Muskegon Piston Ring Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 13, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 885 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of MUSKEGON PISTON RING COMPANY and FEDERAL LABOR
UNION 23409, A. F. L.
Case No. 7-R-2052.-Decided September 13,1915
Messrs. C. N. Sessions and William A. DeVette, of- Muskegon, Mich.,
for the Company.
Messrs. A. M. Pierce and Ivan J. Leonard, of Muskegon Heights,
Mich., for the AFL.
Mr. Donald H. Frank, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Federal Labor Union 23409, A. F. L.,
herein called the AFL, alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Muskegon Piston
Ring Company, Muskegon, Michigan, herein called the Company, the
National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Meyer D. Stein, Trial Examiner. The hearing
was held at Muskegon, Michigan, on June 29, 1945. The Company
and the AFL 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 an opportunity to file
briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Muskegon Piston Ring Company is a Michigan corporation with
its principal office and place of business at Muskegon, Michigan. The
Company is engaged in the manufacture of piston rings. The prin-
cipal raw materials used by the Company in its manufacturing proc-
63 N L. R. B., No. 136.
885
` 886 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
esses are iron and bronze rough castings. During 1944, the Company
purchased materials, supplies, and equipment valued in excess of
$840,000, of which more than 20 percent was shipped to it from points
outside the State of Michigan. During that year, the Company
manufactured finished products valued in excess of $2,000,000, of which
approximately 40 percent was shipped from it to points outside the
State of Michigan. Fifty-three percent of the Company's product was
manufactured, at the time of the hearing, under direct contracts with
the United States Government.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning' of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Federal Labor Union 23409, affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the AFL as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's plant-protec-
tion employees until the AFL has been certified by the Board in an
appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the AFL represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.
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 UNIT
The AFL seeks a unit of all the Company's plant-protection em-
ployees at the Muskegon plant, but excluding all supervisory and cler-
ical employees. The Company does not contend that the composition
of the unit sought is improper, but asserts that any unit of plant-pro-
tection employees is inappropriate under the authority to the deci-
sions of the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals for the Sixth
and Seventh Circuits, respectively, in N. L. R. B. v. Jones cC Laughlin
Steel Corporation, 146 F. (2d) 718 (C. C. A. 6), and N. L. R. B. v.
E. C. Atkins, 147 F. (2c1) 730 (C. C. A. 7). The Board does not ac-
1 The Field Examiner reported that the AFL submitted five authorization cards , that the
names of all persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of May
18, 1945, which contained the names of five employees in the appropriate unit , and that
four of the cards were dated April 1945, and one was undated
MUSKEGON PISTON RINU UUIVIYAIN Y ppi
quiesce in the doctrines enunciated in those cases, which have not
yet been passed upon by the Court of last resort.'
The record in this case reveals that these plant-protection employees,
armed, but no longer militarized, are charged with the duty of pro-
tecting the Company's employees and its property, including approxi-
mately $500,000 worth of property owned by the Defense Plant Cor-
poration. In carrying out this duty, they check all persons and
vehicles entering and leaving the plant; they examine all property
leaving the plant; they inspect the fire-fighting equipment; they re-
port all violations by employees of company rules to the Personnel
Office; they deny entry to any employee who arrives intoxicated; and
they detain any employee suspected of stealing company property.
Thus, these employees perform the tasks usually associated with their
position. The record further reveals that the AFL local involved in
this case was established for the purpose of representing plant-pro-
tection employees only, and it seeks to represent them in a unit sep-
arate from the Company's other employees, in accordance with our
established policy concerning bargaining units of monitorial
employees.
We find that all the Company's plant-protection employees at the
Muskegon plant but excluding all clerical employees, and all super-
visory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, disci-
pline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or ef-
fectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act .3
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
2 Certiorari was granted , and the cases remanded for further consideration , on June 4,
1945, 65 S. Ct. 1413.
3 Matter of National Lead Company, Titanium Division , 62 N. L. R. B. 107 ; Matter of
Bethlehem Steel Company, 61 N. L. R . B. 892.
888 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Muskegon Piston
Ring Company, Muskegon, Michigan, 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Seventh 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 unit 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 said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls,
but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause
and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elec-
tion, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Federal Labor Union 23409, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.