American Type Founders, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 4, 1943

52 N.L.R.B. 410 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS , INCORPORATED and INTER=
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LODGE 315
Case No. R-5742.-Decided' September 4, 1943
Mr. Cyril W., O'Gorman, for the Board.
Mr. George C. Willis, of Elizabeth, N. J., for the Company.
Isserman, Isserman & Kapelsohn, by Mr. Morris Isserman, of
Newark, N. J., for the I. A. M.
Mr. Robert H. Allen, of Jersey City, N. J., for the Independent.
Mr. Joseph E. Gubbins, of'counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by International Association of Machinists,
Lodge 315, unaffiliated, herein called the I. A. M., alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of American Type Founders, Incorporated, Elizabeth,
New Jersey, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Mortimer Reimer, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Eliza-
beth, New Jersey, on July 23, 1943. The Company, the I. A. M., and
Type Workers Union, Local No. 18908, unaffiliated, herein called the
Independent, appeared, participated, and were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing upon the issues. The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. The parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
American Type Founders, Incorporated, is a New Jersey corporation
with its main office and plant at Elizabeth, New Jersey, where it is
52 N. L. R. B., No. 61.
410
'AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS, INCORPORATED 411
,engaged in the manufacture of war material and, commercial products.
Tor the first 6 months of 1943, the Company purchased for use at the
Elizabeth plant, raw materials valued' in excess of $1,000,000, approxi-
mately 80 percent of which was shipped to the plant in question from
points outside the State of New Jersey. During the same period, the
Company sold finished products manufactured at said plant, amount-
ing in value in excess of $1,000,000, approximately 85 percent of which
was shipped to points outside the State of New Jersey.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
• International Association of Machinists, Lodge 315, unaffiliated,
and Type 'Workers Union, Local No. 18908, unaffiliated, are labor
organizations admitting to membership employees of the company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about April 26, 1943, the I. A. M. notified the Company that
it represented all the employees in Department 21 at the Company's
plant in Elizabeth, and requested recognition as the exclusive bargain-
ing representative of such employees. On or about May 10, 1943, the
Company advised the I. A. M. that since the employees in question were
covered by a contract between the Company and the Independent and
because the I. A. M. had not been certified as the bargaining representa-
tive of said employees, it could not grant such request.
On April 24, 1942, the Independent executed a contract with the
Company covering all the employees of the foundry division, of which
Department 21 is a part. Under the terms of the contract, it was to
"remain in full force and effect until cancelled by either party on
'thirty days' written notice to the other party after one year from the
date hereof." Neither party has served upon the other a notice of
desire to cancel the contract or change its terms and the Independent
considers the contract to be in full force and effect. Inasmuch as the
original term of the contract ,has expired and the contract is now
terminable at any time upon 30 days' written notice, we find that the
contract with the Independent is no bar to this proceeding.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced in evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the I. A. M. represents a substantial num-
ber of employees in the unit alleged in the petition as appropriate,
'The Regional Director's statement shows that the I. A. M. submitted 10 authorization
cards, all of which bear names of persons whose names appear on the Company 's pay roll of
June 2, 1943, for Department 21 ; there are 11 employees in Department 21. Nine of the
cards are dated May 1943, and 1 Is undated . The parties stipulated at the hearing that
none,of the employees in Department 21 had been members of the Independent for at least
6 months prior to the hearing. The Regional Director's statement also shows that the
Independent stated that none of the employees in question have authorized it to repre-
sent them at the present time. The ' Independent relies upon its contract with the Com-
pany to establish its interest in the proceeding.
412 DECISIONS OF NATION1AL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT ; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The I. A. M. seeks to represent the employees, of Department 21,
comprised of three mould makers, one mould setter, six maintenance
machinists, and one electrician, and to include such employees under
the terms of an existing contract between the Company and the
I. A. M. which covers hourly rated production and maintenance em-
ployees and toolroom employees in the Company's Kelley press divi-
sion . The Independent contends that the employees in Department
21 should remain a part of the unit of foundry employees presently
covered by its contract with the Company.
The Company's plant is divided into two units, the Kelley press
division or machinery division, which is devoted exclusively to. the
.manufacture of war materials, and the foundry division, which pro-
duces type and replacement parts. The mould makers and mould
setter in Department 21 perform skilled work on moulds used in the
manufacture of type in the foundry. The maintenance machinists
service and repair machines in both the foundry division and the
Kelley press division. The employees of Department' 21 are listed
on the foundry division pay roll, and a majority of their time is
spent in performing duties for the foundry division. However, be-
cause of physical limitations and in order to avoid unnecessary dupli-
cation of tools and machines the maintenance machinists in Depart-
ment 21 do considerable work and spend most of their time in the
toolroom which is geographically located in the Kelley press division.
While thus engaged in work in the toolroom the maintenance ma-
chinists work with tool and die makers in'the Kelley press division,
use or interchange tools with them, and associate with employees of
the - Kelley press division. 'The -maintenance machinists in Depart-
ment 21, at the conclusion of their 8-hour day of work for the foundry
division, continue to work, in the same toolroom, for the Kelley press
division. Although the kind of work that they -perform for the
Kelley press division is different, they continue to use many of the
same tools and to associate, as during the first 8 hours of their work-
day, with the employees in the Kelley press division. Some of the
employees' of Department 21, during the course of a month, spend ' a
substantial portion of their regular working time performing duties
AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS, INCORPORATED 413
for the Kelley press division.' The employees in Department 21
participated in the negotiation of the Independent contract with the
Company in April 1942, and shared in a general wage increase granted
to the foundry employees pursuant to such contract. On other oc-
casions the employees in Department 21 have received wage increases
as the result of wage adjustments secured by the I. A. M. for em-
ployees in the Kelley press division.
None of the employees in Department 21 are production employees;
all of them make or maintain the implement's of production used in
either the type foundry or the Kelley press division. As members
of a separate and distinct service department, they have a community
of interest among themselves. We are of the opinion that they
should continue to be grouped together for the purposes of collective
bargaining, although we do not find that they alone constitute a
separate appropriate unit. Four of these 11 employees, the mould
men, are peculiarly related by function to the operations of the type
foundry; but the maintenance machinists, a majority of the employees
in the department, are closely associated in respect to skill and the
locale of their work, to employees in the Kelley press division. Func-
tionally, the maintenance machinists are concerned with both the
foundry and Kelley press division operations. As we noted above,
the employees in Department 21 have received benefits as the result,
of collective bargaining conducted both by the Independent on be-
half of the foundry employees, and by the I. A. M. on behalf of the
Kelley press division employees. Under the circumstances, we are
of the opinion that the employees in Department 21, as a group, may
'appropriately either remain a part of the unit of foundry employees,
or be added to the unit of Kelley press division employees. We shall
permit the preference of the Department 21 employees to determine
in which of the two existing units they shall be included. In view
of the absence of any question concerning representation among the
rest of the Company's employees, we shall direct an election only
among the employees of Department 21, wherein a question concern-
ing representation has arisen. If the employees in this voting group
select the I. A. M., they will have thereby indicated their desire to
be included in a unit with the production and maintenance employees
in the Kelley press division and will be part of such unit. If, how-
ever, these employees choose the Independent as their bargaining
representative, they shall continue to be part of the unit of foundry
employees.
2 Department 21 has a regular foreman who reports to the superintendent of the foundry,
but the Department 21 employees are supervised by the foreman of the toolroom in the
Kelley press division during periods when they are performing work for that division.
414 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We shall, accordingly, direct that the question concerning, repre-
sentation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot
among. the employees of Department 21, exclusive of supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status, of, employees, or effectively
recommend such action, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
%Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it
is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with American Type
Founders, Incorporated, Elizabeth, New Jersey, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region,
acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board,
and. subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and
Regulations, among the employees in Department 21 of the Com-
pany's foundry division, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including
employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they
were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including em-
ployees in the armed forces of the United States who present them-
selves in person at the polls, but excluding all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise
effect changes in the status of employees or effectively recommend such
action, and any who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether they desire to be represented by International
Association of Machinists, Lodge 315, unaffiliated, or by Type Work-
ers Union, Local No. 18908, unaffiliated, for the purposes of collective
bargaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN MILLis took no part in the consideration of the aboye
Decision and Direction of Election.