Star Brass Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 24, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 514 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of STAR BRASS WORKS and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF
AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 7-B-2,018.-Decided August 24,1945
Mr. Edwin F. Steffen, of Lansing, Mich., and Mr. Dallas Gay, of
Kalamazoo , Mich., for the Company.
Mr. Nicholas J. Rothe, of Detroit, Mich., and Mr. Clarence A.
Jackson, of Kalamazoo , Mich., for the C. I. O.
Joseph A. Padway, by Mr. Robert A. Wilson, of Washington, D. C.,
for the A. F. L.
Mr. Joseph D. Manders, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Steelworkers of America,
C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Star Brass Works, Kalamazoo, Michigan, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Sylvester J. Pheney, Trial Examiner.
The hearing was held at Kalamazoo, Michigan, on May 23, 1945. The
Company, the C. I. 0., and the International Molders and Foundry
Workers Union of North America, A. F. L., Local 388,1 herein called
the A. F. L., appeared acid 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.
' The A F. L's oral motion to intervene was granted.
63 N. L. R. B., No. 79.
514
STAR BRASS WORKS 515
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Star Brass Works, a Michigan corporation, is engaged in the manu-
facture of various and sundry products which require the utilization
of such raw materials as aluminum and bronze. The sole plant, located
in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is involved in this proceeding. The Com-
pany annually purchases raw materials for use at this plant valued
in excess of $145,000, of which 91 percent is shipped to the Company
from points outside the State of Michigan. The annual value of the
finished products manufactured by the Company is in excess of $655,-
000, of which 7.6 percent is shipped to points outside the State of
Michigan.,
The Company admits that its operations affect commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to mein-
bership employees of the Company.
International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North Amer-
ica, Local No. 388, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. TIIE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The C. I. O. contends that all production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Company, excluding time-study men, administrative
office and salaried employees, watchmen and plant-protection employ-
ees, "unless [the watchmen and plant protection employees] are in
production any part of the day," superintendents, foremen and assist-
ant foremen, constitute an appropriate unit. The A. F. L. and the
Company do not dispute the classifications of employees which the
C. I. O. desires to include and exclude. However, the A. F. L. con-
tends that an association-wide unit is the only appropriate unit. The
Company wishes to remain neutral in the matter.
There are approximately eight "jobbing foundries" located in the
city of Kalamazoo. Prior to 1943, the A. F. L. made separate col-
lective bargaining agreements with six of these "jobbing foundries,"
including the Company involved herein.' In October 1943, pursuant
2 At the hearing the A. F. L stated that the earliest of these agreements was negotiated in
1934. It further stated that it has been the bargaining represenative of the employees of
662514-46-vol. 63-34
516 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to a request from the A. F. L., these six employers, considering a
multiple-employer unit desirable, organized the Foundrymen's Asso-
ciation of Kalamazoo and vicinity, hereinafter called the Association.3
Each of the six member-companies of the Association is represented
at meetings of the Association; and a majority vote on all issues is
binding on the entire membership. The chairman of the Association,
selected from among the representatives of the several companies, has
the authority to bind the membership when negotiating with union
representatives. The Association was organized primarily for the
purpose of engaging in collective bargaining with the A. F. L. On
or about November 17, 1943, pursuant to this purpose, the Association
entered into a union-shop contract with the A. F. L. covering all the
employees of its member-companies.4 The contract was signed by
an authorized representative of each company and by the A. F. L.
Prior to the signing of the contract the A. F. L. advised its membership
at the six foundries of its plans for an association-wide unit, and
received their approval.
The contract covers all of the features usually associated with col-
lective bargaining agreements, such as seniority, grievance procedures,
working conditions, and wages. In addition, it provides the employees
in each shop with an opportunity to participate in the administration
of the contract through representatives on the negotiating and
grievance committees.5 The employees of each plant are represented
,on a "plant-shop" committee, which concerns itself with purely local
matters. Each plant has both an employer and an employee repre-
sentative on the Central Shops Committee, which negotiates con-
tract terms and conditions affecting all shops. Three employer and
-three employee members of this same committee handle the appeals of
-grievance disputes which are not adjusted in the local plants.(' The
parties involved in a dispute can accept the recommendations of the
Central Shops Committee, or, in the alternative, can carry the dispute
to conciliation for final disposition. The Association and the A. F. L.
submitted a dispute concerning the wages and vacations of the em-
ployees of the six foundries to the Regional War Labor Board
the Company since 1942 , as the result of a consent election. ( Matter of Star Brass
Works-7-R-1031.) Its status as bargaining representative of the employees of the
-other member companies was acquired by "mutual consent "
S Of the two non-member foundries in the city of Kalamazoo , one is a "captive shop."
4 After September. 21, 1944, the termination date , this contract remained in effect on a
month-to-month basis pursuant to its express terms. We find it unnecessary, at this time,
to consider the A. F. L 's contention that the contract, allegedly renewed by the parties
thereto on January 2 , 1945, for another year, is a bar to this proceeding
Cf. Matter of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Kansas City, 55 N L R B 1183
Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 61 N L. R. B 251 ; Matter of Lamson Bros
-Company, 59 N. L It. B. 1561.
® Neither the employer nor employee representative of the particular plant involved
participates on this committee when sitting for the purpose of settling grievances , but the
-management and the employee involved may present his position at the hearing -
STAR BRASS WORKS 517
(Detroit). The ruling of the War Labor Board, handed down on
January 6, 1945, was incorporated into the above contract on March
30, 1945.
The above negotiations by the Association and the A. F. L. have
produced uniform working conditions and basic rates of pay which
prevail throughout the plants of the members.7 In addition to the con-
tract benefits derived, the employers have received skilled persons from
the A. F. L. to relieve manpower shortages, and the employees have
been interchanged among the several member-plants to prevent un-
employment in slack periods.
These facts demonstrate, in our opinion, that the Association and
the A. F. L., through the processes of collective bargaining, have
established an effective association-wide bargaining unit, with the
knowledge and approval of all the 'employee groups involved. The
Association undoubtedly possesses adequate authority to bargain on
behalf of its members as a unit; the six-shop unit created by the 1943
contract appears to have stabilized wages and working conditions in
the locality, and to have operated for the benefit of both the employers
and employees. We see no reason, therefore, to disturb the status quo
by setting up a separate unit confined to the employees of the Com-
pany, and we find that the unit proposed in the petition is map-
propriate.8
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be estabilshed by the petition
is inappropriate, as stated in Section III, above, we find that no
question has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the
Company in an appropriate bargaining unit.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation
and certification of representatives of employees of Star Brass Works,
Kalamazoo, Michigan, filed by United Steel Workers of America,
C. 1. 0., be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
7 The employees of the member companies are paid according to a uniform hourly rate,
but some receive a piece-work rate, which varies among the several companies. This
variance is due to the high degree of specialization involved in the performance of piece
work. See Matter of New Bedford Cotton Manufacturers' Association, 47 N L. R. B. 1345;
Matter of Central Foundry Company, 48 N. L R. B. 5, at p. 9.
See Matter of Rayonier, Incorporated , Grays Harbor Division, 52 N. L. R. B 1269 ;
Matter of Dolese & Shepherd Company, 56 N. L. R B. 532; Matter of Advance Tanning
Company, 60 N. L. It. B. 923.