The Heekin Can Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 26, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 717 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

in the Matter of THE HEEKIN CAN COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED
STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-725.-Decided April 06, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before William Naimark,
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 National Labor
Relations 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 National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
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 units :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all the Employer's produc-
tion and maintenance employees, excluding timekeepers, co-ops,2 office
and clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and super-
1 Association of Employees of The Heekin Can Company, an intervenor , herein called
the Association , contends that its contract with the Employer constitutes a bar to this
proceeding . As the petition was timely filed, however and as the contract contains an
unauthorized union-security provision , it is not a bar to a present determination of repre-
sentatives . See Hy grade Food Products Corporation, 82 NLRB 428 . Furthermore, the
contract expired on March 31, 1950 , and the Employer gave the Association timely notice
to estop the operation of the automatic renewal clause pending the outcome of this
proceeding.
' Cooperative students of a nearby university . As no co-ops are at present employed,
and as there is no evidence that the Employer intends to hire any in the near future, we
shall make no disposition as to this category.
89' NLRB* No. 94.
717
718 . DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
visors. At the hearing, the Petitioner announced that it does not
claim to represent the skilled lithographic processing employees.
The Association, which has represented a plant-wide unit since 1937,3
seeks to represent a unit comprised of- all the -production and mainte-
nance employees, including lithographing division employees, time-
keepers, and assistant foremen. Amalgamated Lithographers of
America, Local No. 8, C. I. 0., an intervenor, herein call the Amalga-
mated, seeks to represent a unit comprised solely of the skilled em-
ployees in the lithographing division classified as artist, cameramen,
platemakers, grainer, pressman, and press feeder. It wishes to exclude
those employees of the lithographing division not engaged in the
lithographic process, namely, coaters, color grinders, color mixers,
stackers, and strippers. The Employer in general agrees with the
position taken by the Association. It would, however, exclude assist-
ant foremen from the unit as supervisors. Alternatively, if a unit of
lithographic processing employees is found to be appropriate, the
Employer would include in that unit all the employees of the litho-
graphing division.
a. The lithographic processing group
The Employer is engaged at its Cincinnati, Ohio, plant, the only
one herein concerned, in the manufacture of metal containers. Under
the general supervision of a plant manager, the Employer's operations
are separated administratively into three divisions, which are further
subdivided into departments, although the nature of the industry and
the crowded layout of the plant demand a high degree of integration.
Each division-has a superintendent at its head, and each department
a foreman, with assistant foremen allocated as the need arises. The
general division, under the supervision of the plant engineer, contains
those departments concerned with shipping, receiving, power plant,
and maintenance. The manufacturing division subdivides into de-
partments relating to the industrial process, notably punch press,
slitter, and assembly.
The lithographing division has 9 departments, namely, art room,
photo litho, transfer (plate making), 2 coating, 3 press, and color
grinding. The approximately 40 employees of this division who are
sought by the Amalgamated are, with the exception of the press
feeder and grainer, highly skilled. They command the wages of
craftsmen, and have served, an apprenticeship of at least 3 years. The
;press feeder is a helper to the pressman, and together they form a team.
3 The stipulated unit for which the Association was certified in 1937 did not expressly
include nor exclude lithographic employees . .. . ... . . '
THE HEEKIN CAN COMPANY 719
Although the feeder may do other work, his job is not interchangeable
with general plant employees. His wage rate is considerably below
that of the pressman, but he stands in the proximate relation of an
apprentice, with his job progression to that of pressman. In the
transfer department the grainer stands in the same relation to the
platemaker. It is thus apparent that all the employees designated
as artist, cameraman, platemaker, grainer, pressman, and press feeder
constitute a distinct, homogeneous, highly skilled group, engaged in
the lithographic process, which the Board has found may constitute a
separate appropriate unit.'
The Amalgamated and the Petitioner would exclude from this
skilled lithographic group those employees of the lithographing divi-
sion classified as coaters, color grinders, color mixers, stackers, and
strippers. The Employer, however, wishes to include them if a sep-
arate lithographic unit is established. The record is clear that the
employees in these categories are not skilled, do not serve an ap-
prenticeship, and receive wages approximately*half those of the crafts-
men. Though the machinery involved in coating is functionally
allied to the presses, there is no job progression from one process to
the other. Stackers and strippers place the tin near the presses and
remove finished plate from the presses and ovens. They may be
assigned to the press departments according to need, but are described
as general workmen of the division. It is evident, therefore, that these
individuals are not skilled employees, and do not have the close asso-
ciation with the lithographic process that would warrant their in-
clusion in the lithographic group.
Accordingly, we find that all the lithographic processing employees
classified as artist, cameraman, platemaker, grainer, pressman, and
press feeder constitute an identifiable, homogeneous, highly skilled
group, clearly distinguishable from the Employer's other production
workers, which may constitute an appropriate unit notwithstanding
the prior history of collective bargaining. However, we shall make
no final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the
desires of the employees in the elections hereinafter directed.
b. The production and maintenance group
Timekeepers: The Employer and the Association contend that
timekeepers should be included in the production and maintenance
unit, as they have been since 1937. The Petitioner seeks their, exclu-
sion. Each department has a timekeeper reporting directly to the
department foreman. The duties of the timekeeper are simply to
4 Con P. Curran Printing Company, 57 NLRB 185.
720 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
assist the foreman in the maintenance of time records. These em-
ployees do not serve in a confidential or supervisory capacity. They
are promoted from production jobs. Their wages and conditions of
work are comparable to those of the production employees. Approx-
imately 25 percent of their time is spent on the production floor,
the remainder in the foreman's office, a cubicle located in the working
area. These employees are factory clerical employees who have the
same supervision, working conditions, and place of work as the pro-
duction employees, and are therefore appropriately included in the
production group.6
Although the Association desires the inclusion of assistant foremen
in the production group, the record indicates that they have not been
part of the plant-wide unit represented by the Association. Also, the
record contains testimony which is uncontradicted that the assistant
foremen have the power effectively to recommend hiring, discharging,
and disciplining of employees. We shall therefore exclude them as
supervisors.
Upon the basis of the foregoing, and upon the record as a whole, we
shall direct separate elections by secret ballot among the employees
in the voting groups described below :
1. All the lithographic processing employees at the Employer's
Cincinnati, Ohio, plant, classified as artist, cameraman, platemaker,
grainer, pressman, and press feeder, excluding all other employees
and supervisors.
2. All the production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Cincinnati, Ohio, plant, excluding lithographic processing employees,
office and clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and
supervisors.
If a majority of the employees in Voting Group 1 select the Amal-
gamated, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to form a
separate unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 6
As part of the investigation to 'ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not
later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of Na-
G Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company , 81 NLRB 584 , and cases cited therein.
e By Order dated May 8, 1950, the Board granted United Steelworkers of America,
C. I. 0., permission to withdraw its name from the ballot in Voting Group 1.
THE HEEKIN CAN COMPANY 721
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the em-
ployees in the voting groups described in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the payroll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction of Elections, including employees
who did not work during said payroll period because they were ill
or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been
rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elections, and also ex-
cluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes
of collective bargaining, in :
Group 1 by Amalgamated Lithographers of America, Local No. 8,
C. I. 0., or by Association of Employees of The Heekin Can Com-
pany, or by neither.
Group 2 by Association of Employees of The Heekin Can Com-
pany, or by United Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0., or by neither.