Fort Pitt Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsSep 19, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 1513 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of FORT PITT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LODGE No. 52, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,, PETITIONER Case No. 6-RC--368.-Decided September 19, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Emil E.. Narick, hearing officer. 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 Murdock]. 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 United Furniture Workers of America, Local No. 100, C. I. 0., herein called the Intervenor, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees 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 seeks to sever from an existing plant-wide unit all tool makers, machinists, and their apprentices, at the Employer's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, plant. The Intervenor opposes the sever- ance of these employees and contends that only a production and main- tenance unit is appropriate. The Employer, while not actively opposing the Petitioner's unit requests, indicates its preference for the position urged by the Intervenor. The Employer, at its Pittsburgh plant, is engaged in the manufac- ture of spring cushion assemblies, bed springs, and other spring prod- ucts. Its operations are conducted in a single, six-story building, with an attached warehouse, and are divided, organizationally, into 85 N. L. R. B., No. 236. 1513 1514 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD various production departments, such as the wire forming, auto cushion assembly, bed spring and coiling, and innerspring depart- ments, and certain service divisions, including the millwright depart- ment and the toolroom. The unit sought by the Petitioner comprises the 16 employees in, the Employer's toolroom, of whom 12 are classified as tool- makers, 3 as machinists, and 1 as an apprentice.' These employees, perform all major repair and maintenance work on tools, dies, and equipment, requiring machining operations, and, in addition, fabricate some tools and dies for plant use. In the performance of these duties, they spend the bulk of their time in the toolroom, which is located in a separate, partially enclosed area, and serve under the separate immediate super- vision of the toolroom foreman. The Employer supplies most of the equipment utilized by these employees, but certain tools, such as wire micrometers, are individually owned. The toolroom employees are the most highly skilled 2 and among the highest paid of the Employer's hourly rated workers.3 If not already qualified to perform toolroom duties, these employees, unlike the other plant personnel, are required by the Respondent to under- take a comprehensive apprentice training program which, although unwritten, is closely supervised and extends for a period of approxi- mately 4 years. Except in those instances when an employee is selected from another division to become an apprentice, or when an apprentice fails to attain the requisite toolroom skills and is reassigned to a. less skilled occupation, there is no transfer of employees between the tool- room and the remaining plant departments. The above facts clearly demonstrate that the toolroom employees constitute an identifiable, homogeneous craft group .4 And although the Intervenor contends that the toolroom employees have been repre- sented by it as part of the production and maintenance unit since about 1939, we have frequently held that such bargaining history cannot prevent the establishment of a separate unit if the craft em- 1 There are approximately 335 employees in the Employer's plant. The Employer's general plant maintenance employees, designated as "millwrights,'-' who handle the maintenance functions not requiring machining operations, serve i n a less skilled capacity than the toolroom employees. Also less skilled are the die setters in the pressroom and the set-up men in the coiling and wire forming departments who, on occa- sion , perform minor repair and maintenance duties calling for the application of limited toolroom skills. The Petitioner does not seek to include the "millwrights," die setters, or set-up men in the unit. " Some production employees, working on a piecework basis, occasionally receive gross earnings exceeding those of the toolroom employees. - * Matter of Clayton' and Lambert Manufacturing Company, 83 N. L. R. B. 458, and 'Matter of General Electric Company, _Plastics Division of the Chemical Department,.81 â€¢N. L. It. B. 476; cf. Matter of Continental Can Company, 76 N. L. R. B. 131. FORT PITT MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1515 ployees so desire., Nor does the record in this case reveal such a close integration between the functions of the toolroom and the other plant processes as to preclude the separate representation of the tool- room employees.,, , Accordingly, we are of the opinion that the employees in the unit sought by the Petitioner may, if they so desire, either constitute- a separate unit, or remain a part of the existing production and mainte- nance group. We shall not, therefore, make any final unit deter- mination at this time, but shall be guided by the desires of these employees as expressed in the election hereinafter directed. We shall direct that an election by secret ballot be conducted among all the tool makers, machinists, and their apprentices, at the Em- ployer's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, plant, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act. If, in this election, the employees select the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to consti- tute a separate bargaining unit. DIRECTION OF ELECTION 7 . 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 su- pervision 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 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 vaca- tion 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 they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar- gaining, by Lodge No. 52, International Association of Machinists, by United Furniture Workers of America, Local No. 100, C. I. 0., or by neither. Â° Matter of Jefferson Electric Company, 80 N. L. It. B. 6, and cases cited therein. See also , Matter of Clayton and Lambert Manufacturing Company, supra. Â° Cf. Matter of Sprague Electric Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 410. Any participant in the election directed herein may, upon its prompt request to, and approval thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.