Mullins Manufacturing Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 2, 1941

31 N.L.R.B. 532 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of MULLINS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION and
PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA (AFFILIATED WITH
THE A. F. OF L.)
Case No. R-2467.Decided May 2, 1941
Jurisdiction : pressed steel products, tool, and die manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal to accord union recognition; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : election directed among pattern
makers to determine whether or not they desire to constitute a separate unit.
Mr. H. F. Kulas and Mr.,C. F. Paumier, of Salem, Ohio, for the
Company.,
Mr. C. D. Madigan, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Pattern Makers.
Mr. Meyer Bernstein, of Youngstown,'Ohio, for the S. W. O. C.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 1, 1940, Pattern Makers League of North America,
affiliated with A. F. of L., herein called the Pattern Makers, filed
with the Regional Director for the Eighth Region (Cleveland, Ohio)
a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Mullins Manufac-
turing Corporation, Salem, Ohio, herein called the Company, and
requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49
Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On January 15, 1941, 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 2, as amended,
ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due
notice.
31 N. L. R. B, No. 86.
532
J
MULLINS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 533
On January 22, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
Pattern Makers, and Local Union 1538, Steel Workers Organizing
Committee, herein called the S. W. O. C., a labor- organization
claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation;
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on April 11, 1941, at Salem,
Ohio, before Max W. Johnstone, the Trial Examiner duly designated
by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company, the Pattern Makers,
and the S. W. O. C. were represented and participated in the hear-
ing. Full opportunity' to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded
all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner
made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission
of evidence. , The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial
Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE. BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY'
Mullins Manufacturing Corporation, a New York corporation, with
its principal office at Salem, Ohio, maintains plants at Salem and
Warren, Ohio. This proceeding is concerned solely with its plant
at Salem, Ohio, where it is engaged in the production of pressed steel
products, tools, and dies. During 1940 the Company purchased steel
valued at approximately $2,400,000, about 25 per cent of which was
shipped to it from points outside the State of Ohio. During the
same period, the Company produced finished products valued at about
$4,138,000, approximately 80 per cent of which was shipped by it to
points outside the State of Ohio. The Company admits that it is
engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Pattern Makers League of North America is a labor organization,
affiliated with,the American Federation of Labor. It admits to mem-
bership. employees at the Salem plant of the Company.
Local Union 1538, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, is a labor
organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial' Organizations.
It admits to membership employees at the Salem plant of the Company:
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
During May 1940, the Pattern Makers requested, the Company to-
barggin 'with it as the exclusive representative of the pattern makers
534 DECISIONS O1i NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in the Salem plant of the Company. The Company refused this
request stating that it was operating under an exclusive contract with
the S. W. 0. C.
In July 1937, the Company and the S. W. 0. C. entered into a
members-only contract covering the employees at the Salem plant
of the Company. In April 1938, the S. W. 0. C. and the Company
entered into an exclusive bargaining contract covering all the em-
ployees at the Salem plant. In August 1939 and September 1940, the
S. W. 0. C. and the Company entered into exclusive bargaining con-
tracts covering the employees of the Salem plant. The latter contract
expires in August 1941. Prior to the execution of the September
1940 contract, the Company was notified by the Pattern Makers that
it desired that the pattern makers 'be excluded from provisions of
the contract then being negotiated between the S. W. 0. C. and the
Company.
There was introduced in evidence a report prepared by the
Regional Director showing that the Pattern Makers represents a
substantial number of employees in the unit alleged in the petition
to be appropriate.'
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING
REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE
We find that a question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I 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:
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Pattern Makers urges that all pattern makers employed in the
Salem plant of the Company constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining. The S. W. 0. C. opposes the
separation of these employees from a plant-wide unit, claimed by it
to be appropriate, comprising all production and maintenance em-
ployees, including pattern makers, at the Salem plant. The Com-
pany employs approximately 1,000 persons at this plant, of whom
about 10 are in the unit claimed by the Pattern Makers.
1 The Regional Director reported that the Pattern Makers had presented to him mem-
bership application cards signed by 7 of the 13 pattern makers whose names appear on
the Company .s pay roll of September 23, 1940. The Regional Director reported therein
that the S . W. O. C. had advised him that it had no members among the pattern makers.
MULLINS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 535
The pattern makers employed by the Company are a well-
established and highly skilled craft requiring a lengthy apprentice-
ship. The Pattern Makers has had members in the Salem plant' for
the past 25 years, and evidence was introduced tending to show that
a majority of the pattern makers at this plant were in 1937 and are
at present members of the Pattern Makers and that none are mem-
bers of the S. W. 0. C. It appears that from 1927 to 1930 the Com-
pany had an arrangement with the Pattern Makers to call upon lit
whenever it needed pattern makers. In 1937 the Company called
upon the Pattern Makers to furnish it with several employees. -
In opposition to the Pattern Makers' petition, the S. W. 0. C.
contends that the plan-wide unit which is covered by its contract
with the Company is appropriate, that it has bargained for the
pattern makers along with other employees under the contract, and
that although the pattern makers in the plant were aware of the
4-year bargaining history between the S. W. 0. C. and the Company,
they never requested the S. W. 0. C. to make special provision for
them in the contracts.
Under all the circumstances, including the fact that the Pattern
Makers' history of organization at the,,plant antedates that of the
S. W. 0. C., we are of the opinion that the unit set up in the con-
tracts between the Company and the S. W. 0. C. should not be
accorded binding effect, • and that the question of the proper unit for
the pattern makers should be determined by the desires of the pattern
makers themselves.2 We. shall, therefore, direct that an election be
held among the pattern makers at the Salem plant of the Company
to determine -whether they desire to be represented by the Pattern
Makers or by the S. W. 0. C., for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, or by neither. If a majority of the pattern makers vote for the
Pattern Makers they will have indicated their desire to constitute a
separate unit, and we shall find that the pattern makers constitute
a separate appropriate unit and shall certify the Pattern Makers
as the exclusive representative thereof. If a majority votes for the
S. W. 0. C., we shall consider that the pattern makers desire to form
part of the larger unit established by the contracts.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find 'that the question concerning the representation of em-
ployees of the Company can best be resolved by an election by secret
ballot.
The S. W. 0. C. failed to indicate at the hearing whether or not
it desired to be placed on the ballot if an election should be held
2 See Matter of General Electric Company and Pattern Makers ' League of North Amer-
ica, A. P. L., 29 N. L. R. B 162.
536 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
among the pattern makers. We shall direct an election by secret
ballot to be held among all pattern makers at the Salem plant of the
Company who were employed during the pay-roll period last. pre-
ceding the date of this Direction, subject to such limitations and
additions as are set forth in the Direction hereinafter, to determine
whether they desire to be represented by the Pattern Makers, by the
S. W. O. C., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
We shall, however, grant permission to the S. W. O. C. -to have its
name withdrawn from the ballot, if it so desires, and if it so notifies
the Regional Director in writing within five (5) days from the date
of this Direction.
Upon, the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSION OF LAW
. A question affectipg commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees at the Salem plant of Mullins Manufacturing
Corporation, Salem, Ohio, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and
Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
- 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 2,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Mullins Manufacturing Corporation, Salem, Ohio, an election
by secret ballot shall be conducted 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 Eighth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules
and Regulations, among all pattern makers at the Salem plant of
the Company who were employed during the pay-roll- period imme-
"diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees
who did not-work during such pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the
United States, _ or temporarily laid off, but excluding employees who
have since quit 'or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Pattern Makers League of North
America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, or by.
MULLINS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 537
Local Union 1538, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of
collective bargaining,, or by neither.
Mr . EDWIN S. SMITH, dissenting
I dissent from the decision to hold an election among the pattern
makers.3 Since April 1938 these employees have been included under
a valid exclusive bargaining contract between the S. W. O. C. and
the Company covering a plant-wide industrial unit.
The acquiescence of the pattern makers over recent years in repre-
sentation by the S. W. O. C. renders inapplicable the considerations
of earlier organization on a craft basis such as have led me to concur
in directions of separate elections for the members of crafts.4 I would
dismiss the petition.,,
See my dissenting opinion in Matter of Allis -Chalmers Manufacturing Company and
International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, Local 248, 4 N. L. R.B. 159.
4 See my concurring opinion in Matter of American Hardware Corporation and United
Electrical and Radio Workers of America, 4 N. L R. B. 412.
6 See my dissenting opinion in Matter of General Electric Company and Pattern Makers
League of North America, A . F. L., 29 N. L. R. B. 162.
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