T. C. King Pipe Co., et al.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 10, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 468 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of T. C. KING PIPE COMPANY, m' AL.; Ei,rPl_oYEiis and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MALI-IIN1STS, PETITIONER Cases Nos. 10-8-139 amid 10-R-2300 thn°ouglb 10-R-2311.Decided July 10, 1917 Knox, Liles, Jones ct Woolf, by [Messrs. R. E. Jones and C. A. Hamilton, both of Anniston, Ala., for the Employers: Mr. Lester Asher, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. Paul Chipman, of At- lanta, Ga., for the Petitioner. Mr. Robert A. Wilson, of Washington, D. C., for the Molders. Mr. Jerome A. Cooper, of Birmingham, Ala., for the Steelworkers. Mr. Lewis H. Ulman, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing in this case was held at Anniston, Alabama, on January 16, 17, 19 and 20, 1947, before Willim M. Pate and Paul S. Kuelthau, hearing ofcers.2 Subsequent to the hearing, the Petitioner, without objection, moved to correct certain minor errors in the stenographic transcript of the rec- ord made at the hearing; that motion is hereby granted. The Peti- tioner and the Molders both requested oral argument. The requests are hereby denied, inasmuch as the record and briefs, in our opinion, adequately present the issues and positions of the parties. The hear- ing officers' rulings made at the hearing are free from •prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 1 In addition to T C King Pipe Company, there are 12 other Employers involved in this consolidated proceeding, namely, Rudisill Foundry Company. Emory Pipe and Foundry Company, Gadsden Iron Works, Inc., Sommerville Iron Works, Attalla Pipe and Foundry Company, Inc ; Anniston Foundry Company, Inc Anniston Soil Pipe Company: and the following plants of the Alabama Pipe Company: Union Foundry, Alabama Foundry, Standard Foundry, Agricola Foundry, and Talledega Foundry. 2 William Al Pate, who served as hearing officer during the first 3 days of the hearing, was not available in Anniston on the final day of the hearing. due to a previous assign- urent Paul S Kuelthau served as the hearing officer for that day. 74 N. L. R. B., No. 85. 468 T. C. KING PIPE COMPANY, ET AL. 469 Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. TITE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYERS The Sommerville Iron Works, a New Jersey corporation, and the remainder of the Employers, all Alabama corporations, are engaged in the manufacture of soil pipe and fittings. The plants involved in this proceeding, other than the Chattanooga, Tennessee, plant, of the Sommerville Iron Works, are all located in the State of Alabama. During a 12-month period, each Employer, except the T. C. King Pipe Company, purchases raw materials valued at more than $100,000, of which from 5 to 100 percent, varying with each Employer, repre- sents interstate shipments. During a similar period, the sales of each Employer, except those of the T. C. King Pipe Company, exceeded $200,000 in value. Approximately 85 to 90 percent of the products sold, varying with each Employer, represents interstate shipments. The T. C. King Pipe Company had been in operation for approxi- mately (O/., months at the time of the hearing. During that time it purchased raw materials valued at more than $50,000, of which ap- proximately 6 percent represented interstate shipments. During the same period it sold finished products valued at approximately $100,000, of which approximately 90 percent represented interstate shipments. The Employers admit and we find thtt they, and each of them, are engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. TITE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED The Petitioner is an unaffiliated labor organization, claiming to represent employees of the Employers. International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America, herein called the Molders, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employers. United Steelworkers of America, Districts 35 and 36, herein col- lectively called the Steelworkers, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of certain of the Employers. III. 171E QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Petitioner, in letters addressed to each of the Employers in- volved in this consolidated proceeding, requested recognition as a 470 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD collective bargaining representative for the employees discussed in Section IV, infra. In each case the Employer declined to recognize the Petitioner or failed to reply to the Petitioner's letter. While the record reveals that the Employers, through the Soil Pipe Manufacturers Negotiation Committee, hereinafter called the Com- mittee, and Molders have been parties to successive contracts for a period of years allegedly covering the employees sought by the Peti- tioner,s it is clear that Petitioner's demands were timely made with respect to the automatic renewal date of the 1945-1946 contract be- tween the Molders and the Committee, and well in advance of the execution of the current contract. Consequently, neither the 1945- 1946 contract between the Molders and the Employers nor the current contract between these parties constitutes a bar to this consolidated proceeding. We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employers within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS; TIID DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Petitioner seeks a separate unit composed of machine shop, pattern or carpentry shop, and tapping or drilling department em- ployees at each plant of the Employers herein respectively concerned. The Employers and the Molders maintain that the history of collective bargaining on an industry-wide production and maintenance basis covering employees at the plants concerned precludes a finding that the units sought by the Petitioner are appropriate. The Steelworkers seeks separate plant-wide production and maintenance units at 9 of the 13 plants involved herein.4 The Composition of the Proposed Multi-Craft Units Each plant involved in this consolidated proceeding has substan- tially the same organization, and performs the same general opera- tions. Each has a shop which does its machine work, its carpentry and pattern work,.and its drilling and tapping work. While the Attalla 3 The T C King Pipe Company, as previously noted, had been in operation for approxi- mately 6% months at the time of the hearing It appears from the record that it did not become a party to the contract between the Committee and the Intervenor until sometime in December i946, more than 3 months after the filing of the instant petition covering its employees Accordingly, there is no contract which bars a present determination of representatives among its employees 4 The Steelworkers intervened in this consolidated proceeding so far as these 9 plants are concerned, namely, the Sommerville Iron works , T C King Pipe Company Gadsden Iron works, Inc , Attalla Pipe and Foundry Company. Inc , Anniston Soil Pipe Company , and the following plants of Alabama Pipe Company : Alabama Foundry, Standard Foundry, Talladega Foundry , and Union Foundry: T. C. KING PIPE COMPANY, ET AL. 471 Pipe Company, Inc., has a finishing department and the other plants do not, the record reveals that its plant produces high pressure pipe as well as soil pipe and consequently requires more drilling and tap- ping work. While the finishing department at the Attalla plant performs certain mechanical work that is not done at the other plants ° which produce no high pressure pipe, it appears that the work of the finishing department is substantially the same as that done in the drilling or tapping departments at the otbei plants. The departments sought at each plant by the Petitioner, herein- after collectively called the proposed machinists' unit at each plant, are physically separated from the foundry at each plant. The car- pentry or pattern shop and the drilling or tapping department are located separately at some of the plants and at others are located in the same building as the machine shop. The machine shop and the drilling or tapping departments are supervised by the master nne- chanic at all plants except Attalla, where the finishing department has a separate foreman. At the Gadsden and Sommerville plants, the car- pentry or pattern shops are also supervised by the master mechanic; in the remainder of the plants, those shops are separately supervised by head pattern makers. The employees in the proposed machinists' unit at each plant are paid on an hourly basis, while the employees in the foundry depart- ments are, for the most part, paid on a piece-work basis. The em- ployees in the proposed machinists' units are skilled and similarly skilled crilftsmen. Those who- work in the machine shops and the drilling or tapping departments, including the finishing department at the Attalla plant, operate drill presses, lathes, shapers, and similar machine equipment located in the shops. A majority of the machine shop employees at each plant do approximately 90 percent of their work within the machine shop. The remaining machine shop em- ployees spend approximately 50 percent of their time doing general mechanical maintenance throughout each plant. The employees of the drilling or tapping departments spend all their time within their shop cutting the screw threads on pipe and fittings. At the Attalla plant, this work is done in the finishing department where some of the employees also cut, weld, and thread high pressure pipe for par- ticular orders. The employees of the pattern or carpentry shop at all the plants operate lathes, drill presses, planers, and other wood- working machines. They produce foundry flasks, wooden patterns, and snaps and, while they spend the majority of their time within the shops, some of them do general carpentry work throughout their plants. 472 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD It appears from the record that the employees in the proposed machinists' units have working hours different from those of the em- ployees in the foundry, that they have separate locker rooms, and that there is no appreciable interchange between these employees and other employees of the several Employers. - In addition, the collective bar- gaining history reveals that while uniform wage rates have been estab- lished for a number of years for the various job classifications in the Employer's foundries, no uniform rates were fixed for any of the employees in the proposed machinists' units until after the Petitioner began its organizational drive. We are convinced that, under all the circumstances, the employees within the proposed machinists' units constitute homogeneous multi- craft groups." Accordingly, we would, as a matter of course, find those groups appropriate units for collective bargaining purposes if there had been no prior bargaining history at the plants involved in this con- solidated proceeding. The Scope of the Proposed Multi-Craft Units The Board has previously dismissed petitions for plant-wide bar- gaining units at 2 soil pipe plants, the Holt Plant of the Central Foun- dry Company,' and the Lynchburg Plant of the Alabama Pipe Com- pliny,° on the grounds that the history of collective bargaining on a multi-employer basis in the Southern soil pipe industry precluded a finding that production and maintenance employees at any one plant constitute an appropriate bargaining unit. In the earlier case, the Board pointed to the unstable conditions which prevailed in the soil pipe industry prior to 1934, when 11 or 12 manufacturers met with the Molders and agreed upon uniform rates for approximately 5,000 patterns of soil pipe and fittings, and we noted further that the uni- formity thus achieved had served to stabilize working conditions in the industry. The record in the instant case demonstrates that this stability has continued, and we will not, therefore, disturb the industry- wide bargaining pattern which has been established at the plants herein concerned. On the other hand, the proposed machinists' units are readily identi- fiable multi-craft groups, a similar group has been bargained for at one plant separately 'in the same industry in the same area, and the employees sought by the Petitioner have never had an opportunity to 5 The Petitioner has bargained for a separate machinist unit for a number of gears at' the Holt, Alabama, plant of the Cential Foundry Company, which, like the plants involved in this consolidated proceeding, manufactures soil pipe and fittings See Matter of Central Foundry Company, 48 N L R B 5. 4 See footnote 5, supra 7 See Matter of Alabama Pipe Company, 49 N L R B 661 T. C. KING PIPE COMPANY, ET AL. 473 vote on the question of separate representation.8 Inasmuch as the employees sought by the Petitioner meet the Board's requirements for separate representation,'and since Ave are desirous of preserving the multi-employer bargaining pattern which has functioned successfully for a period of years in this industry, we conclude that the questions concerning representation raised by the petitions herein can best be resolved by conducting a self- determination election among employees in the proposed machinists' units on a multi-employer basis at those plants which have been covered by the multi-employer bargaining history,' namely all the plants involved herein except that of the T. C. King Pipe Company. While the T. C. King Pipe Company's plant is presently covered by the current multi-employer contract between the Molders and the Committee, that Employer, as previously noted, had been in operation for only a few months prior to the hearing herein, and apparently did not become a party to any contract with the Molders until after the Petitioner filed its instant petitions. Since it cannot be said that there exists any appreciable prior bargaining history on a multi-employer basis with respect to this plant, we shall hold a separate self-determina- tion election among its employees in the proposed machinists' unit. The Plant Units Proposed by the Steelworkers Finally, the Steelworkers, as previously noted, has requested the establishment of separate plant-wide production and maintenance units at 9 of the 13 plants involved in this consolidated proceeding. For the reasons given in the decisions in the Central Foundry Company and Alabama Pipe Company cases,70 this request is denied with respect to all plants except that of the T. C. King Pipe Company, which has not been covered by the multi-employer bargaining. We fiat it, how- ever, unnecessary to rule on the propriety of a separate production and maintenance unit at the T. C. King Pipe Company plant at this time inasmuch as the Steelworkers has not made an adequate showing of representation among such employees. It is necessary for an inter- vening labor organization which seeks a unit appreciably larger than that sought by a petitioner to file it separate petition covering its pro- posed unit or to make an administrative showing of interest to the Board which would justify the processing of a petition for the larger proposed unit. The Steelworkers has not made such a showing. 8 Sec Matter of National Anolxne Diol.cion, Allied Chemical, of Die Corporation, 71 N L It B 1217; Mutter of Grinnell Corporation, 72 N L R B 1177 0 Cr P Lorillard Company, 73 N. L R B 596 10 See footnote 5, and 7, supra. 474 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Accordingly, we shall direct that separate elections be held among the employees in the following groups, excluding all supervisory em- ployees with authority to hire, fire, discharge; discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action : Group I-all machine shop, pattern or carpentry shop, and tapping or drilling department employees, employed at Anniston Soil Pipe Company, Anniston Foundry Company, Inc., Standard Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Company, Alabama Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Company, Union Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Company, Emory Pipe and Foundry Company, and Rudisill Foundry Company, all of Annis- ton, Alabama; and Talledega Foundry of Alabama Pipe Company at Talledega, Alabama, Agricola Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Company at Gadsden, Alabama, Sommerville Iron Works, at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the Gadsden Iron Works at Gadsden, Alabama;-all machine shop, pattern or carpentry shop, and finishing department employees at Attalla Pipe and Foundry Company, Inc., Attalla, Alabama ; Group II-all machine shop, pattern or carpentry shop, and tapping or drilling department employees at 'T. C. King Pipe Company, Anniston, Alabama. At this time we shall make no determination concerning the appro- priate unit or units for the shop employees concerned. Such determi- nation will depend, in part, upon the results of the elections. If the majority of the employees voting in Group I select the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be established as a sepa- rate multi-craft multi-employer bargaining unit ; if they select the Molders, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to remain a part of the existing multi-employer production and maintenance unit. If a majority of the employees voting in Group II select the Peti- tioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be estab- lished as a separate plant multi-craft unit; if they select the Molders, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to remain a part of the existing multi-employer production and maintenance unit. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 11 As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the -purposes of collective bargaining with Anniston Soil Pipe Company, Anniston Foundry Company, Inc., Standard Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Company, Alabama Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Company, "Any participant in the election herein may. upon its prompt iequest to, and approval thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot. T. C. KING PIPE COMPANY, ET AL. 475 Union Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Company, Emory Pipe and Foundry Company, and Rudisill Foundry Company, all of Anniston, Alabama; and Talledega Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Company at Talledega, Alabama; Agricola Foundry of the Alabama Pipe Com- pany at Gadsden, Alabama ; Sommerville Iron Works at Chattanooga, Tennessee; Gadsden Iron Works at Gadsden, Alabama; Attalla Pipe and Foundry Company, Inc., of Attalla, Alabama; and T. C. King Pipe Company at Anniston, Alabama, separate elections 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 direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Tenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and sub- ject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the voting groups described in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, in- cluding employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em- ployees who Have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be represented by International Asso- ciation of Machinists or by the International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither. MR. JAMES J. REYNOLDS, Jn., took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Elections.