Maryland Sanitary Manufacturing Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 25, 1944

55 N.L.R.B. 773 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Mattel' Of MARYLAND SANITARY MANUFACTURING CORPORA-
TION and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA
In the Matter Of MARYLAND SANITARY MANUFACTURING CORPORA-
TION and PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL
Cases Nos. 5-R-1403 and 5-R-1.11.88 respective7iy.Decided March 05,
1944
Messrs . J. L. DeYouceg and Frank S. Inman, of Baltimore , Md., for
the Company.
Mr. George Q. Lynch, of Washington, D. C., and Mr. Kendall
Allen, of Parkville, Md., for the Pattern Makers.
Mr. Edwin B. Abbott , of Baltimore , Md., for the Steelworkers.
Messrs . C. P. Gibson and J. E. Poulton, of Baltimore , Md., for
the Machinists.
Mr. William R. Cameron, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STA'T'EMENT OF THE CASE.
Upon amended petition duly filed in Case No. 5-R-1488 by Pattern
Makers League of North America, AFL, herein called the Pattern
Makers, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning the representation of employees of Maryland Sanitary
Manufacturing Corporation, Baltimore, Maryland, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert A. Levett, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Baltimore, Maryland, on Feb-
ruary 11, 1944. The Company, the Pattern Makers, the United
Steelworkers of America, C. I. O., herein called the Steelworkers, and
International Association of Machinists, herein called the Machinists,
f5N L R 13. No 139
773
774 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
appeared and participated in the hearing.' All parties were afforded
full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine wit-
nesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial
Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to
file briefs with the Board.
On December 21, 1943, the Board issued a Decision and Direction
of Elections in Case No. 5-R-1403,2 wherein it directed separate elec-
tions among employees of the Company in the foundry and in the
machine and shell shops, respectively. On January 19, 1944, pursuant
to such Direction, elections by secret ballot were conducted under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifth
Region (Baltimore, Maryland). The Board hereby consolidates
Cases Nos. 5-R-1403 and 5-R-1488.
Upon the entire records in the consolidated cases, the Board makes
the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Maryland Sanitary Manufacturing Corporation is a Maryland
corporation whose plant is located at Baltimore, Maryland, where it
is engaged in the manufacture of war products for the United States
Government. During September 1943, the Company used raw mate-
rials valued in excess of $80,000, of which approximately 63 percent
was shipped to its plant from points outside the State of Maryland.
During the same period the Company manufactured finished products
valued in excess of $100,000, of which approximately 98 percent was
shipped to points outside the State of Maryland. , The Company
concedes that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Pattern Makers League of, North America and International As-
sociation of Machinists are labor organizations affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees
of the Company.
United Steelworkers of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
1 International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America, A . F. L., although
served with notice, did not appear or participate in the hearing
253 N.L.R B 1490.
MARYLAND SANITARY MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 775
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Pattern Makers as exclu-
sive bargaining representative of its employees in the unit herein
claimed to be appropriate, unless said organization is certified by the
Board.
A statement of the Field Examiner, introduced in evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Pattern Makers represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit which it claims to be appropriate.'
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 Act.
IV. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Steelworkers contends that the Company's pattern makers are
part of the plant-wide industrial unit which it claims to be appropri-
ate, or, in the event that separate units of employees in the foundry
and in the machine and shell shops are found to be appropriate, the
pattern makers should constitute part of the foundry unit. The Ma-
chinists takes the position that the pattern makers constitute part
of the machine and shell shops unit, contending that the pattern
makers were among those referred to as "maintenance" employees in
the Board's prior decision directing an election in that voting group.'
The record discloses that the Pattern Makers did not have notice
of the pendency of representation proceedings involving the employees
in the Company's foundry and in the machine and shell shops until
shortly before the elections conducted by the Board in those groups,
and immediately upon learning thereof filed its petition seeking a
separate unit of the Company's pattern makers. The record also
discloses that the Company's pattern shop is a department physically
separated from the rest of the machine shop building, where the pat-
tern makers, of whom there were four at the time of the hearing,
'The Field Examiner reported that the Pattern Makers submitted membership ledger
books covering the month of December 1943 and containing the names of five individuals
claimed to be within the appropriate unit. Four of the names so submitted are found on
the Company 's pay roll of December 19, 1943, containing four names within the unit claimed
to be appropriate . The Steelworkers and the Machinists stated at the hearing that they
do not claim any membership among the employees In the unit sought by the Pattern
Makers.
4 See footnote 2, supra.
5It was stipulated by the parties at the hearing that the Pattern Makers was not re-
ferred to in the petition in Case No . 5-R-1403, as being a labor organization having a pos-
sible interest , and was not included in the Notice of Hearing issued with respect to that
case The General President of the Pattern Makers testified that his organization first
learned of the pendency of that case on January 16, 1944, which was 3 days before the
elections directed by the Board were scheduled to be held The Pattern Makers filed its
original petition herein on January 17 , 1944, and in view thereof, pattern makers who pre-
sented themselves at the polls during the elections were permitted to vote only under
challenge
776 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
are engaged solely in the production and repair of patterns for use in
the Company's foundry. Although the pattern makers sometimes
enter the foundry for purposes connected with the repair of patterns,
there is no interchange of employees between the pattern shop and
any other department of the Company. Each of the pattern makers
has maintained membership for a number of years in the Pattern
Makers, and all testified at the hearing that they desired that organ-
ization to represent them. We have in numerous cases found pattern
makers to constitute a well recognized and clearly defined craft such
as may appropriately constitute a separate bargaining unit.' No
reason here appears why the pattern makers may not constitute such
a unit.
The Pattern Makers seeks to include an employee, Herd Hampton
Houston, who is classified by the Company as a leadman in the pattern
shop. He is engaged in the same type of work as the other employees
in the pattern shop, but has the additional duty of assigning jobs of
pattern making and repair to the other pattern makers. He is respon-
sible for the proper completion of jobs to the superintendent of main-
tenance, but has no power to hire, discharge, discipline, or to recom-
mend hiring or discharging. Although this employee testified that he
was of the opinion that probably he could effectively recommend dis-
cipline, he admitted never having exercised such authority. Upon
the record as a whole, we are of the opinion that he is not a super-
visory employee within the meaning of our customary definition; we
shall therefore include him in the unit.
We find that all journeymen pattern makers and their apprentices
employed by the Company, including the leadman, but excluding all
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis-
cipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or
effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act. 0
V. TIIE DETERI'IINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question which has arisen concerning rep-
resentation of the pattern makers be resolved by an election by secret
ballot among the employees in the appropriate pattern makers' unit,
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.
See Matter of Cramp Shipbuilding Company, 53 N L R B 762 , Matter of Crdv ance
Steel Foundry Company, 47 N L R. B 273 ; Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company (Slap-
bui lding Division), 40 N L. R. B. 922.
MARYLAND SANITARY MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 777
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 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represent-
atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Maryland San-
itary Manufacturing Corporation, Baltimore, Maryland, 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 direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifth 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 Regu-
lations, among the employees in the pattern makers' unit found appro-
priate in Section IV, above, 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 employees
in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in
person at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit or been
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to
the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by Pattern Makers League of North America, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
In the Decision in Case No. 5-R-1403,7 the Board made no deter-
mination of the appropriate unit or units, but stated that if the em-
ployees of both groups chose the Steelworkers they would constitute
a single appropriate unit; if not, each of the groups that selected a
bargaining representative would separately constitute an appropriate
unit.
Following-the elections which were held among the employees in the
foundry and in the machine and shell shops, Tallies of Ballots were
furnished the parties in accordance with the Rules and Regulations
of the Board. No objections were filed by any of the parties within
the time provided therefor. The tallies show that of the approxi-
mately 553 eligible voters in the foundry voting group, 373 cast valid
votes, of which 287 were for United Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0.,
76 for International Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North
America, A. F. L., and 10 against the participating unions; 3 ballots
7 See footnote 2, supra.
778 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
were challenged, and 4 were void. The tallies further show that of
the approximately 113 eligible voters in the machine and shell shops
group, 85 cast valid votes, of which 44 were for United Steelworkers
of America, C. I. 0., 32 for International Association of Machinists,
A. F. L., and 9 against the participating unions; 1 ballot was
challenged.8
Upon the entire record in both cases, the Board makes the following :
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACT
We find that all production employees in the Company's foundry
and all production and maintenance employees in the Company's
machine and shell shops, including leadmen, but excluding guards,
first aid and clerical employees, pattern makers, and all supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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, Sections 9 and 10, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3,
IT Is I-IEREBY CERTIFIED that United Steelworkers of America,
C. I. 0., has been designated and selected by a majority of all
production employees in the foundry, and all production and
maintenance employees in the machine and shell shops, of Maryland
Sanitary Manufacturing Corporation, Baltimore, Maryland, includ-
ing leadmen, but excluding guards, first aid and clerical employees,
pattern makers, and all supervisory employees with authority to
hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, as
their representative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and
that pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organization
is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes
of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment.
8 The Amendment to Tallies of Ballots issued by the Regional Director on January 20,
1944, discloses that the above tabulation does not include the challenged ballots cast by the
pattern makers . In view of our finding that the pattern makers do not constitute part of
either voting group in the above-mentioned elections , it is apparent that the results of these
elections cannot be determined by the remaining challenged ballots ; we therefore find it
unnecessary to make any determination with respect thereto.