The Wooster Brass Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 29, 1943

52 N.L.R.B. 951 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of THE WoosTER BRASS COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA (AFL)
Case No. R-5855.-Decided September 29,1943
Messrs. K. E. Hoover and John C. Schellin, of Wooster, Ohio, for
the Company.
Messrs. Tom Brennan and Carl Smigel, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr.
Lloyd N. Loveland, of Wooster, Ohio, for the AFL.
Mr. R. D. Rust, of Mansfield, Ohio, for the IAM.
Miss Frances Lopinsky, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by International Union,
United Automobile Workers of America (AFL), herein called the
AFL, alleging that a question affecting commerce has arisen concern-
ing the representation of employees of The Wooster Brass Company,
Wooster, Ohio, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before William O. Murdock, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Wooster, Ohio, on August 18, 1943. The Company, the AFL, and
International Association of Machinists, herein called the IAM,
appeared, participated 1 and were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues, and to file briefs with the Board. The Com-
pany moved the dismissal of the AFL's petition an the ground that
the unit requested by the AFL is inappropriate. For reasons stated
in Section III below, we shall sustain that motion. The Trial Exam-
iner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and
are hereby affirmed.
Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Helpers, also served with notice, did not appear.
52 N. L. R. B., No. 163.
951
952 DECISIONS OF NA!I'IONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Wooster Brass Company, an Ohio corporation located at
Wooster, Ohio, is engaged in the manufacture of fire equipment
which is used by the armed forces. It annually uses in excess of
$50,000 worth of raw materials, consisting of copper, lead, tin, and
zinc, over 50 percent of which comes to it from outside the State of
Ohio. The value of its finished products is in excess of $100,000
annually, and approximately 60 percent of such finished products
is shipped to points outside the State of Ohio.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Union, United Automobile Workers of America,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and International
Association of Machinists are labor organizations admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The A. F. L. contends for a unit composed of all maintenance and
production employees of the Company excluding supervisory, cleri-
cal, plant-protection, and all foundry employees. The Company
contends that exclusion of foundry employees from the unit is inap-
propriate because interchange of employees within the plant is so
common that it is impossible to divide the plant into separate bar-
gaining units which would be stable. In support of its contention,
the Company presented uncontradicted evidence to establish the
following facts : that although the Company's plant is physically
divided into a machine shop and a foundry and some of the work-
ers in the machine shop may be termed machinists, and some of
those in the foundry may be termed molders or coremakers for pur-
poses of identification, the Company employs no really skilled per-
sonnel. The Company's molds and cores are so simple to make
that they can be made by any worker who can grasp the rudiments
of mold and core making; even the pattern maker is unskilled. Each
employee is taught to handle all operations within the plant so that
if more hands are needed in the foundry, men in the machine shop
can take over; if the shortage occurs in the machine shop, men
working in the foundry can man the machines; and as the machin-
THE WOOSTER BRAS'S COMPANY 953
ists are not skilled machinists, and the molders are not skilled mold-
ers, there is no problem of wasting skills in this constant shifting
around.2 On the Company's pay roll employees are not classified
according to jobs, but are listed only by name. They receive the
same pay for any work they do. We find that the evidence supports
the contention of the Company and that the unit requested by the
A. F. L. is inappropriate.3
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION OF REPRESENTATION
Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition
is not appropriate, as stated in Section III, above, we find that no
question concerning the representation of employees of the Company
in an appropriate bargaining unit has arisen within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) of the Act. Accordingly, the petition will be dis-
missed.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and the entire
record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby or-
ders that the petition for investigation and certification of represen-
tatives of employees of The Wooster Brass Company, Wooster, Ohio,
filed by International Union, United Automobile Workers of Amer-
ica (A. F. L.), be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
MR. GERALD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Order.
2 Two of the employees of the Company testified that they had worked for periods of a
week or more at a time in both the foundry and the machine shop and that they were con-
stantly being shifted about.
8 The AFL admitted that an industrial unit is most appropriate for the plant and that
except for an agreement with the International Molders & Foundry Workers Union it would
have organized the plant industrially. It did, in fact , accept membership from foundry
employees and filed a petition for an industrial unit, later amended to exclude foundry
employees.