Walworth Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 26, 1940

20 N.L.R.B. 864 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter Of WALWORTH COMPANY and PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE
OF NORTH AMERICA (A. F. OF L.)
In the Matter Of WALWORTH COMPANY and STEEL WORKERS ORGAN -
IZING COMMITTEE, ON BEHALF OF A. A. I. S. T. OF N. A.
Cases Nos. R-1672 and R-1673, respectively. Decided February
06, 1940
Valve and Pipe Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives:
controversy concerning representation of employees: dispute between craft and
industrial unions as to appropriate unit-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bar-
gaining: election to determine ; pattern-storage employee not to participate in
election for pattern makers; three working, occasional supervisors to partici-
pate-Election Ordered
Mr. Robert H. Kleeb, for the Board.
Mr. E. H. Briggs, of Greensburg, Pa., and Mr. W. H. Holton, of
New York City, for the Company.
Mr. C. D. Madigan, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the League.
Mr: Benjamin C. Sigal, of. Pittsburgh, Pa., and Mr. Anthony W.
Smith, of Washington, D. C., for the S. W. O. C.
Mr: Joseph Forer, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On September 13, 1939, Pattern Makers League of North America
(A. F. L.), herein called the League, filed with the Regional Di-
rector for the Sixth Region (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of The Walworth Company,' Greens-
burg, Pennsylvania,..herein called the . Company, and- requesting an
investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
the Act. On November 8, 1939, Steel Workers Organizing Com-
mittee, herein called the S. W. O. C., filed a similar petition. On
I Erroneously termed "Walworth Company" in the petition.
20 N. L. R. B., No. 80.
864
. WALWORTH COMPANY 865
December 6, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called
the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article
III, Sections 3 and 10 (c) (2), of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations=Series 2, ordered an investigation, author-
ized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an.appro-
priate hearing upon due notice, and further ordered that the cases
be consolidated.
On December 14, 1939, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the
League, and the S. W. O. C.
Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on December 28 and 29,
1939, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before Earl S. Bellman, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board and the S. W._
O. C. were represented by counsel, and the Company and the League:
by their respective representatives; all participated in' the hearing-
Full opportunity to be heard, to, examine and cross-examine wit-
nesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded
all parties. At the hearing all parties stipulated to incorporate in
the record the transcript of hearing and exhibits of an earlier
proceeding 2 involving the same issues and essentially the same
parties.3
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.
On January 8, 1940, the League filed a brief, which the Board
has considered. On January 23, 1940, a hearing for the purpose of
oral argument was held before the Board at Washington, D. C. The
Company:. was, represented. by its president, the League by its repre-
sentative, . and the S.. W. O. C. by counsel ; all participated in the
argument.
Pursuant to leave granted by the Board at the hearing for oral
argument, the Company filed a memorandum on January 27; 1940,
which has been considered by the Board.
Matter of The Walworth Company and Pattern Makers ' Association of Pittsburgh and
Vicinity, Pattern Makers ' League of N. A.; Matter of The Walworth Company and Steel
Workers Organizing Committee on behalf of the A. A. I. S. T. of N. A., 8 N. L. R. B. 765,
decided August 2, 1939. Board Member Edwin S. Smith dissented. A supplemental deci-
sion and certification was thereafter issued (15 N. L. R. B. 53 , decided September 1, 1939),
with Board Member William M. Leiserson not participating.
The parties in. the earlier proceeding were the Company, Pattern Makers ' Association
of Pittsburgh and Vicinity , an affiliate of the League , and the S. W . 0. C. on behalf of
Amalgamated Association of Iron , Steel and Tin Workers of North America.
$6B DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, thee Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF' THE COMPANY
In its Decision of August 2, 1938,4 the Board made the following
findings concerning the business of the Company :
The Company is a corporation organized in 1872 under the
laws of Massachusetts. It operates plants in five different States
and maintains sales offices in New York City and in 12 other
States. Its products are sold through wholly owned subsidiaries
in the United States, Canada, and abroad. It employs 95 sales-
men who travel, in all. of Ahe ..States' of the United States.. , The
volume of its business in dollars for 1935 was $7,959,333i for
1936, $10,629,261; and for the first 6 months of 1937, $7,562,366.
The Company manufactures, in excess of 40,000 separate items,
consisting of valves, pipe fittings, pipe tools, cast-iron_ pipe, etc.
There are in the United States some 160 manufacturers of these
products. The Company does approximately 15 per cent of the
total business of the industry.
The only plant of the Company here involved is that located
at Greensburg, Pennsylvania. This plant consists of 30 depart-
ments, including a pattern shop and five foundries. The.princi-
pal raw materials used at the plant are, iron, and -steel scrap, coal,
oil, brass, etc. Approximately 70 per cent of these materials
are derived from outside:`he=-State of^.^Pennsylvania. The prod-
ucts of. the Greensburg plant are shipped to all the States and
possessions of the United States, Canada, and foreign countries.
Approximately 90 per cent of such products .are shipped, to
points outside Pennsylvania by railroad, truck, and airplane
carrier . The average number of persons employed at the :plant
for the first 11 months of 1937 was 1,864. Of this number, 43
were employed in the pattern shop and one in pattern storage.
At the hearing in the instant proceedings, P. H. Briggs, who is the
Company's work manager at .its Greensburg plant and who appeared
...in`the-proceedings on behalf, of the Company, stated, and -we"find,
,that the nature of the Company's business is substantially the same
as found by the Board in its Decision of August 2, 1938; that the
volume of the Company's business, as found in our earlier: Decision,
has remained practically the same; and that the employees on the
pay roll as of the time of the previous hearing have been-substantially
A 8 N. L. R. B. 765. See footnote 2, supra.
WALWORT'H= COMPANY 867
maintained, despite the fact that one of the Company's foundries
was closed on April 1, 1939.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Pattern Makers League of North America is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and composed of
"associations of practical pattern makers, known to be competent
workmen, of good character, who acknowledge its jurisdiction and
conform to its laws." The League claims jurisdiction over the trade
in all its branches.
Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers of
Nor-th:America, herein called the Amalgamated, is a labor organization
admitting to its membership all production and maintenance em-
ployees, exclusive of foremen, assistant foremen, supervisors, watch-
men, and office employees, in the Company's Greensburg plant." The
Amalgamated is affiliated with Steel Workers Organizing Committee,
a labor organization which is in turn affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The S. W. O. C. alleges that the employees in the pattern shop of
the Company's Greensburg plant are properly included in a plant-
'wide..unit..The- :League .:alleges that these employees constitute a
separate bargaining unit.. Each organization claims to represent a
majority of the employees in the unit it urges.
On March 3, 1939, while the earlier proceedings were pending
before the Board, the S. W. O. C. and the -Company entered into a
contract whereby the Company recognized the S. W. O. C. as sole
bargaining representative of the employees at the Company's Greens-
burg plant "subject to final orders of the National Labor Relations
Board as to the status of S. W. O. C. or of any other union organized
;among_the eniploy_ees of the, Greensburg Works." The contract, con-
taining as it does the reservation quoted, is no bar to our determina-
tion of representatives.
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of
employees of the Company.
'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 Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic,-and commerce among the several States, and
868 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL -LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tends to lead to labor - disputes burdening and obstructing -commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
As already stated, the S. W. 0. C. claims a plant-wide unit and
the League claims a separate unit of the pattern-shop employee's.
The same contentions were made in the earlier proceeding. The
Board found in its Decision of August 2, 1938, that under all the
circumstances the employees in the pattern shop, exclusive of the
three foremen,5 could be considered either as a separate unit or as
part of a single industrial unit. The Board held, therefore, that the
determining factor should be the wishes of the pattern-shop em-
ployees themselves,6 and directed an election accordingly.?
The considerations which were applicable to the earlier proceeding
remain, and for the reasons expressed in the majority opinion of
the Board's previous Decision, we shall permit the wishes of the
pattern-shop employees to determine whether or not they constitute
a separate unit.
At the hearing in the present case, questions were raised as to
the eligibility of four individuals to participate in the determination
of the wishes of the pattern-shop employees. The S. W. 0. C. con-
tends, in opposition to the League, that H. Henninger, the pattern-
storage employee, should be permitted to participate. Henninger
is responsible for storing patterns and- producing them from storage
when required. He does not work in connection with the making
of patterns and is not eligible for membership in the League, which
does not regard pattern chasers as members of a pattern makers'
craft. We find that Henninger is not properly classified as a pattern
maker and should not participate in the choice of a representative
for the pattern-shop employees.
Robert E. Bender is listed on the Company's pay : roll as "super-
visor core machines," J. S. Hudock is listed as "supervisor grinders,"
and H. J. Bagley is listed as "supervisor markers." The League
contends that these three individuals should be permitted to par-
ticipate in the determination of a representative for the pattern-shop
employees. The S. W. 0. C. claims that they should be excluded as
5It appears from the record in the present . proceeding that the three "foremen" are
actually one foreman and two assistant foremen . There is no dispute in the present case
as to the exclusion of these individuals from - such unit as is found to be appropriate.
6 Cf. Matter of The Globe Machine and Stamping Co . and Metal Polishers Union, Local
No. 3; International Association of Machinists , District No. 54 ; Federal Labor Union
18788, and United Automobile Workers ' o f America, 3 N. L. R . -B. 294.
7 At the election subsequently held a tie vote resulted between the two unions on the
ballot. Accordingly, the petition of the Pattern Makers' Association of Pittsburgh and
vicinity was thereafter dismissed . See 15 N. L. R. B. 53 , and footnote 2, supra.
WALWORTH COMPANY 869
being supervisory employees.' Bender, Hudock, and Bagley have no
power to hire - or 'discharge 'but may recommend discharges. They
are paid on an hourly basis, but at a rate higher than that of the
other pattern-shop employees, and are eligible to membership in
the League. They are assigned to particular operations in the shop.
When required by these operations, men who can be spared from
other tasks in the pattern shop are assigned to work under the
directions :of Bender and Bagley. Hudock directs the work of. the
grinders. All three voted in the election previously held for the
pattern-shop employees. Under the circumstances we find that
Bender, Hudock, and Bagley should be permitted to participate in
the choice of a representative for the pattern-shop employees.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The evidence adduced at the hearing does not permit a finding as
to ' the wishes of the pattern-shop employees. We shall therefore
order that an election by secret ballot shall be held for these em-
ployees. In accordance with our usual practice, eligibility to vote
will be determined by reference to the pay-roll period last preceding
the date of this Direction of Election.
On, September 1, 1939, the Board certified the S. W. O. C., on'
behalf :of, the Amalgamated, as representative of a plant-wide unit
with the exclusion of the pattern-shop employees." At the hearing
the parties conceded that the S. W. O. C. has retained its majority
within the unit as certified. Consequently, if the S. W. O. C. obtains
'a majority at the election, we shall certify the S. W. O. C. as repre-
sentative of a plant-wide unit including the pattern-shop employees.
If the League obtains a majority at the election the pattern-shop
employees will constitute a separate unit. In such event, we shall
dismiss the S. W. O. C.'s present petition on the basis that the peti-
tion raises no ,question concerning representation. Such action, of
course; will. not_.prejudice our prior certification of the S. W. O. C.
As the S. W. O. C. was previously certified on behalf of the Amal-
gamated, we shall, for the sake of uniformity, place it on the ballot
as appearing in the same capacity.
Upon the .basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSION OF LAW
A question, , affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees.of The Walworth Company at its Greensburg,
815 N. L. R. B. 53 . See footnote 2, supra.
283031-41-vol. 20-56
870 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
"Pennsylvania, plant; within the meaning ofSection 9 (c) -aii&'Soction
. 2 (6) and (7) 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 Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series
2, as amended , it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purpose of collective bargaining
with The Walworth Company, Greensburg; =Pennsylvania,- 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
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 the employees of The Walworth Company at
its Greensburg, Pennsylvania, plant who were employedin the pattern
shop of said plant during the pay-roll period last preceding the date
of this Direction, including Robert E. Bender, J. S. Hudock,. and.
H. J. Bagley, employees who did not work during such pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation , and employees who were
then or have since been,: temporarily laid-off , bltt..excluding; H. Hen
ninger , foremen , assistant foremen, and any employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause , to determine whether.. they
desire to be represented by Pattern Makers League of North America,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, or by Steel
Workers Organizing Committee, on behalf of Amalgamated Associa-
tion of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of North America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , for the purposes of
collective bargaining , or by neither.
MR. EDWIN S . SMITH , dissenting:
As observed by the majority of the Board, :the. considerations ap-
plicable in the earlier Walworth case persist. I dissent now as I
did before, and for the same reasons.s I would dismiss the League's
petition and certify the S. W. O. C. for a plant-wide unit.
9 See my dissent in Matter of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company and International
Union, United 4utomobile Workers of America, Local 248, 4 N. L. R. B. 159; and my con-
curring opinion in Matter of American Can Co. and Engineers Local No. 30, Firemen 4
Oilers Local No. 56, 13 N. L. R. B. 1252.