The Alloy Cast Steel Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 2, 1940

19 N.L.R.B. 1 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

DECISIONS AND ORDERS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR
RELATIONS BOARD
In the Matter of THE ALLOY CAST STEEL COMPANY and STEEL WORK-
ERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE ON BEHALF OF LODGE 1947, AMALGAMATED
ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL & TIN WORKERS OF NORTH AMERICA,
AFFILIATED WITH C. I. O.
Case No. C-1344.-Decided January 2, 1940
Rough Steel Castings Manufacturing Industry-Interference, Restraint, and
Coercion-Collective Bargaining: respondent admits refusal to bargain following
certification by the Board; respondent's contention that it is not subject to the
jurisdiction of the Board held to be without merit.
Mr. Bernard A. Bralove, for the Board.
Mr. Ben T. Wiant, of Marion, Ohio, for the respondent.
Mr. Joseph Scanlon, of Mansfield, Ohio, for the Union.
Mr. Ray Johnson, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon charges and amended charges duly filed by Steel Workers
Organizing Committee on behalf of Lodge 1947, Amalgamated Asso-
ciation of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America, affiliated
with C. I. 0., herein called the Union, the National Labor Relations
Board, herein called the Board, by the Regional Director for
the Eighth Region (Cleveland, Ohio), issued its complaint on July 7,
1939, against The Alloy Cast Steel Company, Marion, Ohio, herein
called the respondent, alleging that the respondent had engaged in and
was engaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce, within the
meaning of Section 8 (1) and (5) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the
National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act.
Copies of the complaint and accompanying notice of hearing thereon
were duly served upon the respondent and the Union.
In respect to the unfair labor practices, the complaint alleged in
substance (1) that all production and maintenance employees of the
respondent who are paid on an hourly or piece-work basis, with the
exception of inspectors, timekeepers, foremen, assistant foremen, and
clerical workers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining; (2) that on or about May 25, 1938, and at all times
19 N. L. R. B., No. 1.
1
2 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
thereafter , a majority of the employees in said unit had designated
the Union as their representative for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining; ( 3) that on February 8, 1939, the Board certified the Union
as the exclusive representative of all the employees in said unit; and
(4) that on May 25, 1938, March 13, and June 5, 1939 , the respondent,
although requested , refused to bargain with the Union and thereby
interfered with, restrained , and coerced its employees in the exercise of
the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the. Act. On July 11, 1939, the
respondent filed an answer in which it admitted that the Union had
been certified by the Board and that the respondent had refused to
bargain collectively with it, but denied that the Board had jurisdiction
of its person or the subject matter of the complaint.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held at Marion , Ohio, on July 20,
1939, before Charles E. Persons , the Trial Examiner duly designated
by the Board. The Board and the respondent were represented by
counsel and the Union by its representative , and all participated in
the hearing . Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-ex-
amine witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was
afforded all parties . At the close of the Board's case and again at
the close of the respondent 's case, the respondent moved to dismiss
the complaint . The Trial Examiner reserved ruling on the motions
and denied them in his Intermediate Report. During the course of
the hearing , the Trial Examiner made several rulings on other motions
and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has re-
viewed all the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no preju-
dicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.
On August 30, 1939, the Trial Examiner filed an Intermediate Re-
port, copies of which were duly served upon all parties , finding that
the respondent had engaged in and was engaging in unfair labor
practices, within the meaning of Section 8 (1) and (5) and Section
2 (6) and ( 7) of the Act, and recommending that the respondent
cease and desist therefrom and, upon request , bargain collectively
with the Union as the exclusive representative of its employees in the
unit found appropriate by the Board in its Decision of February 8,
1939.1 Thereafter , the respondent filed exceptions to the Intermediate
Report. None of the parties requested oral argument before the
Board. The Board has considered the exceptions to the Intermediate
Report and, except as consistent with the findings, conclusions, and
order hereinafter set forth finds them to be without merit.
I Matter of The Alloy Cast Steel Company and Steel Workers Organizing Committee on
Behalf of Lodge 1947, Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel ct Tin Workers of North
America, Affiliated with C. 1. 0., 11 N. L. R. B. 61.
THE ALLOY CAST STEEL COMPANY 3
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE RESPONDENT 2
The respondent is an Ohio corporation with its executive offices
and manufacturing plant in Marion, Ohio.. It is engaged in the
manufacture, sale, and distribution of rough steel castings. The chief
raw materials used by the respondent in its manufacturing operations
are iron ore, steel scrap, molding sand, fuel oil, sand binders, core oil,
ferro-manganese, ferro-chrome, ferro-silicon, ferro-molybdenum,
ferro-vanadium, and ferro-titanium. From January 1, 1937, to June
1, 1938, the respondent's total purchases of raw materials amounted
in value to $339,609.80, of which 12.86 per cent amounting to $43,673.97
in value were shipped to the respondent's plant from points outside
Ohio. During the period from January 1, 1937, to July 1, 1939,
excluding the month of June 1938, the respondent's total sales of
manufactured products amounted in value to $1,076,286.16.3 Of these
sales 4.2 per cent, amounting to $45,204.02 in value, were made to cus-
tomers outside Ohio and a total of 45.2 per cent, amounting to
$486,481.34, to two customers in Marion, Ohio, namely, 19.08 per cent
to The Osgood Company and 26.12 per cent to The General Excavator
Company.
The respondent is closely associated with The Osgood Company and
The General Excavator Company. Five stockholders, namely, M. C.
McNeil, H. J. Barnhart, Robert C. Owens, Mary Belle Owens, and
C. A. 0., Inc., own 98.5 per cent of the stock of The Osgood Company,
41 per cent of the stock of The General Excavator Company, and 40
per cent of the stock of the respondent.. The three companies have
2 The facts contained in this section are derived from the testimony of Ben Wiant,
treasurer of the respondent , and the facts concerning the respondent 's business which
appear in a stipulation in Matter of The Alloy Cast Steel Company and Steel Workers
Organizing Committee on Behalf of Lodge 1947 , Amalgamated Association of Iron , Steel d
Tin Workers of North America, Affiliated with C. I. 0., 11 N . L. R. B. 61, and which
were incorporated by reference in the instant case pursuant to the following stipulation;
It is hereby stipulated by and among the Alloy Cast Steel Company , by its counsel,
Ben T. Wiant , the Amalgamated Association of Iron , Steel & Tin Workers of North
America , through its representative , the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, by
Joseph Scanlon , Special Representative , and Bernard Bralove, attorney for the
National Labor Relations Board that .
1. The facts concerning the business of The Alloy Cast Steel Company stipulated
in Case No . R-1116 ( VIII-R-156 ) as set forth in the transcript of testimony, pages
12 to 20, Paragraphs 2 (a) to 2 ( aa) inclusive , shall be considered with the same
force and effect as though set forth herein . It is further sfipulated ' and agreed that
the ratios between sales to other customers and to The General Excavator Company
and The Osgood Company, and between purchases made within and without Ohio, and
between sales made within and without Ohio , have. not materially changed between
June 1 , 1938, and the date of this hearing.
The record also contains statistics of the 'respondent's sales ' for the period from
January 1. 1.937, to June 1, 19::8 . for the first and second 6 months ' of 1938 ." dud' for
the first G months of 1939.
4 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a number of common officers and directors. M. C. McNeil is the presi-
dent of the three companies , Robert C. Owens, is the secretary of each,
and Ben T. Wiant, counsel for the respondent, is their common treas-
urer. Five of the seven directors of The Osgood Company are also
directors of The General Excavator Company and of the respondent.
The respondent's plant is located on the same property as that of The
General Excavator Company and the two buildings are physically
joined by a common wall. The plants also have an interconnecting
compressed air hook-up and in times of rush production The General
Excavator Company furnishes the respondent with free compressed
air.
The rough castings purchased from the respondent are machined
and finished by The Osgood Company and The General Excavator
Company and built into their own products. In 1936 total sales of
The Osgood Company approximated $1,500,000 of which from 85 to
90 per cent were made to customers outside Ohio. With respect to
The General Excavator Company approximately 95 per cent of its
finished products are delivered to points outside the State. In other
proceedings before the Board, The Osgood Company and The Gen-
eral Excavator Company have admitted that they are engaged in
interstate commerce, and the Board has so found in its decisions.4 It
is evident, therefore, that in addition to the 4.2 per cent of the Com-
pany's products which are shipped directly outside Ohio, a substantial
amount of such products are, after further processing, shipped to
points outside Ohio.°
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Lodge 1947, Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers
of North America, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, admitting to its membership all produc-
tion and maintenance employees of the respondent who are paid on an
hourly or piece-work basis, with the exception of inspectors, time-
keepers, foreman, assistant foreman, and clerical workers. The
charges were filed on its behalf by Steel Workers Organizing
Committee.
. Matter of The Osgood Company and International Association of Machinists, 4 N. L.
R. B. 312; Matter of The General Excavator Company and International Association of
Machinists , Local 1281 (A. P. of L.), 8 N. L. R. B. 1363.
5 See Matter of Sound Timber Company and International Woodworkers of America,
Locals 67 and 75, 8 N. L . R. B. 844; Matter of Harrisburg Children 's Dress Company and
International Ladies Garment Workers Union, 14 N. L. R. B. 1035; National Labor
Relations Board v . Fainblatt et al., 306 U . S. 601 , rev'g 98 F. (2d) 615 (C. C. A. 3),
and enf 'g Matter of Benjamin Fainblatt and Marjorie Fainblatt, individuals doing busi-
ness under the firm names and styles of Somerville Manufacturing Company and Somerset
Manufacturing Company and International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Local No. 149,
1 N. L. R . B. 864.
THE ALLOY CAST STEEL COMPANY 5.
III. THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES
On February 8, 1939, after hearing upon due notice, the Board
issued its Decision and Certification of Representatives finding that
all production and maintenance employees of the respondent who are
paid on an hourly or piece-work basis, with the exception of inspec-
tors, timekeepers, foreman, assistant foreman, and clerical workers
constituted a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing and certifying the Union as the exclusive bargaining representa-
tive of all the respondent's employees in such unit.,, No evidence was
introduced at the hearing in the instant case to show that the above-
described unit is not appropriate or that the Union did not represent
a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit at the times men-
tioned in the complaint.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the re-
spondent who are paid on an hourly or piece-work basis, with the
exception of inspectors, timekeepers, foreman, assistant foreman, and
clerical workers constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining and that said unit insures to employees of the re-
spondent the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to col-
lective bargaining and otherwise effectuates the policies of the Act.
We further find that on February 8, 1939, and at all times thereafter,
the Union was the duly designated representative of the majority of
the employees in the appropriate unit, and pursuant to Section 9 (a)
of the Act, was on February 8, 1939, and at all times thereafter has
been the exclusive representative of all the employees in such a unit
for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay,
wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.
On March 13, 1939, the Union made a written request that the
respondent bargain with it. On March 18, 1939, the respondent ad-
vised the Union that it was contending.that the Board did not have
jurisdiction to certify the Union and refused to enter into negotiations
with it. On June 5, 1939, the Union again requested the respondent
to bargain with it. On June 8, 1939, the respondent refused this re-
quest. The respondent admits that it refused to bargain with the
Union and contends that it is not engaged in interstate commerce
within the meaning of the Act and therefore is not subject to the,
jurisdiction of the Board. We find no merit in the respondent's
contention.
We find that the respondent on March 13, 1939, and at all times
thereafter, refused to bargain collectively with the Union as the ex-
"Both the respondent and the Union had stipulated that the above -described unit is
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and the Board 's certification was
predicated upon a further stipulation to which the respondent was a party, that the
Union represented a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit.
283030-41-vol. 19-2
6 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
elusive representative of its employees in the appropriate unit, and
that the respondent has thereby interfered with, restrained, and coerced
its employees in. the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7
of the Act.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES UPON COMMERCE
.. We find that the activities of the respondent set forth in Section
III above, occurring in connection with the operations of the respond-
ent described in Section I above, have a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and"
tend to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and
the free flow of commerce.
V. THE REMEDY
Having found that the respondent has engaged in certain unfair
labor practices, we shall order it to cease and desist therefrom and to
take certain affirmative action designed to effectuate the policies of
the Act.
We have found that the respondent has refused to bargain collec-
tively with the Union. We shall order the respondent, upon request,
to bargain collectively with the Union as the exclusive representative
of all the employees in the appropriate unit in respect to rates of pay,
wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. Lodge 1947 , Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin
Workers of North America, affiliated with C. I. 0., is a labor organiza-
tion, within the meaning of Section 2 (5) of the Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees of the respondent
who are paid on an hourly or piece-work basis, with the exception of
inspectors , timekeepers , foreman, assistant foreman , and clerical
workers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3. Lodge 1947 , Amalgamated Association of Iron , Steel & Tin
Workers of North America , affiliated with C. I. 0., was on February
8, 1939, and at all times thereafter has been, the exclusive representa-
tive of all employees in the aforesaid unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the Act.
4. By refusing to bargain collectively with Lodge 1947, Amalga-
mated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America,
'THE ALLOY CAST STEEL COMPANY 7
.af&liated:with C. I. 0., as the exclusive representative of its employees
in the appropriate unit on March 13, 1939, and at all times thereafter,
the respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor prac-
tices, within the meaning of Section 8 (5) of the Act.
5. By interfering with, restraining, and coercing its employees in
the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act, the
.respondent has engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices,
within the meaning of Section 8 (1) of the Act.
6. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices
:affecting commerce, within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of
the Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and conclusions of law,
and pursuant to Section 10 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the respondent,
The Alloy Cast Steel Company, Marion, Ohio, and its officers, agents,
successors, and assigns, shall:
1. Cease and desist from :
(a) Refusing to bargain collectively with Lodge 1947, Amalga-
mated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America,
affiliated with C. I. 0., as the exclusive representative of all its pro-
duction and maintenance employees who are paid on an hourly or
piece-work basis, with the exception of inspectors, timekeepers, fore-
man, assistant foreman , and clerical workers;
(b) In any other manner interfering with, restraining, or coercing
its employees in the exercise of their rights to self-organization, to
form , join, or assist labor organizations , to bargain collectively through
representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in concerted
activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual
aid and protection, as guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act.
2. Take the following affirmative action which the Board finds
will effectuate the policies of the Act :
(a) Upon request, bargain collectively with Lodge 1947, Amalga-
mated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers of North America,
affiliated with C. I. 0., as the exclusive representative of all its produc-
tion and maintenance employees who are paid on an hourly or piece-
work basis, with the exception of inspectors, timekeepers, foreman,
assistant foreman , and clerical workers, in respect to rates of pay,
wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment;
(b) Immediately post notices in conspicuous places throughout
its plant at Marion, Ohio, and maintain such notices for a period of
8 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
sixty (60) consecutive days from the date of the posting stating,
(1) that the respondent will cease and desist as provided in para-
graphs 1 (a) and (b) of this Order; and (2) that the respondent will
take the affirmative action required by paragraph 2 (a) of this Order;
(c) Notify the Regional Director for the Eighth Region in writing
within ten (10) days from the date of . this Order what steps the,
respondent has taken to comply herewith.