City Machine and Tool Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 25, 1941

36 N.L.R.B. 1257 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of CITY MACHINE AND TOOL COMPANY and INTERNA-
TIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL.
12, (CIO)
Case No. R-3220.Decided November 25, 1941
Jurisdiction : metal products machining industry
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question • re-
fusal by Company to negotiate with union ; employees on current pay roll
including all employees who were employed by the Company during its last
die manufacturing season whether such employees were laid off at the end
of or have voluntarily quit during such season, held eligible to vote, election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees, except supervisory
and clerical, engineers and draftsmen ; agreement as to
Mr. George H. O'Brien, for the Board.
Effler and Eastman, by Mr. Leroy E. Eastman and III?. John R.
Eastman, of Toledo, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Edward Lamb, Mr. Richa'id Gosser and Mr. Ellsworth Kramer,
of Toledo, Ohio, for the Union.
Mr. Armin Uhler, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 13, 1941, International Union, United Automobile
Workers of America, Local No. 12, (CIO), herein called the Union,
filed with the Regional Director for the Eighth Region (Cleveland,
Ohio) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of City Machine
and Tool Company, Toledo, Ohio, herein called the Company, and
requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat.
449, herein called the Act. On October 22, 1941, the National Labor.
1 Sometimes incorrectly designated in the record as "International Union, United Auto
workers, Local 12, (C. I. 0
36 N L R B, No. 254
1257
1258 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered
an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct
it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On October 22, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
Union, the International Association of Machinists (AFL), and
Mechanics Educational Society of America.2 Pursuant to notice
a hearing was held on October 29, 1941, at Toledo, Ohio, before
Gustaf B. Erickson, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief
Trial Examiner. The Company and the Union were represented by
counsel and official representatives; both participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all
parties. During the course of the hearing, the Company moved to
dismiss the petition. The Trial Examiner made no ruling on the
motion. The motion is hereby denied for the- reasons stated in Sec-
tion III below. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner
made several rulings on other motions and objections to the admission
of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial
Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
On November 7, 1941, the Company filed a brief in support of its
motion to dismiss which the Board has considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following;
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
City Machine and Tool Company is an Ohio corporation with its
office and plant at Toledo, Ohio. All the Company's capital stock
is owned by City Auto Stamping Company, of Toledo, Ohio, and
for the most part, the same officers and directors serve in both com-
panies. On the other hand, the record shows that the operations
of the parent company and its subsidiary are entirely separate and
independent of each other.3 The Company's plant at Toledo was
built and until recently has been exclusively used for the manufacture
of large dies for metal stamping. Dies in the past were manufac-
tured chiefly for Buick Motor Company and Oldsmobile Automobile
Company, the Company's principal customers. In the manufacture
2 International Association of Machinists (AFL), and Mechanics Educational Society of
America did not participate in the hearing
3 The interstate character of the business of the parent company was conceded at the
hearing.
CITY MACHINE AND TOOL COMPANY 1259
of dies the Company used steel and iron castings, forgings, and bar
steel. Approximately 10 percent of these materials were secured by
the Company from outside the State of Ohio. Approximately 90
per cent of the dies manufactured, valued at approximately $1,000,000
per year, have been shipped to customers outside the State of Ohio.
The Company's die business has been seasonal and usually has come
to an end sometime during August or September of each year. Dur-
ing the current year the manufacture of dies at the Company's plant
ceased in August and is not expected to be resumed until regulations
of Federal defense agencies curtailing automobile manufacture are
revoked.
Since August 1941, the Company has been engaged in machining
or processing metal products for Bridgeport Brass Company of
Bridgeport, Connecticut, King Machine Tool Company of Cincinnati,
Ohio, and Grumman Aircraft Corporation of Long Island, New
York. The work for the Bridgeport Brass Company involves an
order for the machining of die rings and plungers. The material
used by the Company for this work consists of tool steel forgings
purchased at Toledo, Ohio. The work performed for the account
of King Machine Tool Company consists in planing parts for boring
mills manufactured by King Machine Tool Company. The castings
to' be processed are delivered to the Company by Aetna Machine
Company Foundry of Toledo, Ohio, and after being processed are
shipped to the King Machine Tool Company at Cincinnati. The
most important machining operations at present engaged in by the
Company consist in processing wing braces for Brumman Aircraft
Corporation of Bethpage, Long Island. Steel forgings to be proc-
essed are shipped to the Company from Cleveland, Ohio, and upon
being processed are delivered to the Company's customer at Beth-
page, Long Island. The Company estimates that 1,000 wing braces
may be finished by January 1, 1942, at a cost to.the Grumman Com-
pany of approximately $300,000.
The Company asserts that, although it may have been engaged
in interstate commerce in connection with its die-manufacturing busi-
ness, it is not now engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act, and that therefore the Board is with-
out jurisdiction. The contention is without merit. It is clear from
the facts set forth that the Company is engaged in the processing
of substantial amounts of materials which are shipped in commerce
to points in other States.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile Workers of America,
Local No. 12, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
1260 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of
the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
At the hearing the Company conceded the receipt of a letter ad-
dressed to it by the Union on October 4, 1941, requesting a conference
for the purpose of negotiating an agreement. The Company did not
reply to this letter and on or about October 8 or 9, 1941, in the
course of a telephone conversation, declined to meet with a represen-
tative of the Union. On October 10, 1941, the Union called a strike
which was still in progress at the time of the hearing.
From a statement prepared by a Board Field Examiner and intro-
duced in evidence at the hearing we conclude that the Union repre-
sents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found
to be appropriate.4
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I, above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.5
? The Field Examiner's, statement discloses that the Union submitted to hun 104 appli-
cation cards bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons who had paid initiation fees
to the Union On the basis of the largest number of employees on the Company's pay
loll during 1941, the appropriate unit would comprise approximately 170 employees The
Field Examiner was unable to ascertain the number of cards which bear the signatures
of employees of the Company because of the Company's refusal to furnish its pay roll for
that purpose when requested to do so The Field Examiner's statement also sets forth
that the International Association of Machinists (AFL) and Mechanics Educational'
Society of America have denied any interest in this proceeding
The Company objected to the introduction in evidence of the statement piepared by the
Field Examiner and contended at the hearing that the petition should be dismissed because
of lack of evidence that any of its employees are members of the Union and because of their
membership in certain other unions The Company's latter contention is refuted by the
Field Examiner's statement which was properly admitted in evidence at the hearing
Concerning the former, we have heretofore held under similar circumstances that when an
employer refuses to furnish a list of the names of its employees or othe•in ice to make
available to the Board and the puties ielecant emplolment iccords, it may be piesumed
that the application cards submitted by the Union bear the navies of einplog ees of the
Company See Matter of American Dredging Company and National Maritime Union, 28,
N. L. It. B., No 108
See National Labor Relations Board v Bradford Dyeing Association. 310 U S 318;
National Labor Relations Board v Fainblatt, 306 U S 601, National Labor Relations
Board v. Crystal Sp7ing Finishing Company, 116 F (2d) 669 (C C A 1) , see also
National Labor Relations Board v Gulf Publishing Service Company, 116 F (2d) 852
(C C A. 5)
CITY MACHINE AND TOOL COMPANY 1261
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the Union are in agreement and we find that
all employees of the Company, except supervisory and clerical em-
ployees and engineers and draftsmen,' constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining. We further find that said
unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their
right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise
will effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning represent-
ation can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. The Union
requests that eligibility to vote in the election be determined on the
basis of the Company's pay roll of September 15, 1941, in order
that all employees subsequently laid off may participate ' in the
election. The Company, on the other hand, proposes April 21, 1941,
as the pay-roll date to be used for determining eligibility. It is the
Company's desire that all employees on its pay roll at the peak of
its last die-manufacturing season should be permitted to vote, in-
cluding 30 employees who quit voluntarily beet-Luse-of the decline, in,.
die work expected to follow upon restrictions on the manufacture
of automobiles.
The record discloses that it has been the Company's policy to
lay off all of its employees at the end of the die-manufacturing sea-
son retaining only some 30 employees for part-time repair work.
According to testimony, the Company has kept a record of all
employees so laid off in order that they may be recalled at the be-
ginning of the ensuing die-manufacturing season. Insofar as the
30 employees who quit voluntarily prior to the end of the season
are concerned, the Company takes the position that they are subject
to recall in the same manner as employees laid off. We shall direct
that the employees eligible to vote in the election shall be those on
the Company's pay roll immediately preceding the date of our Di-
rection of Election, including all employees who were employed by
the Company during its last die-manufacturing season, whether such
employees were laid off at the end of or have voluntarily quit during
such season, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
'At the beginning of each die manufacturing season the Company employs from 6 to 8
engineers and draftsmen for the limited period of from 4 to 6 weeks
1262 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of .City Machine and Tool Company , Toledo,
Ohio, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees of the Company , excluding supervisory and
clerical employees , engineers , and draftsmen , constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the,
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby -
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with City Machine and Tool Company, Toledo, Ohio, 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 Eighth
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Rela-
tions Board and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and
Regulations, among all employees of City Machine and Tool Com-
pany, Toledo, Ohio, who were employed by the Company dirring the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction,
including all employees on the Company's pay roll during its last
die-manufacturing season, whether they were laid off at the end of
the season or have voluntarily quit prior to the end of such season,
and also including employees who did not work during such pay-
roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the active mili-
tary service or training of the United Staes or temporarily laid off,
but excluding supervisory and clerical employees, engineers, and
draftsmen, and employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by International Union, United Automobile Workers of America,
Local 12, affiliated with the C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective
bargaining.