Portland Foundry Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 11, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1342 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of PORTLAND FOUNDRY COMPANY and UNITED FEDERATED
WAR WORKERS, LOCAL 105, U. F. W. OF A., CIO
Case No. 1-R-4509.Decided December 11, 1945
Mr. Alexander Greenspun , of Bridgeport , Conn. , for the Company.
Mr. William M. Citron , of Middletown , Conn. , for the Union.
Miss Helen Hart, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Federated-War
Workers, Local 105, U. F. W. of A., CIO, herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Portland Foundry Company, Portland,
Connecticut, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Karl Dieffenbach, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Middle-
town, Connecticut, on July 11, 1945. The Company and the Union ap-
peared and participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi-
dence 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Portland Foundry Company, a Connecticut corporation, operates a
plant at Portland, Connecticut, where it is engaged in the manufacture
' Subsequent to the hearing , the parties filed with the Board a. stipulation , which they
agreed to incorporate into the record , concerning certain changes in the Company's
operations . The stipulation is hereby made part of the record.
64 N L . R. B., No. 222.
1342
PORTLAND FOUNDRY COMPANY 1343
of castings, household utensils and bathroom accessories. Until Au-
gust 1945, the Company was engaged in assembly work on small war
products. During the period from December 1944 through May 1945,
the Company purchased raw materials consisting of pig iron, coke, and
sand, valued at approximately $12,000, of which about 60 percent was
bought outside the State of Connecticut. During the first 4 months of
1945, the Company manufactured goods valued at more than $110,000,
of which approximately 10 percent was transported to points outside
the State of Connecticut.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Federated War Workers, Local 105, United Furniture
Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organ-
izations, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees
of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the Union 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 it alleges to be appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that a unit consisting of all foundry workers,
including the carpenter and the painter,3 but. excluding office and
clerical employees, all employees engaged in the manufacture of house-
hold utensils, executives and all other supervisory employees is appro-
priate. The Company urges, however, that the employees working in
the household utensils manufacturing department, except for super-
visory personnel, should also be included in the unit.
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 22 membership applications and
that the names of 21 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll
of May 31, 1945, which contained the names of 30 enip1o ees in the alleged appropriate unit
7 At the hearing, the Union's representative stated that lie did not know of any painters
in the foundry. The Company's representative stated that the painter is engaged in
maintenance work in the foundry as is the carpenter whom the Union seeks to include in the
unit it alleges to be appropriate. The Union failed to take a definite position as to the
inclusion of the painter . inasmuch as the Union seeks to represent all foundry employees,
it appears that it would include the painter in its proposed unit.
1344 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company's plant has two main departments, separated by a
wall-a foundry and a department engaged in the manufacture of
household utensils. The foundry has been in operation since 1920 and
about 30 employees work there. The manufacturing department,
where 15 men are employed, was opened about September 17, 1945,
subsequent to the hearing in the instant proceeding; during the war
employees in this section of the plant were engaged in assembly work
on small war products and the work performed there was completely
unrelated to that carried on in the foundry.4 According to the tes-
timony of the Company's secretary at the hearing, after the Com-
pany's conversion to a peacetime basis, it intended to coordinate the
operations of the foundry and the production department; the Com-
pany intended to make castings in the foundry, which were to be
worked into finished articles in the manufacturing department. There-
fore, since the Company has recently converted to peacetime produc-
tion, as indicated above, we assume that this plan is in operation, that
the functions of both departments are so integrated, and that each
department is now dependent on the other.
At the time of the hearing, the Company listed all its employees
from both departments on one pay roll. The basic work day was the
same in both departments. The secretary of the Company supervised
both departments jointly, and apparently neither department had its
own foreman.' Foundry employees were transferred to the assembly
department on temporary assignments. Although the Company has
recently effected a change in the work carried on in its plant, it would
seem that none of these conditions has been altered.a
In view of the apparent integration of functions of the two depart-
ments in their peacetime operations, and in view of the similarity of
conditions in the two departments, we are of the opinion that the
Company's employees in the foundry and the manufacturing depart-
ment together constitute a single appropriate unit.
We find that all employees in the foundry of the Company's Port-
land, Connecticut, plant, including the carpenter and the painter, and
all employees engaged at that plant in the manufacture of household
utensils, but excluding office and 'clerical employees, executives, and
all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
4 At the time of the hearing, while the Company was still operating on a war -time basis,
castings made in the factory were sold to outside concerns ; the assembly work was per-
formed for an outside concern also, on a subcontract basis.
6 The record is not clear as to the status of Aldis Shaler , who was employed by the con-
cern with which the war assembly department had its subcontract He apparently per-
formed some supervisory functions in the Company's assembly department , he was also
in "charge of production " and on occasion interviewed job applicants.
d The stipulation filed subsequent to the hearing ( see footnote 1, supra) stated that "the
operating methods of the Company's foundry have continued in a manner similar to that
which existed at the time of the hearing . . .
PORTLAND FOUNDRY COMPANY 1345
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit ap-
propriate 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.
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 purpose of collective bargaining with Portland Foundry
Company, Portland, Connecticut, an election by secret ballot shall be
conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the First 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 em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
this Direction; includng 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 arnked forces of the United States who
present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em-
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 determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by United Federated War
Workers, Local 105, U. F. W. of A., CIO, for the purpose of collective
bargaining.
MR. JOHN M. HOUSTON took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
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