National Machine Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 28, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 1037 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of NATIONAL MACHINE COMPANY , EMPLOYER and METAL
POLISHERS , BUFFERS, PLATERS AND HELPERS INTERNATIONAL UNION,
LOCAL 13, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 14-RC-213.-Decided September 28, 1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing offi-
cer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. The Employer's motion to dismiss the petition
herein, which was referred to the Board, is hereby granted for the
reasons set forth below.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of
the Employer.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds that no question
of representation exists concerning the representation of employees
of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Sec-
tion 2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of polishers and platers in
the Employer's plant. The Employer contends that the proposed
unit is inappropriate, and that the employees sought by the Petitioner
should not be severed from the group represented by International
Association of Machinists, District No. 9, herein called the I. A. M.
The I. A. M. was certified by the Board as the bargaining representa-
tive of the Employer's employees in a plant-wide unit following a
consent election in June 1943. Thereafter the Employer and the
n Houston, Murdock , and Gray.
79 N. L. R. B., No. 130.
1037
1038 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
I. A. M. executed contracts covering all employees of the Employer
until June 1, 1947, when a contract was executed which excluded em-
ployees in the upholstering department.'
The Employer's productive processes, in the manufacture of metal
,furniture, are as follows: metal is cut, polished, bent into shape, and
.holes are drilled-in it; after that it is plated and again polished, and
the metal and upholstered parts are then assembled. All plating and
polishing (with the exception of that polishing which is done at the
time the metal is cut) is performed in a small building which adjoins
the Employer's main building.
There are three polishers and one plater in the unit sought by
the Petitioner, which does not include the employee who operates the
polishing machine in the main building. One of the polishers is
the leadman, who can also plate. There was no evidence as to what,
if any, supervisory authority this leadman has. All employees, in-
cluding the polishers and platers, have the same hours and vacation
benefits ; the superintendent of the machine shop also supervises the
polishers and platers; and in the past there has been some inter-
change of employees between polishing and machine work due to
slack work loads in one department or another.
With regard to skill, one employee, who has worked for the Em-
ployer for slightly more than 2 years, testified that although he was
"hired as a learner, he had had some previous experience, and con-
sidered himself a journeyman polisher. He stated that one other
employee in the proposed unit was a journeyman, but that he did not
know about the other two. The only evidence as to the nature of
the work performed by these employees is contained in the job classi-
fication schedule appended to the contract between the I. A. M. and
the Employer. In this schedule there are jobs described as journey-
men polishers and buffers, journeymen platers, and plater's helpers.
The duties therein ascribed to journeymen positions appear to require
a high degree of skilled craftsmanship.2 There is no evidence in
the record, however, that the polishers and platers herein involved
'These employees are now represented by the Upholsterers ' International Union, Local
No. 25, AFL, which was notified of this hearing but did not appear.
2 The Board has granted separate representation to polishers , buffers, and platers where
it,is clear that the employees are skilled craftsmen , and where other factors such as inter-
mingling of employees and previous bargaining history have not rendered craft representa-
tion inappropriate. Matter of Electric Auto-L2te Company, Kengs ' Mills Division, 76
N. L. R. B 1189 But where there is insufficient evidence of skilled craftsmanship, the
Board declines to sever such employees from production and maintenance units. Matter
of American Cabinet Hardware Corporation, 77 N. L. R. B. 1435; Matter of Dazey Corpo-
ration, 77 N. L. R B 408; Matter of Geo. J. Mayer Company, 77 N. L. It. B. 425; Matter
of Dover Appliance Company,)76 N. L. It. B. 1131.
NATIONAL MACHINE COMPANY 1039
actually perform the work or have the skills described, in the job
classification schedule. We shall not, under the circumstances of this
case, sever these employees from the broader unit in which they have
heretofore been represented. We therefore find that the proposed
unit-is inappropriate, and we shall order that the petition be dismissed.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.