Shenango Penn Mold Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 11, 1940

19 N.L.R.B. 328 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter Of SIIENANGO PENN MOLD COMPANY, SHENANGO FUR-
NACE COMPANY, and STEEL WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, ON
BEHALF OF THE AMALGAMATED ASSOCIATION OF IRON. STEEL & TIN
WORKERS OF NORTH AMERICA, LODGE 1032
Case No. R-1647.-Decided January 11, 1940
Ingot Mold Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives: con-
troversy concerning representation of employees : refusal to recognize union-
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: production . and maintenance em-
ployees of two Companies, excluding chemists , watchmen , foremen, and time-
keepers: common ownership and management , functional interrelation , identical
wage policy, single , continuous production operation-Election . Ordered
Mr. Robert H. Kleeb, for the Board.
Mr. John J. Heard and Mr. Carl E. Glock, both of Pittsburgh, Pa.,
for the Companies.
Mr. Benjav?In. C. Sigal, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Union.
Mr. Malcolm, A. Hofmann, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On August 15, 1939, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, on be-
half of Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of
North America, Lodge 1032, herein called the Union, filed with the
Regional Director for the Sixth Region (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania),
a petition alleging that question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Shenango Penn Mold
Company, Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, herein called the Mold Com-
pany, and requesting an investigation and certification of representa-
tives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On November 1, 1939, the
National Labor. Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to
conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
19 N. L. R. B., No. 37.
328
SllENANG0 1i N'N 110LU COMPANY 329
On November 18, 1939, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Mold Company and
the Union. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on December
1, 1939, at Sharon , Pennsylvania , before Peter F. Ward, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board , the Mold Com-
pany, and the Union were represented by counsel and participated
in the hearing.
At the hearing the Union moved to amend its petition to include
in the title thereof the Shenango Furnace Company, herein called
the Furnace Company, and to include in the alleged appropriate
unit employees of both Companies . Counsel for the Mold Company,
who also represented the Furnace Company , consented to the latter's
thus becoming a party to the proceeding, and waived all technical
objections to such procedure , save only an objection that the unit
found appropriate by the Board should not include employees of
both Companies . The Trial Examiner did not rule on the motion
to amend the petition. Such motion is hereby allowed. Full oppor-
tunity 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 Trial Examiner made several
rulings on motions and on 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANIES
Shenango Penn Mold Company, a Pennsylvania corporation with
its principal place of business in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, and with
an office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is engaged in the manufacture
of ingot molds and stools for consumption by the steel industry. The
principal raw materials used by the Mold Company are pig iron,
sand, blacking, and miscellaneous foundry materials. During the
year 1938 more than 75,000 tons of raw material were purchased by
the Mold Company , mostly from sources within the State of Penn-
sylvania. During the same year, approximately 74 per cent of its
finished product was shipped to points outside the State of Pennsyl-
vania. The Mold Company employs about 340 production and main-
tenance employees. The Mold Company concedes that it is engaged
in interstate commerce.
The Mold Company is a subsidiary of the Shenango Furnace Com-
pany, a Pennsylvania corporation, which owns a majority of the
330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Mold Company's capital stock. The Furnace Company also main-
tains a plant in Sharpsville, and there produces liquid pig iron. The
two Companies have the same general plant supervisor and sub-
stantially the same board of directors. Their plants are physically
interrelated, within the same fence limits, and not more than 500
feet apart. The Companies jointly use a Pittsburgh sales office.
The Furnace Company produces liquid pig iron for use by the Mold
Company, which consumes its entire output. The liquid pig iron
is conveyed in ladles by the Furnace Company's locomotive over the
Furnace Company's tracks to the Mold Company's foundry, where
it is processed into ingot molds. The processes of the two plants
comprise a single, continuous production operation.
Iron ore is the chief raw material used by the Furnace Company.
Ninety-five per cent of this ore, which is consumed at the rate of
•approximately 25,000 tons a month, is shipped by rail from mines
near Duluth, Minnesota. The Furnace Company also consumes about
5,000 tons of limestone a month, which has its origin within the State
of Pennsylvania. It employs about 176 employees, 11 of whom work
for both the Mold and Furnace Companies. The same wage policy
obtains at both Companies, and the employees of both Companies are
paid by checks of the Furnace Company.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North
America, Lodge 1032, is a labor organization affiliated with the Con-
gress of Industrial Organizations. It is represented by Steel Work-
ers Organizing Committee, a labor organization, and admits to
membership production and maintenance employees of the two Com-
panies, excluding supervisory and clerical employees, chemists, time
keepers, and watchmen.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In August of 1939 the Union requested the Mold Company and
Furnace Company for recognition as the exclusive representative of
the production and maintenance employees of both Companies. Dur-
ing the summer of 1939 negotiations between representatives of the
Union and both Companies took place, during which the Companies
refused to recognize the Union. The Companies later refused to con-
sent to an election, and expressed a desire that the Board decide
whether or not an election should be held.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
employees of the Shenango Penn Mold Company and Shenango Fur-
nace. Company.
SHFNANGGO PENN MOLD COMPANY 331'
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 Companies
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.
V. TI-TE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that the production and maintenance employees
of both the Mold Company and the Furnace Company, excluding
supervisory and clerical employees, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining. The Companies contend that
a unit encompassing employees of both Companies is inappropriate,
but admit that the operations of the two plants constitute a single,
continuous production operation. We have already noted the physical
proximity of the plants, their functional interrelation, identical wage
policy, and common ownership and management.'
There is no other labor organization contesting the appropriateness
of the unit sought, and since the two Companies operate as a single
integrated enterprise , under common financial control, we find the
Companies' contention to be without merit,' and shall include the
employees of both plants in a single unit.
Chemists, watchmen, foremen, including the chip foreman, and
timekeepers, are not admitted to membership by the Union. The
work of these employees differs substantially from that performed by
employees who are admitted to membership in the Union and their
interests are different from those of the ordinary production and main-
tenance employees. Since their exclusion is desired by the sole labor
organization here involved, we shall exclude them from the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Mold
Company and the Furnace Company at their Sha_rpsville plants, ex-
cluding supervisory and clerical employees, chemists, watchmen, fore-
went, and timekeepers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining and that such unit will insure to the employees
,of the Companies the full benefit of their right to self-organization and
1 Section I, above.
2 Cf. National Labor Relations Board v. Lund et at. ( Christian A. Lund, doing business
as C. A. Lund Company and Northland Ski Manufacturing Company , et al .), 103 F. (2d)
815, (C. C. A, 8 ) ; Matter of Waterman Steamship and Pan -Atlantic Steamship Corporation
and Commercial Telegraphers Union , Marine Division , A . F. of L., 10 N. L. R . B. 1079;
Matter of Art Crayon Company, Inc ., and its affiliate - company, American Artists Color
Works, Inc . and United Artists Supply 11'ork:ers, 7 N . L. R. B. 102.
332 DECISIONS OF NArr].ONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to collective bargaining and will otherwise effectuate the policies of
the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Union asserts that it represents a majority of the employees in
the appropriate unit, but does not seek certification without an, elec-
tion. Consequently, we find that the question concerning representa-
tion can best be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot, and
we shall direct the holding of such an election.
Neither the Union nor the Companies expressed a preference as to
a date governing eligibility to vote in such election. In accordance
with our usual practice, Ave find that those eligible to vote in the elec-
tion shall be the employees in the appropriate unit who are employed
by the Companies at their Sharpsville plants during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein,
including employees who did not work during such pay-roll period
because they were ill, on vacation, or temporarily laid off, but exclud-
ing employees who have since quit or have been discharged for cause.
On the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record
in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Shenango Penn Mold Company and She-
nango Furnace Company, Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees of the Companies at
their Sharpsville plants, excluding supervisory and clerical employees,
chemists, watchmen, foremen, and timekeepers, constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, Within the mean.
ing 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 Relations
Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relation Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Shenango Penn Mold Company and Shenango Furnace Com-
pany, Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, an election by secret ballot shall be
conducted as early as possible but not late it than thirty (30) days from
SHENLANGO PENN MOLD C0NSPANY 333
the date of this Direction of Election, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Sixth 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
production and maintenance employees at the Sharpsville plants of
the Companies who were on the respective pay rolls of the Companies
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation and em-
ployees who were then or who shall have since been temporarily laid
off, but excluding supervisory and clerical employees, chemists, watch-
men, foremen, and timekeepers, and any employees who shall have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by Amalgamated Association of Iron,
Steel & Tin Workers of North America, Lodge 1032, for the purpose of
collective bargaining.