United States Pipe and Foundry Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 30, 1949

84 N.L.R.B. 954 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of UNITED STATES PIPE AND FOUNDRY COMPANY,
EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL MOLDERS AND FOUNDRY WORKERS
UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC-X566.-Decided June 30, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Herman
Corenman, 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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Gray].
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 Local 2140, United Steelworkers of America,
CIO, herein called the Intervenor, are labor organizations claiming
to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act
4. The appropriate unit; the determination of representatives :
Since 1940,2 the Intervenor has represented and bargained for a re-
1 The Intervenor contends that a contract executed between it and the Employer on
February 19, 1946 , as supplemented, amended , and extended , constitutes a bar to a present
election. The most recent amendment , executed September 4, 1948, extended the termi-
nation date of the contract from April 30, 1949 , to July 16, 1950
The record discloses that the contract provided among other things for maintenance of
membership In the Intervenor . However, the Intervenor has not been certified by the
Board pursuant to Section 9 (e) (1) of the Act as being authorized to execute such a union-
security provision , and the agreement was extended after the effective date of the amended
Act. For this reason , and without regard to any other considerations , we find that the
contract cannot serve as a bar to a present determination of representatives . Matter of
General Electric Company, 80 N. L. R. B. 169.
2 See Matter of United States Pipe & Foundry Company , 19 N L. R . B. 1016, 21 N. L.
R. B. 671 . The question of a separate unit for molders , coremakers , and their apprentices,
was not litigated in this proceeding Collective bargaining agreements , the most recent
of which will not expire until July 16, 1950, have been executed with respect to this unit
between the Intervenor and the Employer
84 N. L. R. B., No. 105.
954
s
UNITED STATES PIPE AND FOUNDRY. COMPANY 955
sidual production and maintenance unit, presently comprising approxi-
mately 700 out of a total of approximately 1,050 production and main-
tenance employees,3 at the Employer's Bessemer, Alabama, plant.
The Petitioner seeks to sever therefrom a unit of molders, coremakers,
and their apprentices, employed in the special foundry at that plant.'
The Intervenor opposes such severance on the basis of the bargaining
history ; the Employer takes no position with respect to the appropri-
ate unit.
In addition to the-foundry, in which it manufactures cast iron fit-
tings, sugar house machinery, and various types of special castings,
the Employer operates a pipe shop, in which it manufactures cast iron
pressure pipe.5 The foundry is housed in a separate building from the
pipe shop. Molders, coremakers, and their apprentices are employed
only in the foundry. The molders and coremakers are highly skilled
mechanics who are required by the Employer to undergo a 4-year
apprenticeship before being qualified for their positions.6 With the
exception of the crane operators, they are the only skilled employees
who work exclusively in the foundry.? No other employees in the plant
possess comparable skills or duties, and there is no interchange between
these employees and other employees in the plant.
Accordingly, on the basis of the foregoing and on the entire record,
we find that the molders and coremakers employed in the special foun-
dry at the Employer's Bessemer, Alabama, plant, constitute a homog-
enous group of skilled craftsmen who, with their apprentices, may,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act, constitute a separate
unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining.8 Accord-
ingly, we shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall
9 The remaining production and maintenance employees are, as a result of the earlier
decision (footnote 2, supra), represented by other unions in craft or departmental units
4 The unit sought by the Petitioner includes approximately 43 out of the approximately
146 employees in the special foundry The other job classifications employed in the
foundry are crane operators, hookers and helpers (to molders and coreniakers), laborers,
shop cleaners, cupola men, oven firemen, utility men, chippers, cement liners, sand cutters,
and sand mixers
The Intervenor's unit includes employees in both the foundry and the pipe shop.
c The Petitioner's proposed unit includes three apprentices The Employer's molders
and coremakers have either previously served their apprentiveship with the Employer or
have been hired as qualified journeymen.
° Skilled maintenance employees who work in the foundry also work in the pipe shop
s See, for example, Matter of Texas Foundries, Inc, 83 N. L It. B 679; Matter of
Charles Binns et at, d/b/a Bsnns Passaic Iron & Brass Foundry, 77 N. L. R B 380. The
Board has consistently, in the face of a contrary bargaining history, directed separate self-
determination elections among groups of craft employees such as these, or among depart-
mental groups with such a craft nucleus See Matter of The Fayscott Corporation, 78
N L. It. B. 12-56. Matter of The John Deere Dubuque Tractor Works, 77 N. L R B 1424.
Cf. Matter of Sacks-Barlow Foundries, Inc, 79 N L. R B. 327, in which the Board dis-
missed a petition seeking a unit which was neither departmental in scope nor a craft group.
956 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL ' LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
first ascertain the desires of these' employees, as expressed in the elec-
tion which we shall direct be conducted among :
All molders, molders' apprentices, coremakers, and coremakers'
apprentices, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act, employed at
the Employer's Bessemer, Alabama, plant. If a majority of the
employees in the voting group select the Petitioner, they will be deemed
to have indicated their desire to be represented in a separate appro-
priate unit.
- DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes 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-Series 5, as amended, among
the employees in the voting group described in paragraph numbered
4, above, who were employed 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 reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective
bargaining, by International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of
North America, AFL."
°As the Intervenor has not complied with the requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and
(h) of the Act , it will not be accorded a place on the ballot.