Phoenix Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 26, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 472 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of P EIOENIX MANUFACTURING COMPANY and LEHIGII
VALLEY DIE SINKERS' LODGE #150 OF THE INTERNATIONAL DIE.
SINKERS' CONFERENCE
Case No. 4-R-1773.-Decided October 26, 19 5
Mr. Thomas E. Weaver, of Catasauqua, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. J. G. Meiner, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Die Sinkers.
Mr. Benj. E. Cook, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Lehigh Valley Die Sinkers' Lodge
#150 of the International Die Sinkers' Conference, herein called the
Die Sinkers, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Phoenix Manufactur-
ing Company, Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for, an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Herman Lazarus, Trial Examiner.
The hearing was held at Allentown, Pennsylvania, on July 10, 1945.
The Company, and the Die Sinkers 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
Phoenix Manufacturing Company, an Illinois corporation, is en-
gaged in the manufacture of drop forgings at Catasauqua, Pennsyl-
' The International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths , Drop Forgers , and Helpers , A. F. of L ,
herein called Blacksmiths was served with notice of the proceeding but was not represented
at the hearing.
64 N. L R. B., No. 86.
472
PHOENIX MANUFACTURING COMPANY 473
vania. During the year 1944 the Company used at its Catasauqua
plant raw materials, principally steel, valued in excess of $850,000,
over 65 percent of which was obtained from points outside the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania. During the same period of time, the
Company sold manufactured products valued in excess of $2,000,000,
over 70 percent, of which was shipped to points outside that State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. TI-IE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Lehigh Valley Die Sinkers' Lodge #150 of the International Die
Sinkers' Conference is an unaffiliated labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
111. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Die Sinkers
as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees
until the Die Sinkers 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 Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees 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 DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Die Sinkers seeks a unit composed of all employees of the Com-
pany working on dies or parts of dies used to complete forgings. The
Company contends that only a plant-wide unit is appropriate.
The Company's employees have been represented for the purposes
of collective bargaining on a company-wide basis for a number of
years. The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers,
CIO, herein called Amalgamated, was the designated representative
through September 1, 1942, at which time, pursuant to an employee-
sponsored election, a majority of the employees selected the Federal
Local No. 23250, AFL, herein called the Federal, to represent them.
The then current contract between the Company and the Amalgamated
was assumed by the Federal. Federal continued to act as representa-
tive of the employees until November 1944, when a majority of the
'The Field Examiner reported that the Die Sinkers submitted an affidavit that 24 of
those employed in the Company 's Die Sinking Department were members in good standing
in its union on June 18 , 1945 . The Field Examiner further reported that there were 28
to 30 individuals in the alleged appropriate unit.
474 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees, in an election sponsored by the American Federation of
Labor, voted for the International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop
Forgers and Helpers, AFL, herein called the Blacksmiths, as their bar-
gaining agent. In February 1945, the Blacksmiths assumed the unex-
pired term of the Federal's contract. At the time of the hearing, the
Blacksmiths had submitted to the Company a proposed contract
which excluded the die workers.3
The Die Sinkers has filed with the Board three petitions for certifi-
cation as representative of the employees in the unit it now seeks, all of
which the Board dismissed.4 However, at the time of such dismissals,
the bargaining representative of the production and maintenance em-
ployees in a plant-wide unit, unlike the Blacksmiths, was not agreeable
to the establishment of a die sinkers' unit. The Company has approxi-
mately 285 employees, 25 of whom perform the usual functions associ-
ated with the die sinkers' craft, such as making, sinking, trimming and
repairing dies and parts of dies. Their group is confined to a separate
and distinct department under the separate supervision of a foreman
who is also a die maker by trade and familiar with problems related
to this craft. The record reveals that since March 1941, the die work-
ers, as a group, have consistently held themselves aloof from identifi-
cation with or participation in organizational affairs of any one of the
currently recognized collective bargaining agents of the production
and maintenance employees. The die workers also have steadfastly
refused to pay dues to any union except their own, despite contrary
requirements in existing collective bargaining contracts covering all
the Company's employees, and on two occasions, the die workers caused
a work stoppage because of alleged efforts by the Company to force
upon them membership in the currently contracting union. Thus,
for more than 4 years the die workers, as a group, have neither sought
nor received aid from the currently recognized bargaining representa-
tive and have consistently sought recognition as a separate bargaining
unit.5 Moreover, as stated above, the Blacksmiths is agreeable to the
Die Sinkers' proposed creation of a separate unit for such employees e
Under the above circumstances, particularly in view of the dis-
claimer of the Blacksmiths, we are of the opinion that die workers
3 The Blacksmiths waived all claim to representation of the die workers, as set forth In
a letter addressed to an agent of the Board and introduced in evidence at the bearing.
4 The first petition was dismissed by a formal Decision and Order issued October 2, 1942
(44 N L R B. 1388). The Regional Director Dismissed the second petition (Case
4-R-1167, filed June 14, 1943) and third petition (Case 4-R-1492, filed July 8, 1944),
and his action was sustained by the Board on appeal.
5 Cf Matter of Revere Copper and Brass, Incorporated, Dallas and Ordnance Divisions,
61 N. L R B 392 ; Matter of Moore Drop Forging Company, 60 N. L R B 494; also matter
of The Columbus Bolt Workers Company, 62 N. L. R. B. 978.
° See Matter of Pacific States Steel Corporation, 57 N. L. R. B. 1084; see also Johns-
Manville Products Corporation, 60 N L. R. B. 293; Phelps Dodge Corporation, United
Verde Branch, 56 N. L. R B. 1560; Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corporation,
53 N. L. it. B. 1325. Cf. Matter of McGann Manufacturing Company, Inc., 57 N. I.
R. B. 246.
PHOENIX MANUFACTURING COMPANY 475
may constitute a separate bargaining unit or remain a part of the
existing plant-wide unit. Before making a final determination with
respect to the appropriate unit, however, we shall first ascertain the
desires of the employees themselves, as reflected by an election. We
shall direct that an election by secret ballot be conducted among all
the Company's employees working on dies and parts of dies used in
the manufacture and completion of forgings, excluding all super-
visory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis-
cipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or
effectively recommend such action, who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election, subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein,
to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by the Die
Sinkers.7 Upon the results of the election hereinafter directed will
depend, in part, our determination of the appropriate unit. If the
employees select the Die Sinkers as their bargaining representative,
they shall constitute a separate appropriate unit; otherwise they shall
remain part of the plant-wide production and maintenance unit pres-
ently represented by the Blacksmiths.
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 Rela-
tions 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 Phoenix Manu-
facturing Company, Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, 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
supervision of the Regional Director for the Fourth Region, Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, 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 die sinkers
group described 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 those em-
° Since the Blacksmiths has disclaimed any interest in the die workers , we shall not
place its name on the ballot.
476 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees 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 Lehigh Valley
Die Sinkers' Lodge #150 of the International Die Sinkers' Confer-
ence, an, unaffiliated organization, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.