Indianapolis Drop Forging Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 12, 1942

40 N.L.R.B. 1294 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter Of INDIANAPOLIS DROP FORGING COMPANY and STEEL
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, LOCAL 2156, C. I. O.
Case No. R-3686.-Decided May 12,19
Jurisdiction : forgings manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : dispute
as to appropriate unit ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : employees in die shop, excluding
clerical employees, checkers, timekeepers, and such shop foremen and super-
visors as are exclusively employed in the direction of working forces and
who have the power to hire and discharge, permitted to determine whether
they shall constitute part of a single production and maintenance unit or a
separate unit; determination of, dependent upon election.
Mr. Carl Wilde and Mr. Herman W. Kothe, of Indianapolis, Ind.,
for the Company.
Mr. James Robb, Mr. Ramsey Wilson, and Mr. Sam Macer, of
Indianapolis, Ind., for the S. W. O. C.
Mr. J. G. Meiner, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr. Lester M. Shearer,
of Indianapolis, Ind., for the Die Sinkers.
Mr. Harley G. Moorhead, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Steel Workers Organizing Committee,
Local 2156 (C. I. 0.), herein called the S. W. O. C., alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Indianapolis Drop Forging Company, Indian-
apolis, Indiana, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Robert D. Malarney, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Indianapolis, Indiana,"on March 31, 1942. The Company, the
S. W. O. C., and the Indianapolis Die Sinkers' Lodge No. 230
(International Die Sinkers' Conference), herein called the Die
Sinkers, appeared, participated,. and were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to intro-
40 N. L. R. B., No. 229.
1294
INDIANAPOLIS DROP FORGING COMPANY 1295
duce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiners' rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Indianapolis Drop Forging Company (Indianapolis, Indiana)
is an Indiana corporation engaged in the business of manufacturing
drop-forgings and flat-die forgings. In the first 11 months of 1941
the Company purchased at a cost of $412,000 materials of which 75
percent were shipped into Indiana from points outside of the State.
During the same period it sold for the total amount of $1,000,000
manufactured products of which 15 percent were shipped directly to
purchasers outside of the State, the remainder to purchasers who
thereafter shipped' the products to points outside of the State. Over
95 percent of the Company's business is related to the war-production
program. The Company admits, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Steel Workers Organizing Committee, Local 2156, affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
Indianapolis Die Sinkers' Lodge No. 230, affiliated with the Inter-
national Die Sinkers' Conference, is a labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company in its die shop.'
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The S. W. O. C. has a contract for exclusive representation of
all production and maintenance employees of the Company, but both
the S. W. O. C. and the Company agree that the contract is not a
bar to the present proceedings.
The S. W. O. C. instituted the present proceedings to determine
whether or not it is entitled to represent the employees in the Com-
pany's die shop, and to resolve a dispute which arose as to this
1 The Die Sinkers admits to membership die-sinker journeymen and apprentices. The
apprentice classifications are as follows trimmers , diemakers , turning-impression men,
lockmen, planermen , repairmen , die polishers, shaper operators , and all who do work
on the face of dies or the sinking thereof in the course of die manufacture and repair.
The Die Sinkers ' Conference , as a national organization , has agreed to cooperate in
national defense efforts by diluting its craft and training and supervising workers who
would not in normal times and circumstances be admitted to membership.
I
1296 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
question in the course of negotiations between the S. W. O. C. and the
Company. The Unions and the Company stipulated at the hearing
herein that the S. W. O. C. represents a majority of the employees
'throughout the plant as a whole, and also that the Die Sinkers repre-
sents a majority of the employees in the die shop.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
representation of employees of the Company's die shop, within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
IV. -THE APPROPRIATE UNIT; TILE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The S. W. O. C. coniends that all production and maintenance
employees of the Company, excluding clerical employees, checkers,
timekeepers, and such shop foremen and supervisors a's are exclusively
employed in the direction of working forces and who have the right
to hire and discharge, constitute an appropriate unit.- The sole
issue in this proceeding is raised by the contention of the Die Sinkers
that employees in the die shop constitute a separate appropriate unit.
The Company takes no position with respect to the appropriate unit.
The Company operates 2 divisions, called the die shop and the
forge shop, respectively. In the (lie shop it employs 24 persons, and
in the forge shop 2.50 persons. The die shop is in a separate building
about 6 to 8 feet from the anain forge-shop building, but is connected
therewith by a doorway or passageway. The die shop contains ma-
chines used for other purposes than die sinking, and a witness for
the S. W. O. C. testified that the die shop was at one time known
as the machine shop. Die sinkers are highly skilled craftsmen who
become journeymen only after 7 years of apprenticeship, truly pro-
ficient and expert craftsmen only after 9 to 10 years. They are able
to do work in other departments of the plant, but as a practical matter
die-sinker employees of the Company do not do such work and leave
their craft tasks in the die shop only to ascertain whether dies which
they have made are functioning properly. No other employees in
the Company have skill which qualifies them to perform the work of
die sinkers. Although certain other employees of the Company, par-
ticularly hammermen, are 'also highly skilled workers, such employ-
ees are able to make as much money as die sinkers only by working
on a piece-rate basis.
The S. W. O. C. has represented employees of the Company on
a plant-wide basis since November 10, 1939, under a contract pro-
viding for a term to continue indefinitely after November f3, 1940,
2 The unit is the same as that for which the S W 0 C barga ins with the Company
under the existing contract between the S W 0 C and the Company
INDIANAPOLIS DROP FORGING COMPANY 1297
with provision for 30-day notice of the desire of either party to-
terminate, modify, or amend. The S. W. O. C. gave the Company
notice to amend on November 13, 1941, and pursuant to this notice
the S. W. O. C. on December 12, 1941, entered into negotiations for
wage increases, a closed shop and deduction of dues from wages..
The negotiations were still in progress on March 16, 1942, on which
day the parties entered into an agreement to suspend the negotiations
to abide the . Board's decision herein. The agreement contemplated
that negotiations would thereafter be resumed with appropriate
representation of employees and provided that any resulting wage
increases would be granted retroactively as of March 16, 1942.
Since September 1941 the Die Sinkers has represented employees
in the die shop. Prior thereto die sinkers because dissatisfied with
the representation their craft received from the S. IV. O. C. They
requested that a Lodge be chartered for them, and when a national
representative of the Die Sinkers' Conference acceded to their re-
quest, 22 of the 24 employees in the die shop became members.
Since autumn 1941 the Die Sinkers has bargained for them informally
in conferences with company officials. A raise of 20 cents per hour
was granted..to die sinkers as a result of this bargaining.
The S. W. O. C.-contends that a finding of separate appropriate-
units would disrupt the organization of the plant; however, the
president of the International Die Sinkers' Conference testified with-
out contradiction that in other plants throughout the country Die
Sinkers' Lodges have represented members of their craft and co-
operated with organizations affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations which represented other employees in such plants. He
also stated that because of the present emergency die sinkers may
be shifted from plant to plant throughout the country, that in two-
thirds of the plants wherein die sinkers are employed they are
represented by a Die Sinkers' Lodge, and that such Lodges without
fee or charge will accept transfer of an employee represented by the
Die Sinkers.
Under all the- circumstances we are of the opinion that the em-
ployees in the Company's die shop might properly constitute a
separate bargaining unit, or might equally achieve the full benefit
of their right to self-organization and collective bargaining as part
of a plant-wide unit. In accordance with our usual practice in such
cases we hold that the determining factor is the desires of the-
employees themselves. We shall direct that the question concerning
iepresentation which has arisen shall be resolved by an election by
secret ballot among the employees in the Company's die shop, ex-
chiding clerical employees, checkers, timekeepers, and such shop fore-
men and supervisors as are exclusively employed in the direction of
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1298 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
working forces and who have the power to hire and discharge, to
,determine whether those eligible to vote desire to be represented
for the purposes of collective bargaining by the S. W. O. C. or by
the Die Sinkers, or by neither. In the event that the S. W. O. C.
receives a majority of the votes cast in the election the employees
'in the die shop will constitute a part of a single production and
maintenance unit. • In the event that the Die Sinkers receives a
majority of the votes cast in the election, said employees will con-
stitute a separate appropriate unit and we shall certify the Die
Sinkers as its exclusive bargaining representative.
We shall direct that eligibility to vote in the election be determined
by reference to the pay roll for the period immediately preceding
the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations
and additions set forth in the Direction. In the event that the
S. W. O. C. does not desire to participate in the election among the
employees in the die shop and notifies the Regional Director to that
effect within five (5) days of the date of the Direction of Election,
its name will be removed from the ballot. Since it appears that
there is no issue concerning the representation of employees of the
Company not employed in the die shop, we shall not direct an
,election among such employees.
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
Relations 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 to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Indianapolis
Drop Forging Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 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 of Election, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for- the
Eleventh 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, among all employees who were employed
by said Company in its die shop during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the date of this Direction, including any such em-
ployees who did not work during such 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 clerical
employees, checkers, timekeepers, and such shop foremen and super-
INDIANAPOLIS DROP FORGING COMPANY 1299
visors as are exclusively employed in the direction of working forces
and who have the right to, hire and discharge, and any employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine
whether they desire to be represented by Steel Workers Organizing
Committee, Local 2156, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
'Organizations, or by Indianapolis Die Sinkers' Lodge No. 230, affili-
ated with the International Die Sinkers' Conference, for the purposes
of collective bargaining, or by neither.
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