Lynchburg Foundry Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 6, 1949

83 N.L.R.B. 415 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of LYNCHBURG FOUNDRY COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE or NORTH AMERICA, DISTRICT NO. 3,
A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 5-RC-048.-Decided May 6,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in this case was held before
Harold W. Biermann, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.' The motion of the Employer and United Steelworkers of
America, C. I. 0., herein called the Intervenor, to dismiss the petition
is hereby denied for the reasons stated in paragraphs 3 and 4.
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 the Intervenor are labor organizations claim-
ing to represent employees of the Employer.
3. The question concerning representation :
The Intervenor and the Employer contend that a contract in effect
between them, covering the employees sought to be represented by the
Petitioner, is a bar to this proceeding. On June 10, 1947, the Inter-
venor and the Employer executed a contract for a term extending to
December 31,1948, with provision for automatic renewal in the absence
of a request for termination or modification, given by either party to
i At the hearing , the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the em-
ployees would not in fact be represented by the Petitioner , but by the Lynchburg Associa-
tion of the Pattern Makers League, an organization which had been formed after the filing
of the petition and which had not complied with the filing requirements of Section 9 (f),
(g), and (h) of the Act . As the record does not indicate that the Petitioner will not itself
adequately represent these employees , and as we are administratively advised that the
Lynchburg Association is in compliance , we hereby affirm the hearing officer's denial of
this motion. Matter of Lane-Wells Co., 79 N. L. R. B . 252; Matter of Alabama Brick &
Tile Company, 80 N. L. R. B. 1365; Matter of Samuel Bonat d Bro ., Inc., et ai ., 81 N. L.
R. B. 1249.
83 N. L . R. B., No. 62.
415
416 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the other 60 days before -the expiration date. The Intervenor served
timely notice upon the Employer of its desire to discuss modifications
of the contract. Several bargaining conferences followed, which re-
sulted in the formal execution of a new contract on December 27, 1948.
The Petitioner filed its petition herein on December 23, 1948. As the
filing of the petition preceded the execution of the current contract, we
find that this contract does not bar a present determination of repre-
sentatives.2
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 Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting of all pattern
makers and their apprentices at the Employer's Lynchburg, Virginia,
plant. The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the unit re-
quested by Petitioner is inappropriate, because of the integration of
operations in the Employer's plant and the long history of collective
bargaining on a plant-wide basis.
The Employer manufactures cast iron and gray iron castings of all
-types. In its plant three separate rooms are set aside for the pattern
makers and their apprentices .3 Although the Employer's pattern
makers spend the greater part of their time in repairing rather than in
making patterns, the record discloses that each of the pattern makers
is highly skilled, having gone through at least a 4-year period of.ap-
prenticeship. The Employer itself conducts a 4-year training
program for apprentices in pattern making, which is approved by the
State of Virginia, and in which some of the Employer's journeymen
pattern makers received their training. -
We find that the pattern makers and their apprentices are an identi-
fiable and homogeneous, craft group such _ as, under a long line ° of
Board decisions, has been granted separate representation notwith-
standing their previous inclusion in-a plant-wide unit 4 : In view of the
,fact, however, that these employees have been for sometime a part of
2 Matter of U. S. Rubber Company ( Scottsville plant ), 78 N. .L. R. B. 532 ; Matter of E. L.
Bruce Company, 74 N. L. R. B. 1354 ; Matter of French Manufacturing Company, 72 N. L.
R. B. 1467.
8 There are a few other categories , such as pattern changers , pattern storage men, flask
grinders , and saw filers , employed within the pattern shop under the supervision of the
.foreman and assistant foreman who also supervise the pattern makers and apprentices. The
Petitioner does not seek to represent these employees and, as they do not appear to be mem-
bers of the pattern makers craft , we shall exclude them., We reject, however, the Employer's
.contention that the journeymen pattern makers and their apprentices should not be sep-
arated from the existing unit because of their community of supervision with the other
employees in the pattern shop . See Matter of The Buckeye Steel Castings Company, 75
N. L. R. B. 982.
4 Matter of J. I. Case Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 651 ; Matter of C. H. Wheeler Manu-
facturing Company, 81 N. L. R. B., No . 131; Matter of General Motors Corp., Buick Motors
Division, 79 N. L. R. B. 376 ; Matter of Schutte and Loerting Co., 79 N . L. R. B. 599; Mat-
ter of The Babcock d Wilcox Company, 72 N. L. it. B. 1256.
LYNCHBURG FOUNDRY COMPANY 417
the plant-wide unit, we shall make no final unit determination until we
have ascertained their desires in the election hereinafter directed. If
a majority vote for the Petitioner, they shall be taken to have indicated
a desire to constitute a separate unit.
We shall direct an election in the following voting group :
All pattern makers and their apprentices at the Employer's Lynch.
burg, Virginia plant, excluding all other categories, guards and super-
visors as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 5
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses 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 supervision of
the Regional Director for the Fifth Region, and subject to Sections
203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees 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 vacation or temporarily
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are
not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire
to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Pattern
Makers League of North America, District No. 3, A. F. L.
• The Intervenor will not be accorded a place on the ballot herein directed, because it is
not in compliance with the filing requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act.