Smith & Caffrey Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 8, 1942

38 N.L.R.B. 90 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter Of SMITH & CAFFREY COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
AssoCIATION BRIDGE Smuort RAL ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS LOCAL
UNION #612
Case No. R-3279.-Decided January 8, 1912
Jurisdiction : iron and steel products manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord union recognition until certified by the Board ; motion to
dismiss petition on ground that there had been no prima facie showing that
the union represented a majority of employees in the appropriate unit, over-
ruled where it is established that the union has been designated by a substantial
number of employees in the unit; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production and maintenance em-
ployees in the structural and ornamental departments of the Company's plant,
exclusive of supervisory, office, and clerical employees, watchmen and relief
watchmen, held to constitute an appropriate unit, notwithstanding the desire
of the Company for a unit which would also include production and mainte-
nance employees in the foundry department, where the work of the three
departments is not highly interdependent, and in view of the fact that the
petitioner has no jurisdiction over the foundry employees, but has organized
employees in the unit sought, and no other labor organization is now claiming
to represent employees in a larger unit.
Fraser Brothers, by Mr. Henry S. Fraser, of Syracuse, N. Y., for
the Company.
Mr. George S. Cooper, of Syracuse, N. Y., and Mr. William F.
Baiuers, of Buffalo, N. Y., for the Union.
Mr. Joseph A. Wickes, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On September 5, 1941, International Association Bridge Structural
Ornamental Iron Workers Local Union #612, affiliated with the
A. F. of L., herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director
for the Third Region (Buffalo, New York) a petition alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of. Smith & Caffrey Company, Syracuse, New York,
38 N. L. R. B, No. 20.
90
SMITH & CAFFREY COMPANY 91
herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and cer-
tification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On October
31, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section
3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
On November 4,1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the
Union. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on November 10, 1941,
at Syracuse, New York, before Peter J. Crotty, the Trial Examiner
duly designated by' the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company was
represented by counsel, the Union by representatives, and all partici-
pated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing upon the
issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the
Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections
to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings
of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were com-
mitted. The rulings are hereby affirmed. For the reasons noted below
an oral motion to dismiss the petition, made by the Company, is hereby
denied.
On November 21, 1941, the Company filed a brief which the Board
has duly considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Smith & Caffrey Company is a New York Corporation engaged in
the manufacture of structural steel, ornamental iron, and gray iron
castings. Its principal office and place of business is in Syracuse,
New York, where its plant is located. During the year ending August
31, 1941, there were shipped to the Company's plant raw materials
of the value of at least $100,000, of which about 60 percent repre-
sented shipments made to its plant from points outside the State of
New York. During the same period of time there were shipped from
its plant finished products of the 'value of at least $300,000, of which
about 2 percent represented shipments made from the plant to points
outside the State of New York. The Company admits that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
92 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Association Bridge Structural Ornamental Iron
Workers Local Union $612 is a labor organization affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor. It admits to its membership produc-
tion and maintenance employees in the structural and ornamental
departments of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By letters dated June 11, 1940, and September 22, 1941, the Union
requested the Company to engage in bargaining conferences with its
representatives. The Company has not accorded recognition to the
Union, and at the hearing stated through its president that it was
unwilling to recognize the Union until it had been certified by the
Board.
At the hearing the Company orally moved that the petition be
dismissed on the ground that there had been no prima facie showing
that the Union represented a majority of the employees in the unit,
claimed by the Union as appropriate. The same contention was made
in the Company's brief. We overrule this contention, since we are
of the opinion that it is sufficient, in order to obtain an election, for a
union to establish that it has been designated by a substantial number
of employees in the appropriate unit. A statement of the Regional
Director, introduced into evidence at the hearing, shows that the
Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit here-
inafter found to be appropriate.'
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
1 The Regional Director reported that the Union presented to him 10 applications for
membership slips bearing the names of persons who appeared on the Company's pay
roll of October 20 , 1941 , as employees in the unit alleged as appropriate. Two of these
application slips were dated in September 1939, 5 in 1940, and 3 in 1941 . There are ap-
proximately 22 employees in the unit alleged , and hereinafter found , to be appropriate.
SMITH & CAFFREY COMPANY
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
93
The Company's plant is divided into three departments, i. e., struc-
tural, ornamental, and foundry. The Union requests a unit composed
of all production and maintenance employees in the structural and
ornamental departments of the plant, exclusive of supervisory, office,
and clerical employees. It seeks to exclude the foundry department.
The Company contends that the appropriate unit should include all
production and maintenance employees in the entire plant, exclusive
of supervisory, office, and clerical employees.2 It argues, in support
of this contention, that its entire business is operated as a single
integrated enterprise with each part related to and dependent upon
the other.3
Each of the three departments, i. e., ornamental, structural, and
foundry, is housed in a separate building. While the entire plant
is under the control of a general superintendent, there is a super-
intendent or a foreman in charge of each of the three departments.
There are approximately 18 employees in the structural department,
4 in the ornamental department, and 38 in the foundry. The struc-
tural department is engaged in the fabrication of structural steel.
The flat steel is received from the mills in lengths of from 40 to 65
2 The Company employs a watchman and a relief watchman . It is not clear whether or
not the parties desire these men to be included in the appropriate bargaining unit. How-
ever, since the Union seeks to limit the bargaining unit to the employees of the structural
and ornamental departments , and the watchman and the relief watchman regularly cover
the entire plant, it would appear that the Union wishes that they be excluded . Since we
are limiting the bargaining unit to the employees of the structural and ornamental de-
partments , as hereinafter appears, we shall exclude them from the appropriate unit.
8 In support of its contention as to the appropriate unit the Company relies upon Matter
of National Vulcanized Fibre Co., Newark Fibre Division and Local 138 , United Electrical,
Radio & Machine Workers of America , C. I. 0., 36 N. L R B., No"5 , where the Board held
that a unit sought by the Union and composed exclusively of the production and mainte-
nance employees in the fibre mill of the company 's Newark plant was not an appropriate
unit, and that the production and maintenance employees of the company ' s paper and
fibre mills at this plant should be included within a single unit , in view of the functional
coherence , interdependence , and integrated character of the operations of the paper and
fibre mills , the similarity of the work and working conditions of the two mills , their joint
supervision and joint plant facilities , the company 's uniform labor policy and interchange
of paper and fibre employees , and the union ' s attempts to organize the employees in both
the paper and the fibre mills. It should be noted that in that case the manufacturing
process involved was a continuous one from the entrance of the raw materials into the
paper mill until the fibre and fibre products were ready for shipment from the plant, and
that practically all the paper manufactured in the paper mill was used in the operations of
the fibre mill . However, in the principal case 80 or 90 percent of the castings made in
the foundry are not used in the structural or ornamental departments , but go to
customers in the state in which they leave the foundry. Moreover , in the principal case
the employees of the foundry are not eligible to membership in the Union , and it has
made no attempt to organize them, whereas in Matter of National Vulcanized Fibre Co.
the paper mill employees were eligible to membership in the union , it intended to include
them in its organization in the future, and had already made some attempts to organize
them, 8 or 10 of the approximately 31 employees in the paper mill having signed application
cards for membership in the runion
94 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
feet, is cut to smaller sizes in the structural department, and in some
cases is sent to customers without any further fabrication, while in
other cases it is punched or riveted or welded in the structural de-
partment, and then sent to customers. The ornamental department
is engaged in the manufacture of ornamental iron, such as stairs,
railings, and building work. The foundry is engaged in making gray
iron castings. From 80 to 90 percent of these castings are sent to
customers in the state in which they leave the foundry. However,
the remainder are sent to the structural and ornamental departments,
where they are used in the making of articles produced in those de-
partments. Certain articles which are produced in the structural
and ornamental departments, such as flasks and patterns, are sent to
the foundry whenever articles of steel are required for use in the
foundry.
In times of slack work men are frequently transferred from one
department to another, and men from ' each of the departments are
often assigned to help out in other departments temporarily. There
is a uniform labor policy throughout the plant as to wages, hours,
and vacations. The pay roll for the whole plant is kept in one book,
is made up at the same time, and all employees are paid at the same
time. However, the names of the employees in each department are
listed separately on the pay roll. There is very little variation in
the comparative skills required in the different departments.
The production and maintenance employees in the structural and
ornamental departments are eligible for membership in the Union.
However, the Union does not have jurisdiction over the employees in
the foundry. A representative of the Union testified without con-
tradiction that the Moulders' Union of the American Federation of
Labor has jurisdiction over the employees in the foundry. It appears
that no attempt to organize these employees has been made by any
labor organization.
We do not consider that the three departments are so interdepend-
ent that the Union should be denied, under the circumstances herein
presented, a unit confined to the employees in the ornamental and
structural departments. It is significant that the Union has organ-
ized only the employees in the ornamental and structural depart-
ments and that its jurisdiction is limited to the employees in these
departments. No other labor organization is now claiming to repre-
sent employees in a larger unit. To hold inappropriate the unit
sought by the Union would be to deny to employees who have organ-
ized the benefits of collective bargaining.
Upon the entire record, we find that all production and mainte-
nance employees in the structural and ornamental departments of
the Company's plant at Syracuse, New York, exclusive of supervisory,
SMITH & CAFFREY COMPANY 95
office, and clerical employees, watchmen, and relief watchmen, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
and that such unit will insure to employees of the Company the full
benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining
and otherwise will effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret
ballot. The Union requests that those eligible to vote in such elec-
tion shall be determined on the basis of the Company's pay roll imme-
diately preceding the date of the Union's petition of September 5,
1941, but it advances no reason for this request. The Company desires
that, if an election is directed, it shall be held in accordance with the
Board's usual practice as to eligibility date. We believe that the
purposes of the Act will be best effectuated by determining eligibility
as of the present date. We shall direct that all employees in the appro-
priate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Decision and Direction of Election, sub-
ject to such limitations and additions as are hereinafter set forth
in the Direction, shall be eligible to vote.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAw
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of Smith & Caffrey Company, Syracuse, New
York, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees in the structural and
ornamental departments of the Company's plant at Syracuse, New
York, exclusive of supervisory, office, and clerical employees, watch-
men, and relief watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the National Labor Relations Act.
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 8, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
96 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
with Smith & Caffrey Company, Syracuse, New York, 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 direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Third Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations,
among all the production and maintenance employees in the structural
and ornamental departments of the plant of Smith & Caffrey Com-
pany at Syracuse, New York, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including
employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or training of
the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory,
office, and clerical employees, watchmen, relief watchmen, and em-
ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining by International Association Bridge Structural
Ornamental Iron Workers Local Union #612, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.