National Lock Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 22, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 1366 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of NATIONAL LOCK COMPANY and UNITED AUTOMOBILE,
AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA,
(UAW-CIO)
Case No. 13-R-2760.-Decided May P22, 1945
Messrs. Theodore C. Baer, and Arleigh Davis, of Peoria, Ill., and
Mr. A. J. Strandquist, of Rockford, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Ben Myers, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. Harry Lehnert, of Rock-
ford, Ill., for the Union.
Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Automobile , Aircraft & Agri-
cultural Implement Workers of America (UAW-CIO), herein called
the Union , alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of National Lock Com-
pany, Rockford , Illinois, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice before Benjamin B. Salvaty , Trial Examiner . Said hear-
ing was held at Rockford, Illinois, on February 7, 1945. The Com-
pany and the Union 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
National Lock Company, an Illinois corporation, having its main
plant and general offices in Rockford, Illinois, is engaged in the man-
Although served with Notice of Hearing, National Lock Employees Association did not
appear
61 N. L. R B., No. 221.
1366
NATIONAL LOCK COMPANY 1367
ufacture of screws, bolts, cabinet hardware, aircraft propeller parts,
and plastics. The principal raw materials used in connection with
the Company's operations are steel, brass, and plastics. During the
calendar year 1944, the Company purchased raw materials of a value
in excess of $1,000,000, of which approximately 60 percent was shipped
to the Company from points outside the State of Illinois. During
the same period, the Company's sales were in excess of $1,000,000, of
which approximately 50 percent represented shipments to points out-
side the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of
America (UAW-CIO), affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its production and maintenance
employees until the Union presented "proper proof" of representation
of a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit; whereupon the
Union filed the petition herein.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
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 parties agree generally that a unit of production and mainte-
nance employees is appropriate at the Company's Rockford, Illinois,
plant. The only disagreement between them involves the working
foremen, laboratory employees, printing pressmen, and tool and die
makers.
Working foremen : The Company would include and the Union
would exclude these employees. Working foremen lead groups num-
bering up to 10 employees, spending 90 percent of their time doing
manual labor and about 10 percent in assisting and instructing the
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 701 application cards ; that
there were approximately 1,700 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that, of these cards,
385 were dated between September and December 1944, and 316 were undated.
1368 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees working in their groups. The uncontroverted testimony
indicates that working foremen do not have the authority to hire or
discharge or'effect change in the status of their subordinates or effec-
tively to recommend such action. Significantly, the parties agree to
include group leaders who perform duties and have authority com-
parable to that of working foremen save that the men under the latter
are usually more skilled than those under group leaders. Accordingly,
on the basis of these facts, we find that working foremen are not super-
visory employees and shall include them.3
Laboratory employees: The Company would include and the Union
would exclude these employees. They are hired by the Company with-
out prior experience; and, in the course of their work, in either the
chemical or metallurgical laboratories, spend approximately 90 percent
of their time making routine tests. In conformance with our usual
practice of including employees of this type in a production and mainte-
nance unit,' we shall include them.
Printing pressmen: The Company would include and the Union
exclude these employees. There are six such employees stationed in
the printing shop who operate multilith offset presses and who are
under the ultimate supervision of the Advertising Department. We
find that these employees have duties and interests different from
those of the other production and maintenance employees and shall,
therefore, exclude them from the units
Tool and die makers: There are approximately 60 tool and die
makers who are stationed in the plant toolroom and are under the
supervision of the toolroom foreman. The parties agree that these
employees should be included in the unit. There are, however, some
10 tool and die makers who are stationed in the experimental division
of the Research Department and with respect to whom the parties are
in disagreement, the Company desiring to include and the Union to
exclude these employees. Like the tool and die makers in the plant
toolroom, they are hourly paid, and enjoy comparable rates of pay.
They are interchangeable with the former and have been interchanged
on occasions. Both groups work from plans or prints; those in the
toolroom make and repair parts on machines currently in use and
those in the Research Department make parts for machines which are
in the experimental stage, and may contribute ideas to the develop-
ment of new tools and dies. The tool and die makers in the Research
Department go out into the plant, on occasion, in order to use equip-
ment which is not available in the department, otherwise they remain
in the department. We see no basis for distinction between the duties
s This includes Joseph Dolan , the working foreman in the power plant , about whom the
parties were specifically concerned.
h See Matter of Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company , 53 N L R B 1181 , and cases cited
therein.
5 Matter of The Yale & Towne Manafacturing Company, 44 N. L. It. B. 1259.
NATIONAL LOCK COMPANY 1369
of the tool and die makers in the Research Department and those in the
plant proper . We shall, therefore , include all the tool and die makers
in the unit.
Shop messengers: The Union would exclude these employees ; the
Company takes no position. Since they work out of the office of the
General Superintendent , since all other employees stationed in that
office have been excluded by agreement of the parties , and inasmuch
as the Company does not actively oppose their exclusion , we shall
exclude them.
We find in accordance with the determinations made above and the
agreement of the parties , that all production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Company at its Rockford , Illinois, plant including the
employees enumerated in Appendix A, attached hereto, but excluding
the employees enumerated in Appendix B, attached hereto, and all or
any other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline , or'otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees , or effectively recommend such action , constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
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 Election
herein , subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.6
The Company employs approximately 40 regular part-time em-
ployees who work at least 4 hours every working day. Most of these
employees are high school students . They receive the same rate of
pay and work under the same conditions as the full-time employees.
The Company contends that these employees are eligible to vote in the
election, while the Union claims them to be ineligible. We find that,
these employees are regular part-time employees , and, as such, have an
interest in the conditions of employment sufficient to entitle them to
participate in the election . We shall, therefore , allow them to vote.
The Company also has in its employ eight individuals who have
been detailed by the United States Government to work in the plant
for 90 days . The Company and the Union request that they be allowed
to participate in the election . Although these employees , while work-
ing for the Company, receive the same wages as employees doing
comparable work and have identical working conditions with regular
U At the hearing the Union requested that it be designated in the manner set forth in
the Direction of Election.
1370 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees, and although it appears that these employees may be
granted, at their request, a release from the government in order to
remain with the Company for the war's duration, the record also
shows that they are subject, during the 90-day period, to being re-
turned to the government's employ either at its request or at the
instance of the Company. Upon these facts, we are of the opinion
that the probability of these employees remaining with the Company
for longer than 90 days is speculative, and that they are, during the
90-day period, temporary employees who do not have a sufficient in-
terest in the working conditions of the plant to warrant their partici-
pating in the election. Accordingly, we hold them ineligible to vote.
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 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 Lock
Company, Rockford, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted 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 Thirteenth 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 regular part-time employees
and employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because
they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present them-
selves in person at the polls, but excluding temporary, employees and
any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not
been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Auto-
mobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America,
(UAW-CIO), for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. JOHN M. HOUSTON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.
NATIONAL LOCK COMPANY 1371
APPENDIX A
Apprentices
Machinist
Tool maker
Bench work
Bench assembly
Inspectors
Carton packers
Sorters
Box maker (paper)
Buffers
Crib man
Elevator operators
Freight elevators
Passenger elevators
General labor
Blank or chipman
Common labor
Oilers
Screeners
Heat treaters
Janitors and sweepers
Laboratory work-production
Chemical
Metallurgical
Machinist
Machine operator (Screw Divi-
sion)
Threaders
Cut thread
Auto cut thread
Roll thread
Slotters
Pointers
Shavers
Trimmers
Auto. screw machine
Drills
Headers (cold upset)
Special machines
Machine operator (Propeller Pis-
ton Division)
Lathes, turret, engine
Bullard, vertical turret
Boring machines
Horizontal drills
Milling machines
External grinders
Internal grinders
Polishing lathes
Auto. screw machines
Honing machines
Grooving machines
Thread grinders
Static balancer
Vertical drill
Cylindrical grinders
Centerless grinders
Machine operator (Hardware
Dep'ts) heavy work
Blanking
Punch press
Broach
Lathes
Shear (slitting)
All special machines.
Machine operator (Hardware
Dep'ts) light work
Punch press
Kick press
Drill press
Tapper
Air hammer
Spot welder
Line assembly
All special machines
Machine tenders
Shavers
Pointers
Roll thread
Drills
Cut thread (hand feed)
Grinders (centerless)
Special machines
1372 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Maintenance mechanics
Pipe fitters
Tinners
Carpenters
Pointers
Millwrights
Electricians
Belt makers
.holder
(nonferrous foundry)
(small castings)
Holder
Plastics
Die cast
Platers
Polishers
Inspectors
Rerckers
Plating Dep't
Painting Dep't
Heat treat
,','prayers
Lacquer and paint
Set-u.i men
All machines
Stock chaser ( expediters)
Tool hardeners
All tool and die maker's
Metal pattern makers
Tool inspectors
Tool setter (Screw Division)
Truck drivers
Motor truck
Truckers
Hand truck •
Electric truck
Tumblers
Water tumbler
Sand tumbler
Washer tumbler
Weighers
Welders
Atomic
Electric
Acetylene
Metal spray
Power plant
Fireman
Oilers
Engineers
IVorh;ing foremen
Group leaders
APPENDIX 13
Office and clerical employees
All employees in Departments 84,
85,87 , 89
Guards
Clerical employees in shipping
and receiving departments
Printing pressmen
Timekeepers
Order clerks
Material records clerks
Shop messengers
Mail clerks
Draftsmen
Engineering department
Graduate engineers
Part-time office janitors
Foremen
Assistant foremen