Mann Edge Tool Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 5, 1938

8 N.L.R.B. 84 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter Of MANN EDGE TOOL COMPANY and FEDERAL LABOR
UNION No. 18779 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-835.-Decided July 5,1938
Tool Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy
concerning representation of employees-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bar-
gaining: production and maintenance employees, excluding foremen and cleri-
cal employees ; stipulation as to-Representatives: proof of choice : compari-
son of canceled salary checks and union membership applications-Certification
of Representatives: upon proof of majority representation.
Mr. W. G. Stuart Sherman, for the Board.
Mr. Harold W. Houck, of Lewistown, Pa., and McCormick, Herdic
& Furst, by Mr. Carl W. Herdic, of Williamsport, Pa., for the
Company.
Mr. Victor A. Pascal, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On March 12, 1938, there was filed on behalf of Federal Labor
Union No. 18779, herein called the Union, with the Regional Director
for the Sixth Region (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) a petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Mann Edge Tool Company, Lewistown,
Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, and requesting an investi-
gation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the
Act. On April 18, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and
Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and
authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On May 5, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon the
Union, and upon the Steel Workers -Organizing Committee, herein
8 N. L. R. B., No. 9.
84
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 85
called the S. W. 0. C., a labor organization claiming to represent
employees directly affected by the investigation. The Company filed
an answer to the petition in which it denied 'that the unit urged by
the Union was appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on June 9, 1938, at Lewistown,
Pennsylvania, before Joseph L. Maguire, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Board. The Board and the Company were repre-
sented by counsel and participated in the hearing. No appearance
was made on behalf of the S. W. 0. C. Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the
course of the hearing, the parties stipulated as to certain facts, which
stipulations were made part of the record.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
Mann Edge Tool Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, is en-
gaged at its plant in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, in the production,
sale , and distribution of edge tools, consisting principally of handled
and unhandled axes. It was stipulated that the facts concerning the
Company's business were substantially the same at the date of the
hearing herein as they were at the date of a previous hearing before
the Board of a proceeding involving the Company.- In the former
proceeding, we found that from August 1, 1935, to about January 30,
1936, of the less-than-carload-lot shipments the Company received
over the Pennsylvania Railroad, 73 per cent were secured from
sources outside the State of Pennsylvania. We also found that dur-
ing the same period; the Company received three carload shipments
from sources outside the State of Pennsylvania and that 85 per cent
of the Company's less-than-carload-lots of handled and unhandled
axes shipped over the Pennsylvania Railroad were sent to destina-
tions outside the State of Pennsylvania.
We find that the Union-is a labor organization affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor admitting employees of the Company
to its membership.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company, which, occurring in connection with
the operations of the Company described above, has a close, intimate,
and substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the
several States, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and
obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce.
'Matter of Mann Edge Tool Company and Federal Labor Unison No 18779, 1 N. L. R. B
977.
86 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In accordance with the stipulation of the parties, we find that the
production and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding
foremen and clerical employees, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure
to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate
the policies of the Act.
Forty-two of the Union's signed membership applications were
introduced in evidence and its president testified, without contradic-
tion, that all the individuals signing the applications were members
of the Union and in the Company's employ on the date of the hear-
ing. The parties stipulated that, on the date of the hearing, there
were 71 employees in the appropriate bargaining unit and that the
signatures on the applications compared identically with the en-
dorsements on the Company's salary checks. We find that the Union
has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees in
the appropriate unit as their representative for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining. It is, therefore, the exclusive representative of
all the employees in ' such unit for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, and we will so certify.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONOLusIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Mann Edge Tool Company, Lewistown,
Pennsylvania, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The production and maintenance employees of the Company,
excluding foremen and clerical employees, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
3. Federal Labor Union No. 18779 is the exclusive representative
of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended,
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 87
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Federal Labor Union No. 18779 has
been designated and selected by a majority of the production and
maintenance employees of Mann Edge Tool Company, Lewistown,
Pennsylvania, excluding foremen and clerical employees, as their
representative- for the purposes of collective bargaining and that,
pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Federal
Labor Union No. 18779 is the exclusive representative of all such
employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to
rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of
employment.
[SAME TITLE]
AMENDMENT TO DECISION
August 2, 1938
On July 5, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called
the Board, issued a Decision and Certification of Representatives
in the above-entitled proceeding. In the Decision, the Board stated,
"Forty-two of the Union's signed membership applications were
introduced into evidence . . ." and "The parties stipulated ... that
the signatures on the applications . . ." The Board's attention has
been called to the fact that the documents referred to are not mem-
bership applications, but designations of the Union as representative
for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The Board hereby amends its decision by striking therefrom the
words quoted above and substituting therefor the following : "Forty-
two signed designations of the Union as representative for collective
bargaining were introduced into evidence..." and "The parties stipu-
lated ... that the signatures on the designations ..."
Except as hereby amended, the Decision remains in full force and
effect.
8 N. L. R. B., 9a.