The Plomb Tool Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 18, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 134 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of THE PLOMB TOOL COMPANY, J. P. DANIELSON DIVI-
SION, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BLACK-
SMITHS, DROP FORGERS AND HELPERS, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
LABOR, PETITIONER
Case No. 3-RC-238.-Decided November 18, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before David F.
Doyle, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 em-
ployees 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 unit; the determination of representatives:
The Petitioner is seeking to represent the Employer's forge depart-
ment employees, who are at present part of a larger unit represented
by International Association of Machinists, Lodge #1791, the Inter-
venor herein. The Employer, a manufacturer of hand tools, employs
approximately 200 employees. Its manufacturing process involves
a number of separate operations performed in the following order :
forging, annealing, cold trimming, sand blasting, cold striking, ma-
chining, heat treating, sandblasting, finishing, and assembling.
The forge department is composed of 11 drop hammer operators 2
2 forge shop millwrights, and 1 steel handler. There is a fourth classi-
1 After receiving the Petitioner's request for recognition on March 8, 1949 , the Employer
entered into a contract with International Association of Machinists , Lodge #1791, the
Intervenor herein. An unfair labor practice charge was filed by the present Petitioner, but
the matter was settled by agreement on the part of the Employer that it would not recog-
nize the Intervenor as bargaining representative of the employees in the unit which the
Petitioner seeks to represent. No question of contract bar is involved herein.
These employees are also referred to in the industry as "hammermen" and as "drop
forgers."
87 NLRB No. 28.
134
THE PLOMB TOOL COMPANY 135
fication, forge wheeler, in this department, but at present no one is
employed in that capacity. The drop hammer operators install or
help install the dies in their hammers, adjust the hammers as to force
and frequency of the blow, heat the billets of steel to the required
degree, and forge them to the desired shape. Tolerances of from
5/ oooths to 1/1000th of an inch are required. The tolerance is gov-
erned not only by the die but also by its continued alignment and by
the force and frequency of the blow. The hammer operator is respon-
sible for these three elements. Testimony varied as to the length of
time required to train a drop hammer operator to work at the Em-
ployer's plant, but it appears to require an_ average of about 2 years 3
The forge shop millwrights are charged with the maintenance and
repair of the hammers and forging machines with which the hammer
operators work. According to the Employer's job summary, such em-
ployees must have 1 year's experience in their trade plus 4 years' gen-
eral experience in a forge shop. The steel handler and the forge
wheeler transport raw material and equipment, respectively. Both
work under close supervision and neither is required to possess any
special skill.
The forge department is separated from the rest of the plant on
three sides by a brick wall and on the fourth side'by a partial wall.
Working conditions vary from those in other departments in that
constant high temperatures make it necessary for employees in this
department to possess unusual physical stamina, and ability to with-
stand heat.4 The forging department is separately supervised, and
its employees have their own separate locker room. Transfers from
this department to others are made only during slack periods to keep
senior employees working. Occasionally one of the forge shop mill-
wrights may be required to help one of two other millwrights in the
plant who do general maintenance work.
The bargaining history of the plant reveals that in about 1941, a
group of employees consisting primarily of employees of the forge
department, formed an independent labor organization, and con-
tracts covering the forge department were negotiated. In 1944 this
independent labor organization became affiliated with the Intervenor.
After a year, the Intervenor extended its coverage to all the employees
of the Employer except those in the metal polishing department, who
3 The time required for training hammermen was estimated at from 1 to 3 years by the
former manager and vice president of the Employer , at from 2 to 4 years by two experienced
hammer operators , and at about 18 months in the job summary prepared by the Employer.
The abilities of the individuals being trained , the number of hammers mastered , and the
number of operations mastered on each hammer , cause variations in the training period
required.
4 Employees in the heat treating department are frequently, but not continuously, subject
to high temperatures.
136 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
have been represented for many years by Metal Polishers, Platers,
Buffers and Helpers International Union. Since this expansion by
the Intervenor, the forge department has been represented as part
of the larger unit.
From the above facts, it appears that the drop hammer operators
at the Employer's plant possess a high degree of skill, and that a
substantial period of time is required for them to attain proficiency
in their work. It is true that in General Motors Corporation, Chevro-
let Forge, Spring and Buomper Division,-' we concluded that the ham-
mer operators did not possess sufficient skill to warrant their severance
from the established unit. In that case, however, the hammer opera-
tors, who were employed in a mass production operation, were re-
quired to master only one hammer or forging machine and a rela-
tively small number of operations, and their speed of operation rather
than their independent judgment was stressed. The difference be-
tween the drop hammer operators herein and those in the General
Motors case is the difference between a craftsman whose tasks require
.versatility and independent judgment and a'skilled machine operator
whose tasks, however complicated, are essentially routine.
We have previously found appropriate departmental units con-
taining a nucleus of skilled craftsmen together with less skilled but
related employee classifications, even though there were other em-
ployees in the plant possessing skills and performing work compar-
able to the less skilled employees in the unit.° We find the employees
of the forge department constitute such a group. The Intervenor's
motion to dismiss on the ground that the unit sought is inappropriate
is therefore denied. Nor does the fact that the forge shop employees
previously designated an organization which was later also selected
by the production and maintenance employees militate against grant-
ing them an opportunity at this time to express their desire for or
against separate representation.7 Accordingly, we shall make no
final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the
desires of these employees as expressed in the election hereinafter
directed. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken
to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate
bargaining unit.
In accordance with the foregoing, we shall direct that an election
be held among all the forge department employees at the Employer's
Jamestown, New York, plant, excluding guards, professional em-
ployees, supervisors, and all other employees.
80 NLRB 145.
International Harvester Company, 79 NLRB 1452; International Harvester Company
(Indianapolis Works), 82 NLRB 740.
7 Western Electric Company, Incorporated, 85 NLRB 563.
THE PLOMB TOOL COMPANY 137
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election 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 super-
vision of the Regional. Director for the Region in which this case
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll 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 re-
instated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining,
by International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers and
Helpers, American Federation of Labor, or by International Asso-
ciation of Machinists, Lodge #1791, or by neither.
MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.