Standard Steel Spring Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 31, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 97 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of GREAT LAKES SPRING DIVISION OF STANDARD STEEL
SPRING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and WILLIAM ROBERTSON, PETITIONER
and LOCAL 457, INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIR-
CRAkrT, AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO,
UNION
Case No. 13-RD-72.-Decided August 31, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Herman J. De Koven,
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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock]..
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:'
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The Petitioner is an employee of the Employer and asserts that
the Union is no longer the bargaining representative, as defined in
Section 9 (a) of the amended Act, of the Employer's employees desig-
nated in the petition.
The Union is a labor organization recognized ,by the Employer as
the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees, among
others, designated in the petition.
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 requests decertification of a unit consisting, gener-
ally, of all machine and die shop employees in the Employer's Chi-
3 At the hearing , the Union moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the Peti-
tioner is representing a labor organization and is not the real party in interest. The
Petitioner testified , without contradiction , ' that he is not a member of any labor organi-
zation other than the Union ; that he has received no financial assistance from any labor
organization ; and that he is acting only in his individual capacity as an employee of
the Employer . Accordingly, as the evidence . in the record fails to support the Union's
contention ,, the motion to dismiss on this ground is hereby denied . Cf. Allied Chemical
and Dye Corporation, 78 NLRB 408.
91 NLRB No. 14.
97
98 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ca go, Illinois, plant, including tool and die makers, machinists,
machinists' apprentices,. precision grinder, pliers maker; and tool crib
attendants. The Employer and the Union oppose the severance of
this unit from the broad production and maintenance unit currently
represented by the Union.
The unit requested by the Petitioner comprises the Employer's
20-to-25 tool and die makers, 15 machinists, 3 machinists' apprentices,
precision grinder, pliers maker, and 3 tool crib attendants. Except.
for 1 tool crib attendant, all these employees are assigned to the
machine and die shop, which is located in a separate, partitioned area,
and operates under separate immediate supervision. There is vir-
tually no interchange of employees between the machine and die shop
and the other plant departments.'
The principal function of the machine and die shop employees is to
construct and repair dies, machinery, fixtures, and gauges needed to
produce the parts that are used by the Employer in its manufacture of
automobile spring cushions. Specifically, the tool and die makers
fabricate new dies, repair and maintain old ones, and perform work
on experimental models leading to the development of new dies.
Occasionally, they make repairs on production machinery and fix-
tures. They are the most highly skilled and among the highest
paid of the Employer's hourly rated workers.3 Although the Em-
ployer has established no formal apprenticeship program, the record
shows that a substantial portion of the tool and die makers are quali-
fied journeymen and that the others are experienced machinists who
have,received additional .training in the shop.
The machinists assigned to the machine acid die shop make fixtures
and repair plant equipment and parts. Four of these employees
spend most of their time performing machinery repair work in the
various production departments and use the machine shop when the
repairs cannot be made in the department. The remaining machin-
ists and their, apprentices spend the bulk of their time in the machine
a.,nd.di'e shop. The machinists are paid about 10 percent more per
hour than the hourly base rate of the highest paid production
employee.
., As to the balance of employees in the requested unit, the precision
urinder, whose rate of pay is similar to that of the machinists, main-
tains the tools and parts used in the machine shop and makes repairs
on plant equipment, working to close tolerances. The pliers maker
2 Employees in other departments may he selected for work in the machine and die shop,
provided they possess the requisite training or ability , and occasionally machine and die
shop employees are retransferred to the production departments.
3 Some production employees , who work on an incentive plan basis , occasionally receive
gross earnings exceeding those of the machine and die shop employees.
GREAT LAKES SPRING DIVISION 99
makes various types of pliers for the assembly and finishing depart=
ments, and while he is not as skilled as the tool and die makers or
the machinists , proficiency in his work requires approximately 6
months' training . With respect to the three tool crib attendants,
two work in the tool crib adjoining the machine and die shop , supply-
ing the machine and die shop employees with the necessary fixtures
and parts used in their work , and also maintaining the safety equip-
ment used in the plant. The other tool crib attendant works in the
tool crib adjacent to the assembly department , approximately 200.
feet distant , furnishing tools to these department employees and
making minor tool repairs .4 The tool crib attendants and pliers
maker receive the same rate of pay, which is approximately 15 percent
lower than the base rate of the highest paid production employees:
It is apparent from the foregoing, and the entire record, that the
machine and die shop employees requested by the Petitioner form an
identifiable , homogeneous group of a type which the Board has fre-
quently determined may be severed from an existing more compre-
hensive unit.5 While all the employees concerned do not possess defi-
nite craft skills, the group contains a sufficient craft nucleus to enable
such employees to constitute a separate unit .'
We find, accordingly , that all machine and die shop employees at
the Employer 's Chicago, Illinois, plant , including tool and die makers,
machinists , machinists' apprentices , precision grinder, pliers maker,
and tool crib attendants ,' but excluding supervisors as defined in the
Act may constitute an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
We shall direct an election by secret ballot to be held among the
employees in this group . If the employees in this voting group do
not select the Union , the Union will be decertified as to them; if on the
other hand, they select the Union , they will be taken to have indicated
their desire to be included in the production and maintenance unit
presently represented by the Union.
[Text. of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
4 All the tool crib attendants are grouped together by the Employer for purposes of
seniority , and enjoy substantially the same conditions of employment.
Cf. Fort Pitt Manufacturing Company, 85 NLRB 1513 ; C. Hager and Sons Hinge
Manufacturing Company, 80 NLRB 163 ; General Electric Company, Plastics Division,
81 NLRB 476.
6 See Shultz Die Casting Company, 85 NLRB 1019; International Harvester Company
(Indianapolis Works ), 82 NLRB 740.
1 While , as already noted , one tool crib attendant is not directly assigned to the machine
and die shop , we shall , in view of his close community of interest with the tool crib at-
tendants in the shop and the express desire of the Petitioner , to which no specific objec-
tion was raised by the Employer or the Intervenor , include him in the voting group.
917572-51-vol. 91-8