Green Bay Drop Forge Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 15, 1953

104 N.L.R.B. 156 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

1 56 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protec-
tion, and to refrain from any or all of such activities.
WE WILL make whole each of our employees for any loss of pay suffered as a result of
the discrimination against him.
All our employees are free to become or remain members of the above-named union or any
other labor organization.
Employers.
Dated .............. By............................................................................................
(Representative) (Title)
This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be altered,
defaced, or covered by any other material.
GREEN BAY DROP FORGE CO. and UNITED AUTOMOBILE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner
GREEN BAY DROP FORGE CO. and UNITED ELECTRICAL,
RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA (UE), Peti-
tioner. Cases Nos. 13-RC-3221 and 13-RC-3225. April 15,
1953
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was
held before Allen P. Haas, hearing officer. The hearing offi-
cer'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 Act, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with these
cases to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Styles,
and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer.'
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the rep-
resentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. All the parties except the UE agree that separate units
of the Employer's forge shop employees, covered by the
petition in Case No. 13-RC-3225, and of the remaining pro-
duction and maintenance employees, covered by the petition
in Case No. 13-RC-3221, are appropriate. The UE, although
it filed the petition seeking a forge shop unit, contended at
i In Case No . 13-RC-3221, filed by the UAW-AFL, Lodge 1289, International Association of
Machinists , AFL, and United Electrical , Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), herein
respectively called the IAM and the UE, intervened . In Case No . 13-RC-3225 , filed by the UE,
Local No . 44, International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths , Drop Forgers and Helpers, AFL,
herein called the Blacksmiths , intervened.
104 NLRB No. 28.
GREEN BAY DROP FORGE CO. 157
the hearing that a plantwide unit is alone appropriate and
requested an election in such unit . As to composition, the
parties are in substantial agreement , except with respect to
certain classifications discussed below.
As for the question of scope, the Board , in a previous repre-
sentation proceeding involving this Employer,2 found , in sub-
stance, that either separate units of the forge shop employees
and of the remaining production and maintenance employees,
or a combined unit, might be appropriate and directed separate
elections among these voting groups. After ascertaining the
desires of these employees , the Board found separate units
to be appropriate and certified the Blacksmiths and the UE as
representatives of the forge shop and the residual production
and maintenance units respectively . Although a subsequent
contract , entered into by the Employer on the one hand and the
Blacksmiths and the UE on the other , provides for occasional
transfer of employees between the units , it does not appear
that substantial operational changes have been effected any-
where in the plant since the date of that proceeding . We are of
the opinion , therefore , that either a single unit or separate
units may be appropriate for collective - bargaining purposes,
but we shall make no final unit determination before ascertain-
ing the employees ' desires as expressed in the elections
directed below.
There remains for consideration the inclusion or exclusion of
the following classifications:
Checkers : The UAW-AFL, IAM, and UE would include,
and the Employer exclude , these employees , who in the past
have been included in the residual production and maintenance
unit. The checkers make interim inspections of the production
work and check the original setups of the setup men; occasion-
ally they themselves do production work also. In discharging
their duties as checkers , they follow a prescribed procedure,
working from blueprints and standard inspection books. In the
event they discover any defects , they must refer them to pro-
duction supervisors , who alone may stop production because of
the defects and who alone assume the responsibility for the
stoppage . We find that the checkers should be included in the
residual production and maintenance voting group.3
Indentured apprentices : At the date of the hearing , indentured
apprentices were employed both in the toolroom, which is
part of the residual production and maintenance unit, and in
the dieroom , which is part of the forge shop unit . The Em-
ployer , contrary at least to the IAM and the Blacksmiths, would
exclude these apprentices because employed under Wisconsin
indenture contracts which determine , among other things, their
duties, hours, and wages. However , in accord with prior
2 Green Bay Drop Forge Company , 95 NLRB 1122.
SVirginia Gear and Machine Corporation . 88 NLRB 58 . At the hearing, the Employer asserted
that it plans to confer upon the checkers the additional authority to stop production on dis-
covering defects and that such responsibility would render them analogous to inspectors who
have been excluded from the unit. However, it appears that this exclusion of inspectors was,
pursuant to an agreement of the parties . See Green Bay Drop Forge Company , supra. In our
opinion, this additional limited authority , even if it affected employees ' earnings, would not
alter the propriety of including checkers. Dortch Stove Works, Inc., 79 NLRB 1258.
158 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Board determinations involving similar employees, we shall
include the indentured apprentices in their respective voting
groups.4
In accordance with the foregoing, we shall direct elections
among the following groups of employees at the Employer's
Green Bay, Wisconsin, plant:
(1) All forge shop employees, including employees in the
press and wheelabrator rooms, the forge shop inspector,5
maintenance employees, and dieroom employees, but excluding
plant clerical employees,6 office clerical employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.
(2) All remaining production and maintenance employees,
including the chief inspector,' but excluding plant clerical
employees,$ office clerical employees, time-study expediters,
draftsmen, nurses, engineers and "GI" trainees for such jobs,
employees in voting group (1), guards, and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
If a majority of the employees in each of the voting groups
(1) and (2) select the same labor organization, the employees
in voting group (1) will be taken to have indicated their desire
to comprise part of a plantwide unit, and the Regional Director
conducting the election is instructed to issue a certification of
representatives to the labor organization selected by the two
groups, which the Board, in such circumstance, finds is a
single unit appropriate for collective -bargaining purposes.
If, however, a majority of the employees in voting group (1)
selects a labor organization which a majority of the employees
in voting group (2) does not select, the employees in voting
group (1) will be taken to have indicated their desire to consti-
tute a separate unit; and if a majority of the employees in vot-
ing group (2) also select a labor organization, the Regional
Director conducting the elections is instructed to issue separate
certifications of representatives to the labor organizations so
selected for (a) a unit consisting of the employees in voting
group (1), and (b) a unit consisting of the employees in voting
group (2), which units the Board, in such circumstance, finds
are separate units appropriate for collective -bargaining pur-
poses.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
4Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, Supercharger Works, 54 NLRB 1587 , and cases
cited therein.
sAt the date of the hearing, there appears to have been one inspector employed in the entire
)lant, the chief inspector , who worked inboth units. The record does not reveal the extent of his
duties in the forge shop and in the rest of the plant , or the exact nature of his authority. We
shall permit him to vote in both voting groups , subject to challenge.
6Timekeepers are employed in both units. These employees are engaged in customary time-
keeping duties in the plant. Since all parties have agreed to exclude plant clerical employees,
the timekeepers , whom we find to be plant clerical employees , are excluded from both the
forge shop and the residual production and maintenance groups.
7See footnote 5. supra
6 The storeroom clerk, working in the stores department , is responsible for receiving mate-
rials and seeing that they correspond to purchase orders and conform to inspection require-
ments . He also maintains a supply inventory . Since all parties have agreed to exclude plant
clerical employees , we shall exclude the storeroom clerk , whom we find to be a plant clerical.
In view of this determination, we find it unnecessary further to decide whether the storeroom
clerk should be excluded as a supervisor.