participate only in the election among employees in its proposed
unit. The Steelworkers desires to participate in all elections. If a
majority of employees in voting group 1, 2, or 3 cast ballots for the
2 Foundry employees : National Farm Machinery Cooperative, Inc., 88 NLRB 125. Machine
shop employees: Merck d Co., Inc., 88 NLRB 975; Cit-Con Oil Corporation , 88 NLRB 623 ;
E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Co., 88 NLRB 941. Pattern makers . and apprentices: Dow
Chemical Company, 77 NLRB 328.
1876 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
labor organization seeking to represent such employees in a separate
bargaining unit, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to
constitute a separate unit for bargaining purposes.
DIRECTION OF.ELECTIONS 3
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elections
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
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 in re-
spective groups described below, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elec-
tions, including employees who did not work during said payroll
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 elections, and also excluding employees on strike who are not en-
entitled to reinstatement : r
(a) Among employees in voting group 1 described in paragraph 4
above, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Local
No. 66, International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North
America, or by United Steelworkers of America, CIO, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, or by neither;
(b) Among employees in voting group 2 described in paragraph 4
above, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, Lodge No. 61, or by United Steel-
workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining,
or by neither;
(c) Among employees in voting group 3 described in paragraph 4
above, to determine whether they desire to be represented by Pattern
Makers League of North America, Memphis Association, A. F. L., or
by United Steelworkers of America, CIO, for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining, or by neither;
(d) Among employees in voting group 4 described in paragraph 4
above, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
United Steelworkers of America, CIO.
3 Any participant in the elections directed herein may, upon prompt request to, and
approval thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.