Stewart Warner Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 3, 1941

37 N.L.R.B. 242 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of STEWART WARNER CORPORATION and DIE AND TOOL
MAKERS LODGE No. 113, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,
A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-3088.Deeided December 3, 1941
Jurisdiction : automobile accessory, car heater, radio, refrigerator, and ordnance
and aviation material manufacturing industry.
Practice and Procedure : petition dismissed where unit composed of die and tool
makers in three departments of Company's North Side Diversey Boulevard
Plant, but excluding other groups of die and tool makers and tool hardeners
and tool designers is held to be inappropriate for the-purposes of collective
bargaining.
Mr. F. H. Towner, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Arthur A. Netrefa, of Chicago, Ill., for the I. A. M.
Mr. Ernest De Maio, of Chicago, Ill., for the United.
Mr. Stanley L. Drexler, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 30, 1941, Die and Tool Makers Lodge No. 113, Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, herein called the I. A. M., filed with the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition,
and on September 20, 1941, an amended petition, alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Stewart Warner Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, herein
called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification
of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On September
29, 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 Regula-
tions-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.
37 N. L. R. B., No. 38.
242
STEWART WARNER CORPORATION 243
On October 1, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which.were duly served upon the Company, the I. A. M.,
and United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, affili-
ated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, herein called
the United, a labor organization claiming to represent employees di-
rectly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to•notice, a hearing was
held on October 8, 1941, at Chicago, Illinois, before Russell Packard,
the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner.
The Company, the I. A. M., and the United were represented and par-
ticipated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on
the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing,
the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Stewart Warner Corporation is a Virginia corporation. It is en-
gaged -in manufacturing enterprises in various States of the United
States and at Belleville, Ontario, Canada. This proceeding involves
a plant of the Company located at 1828 West Diversey Boulevard
in Chicago, Illinois. It is known as the North Side plant.' The
Company is engaged at this plant in the manufacture and distribu-
tion of automobile accessories, car heaters, radios, and refrigerators,
and in the manufacture of ordnance and aviation material under
defense contracts with the United States Government. The prin-
cipal raw materials used by the Company in the manufacture of the
products of this plant are steel, -brass, wood, aluminum,, copper,
bronze, and chemicals. The Company uses approximately $2,000,000
worth of such materials monthly. Approximately two-thirds of these
materials are obtained from sources outside of the State of Illinois.
During 1940, the Company sold approximately $45,000,000 worth of
products of this plant. About 90 per cent of these products were
delivered to places outside the State of Illinois.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Die and Tool Makers Lodge No. 113, International Association of
Machinists, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a
1 There is also a plant of the Company situated on the south side of Diversey Boulevard,
across the street from the North Side plant
1
244 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
also admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The I. A. M. seeks a unit composed of all die and tool makers in
three departments of the Company's North Side plant : 2 Department
325, the die, gauge, and grinding department; Department 326, the
fixture, machine, and fool manufacturing department; and Depart-
ment 350, the fixture manufacturing and machine construction and
repair department.3 The United contends that all employees of the
Company at the North Side plant constitute an appropriate unit.'
It also maintains that the unit sought by the I. A. M. is inappropriate
since it excludes die and tool makers in other departments of the
North Side plant. The Company takes no position with respect to
the appropriate unit.
In addition to the die and tool makers whom the I. A. M. now
seeks to represent, the Company employs other die and tool makers
in the North Side plant. Department 236, the experimental tool
making department, consists exclusively of die and tool makers.5
In Department 428, the tool designing department, and in Depart-
ment 8, the manufacturing hardening department, there are tool
designers and tool hardeners 6 who, under the definition which the
I. A. M. employs in setting forth its jurisdiction, are classified as
die and tool makers.7 In addition there are nine die and tool
makers scattered through other departments of the plant.8 All
these employees are eligible for membership under the bylaws of
the I. A. M., and the I. A. M. admitted at the hearing that it has
8 There are 512 employees in these three departments.
3In its petition the I. A. M sought a unit consisting of all employees in the "Die and
Gauge Department (Departments 325, 325-A, 325-D, and 325-G)." In its amended
petition it requested a unit composed of "all tool and die makers, die grinders, and gauge
makers, excluding foremen, superintendents, and all other employees of the Company."
4 There are approximately 8 900 employees in the North Side plant The United does not
now seek an election among these employees
6 There are 46 employees in Department 236.
6 Tool designers, whose number the record does not disclose, constitute the entire
personnel of Department 428 Department 8 has a tool hardening division which con-
sists of three tool hardeners
7 At the hearing the I A M introduced into evidence the following excerpt from its
bylaws : "Definition of a Die and Toolmaker. . . . Die and Toolmakers include persons
who can, with the aid of tools, with or without drawings, perform all work necessary
in the making of Dies, Tools, Bakelite or Die Cast Molds, Tool Designing, Tool Hardening,
Jigs, Fixtures, Gauges, Experimental or Model Work Such persons may be admitted to
membership in this Lodge upon making application, payment of required fee and passing
the Examination Committee " (Italics ours )
8 Five in the i adio manufacturing department. 3 in the short order department, and 1
in the aircraft department
STEWART WARNER CORPORATION 245
jurisdiction over them. It stated that it wishes to exclude these
employees for the reason that they have not asked the I. A. M. to
bargain for them. The I. A. M. indicated that it would seek to
include these die and tool makers in the appropriate unit at such
time as it secures them as members.
We do not believe that a mere portion of a single craft consti-
tutes an appropriate bargaining unit within the meaning of the
Act. The die and tool makers and the tool designers and tool
hardeners in the North Side plant of the Company comprise a
recognized craft and they may not be arbitrarily divided.9 The
I. A. M., admittedly, has jurisdiction over all these employees and
there is no history of collective bargaining at the plant which would
justify such a division of a recognized craft. Under the circum-
stances, we find that a unit-con
'
fined to the employees in Depart-
ments 325, 326, and 350 of the North Side plant, as proposed by the
I. A. M., is not appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the peti-
tioning union is not appropriate, as stated in Section III above,
we find that no question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company in an appropriate unit.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSION OF LAW
No question concerning the representation of employees in the
North Side plant of Stewart Warner Corporation, Chicago, Illinois,
has arisen in a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusion
of law, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the
petition for investigation and certification filed by 'Die and Tool
Makers Lodge No. 113, International Association of Machinists,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
0 Cf. Matter of The Nozelty Steam Better Works and Loral 101, Welders, Burners,
Apprentices, A F of L., 7 N L R B 969; Matter of Rembrandt Lamp Corporation and
Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers, and Helpers International Union, Local No. 6, Chicago,
Illinois, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, 13 N L R B 945; Matter of
Climax Machinery Company and Metal Polishers, Bu/fers, Platers, and Yelpers, Local
Union No 7, affiliated with the A F of L, 14 N L R L' 252
433257-42-von. 37--17