Park Sherman Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 12, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1331 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of PARK SHERMAN COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LODGE No.
628, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-1071.-Decided May 10, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Martin H.
Schneid, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Styles].
"Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.'
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting of all the tool-
room . employees at the Employer's Springfield, Illinois, plant includ-
ing all tool and die makers, machine operators (machinists) and ap-
prentices, but excluding office and clerical employees, guards, pro-
fessional employees, and supervisors. The Employer and the Inter-
venor contend that the existing plant-wide unit is alone appropriate.2
I At its Springfield , Illinois , plant, which is the only one involved in this case, the
Employer manufactures metal novelties.
3 The Employer and Intervenor entered into a plant -wide collective bargaining contract
on March 31 , 1949 , to continue until April 1, 1950. This contract was not urged as a bar
to the instant petition.
89 NLRB No., 160.
1331
889227-51-vol. 9-85
1332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The record shows that the toolroom (machine shop) is physically
separated from the rest of the plant. In the toolroom are located
surface grinders, drill presses, contours, lathes, and related equipment.
No similar equipment is located anywhere else in the plant. The em-
ployees in the toolroom are tool and die makers, machinists, and their
apprentices, and are under the separate immediate supervision of the
toolroom foreman, Theodore Moe, a salaried employee, who is re-
sponsible to the plant manager. The employees in the toolroom do
no production work. Their function is to construct and maintain die
fixtures as well as occasionally repair production machines. The
employees in the toolroom go into the production area of the plant only
when trouble develops in the operation of a machine. The production
and maintenance employees enter the toolroom only to pick up finished
dies.
All the employees working in the toolroom have had several years'
experience as tool and die makers or machinists. These employees are
paid on the basis of an hourly rate, which is the highest in the plant.
The Employer has a 4-year apprenticeship program for toolroom em
ployees who have had no prior experience as tool and die makers or
machinists. No persons with skills similar to those possessed by the
toolroom employees function in the production department.
Upon the record as a whole, we find that the toolroom employees
constitute a homogeneous and well-defined craft group of a type which
the Board has, in the past, found may be appropriate for bargaining
purposes, notwithstanding a history of collective bargaining on a
broader plant-wide basis.3 Under the circumstances, we are of the
opinion that the group sought by the Petitioner may constitute an
appropriate unit, if the employees in that group so desire. However,
we shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall first
ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed in the election
hereinafter directed. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will
be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appro-
priate unit.
We shall direct an election among the following employees in the
Employer's Springfield, Illinois, plant
All toolroom employees, including all tool and die makers,4 machine
8 Dazey Corporation, 77 NLRB 408; General Electric Company, 82 NLRB 722.
4 The parties agree that John Mayes , the toolroom supervisor, should be included in the,
appropriate unit . The record shows that Mayes spends about 65 percent of his time in.
the toolroom as a tool and die maker . He is paid on an hourly basis and has no authority
to hire , discharge , promote, discipline , or otherwise change the status , of any of the tool-
room employees or to adjust grievances . While he makes recommendations as to changes
in the status of the toolroom employees , such recommendations are acted upon only after
investigation by the toolroom foreman, Theodore Moe. Requests by the employees in the
toolroom to be excused for illness are addressed to the toolroom foreman. Only in the
PARK SHERMAN COMPANY 1333
operators (machinists) and apprentices, but excluding office and cler-
ical employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 5
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard,
and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the voting
group described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed
during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are
not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be
represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Lodge No. 628,
International Association of Machinists, or by United Steel Workers
of America, Local No. 2039, CIO, or by neither.
absence of the toolroom foreman, when sick or on vacation, would Mayes be in charge of
the toolroom . He also recommends repairs on dies , subject to the approval of the tool-
room foreman , and instructs the other toolroom employees , assigned to machine repair
work , in the performance of their duties . We find , upon the record in this case, that
Mayes is not a supervisor within the meaning of the Act, and we shall Include him in the
appropriate unit. Forney Engineering Company, 88 NLRB 204 ; Union Electric Power.
Co. et at., 83 NLRB 872 ; Signode Steel Strapping Company, 83 NLRB 184; General Steel
Tank Company, 81 NLRB 1345.
5 Any participant in the election directed herein may, upon. its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by , the Regional Director , have Its name removed from the ballot.