The Lamson and Sessions Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 5, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 12 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of THE LAMSON AND SESSIONS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
LODGE No. 271, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,
PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 10-RC-281 and 10-RC-282.-Decided January 5,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed , a consolidated hearing was held
before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
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 Petitioner and United Steelworkers of America , Local No.
3574, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , herein
called the Intervenor , are labor organizations claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
3. The questions concerning representation :
The Employer and the Intervenor contend that an existing collective
bargaining contract is a bar to this proceeding . The Intervenor also
separately asserts that , because the Petitioner filed its petitions before
receiving the Employer's reply to its request for recognition , no ques-
tion of representation exists, citing Matter of Advance Pattern Com-
pany, 79 N. L. R. B. 209 . This contention is rejected on the authority
of the second Advance Pattern decision , the Employer having declined
to recognize the Petitioner at the time of the hearing?
I After the close of the hearing , the Petitioner moved to make certain corrections in the
record. None of the parties having objected , the motion is hereby granted and the record
is corrected accordingly.
* Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray.
2 Matter of Advance Pattern Company, 80 N. L . R. B. 29 (opinion on reconsideration).
81 N. L. R. B., No. 4.
12
THE LAMSON AND SESSIONS COMPANY 13
On May 25, 1945, the Employer and the Intervenor entered into a
collective bargaining contract covering all production and mainte-
nance employees. On July 5, 1946, the contracting parties amended
the contract by adding a clause providing for yearly renewals
thereafter unless either party gave 30 days' notice before the expira-
tion of any yearly period. On May 5, 1947, the parties extended
the term of their contract to September 1, 1948. By another agree-
ment dated June 23, 1948, the parties further extended the contract
term to September 1, 1950. Meanwhile, by letter dated June 21,
1948, the Petitioner notified the Employer of its claim to represent
the toolroom and machine shop employees and millwrights. On
June 29, 1948, before receiving any reply to its letter of June 21,
1948, the Petitioner filed its petitions with the Board.
The Petitioner filed the petitions herein before the "Mill B" or
operative date of the automatic renewal clause in the May 5, 1947,
agreement. That contract is therefore not a bar. As the June 23,
1948, agreement was a premature extension of the May 5, 1947, con-
tract, it is also not a bar to the present proceeding.3
Accordingly, we find that questions affecting commerce exist
concerning the representation 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 to represent two separate units comprised
of (1) all tool makers, tool hardeners, tool grinders, tool maker
learners, machinists, and machinist learners in the toolroom and
machine shop, excluding stockroom clerks ,4 general laborers,5
helpers'" and machine shop production employees,? and (2)
all millwrights, millwright-welders, and millwright-carpenters in
the maintenance department, excluding the millwright-electrician,"
cranemen,9 and janitors.1° Neither the Employer nor the Inter-
Matter of United States Finishing Company, 79 N. L . R. B. 699; Matter of Northwest-
ern Publishing Company, 71 N. L. R. B. 167 ; Matter of Mississippi Lime Company of Mis-
souri, 71 N. L. R. B 472.
* The stockroom clerks have a separate stockroom and supply tools and materials to all
employees , but primarily to production employees.
Toolroom laborers are engaged in clean-up work for the toolroom and the plant.
° Helpers work throughout the plant under the supervision of the maintenance depart-
ment master mechanic.
7 Machine shop production workers are not highly skilled. They perform repetitive pro-
duction work.
8 The millwright-electrician, unlike the other millwrights who are supervised by their
own foreman , is under the supervision of the night foreman.
Cranemen operate overhead cranes throughout the plant.
10 The janitors are engaged in clean -up work in the maintenance department and rest
rooms.
14 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
venor objects to the proposed inclusions and exclusions, but they con-
tend generally that the proposed units are inappropriate because of
a 15-year history of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis and
the integrated nature of the Employer's operations.-
The Employer manufactures nuts, bolts, and steel fasteners. Its
entire operation is under a single roof, except for a maintenance de-
partment which is located in a separate building near the plant. In
addition to the maintenance department, there are five other depart-
ments, including the toolroom,12 each under the supervision of a de-
partmental supervisor, who, in turn, reports to the plant superin-
tendent. The machine shop, although part of the maintenance
department, is located adjacent to the toolroom in the main building.
The toolroom and the machine shop are separately enclosed by wire
mesh fences.
Proposed toolroom and machine shop unit 13
The tool makers fabricate machines for production and perform
general tool and die work. They are skilled craftsmen. The tool
hardener and tool grinder harden and grind the machine tools fabri-
cated by the tool makers. They are under the same supervision as, and
work in close association with, the tool makers. The toolroom learners
are apprentices who are participating in a 4-year Government-spon-
sored apprenticeship program. The machinists in the machine shop
repair and maintain production machines. They operate the same
type of machine tools as the tool makers. Like the tool makers, the
machinists are highly skilled craftsmen. In fact, in the opinion of
the Employer's master mechanic who is in charge of the maintenance
department, a good machinist and a tool and die maker are identical.
The machine shop learners, like the toolroom learners, are also receiv-
ing their training under a formal apprenticeship program. There is
virtually no interchange between the toolroom and machine shop
employees and production workers. The Board has frequently recog-
nized that toolroom and machine shop employees, similar to those
involved in this proceeding, constitute a craft group who may, if they
so desire, be severed from an existing plant-wide unit .14
u From 1933 until the present time, the Employer has bargained with the Intervenor and
its predecessor as bargaining representative for a plant -wide unit.
12 The other departments are : cold department , hot originating department , hot finishing
department , and packing and shipping department.
19 In its brief, the Petitioner requests the inclusion of the welder . As the welder is not a
part of the toolroom or of the machine shop , we shall exclude him.
14 Matter of General Electric Company , 80 N. L. R. B. 169 ; Matter of Jefferson Elec-
tric Co., 80 N. L. It. B . 6; Matter of Robertshaw -Fulton Controls Company (American
Thermometer Company), 77 N. L. It. B. 316.
THE LAMSON AND SESSIONS COMPANY 15
Proposed millwright unit
As indicated above, the millwrights are located in a separate build-
ing along with the other maintenance department craftsmen. They
work throughout the plant, installing and handling machinery, and
performing the customary work of skilled millwrights. The mill-
wright-carpenter and millwright-welder spend the majority of their
time performing millwright work under the same supervision as the
millwrights. It is clear that the millwrights constitute a craft group
and they may therefore, if they so desire, be severed from the existing
plant-wide unit 15
However, we shall make no unit determinations at this time, but
shall first ascertain the desires of the employees as expressed in the
separate elections directed hereinafter. If the employees in either of
the voting groups select the petitioner, they will have indicated their
desire to constitute a separate collective bargaining unit.
We shall not place the name of the Intervenor on the ballot because
it has not complied with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act.
We shall direct separate elections by secret ballot to be held among
the employees of the Employer within the following voting groups :
(1) All tool makers, tool hardeners, tool grinders, tool maker
learners, machinists and machinists learners in the toolroom and
machine shop, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act 16
(2) All millwrights,17 millwright-welders, and millwright-carpen-
ters, excluding millwright-electricians and supervisors as defined in
the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elections
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 Tenth Region, and sub-
ject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in
the voting groups described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
15 Matter of Certain -Teed Products Corporation, 78 N. L. R. B. 910 ; Matter of Olin Indus-
tries, Inc., Western Cartridge Dsvision , 79 N. L. R. B. 455; Matter of Brown and Root,
Inc., et al, 77 N. L R. B. 1136.
le Excluded as a supervisor is George Surtees, the machine shop foreman.
17 Included in this category is George Seay.
16 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not the employees in each voting group desire to be represented by
Lodge No. 271, International Association of Machinists, for purposes
of collective bargaining.