National Foundry & Machine Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 23, 1944

57 N.L.R.B. 1535 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of NATIONAL FOUNDRY & MACHINE CORPORATION and
AMERICAN FEDER9TION or LABOR AND ITS AFFILIATED INTERNATIONAL
UNIONS
Case No. 14-R- io .Deczded August Z3, 1944
Messrs. Mossis J. Levin and S. E. Allen, of St. Louis,'Mo., for the
Company.
Messrs. Joe R. Gamble, Ralph Wilson, and John R. Barr, of St.
Louis, Mo., for the Union.
Mr. Philip Licari, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed,by American Federation of Labor and its
affiliated International Unions, herein called the Union, alleging that
a question 'affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of National Foundry & Machine Corporation, St.
Louis, Missouri, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions, Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Harry G. Carlson, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at
St. Louis, Missouri, on July 8, 1944. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full oppor-
tunity 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
National Foundry '& Machine Corporation, a Missouri corporation,
'is engaged at its plant located at 7901 Alabama Avenue, St. Louis,
Missouri, 'in-the manufacture, sale, and distribution of bronze, ahimi-
37 N. L. R. B., No. 249.
1535
-1536 DECISIONS OF, NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
num, and magnesium castings. During the year 1943, the Company
purchased raw materials valued at approximately $1,000,000, of which
90 percent was shipped to the plant from points outside the State of
Missouri. During the same period, the Company sold finished' prod-
ucts valued in excess of $2000,000,' of which approximately 99 percent
was shipped to points outside the State of Missouri.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
American Federation of Labor is a labor organization admitting to
membership, through its affiliated International Unions, employees of
the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On June 15, 1944, the Union sought recognition from the Company
as the exclusive bargaining representative of the Company's employees.
The Company has refused to grant such recognition until the Union
has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Field Examiner for the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substan-
tial 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 Union seeks a unit comprised of "all employees of the Company
at its plant located at 7901 Alabama Avenue, except for supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees or effectively recom- .
mend such action." The Company, on the other hand, seeks specifically
to exclude from the unit guards, quality control department employees,
the carpenter foreman, and chemists. We shall consider each classi-
fication separately.
Guards. These employees are armed and uniformed, and have been
sworn as members of the auxiliary police. It is clear that their duties
are confined to performing functions usually associated with that clas-
1 The Trial Examiner reported that the Union submitted 305 designation cards ; that
139 names of the persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll
of May 13, 1944, which contained the names of 247 employees in the alleged appropriate
nnif ,,nd that the cards were dated as follows, 5 February 1944; 55 March 1944 ; and 28
April 1944.
NATIONAL FOUNDRY & MACHINE CORPORATION 1537
sification. Thus, they identify persons and vehicles entering and leav-
ing the plant, and keep under surveillance the Company's property.
The Company takes the position that because of the nature of the duties
of these employees, they should not only be excluded .from the alleged
unit, but should also be precluded from forming a separate unit for
the purposes of collective bargaining. The Union denies the conten-
tion of the Company, and would include them either in the plant-wide
unit or establish a separate unit of guards.
We perceive no reason to deviate from the established policy of the
Board with reference to militarized guards.2
Accordingly, we find that all militarized guards employed by the
Company at its plant at 7901 Alabama Avenue, excluding the chief
guard, and all other supervisory employees with the authority to hire,,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status.
of employees or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
Quality Control Departinent Employees. This department is com-
posed of 6 inspectors, 10 testers, and 4 salvage men. The inspectors
work throughout the plant and determine by visual means whether the
castings produced are in accordance with specifications. The testers
and salvage men are semi-skilled employees working in a'section of
the plant alongside the production employees ; their duties are to check
the quality of the castings and to salvage rejected material. The final
objective of the employees in this department is to eliminate waste of
material, and control the quality of the castings produced. They are
all under the supervision and direction of the head of this department.
The Company contends that the interests of this.group of employees
are incompatible with those of the production employees, and would
exclude them from the unit. We find no merit to the Company's argu-
ment. It is true that the functions of these employees do not involve
the production of goods in the sense generally understood, but their
tasks are so intimately connected with the work of the employees in the
production department that a distinction is here impractical. It is
also true that this department exercises a measure of control in the
quality of the output of the production department, but this is so in its
collective sense; the individual worker in this department does not
discuss faulty workmanship with the production employees nor does
lie make reports on the quality of the work produced by any particular
individual, but he simply reports generally to the supervisor in charge
of his department who in turn channelizes these reports to the produc-
tion foremen or the manager. Where similar facts have been presented
2 See Matter of Dravo Corporatton, 52 N L R. B. 322
601248-45-vol 57-98
i
1538 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in other cases, the Board has included employees in this classification
in an industrial Unit .3
Carpenter Foreman. There is'only one employee in this classifica-
tion. While he does full-time work at his trade, he is also in complete
.charge of a crew of carpenters. The record reveals that he has, full
authority to hire and discharge employees working under his super-
vision. We shall exclude him from the unit.
Che'ihists. The Company employs three chemists who are in charge
of several divisions of the metallurgical department. They are highly
trained professional employees engaged in experiments and tasks of a
technical nature., We shall exclude them as technical employees from
the unit.,
- We find, in substantial accordance with the agreement of the parties,
and the foregoing determinations, that all employees of the'Company
at its 7901 Alabama Avenue plant, including purchasing office clerks,
and employees in the quality control department, but excluding per-
sonnel office clerks, the production control clerk, chemists, the carpenter
foreman, militarized guards, and supervisory employees with,author-
ity' to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes
in the status of employees or, effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by elections by secret ballot among the employees
in the appropriate units who were employed duiring the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.4
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III., Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with National Foundry
3 See 'Matter of Howard Aircraft Corporation, 50 N. L It. B. 386 The employees in
the quality control department have shown substantial desire for representation by the
Union.
* The A. F L requested that it be designated on the ballots as "The American Federation
of Labor and its affiliated International Unions " We are of the , opinion, in the absence
of showings of representation by particular International affiliates , that such designations
are too indefinite for purposes of certification. We shall therefore designate the A. F. L.
on the ballot simply as "American Federation of Labor " _
NATIONAL FOUNDRY & MACHINE CORPORATION 1539
& Machine Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri, separate elections 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 Fourteenth 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 units 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 the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 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 elections, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by the 'American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.