Wisconsin Steel Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 6, 1942

42 N.L.R.B. 1276 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter Of WISCONSIN STEEL WORKS, INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER
COMPANY and BRICKLAYERS, MASONS & PLASTERERS INTERNATIONAL
UNION OF AMERICA, LOCAL 21 OF ILLINOIS
In the Matter Of WISCONSIN STEEL WORKS, INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER
COMPANY and LOCAL UNION No. 1178, UNITED STEEL, WORKERS OF
AMERICA, C I. O.
l
Cases Nos. R-4035 and R-4036, respectively -Decided August 6, 1943
Jurisdiction: machinery manufacturing industry
Investigation and Certification of Representatives: existence of question re-
fusal to accoi d petitioners i ecognition until certified by the Board, elections
necessaiy
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : single or separate units comprising
(1) bricklayers, biicklayer apprentices, and working bricklayer foremen, and
(2) production and maintenance employees, excluding supervisory, confidential,
clerical, and plant-protection employees, determination of, dependent upon
results of separate elections - ,
Mr. Lester Asher, for the Board.
Mr. Frank B. Schwarer, of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. TV. J. Harrigan, of Hammond, Ind., for the A F. of L.
Mr. John J. Brownlee, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. Joseph Germano,
of East Chicago, Ind., for the C. I.0 '
Mr. Walker Butler, of Chicago Ill , for the Progressive
Mr. William F. Scharnikow, of counsel to the Board
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petitions duly filed by Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers In-
ternational Union' of America, Local 21 of Illinois, affiliated with
American Fedei ation of Labor, herein called the A. F. of L , and by
Local Union No. 1178, United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with
1 Designated in its petition as "Local Union No 1178, Steel Workers Organizing Com-
mittee, C I 0 " The petition 'sas amended at the hearing
42 N L R B, No 234.
1276
WISCONSIN STEEL WORKS, 1277
the Congress of Industrial Organ_ nations, herein called the C I 0.,
each alleging that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning'
the representation of employees of Wisconsin Steel Works, Interna-
tional Harvester Company, Chicago, Illinois, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Henry J. Kent, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Chicago, Illinois, on July 9 and 10, 1942 The
Company, the A.F. of L, the C.I.O, and Progressive Steel Workers
Union, unaffiliated, herein called the Progressive, appeared, partici-'
pated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine
and cross-examine, witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. On July 25, 1942, the
A F. of L and C 10 , and on July 27, 1942, the Progressive filed briefs
which the Board has considered.
Upon 'the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
International Haryester. Company, a New Jerseyx corporation with
its principal office in Chicago, Illinois, and plants in Illinois, Wis-
consin, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Tennessee and California, is en-
gaged in the design, manufacture, assembly, repair, sale, and
distribution of motor trucks, farm tractors, industrial tractors, tillage
implements, planting and seeding machines, hoeing machines, other
farm equipment and kindred items and supplies. The present pro-
ceeding concerns only its Wiscorisin'Steel Works, at,Chicago, Illinois,
which produces car bon and alloy steel, pig iron, and coke plant by-
products During its fiscal year 1941, the Wisconsin Steel Works pur-
chased raw materials amounting to approximately $16,000,000 in value,
of which 85 percent by value was purchased outside the Sate of Illi-
nois During the same period the sales value of the products of the
Wisconsin SteeL.Woxk;a,.Including,sales to thejnt iaational.Haxvestei
Company, amounted to approximately $39;108,000, of which approxi-
mately 49 per cent by value was sold and shipped to points outside the
State of Illinois
The Company admits that in its operation of the Wisconsin Steel
Works, it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act.
II THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Bricklayers, Masons &,Plasterers International Union of-=America,
Local 2f of Illinois, is a labor organization affiliated with the American
1278 DL+ CISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the
Company. ' -
Local Union No. 1178, United Steelworkers of America, is a labor
oiganization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Progressive Steel Woikers Union is an unaffiliated labor organi-
zation, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III THE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize the A. F. of L. or the C. I O.
unless and until they are certified by the Board
On June 23, 1939, the Company entered into a contract with the
Progressive as the exclusive bargaining agent of the Company's em-
ployees in a plant-wide unit which the Progressive contends is ap-
propriate. This contract, by its terms, was to be effective until June 23,
1940, and from year to year thereafter subject to termination at the
end of any contract year on 30 days' notice. Since the petitions
herein were filed on April 13 and 16, 1942, neither the Progressive
nor the Company asseits this contract to be a bar to the present
proceeding.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced in evidence at the
hearing, shows that the A. F. of L and the C. I 0 each represents a
substantial number of employees in the unit which it alleges to be
appropriate 2
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company at its Wisconsin Steel
Works in Chicago, Illinois, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and
Section 2 (6), and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT, THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Progressive contends that all employees of the Company in the
Wisconsin Steel Works, excluding supervisory and managerial em-
ployees, confidential employees , and plant protection employees, com-
prise an appropriate unit The C I 0 would also exclude from the
appropriate unit, plant clerical employees, office clerical employees,
2 The Regional Director reported that the A F of L submitted its official dues records
which disclosed that 30 of the 35 persons whose names appealed as masons on the Com-
pany ' s pay roll for the period ending April 25 , 1942, were then members of the A F of L
in good standing The pay roll term , "masons," designates bricklayers , apprentice brick-
layers, and working biicklayer foremen, who , according to the A F of L, comprise an
appropriate unit
The Regional - Director further reported that the C I 0 submitted 1,431 designations,
all.-beaiinkia `pparently genuine signatures The signatures on'A33 of 512 . of these desig-
nations taken at random weie names of persons on the Company 's pay roll for the period
ending-April 25, 1942, within the unit of approximately 4,000 persons which the C I 0
alleges to be appropriate ,
WISCONSIN STEEL WORKS 1279
bricklayers , bricklayer apprentices , and working bricklayer foremen.
The A. F of L . contends that bricklayers , bricklayer apprentices, and
working bricklayer foiemen comprise a separate appropriate unit
History of collective bargaining
Between 1918 and 1932, the A F of L from time to time announced
to the Company the wage rates for bricklayers which were agreed upon
by the A. F of L and the Associated Builders of Chicago, presumably
an association of building contractors although the record is not clear
on this point . The Company in every instance complied with the
demands implicit in these announcements , by paying its bricklayers
the rates indicated , except on two occasions in 1931 when the A. F. of
L consented to reductions upon the Company 's request and its prom-
ise to increase the wages when able to do so. During this period
prior to 1932, the A . F of L by its efforts established the'right of the
Company's bricklayeis to double pay for any work done between Sat-
ui day noon and Sunday midnight
From 1932 to the present time, the A F of L representative has
met with the Company's superintendent twice a year to discuss the
general working conditions of the bricklayers and the possibility of
wage increase and has regularly supplied bricklayers from its mem-
bership to meet the Company 's needs During this period the Com-
pany has complied with its promise to the A F of L to grant wage
increases in conformity with prevailing rates and there have been no
complaints from the bricklayers In further support of its contention
that it has continued in fact to bargain for , and claim the right to
representation of, the Company 's bricklayers even after the advent of
the Progressive , the A F of L introduced testimony of its successful
protest against the Company's use of yard labor rather than brick-
layers in rebuilding the Company's checker chambers and its protest
to the Company against the attempts of Bresser, a bricklayer , to con-
vert the Company's bricklayers who weie members of the A F of L
to membership in the Progiessive
In October 1937, the Progressive and the Company executed a con-
tract whei eby the Company recognized the Pi ogressive as the exclusive
bargaining agent of the employees in the plant -wide unit which the
Progiessive contends is appropriate On June 23 , 1939, they executed
a new contract, continuing the recognition of the Progressive arid
providing for a term of 1 year and from year to year thereafter subject
to termination at the end of any calendar year on 30 days' notice The
Progressive contends that it has bargained for the bricklayers as well
as the rest of the employees In this connection there is testimony
that, as a result of its efforts , overtime is now distributed equally
between the bricklayers , the seniority of particular bricklayers has
1280 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
been adjusted, the bricklayers are paid for the time taken in trans-
porting their tools and material to and from their working head-
quarters, work in paving,and relining open hearth floors is done only
by bricklayers and not by the yard labor as heretofore, plant seniority
has been granted to the bricklayers, and finally, the bricklayers have
shared in the general advantages secured by the Progressive for all the
employees in the unit including a 10-cents per hour wage increase in
April 1941. ,
The clerical employees
A main office building at the plant houses the clerical employees
in the employment , safety, and welfare department , the industrial
relations department , and the medical department , whose numbers
are not given, and also 148 of the 200 clerical employees who are
within the jurisdiction of the accounting department . The remain-
ing approximately 50 clerks in the accounting department , including
field timekeepers , scalemen , counters , typists, stenographers , and store
clerks, are employed in various parts of the factory In addition to
these clerical workers, an undisclosed number of factory clerical
employees work in the different departments of the factory, keeping
production and similar records under the superintendents of their
respective departments.
For each of its departments , the Company has outlined routes of
job progression in which the normal course of promotion and retro-
gression in slack times has been determined The routes of progression
affecting the clerical employees in the accounting department and in
a number of the mills have been agreed upon by the Progressive and
the Company and are now in effect . These routes contemplate the
advancement of the employees concerned from job to job , by logical
stages of preparatory experience , with ,seniority properly weighted.
The courses thus agreed upon weave back and forth between produc-
tion and the related , necessary clerical work. The Progressive
contends that the Company has thereby, with its cooperation , so inter-
related productive and clerical jobs to the advantage of both clerical
and productive workers, that effective representation requires that
they have a common bargaining agent in a single unit
However, the interests , viewpoints , and bargaining problems of
production and maintenance workers and those of clerical workers
are normally quite as different as the jobs they perform We see no
significance in the fact that'by established practice employees may
progress from production to clerical positions . We are concerned
with the effective representation of the employees in the positions they
occupy. Furthermore , there is no dispute that the Progressive
represents the clerical employees . If the production and maintenance
WISCONSIN STEEL WORKS 1281
employees also desire to be represented by the Progressive, they will
have the opportunity to indicate that desire even though the clerical
workers be excluded from their unit. If, on the other hand, the pro-
duction and maintenance workers in their judgment prefer to be repre-
sented separately and by an agent other than that which represents
the clerical workers, they can be assured of that opportunity only by
excluding the clerks from their unit Upon these considerations, and
in accordance with the contention of the C I 0 , we shall, therefore,
exclude plant and office clerical workers from the plant-wide unit
which the Progressive contends to be appropriate.
The bricklayers, bricklayer apprentices, and working bricklayer
foremen -
There are approximately 36 brickl yyais and working bricklayer
foremen 3 employed by the Company at its Wisconsin Steel Works.
From a unit so composed, the A F of L would exclude approximately
72 biicklayer helpers No record of job progression for the bricklayers
has been outlined or agreed upon. As already indicated, whether
the A F. of L or the Progressive has in fact represented the brick-
layers for the past 5 yeais is a matter of dispute.
In view of the fact that the bricklayers, the bricklayer apprentices,
and working bricklayer foremen aie members of a well defined, tra-
ditional craft, we find that they could properly constitute a separate
unit or be included with production and maintenance employees as
part of a larger unit We shall therefore make no final determina-
tion of unit at this time, but shall- direct that the questions con-
cerning representation which have arisen be resolved by separate
elections by secret ballot among the employees in the following vot-
ing groups who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the date of our Direction of Elections, subject to the
limitations and additions set forth therein (1) among bricklayers,
bricklayer apprentices, and working bricklayer foremen, to deter-
mine whether they desire to be repiesented by the A. F. of,L, the
Progressive, or neither; (2) among the production and maintenance
employees including bricklayer helpers but excluding supervisory
and managerial employees, confidential employees, plant protection
employees, plant clerical employees, office clerical employees, brick-
layers, bricklayer apprentices, and working bricklayer foremen, to
determine whether they desire to be represented by the C. I. 0.,
the Piogressive or neither. Upon the results of these elections will
depend in part our determination of the appropriate unit or units.
If majorities in both voting groups choose the same representative
the groups will together constitute a single unit
At present there are no apprentice biicklayers employed by the Company
472814-42-vol 42-81
1282 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power' vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of the
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as
amended, it is hereby '
DIRECTED that, as part of the in' estigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the pui poses 'of collective bargaining with Wisconsin Steel
Works, International Harvester Company, Chicago, Illinois, elec-
tions by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible but not
later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction of
Elections, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Di-
i ector for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations •
1. Among all bricklayers, bricklayer apprentices, and working
bricklayer foremen, who were employed by the Company at its Wis-
consin Steel Works, during the pay-roll period immediately preced-
ing 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 or in the active military service or training of the United
States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who
have since quit or been discharged or cause, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers
International Union of America, Local 21 of Illinois, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, or by Progressive Steel Workers
Union, unaffiliated, for the puiposes of collective bargaining, or by
neither
2 Among all production and maintenance employees who were
employed by the Company at its Wisconsin Steel Works during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of
Elections, including bricklayer helpers and employees who did not
work during'said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or in the active military service or training of the United States, or
temporarily laid off, but excluding supervisory and managerial
employees, confidential employees, plant protection employees, plant
clerical employees, office clerical employees, bricklayers, bricklayer
apprentices, and working bricklayer foremen, and those employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether they desire to be iepresented by Local Union No 1178,
United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, or by Progressive Steel Workers Union,
unaffiliated, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither
MR WM M LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections