Schultz Die Casting Co.Download PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsAug 30, 194985 N.L.R.B. 1019 (N.L.R.B. 1949) Copy Citation In the Matter of SCHULTZ DIE CASTING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and MECHANICS EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, LOCAL No. 4, PETITIONER In the Matter of SCHULTZ DIE CASTING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGiacuL- TURAL IMPLEMENT WOEKERS OF AMERICA (CIO), PETITIONER Cases Nos. 8-RC-466 and 8-RC-479, respectively.-Decided August 30, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held before Bernard Ness, 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 1Iouston and Murdock]. 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. Mechanics Educational Society of America, Local No. 4, herein called MESA, and the International Union, United Automobile, Air- craft-&- Agricultural Implement Workers of America (CIO), herein called the UAW,' are labor organizations claiming to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representation 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 determination of representatives : The UAW seeks a unit coextensive with the established unit of production and maintenance employees. MESA seeks to sever from. ? At the hearing , the UAW was permitted to intervene in Case No . 8-RC-466. 85 N. L . R. B., No. 177. 1019 1020 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the established unit all employees in the skilled division of the Em- ployer's plant, i. e., all die casting die makers, die casting die repair- men, tool and die makers, jig bore operators, Keller machine operators, grinders, die room machinists and their apprentices, welders, heat treat men, saw men, and tool crib clerks. The Employer agrees with the UAW's unit contentions. The Employer and the UAW oppose the severance of the group sought by MESA because of the history of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis,2 and the integration of the duties of the employees in the skilled division with the operations of the plant as a whole. The UAW further maintains that the unit sought by MESA "does not include all the skilled employees or all the employees of like skills throughout the plant." The Employer is engaged in the mass production of nonferrous die casting. The skilled division, which MESA seeks to represent, fabricates and repairs steel dies and tools, and is one of several divi- sions into which the plant is functionally divided. It is composed of the following departments : new die makers, die repairmen, tool makers, jig bore operators, Keller machine operators, grinders, die room machinists, welders, heat treat men, saw men, and tool crib clerks. Of these, the tool and die repair departments are each under the separate immediate supervision of a foreman, all of whom are responsible to the foreman of the skilled division; while the remaining departments of the skilled division are directly under the supervision of the foreman of the skilled division. The skilled division is located on the southwest side of the plant and is separated from the other divisions by a walled partition. The em- ployees in the skilled division do not engage in the actual production of castings other than to observe the first run of casting samples in order to make the necessary corrections or repairs of the die. Only the tool crib clerks and the die room machinists, among these em- ployees, have counterparts in the plant with closely comparable duties. Although the work of some of the requested employees, at times, brings them into the production departments, they. remain under the super- vision of their own department foreman, except for an informal ar- 2 The Employer has been in collective bargaining relationship as to all production and maintenance employees in the plant , including the group sought by MESA , since 1936. The last agreement was between the Employer and the National Association of Die Casting Workers, Local No . 16, herein called NADCW , and was effective as of July 1, 1948, to run for an indefinite period . Sixty days ' notice to amend this agreement was given the Employer by the NADCW on February 23, 1949 . On April 25 , 1949 , the NADCW and the UAW, in separate letters, informed the Employer that the employees involved herein had voted to affiliate with the UAW , and requested that a meeting be held to arrange for a substitution of names in the agreement. The Employer did not reply . On April 18, 1949, MESA requested recognition, and, on April 21, filed a petition . On May 10, 1949, the UAW filed a petition . Although served with notice , the NADCW did not appear at the hearing. Neither the Employer nor the UAW urges the existing agreement as a bar to an election. SCHULTZ DIE CASTING COMPANY 1021 rangement whereby the foreman of the department in which they are temporarily engaged, provides instructions as to the job to be done in- the outside department .3 While there have been transfers from the production departments to the skilled division, largely in accordance with the Employer's apprenticeship program, the record shows that there is virtually no interchange between the employees in the skilled division and other plant employees. It appears that seniority in the plant is measured by length of service in the department in which an employee is engaged. Of the approximately 80 employees working in the skilled division, 65 are engaged in the skilled job classifications of die casting die makers, die casting die repairmen, and tool makers. The Employer's apprenticeship program, approved by the Ohio State Apprentice- ship Council, is confined to these job classifications only. The ap- prenticeship period is 5 years for the die makers; 4 years for the die repairmen; and 4 years for the tool makers. The rates of pay for these job classifications range from $2.11 per hour for that of tool maker to $2.21 per hour for that of die maker, substantially in excess of rates paid employees outside the skilled division.' While most of their working time is spent in the skilled division, the repair of dies takes the die repairmen into the casting division about 20 percent of their working time; the adjustment of tools takes the tool makers into the cleaning division 10 to 25 percent of their time; and the setting of dies takes the die makers into the casting division about 2 percent of their time. The remaining 15 employees of the skilled division perform duties ancillary to the production and repair of dies and tools. The 2 jig bore operators drill holes in the dies for the use of the die makers. They acquire reasonable skill on the job within a year. One of these employees was formerly engaged on the production line, and the other was hired from the outside. There are no employees of comparable skill elsewhere in the plant. The only Keller machine operator in the plant establishes the contour in the die as it is taken from the produc- tion model. The present operator, a former tool maker in the skilled division, required a year's training on the job before attaining effi- ciency. The sole grinder in the. plant, engaged in the grinding of tool and die parts, was transferred to this department from production. He works with die steels to very close dimensions. Although there is 3 Authority to discipline the employees, while thus engaged, remains in the hands of the skilled division foreman. ' In general , the rates of pay of employees in the skilled division range substantially higher than those of employees in other parts of the plant . Employees throughout the plant are paid on an hourly basis , except that the die repairmen are paid an additional incentive bonus. 1022 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD other grinding work performed in the plant, i. e., casting machine grinding from zinc castings, the Employer testified that the latter operation may be learned within 30 clays and does not require the pre- cision work connected with grinding operations in the skilled division, which entails about 1 year's training. The 2 die room machinists are engaged in the machining of miscel- laneous die parts. The record does not disclose the extent of the training or experience required of the die room machinists. It ap- pears that certain employees in the maintenance division of the Employer have performed comparable work in the past, and that there has been some interchange of work between the die room ma- chinists and the employees in the maintenance division. However, the die room machinists perform machining work in the skilled divi- sion for the entire period of their working time while the mainte- nance men perform a comparable type of machining as a minor part of their composite maintenance duties throughout the plant. At no point do the die room machinists work together with the maintenance men or come under common supervision.5 Most of the work of the two welders involves the welding of dies ; a minor part of their working time is spent in maintenance welding throughout the plant. There are no other welding operations car- ried on in the plant. The heat treat man, a former tool maker, hardens soft dies by means of heat treating. Heat treat work in- volves a 2-year training period. The two saw men, whose job re- quires no previous training, cut die steels to die-block lengths for individual dies. While there is other sawing work performed in the plant, the Employer stated that it does not closely resemble that car- xied on in the skilled division. The four tool crib clerks keep the supplies for all the departments in the skilled division and work under the supervision of the foreman of the skilled division." As already noted, the employees sought by MESA have been bar- gained for as part of a production and maintenance unit since 1936. However, that is not sufficient, under the circumstances, to deny the skilled division employees an opportunity at this time to express their desires for separate representation. We have held, in like situations, that department units of tool and die makers, machinists, and other employees engaged in the fabrication of dies and tools, may be 5 The duties of maintenance men involve plumbing, carpentry, electrical, machine building, and repair work . With the exception of painters , oilers, and porter , none of the employees in the maintenance division are grouped by separate job classifications. .9 There are also two tool crib clerks who service the cleaning and castings divisions from separately located and supervised tool cribs. We shall include the four tool crib clerks involved herein in the unit because they work in close association with, and under the same supervision as, the employees in the skilled division . Matter of International Harvester. Company (McCormick Works ), 82 N. L . R. B. 190 ; Matter of Signode Steel Strapping Company, 83 N. L. R. B. 184. SCHULTZ DIE CASTING COMPANY 1023 severed where such units contained a nucleus of skilled craftsmen to- gether with less skilled but related employee classifications, even though there were other employees in the plant possessing skills and. -performing work comparable to the less skilled employees in the unit.7 The employees in the skilled division constitute such a group. They are separately supervised and located. They do not inter- ,change with employees of other departments. They, as a group, are centered around a nucleus of craftsmen whose skills do not appear to be duplicated by those of employees elsewhere in the plant. Accord- ingly; we believe that the employees in the skilled division may, if they so desire, constitute a separate unit. We shall therefore direct. that separate. elections, by- secret ballot be held among the employees at the Employer's Toledo, Ohio, plant within the following voting groups, excluding all office clerical em- ployees, guards, professional employees, foremen, and all supervisors as defined by the Act : 1. All die casting die makers, die casting repairmen, tool and die makers, jig bore operators, Keller machine operators, grinders, die room machinists and their respective apprentices, welders, heat treat men, saw men, and tool crib clerks in the skilled division, but exclud- ing all other employees. 2. All remaining production and maintenance employees. However, we shall make no final determination at this time, but shall be guided in part by the desires of the employees as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. If the employees in voting group 1 select MESA, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate unit. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections 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 de- scribed in paragraph numbered 4; above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not work during said Matter of International Harvester Company (Indianapolis Works). 82 N. L. R. B. 740 Matter of Doeh.ler-Jarvis Corporation (Doehler Die Casting Division), 81 N. L. R. B. 1097; Matter of Sprague Electric Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 410; Matter of International Harvester Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 1452. 1024 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD pay-roll 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 elections, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine (1) whether the employ- ees in group. I desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Mechanics Educational Society of America, Local No. 4, or by International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricul- tural Implement Workers of America (CIO), or by neither; and (2) whether or not the employees in group 2 desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America. (CIO). 0 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation