World Steel Products Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 8, 1940

27 N.L.R.B. 701 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter Of WORLD STEEL PRODUCTS CORPORATION and ARCHI-
TECTURAL & ENGINEERING GUILD, LOCAL 66, IFTEA & DU, A. F.
or L.
Case No. B-2027. -Decided October 8, 1940
Jurisdiction : door, frame, trim and timber product manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: dis-
pute as to appropriate unit; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees in the technical 'or
engineering department including draftsmen, the supervisory draftsman, the
lister or scheduler, if any, the production engineer, and the assistant to the
production engineer, but excluding estimators, assistant superintendents of
construction, and the shop foreman and his assistant.
Mr. J. B. Sussman., of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. J. Lawrence Raimist, of New York City, for the Union.
.Miss Edna Loeb, of counsel to the Board:
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 15, 1940, Architectural & Engineering Guild, Local 66,
International Federation of Technical Engineers', Architects', &
Draftsmen's Unions, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
herein called" the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the
Second Region (New York City), a petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of, em-
ployees of World Steel Products Corporation, New York City,
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 August 10, 1940, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and
Article III, Section 3, of National "Labor Relations Board Rules;
and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and
authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
27 N. L. R. B.. No. 132.
701
702 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
appropriate hearing upon due notice. On August 13, 1940, the Union
filed with the Regional Director an amended petition.'
On August 13, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the
Union. Pursuant to the notice , a hearing was held on August 29
and 30 and September 3, 1940, at New York, City, before Mark
Lauter, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Company and the Union appeared by representatives and partici-
pated- in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard , to examine and
cross -examine witnesses , and to-,introduce evidence bearing on the
issues was afforded all parties. At the close of the hearing the Union
moved to amend its petition as to the approximate number of em-
ployees in the bargaining unit in respect to which it alleged that a
question concerning representation had arisen . This motion was
granted by the Trial Examiner. The Board has reviewed the rul-
ings made by the Trial Examiner during the course of,the hearing-
on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
World Steel Products Corporation is a New York corporation
with its main office and principal place of business in New York
City. It is engaged in the manufacture , sale, and installation of
metal and metal-covered doors , frames , trim and timber products.
The chief raw materials used by the Company in the course of its
manufacturing operations are lumber and sheet steel . During the
first 6 months of the year 1940, it purchased raw materials valued
at approximately $70,000, approximately 90 percent of which were
shipped to the Company 's plant in New York City from sources out-
side the State of New York. During the same period the Company's
finished products - amounted in value to approximately $55,000, ap-
proximately 20 percent of which products were shipped to points out-
side the State of New York.
11. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Architectural & Engineering Guild, Local 66, International Federa-
tion of Technical Engineers ', Architects', & Draftsmen 's Unions, is
a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.
It admits to its membership employees of the Company.
WORLD STEEL PRODUCTS CORPORATION 703
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In April and May 1940 the Union informed the Company that it
represented a majority of the Company's engineering department
employees and requested that the Company recognize and bargain
collectively with it in behalf of such employees. The Company re-
fused and still refuses to do so because of doubts regarding the ap-
propriate bargaining unit and the Union's representation of a
majority of the employees in such unit.
From the Regional Director's written statement, introduced into
evidence, it appears that the Union has substantial representation
among the, Company's engineering department employees.,
We find that a question has arisen concerning the 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
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
In its amended petition the 'Union claims that the appropriate
bargaining unit comprises all permanent employees in the technical or
engineering department, including draftsmen, supervisory drafts-
men, and the lister or scheduler. At the hearing the Union and the
Company agreed that the production engineer should be included in
the appropriate unit, and the Company did not object to the in-
clusion of its sole supervisory draftsman and its lister or scheduler.
We shall include the production engineer, the supervisory drafts-
man, and the lister or scheduler, if any,' in the unit.
'On August 6, 1940 , prior to the hearing, the Regional Director received four signed
letters stating that the signers had signed application cards authorizing the Union to
represent them in collective bargaining with any employer. The Regional Director re-
ported, in substance , that all four signatures appeared to be "genuine original signatures,"
and were the names of persons in the alleged appropriate unit appearing on the Company's
pay roll as of July 16, 1940 Although the Company claimed that there were eight em-
ployees in the alleged appropriate unit, the , Regional Director stated that the said pay
roll showed that there were only six therein Since July 16, 1940, two of the six employees
have ]eft the Company ' s employ, and the Company has hired an additional employee within
the alleged unit. It therefore appears that at the time of the hearing the Union repre-
sented at least two of the five employees within the said unit
At present listing or scheduling is being done by the supervisory draftsmen The Com-
pany has in the past employed a separate person to do this work , however, and may again
employ such a person in the future. ,
704 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company employs four non-supervisory draftsmen. The Union
desires to exclude one of them, Joseph Bitter, as a temporary em-
ployee. The Company asserts that all four or none belong in the
appropriate unit. The record shows that three of the draftsmen have,
a substantial expectancy of continued employment with the Company
and that no definite' date has been set for the termination of their
employment. Bitter, on the other hand, is a student who was em-
ployed for the summer recess. He is returning to school in Septem-
ber 1940. It does not appear that he worked for the Company before
or that he will again work for the Company after the 1940 school
vacation. We, shall exclude Bitter from the appropriate unit but
shall include the other three draftsmen. ' I
The Company employs two estimators. The Union would exclude,
and the Company include, them. Although estimators are normally
eligible to union membership, the Union has made no attempt to
organize them, either at the Company or at other companies with
which it has contacts, because of the difficulty of establishing wage
rates for such employees. It appears that the Union has contracts
with other companies which employ both draftsmen and estimators,
and that the latter are excluded from the bargaining units fixed by
such contracts.
As contrasted with the draftsmen who rarely, if ever, do work out-
side the drafting room, the two estimators employed by the Company
spend a great deal of their time on outside work. Under the direct
supervision of the president of the Company, not that of the super-
visory draftsman, they perform the important and responsible work
of estimating the cost of executing manufacturing and construction
contracts which the Company desires to secure, placing bids thereon,
and making sales. They also do delicate field measurement work,
sometimes supervise installation of the Company's 'products, and list
materials for fabrication. They share a private office walled off
from the drafting room, work only 5 days a week while the drafts-
men work 51/2 days, have irregular and unusual office hours, and very
seldom come into contact with the drafting room employees. They
consult with the supervisory draftsman on an average of only five-
times monthly and only in exceptional cases do they confer with non-
supervisory draftsmen regarding drawings made pursuant to con-
tracts for which they have made the estimates. The salaries of the
two estimators are approximately double the average salary paid the
non-supervisory draftsmen and the production engineer. Upon this
record we find that the estimators do not belong in the appropriate
unit.
The Company employs two assistant superintendents of construc-
tion,'whom the Company would include and the Union exclude. 'They
WORLD STEEL PRODUCTS CORPORATION 705
are field employees who assist the Company's construction superin-
tendents in overseeing the installation of the Company's doors and
frames in buildings under construction. They do no inside work and
only occasionally come to the engineering or drafting department to
consult with draftsmen. Like the estimators and unlike the drafts-
men, these two employees work only 5 days per week. Both are ap-
parently graduate engineers with little or no practical experience and
they earn from $3 to $10 -less per week than do the non-supervisory
draftsmen. Their field work includes checking and requesting neces-
sary materials, marking the places where doors and frames are to be
installed in buildings under construction according to construction
plans, scheduling the work of the Company's carpenters so that they
may be kept busy, assuming responsibility for the latter's work in the
absence of the superintendents, checking such work, and making out
form reports daily -on its progress. The assistant construction super-
intendents are in effect contact or liaison men for the Company and
their duties are of such a non-technical nature and require so little
experience that they are not eligible to the Union's niembership.3
The two assistant superintendents of construction presently em-
ployed may be given miscellaneous work in the engineering depart-
ment for brief intervals between the completion- of one construction
project and the commencement of another. Purely temporary as-
signments such as these do not entitle them to be- included -in the unit.
We.find that assistant superintendents of construction should be
excluded from the unit.
The Company employs an assistant to its production engineer. The
Company desires his inclusion within, and the Union his exclusion
from, the unit. The assistant's duties include the non-technical tasks
of tracing for the draftsmen, assisting the production engineer in
compiling figures from time cards, filing, and attending the switch-
board in the absence of the regular operator. His salary is less than
half that of the average draftsman. He is ineligible to membership in
the Union because of his lack of technical education or, training .and
because of the non-technical and "fill-in" character of his employ-
ment:. Nevertheless, his position' in effect is that of helper to the pro-
duction engineer, and since the Union has agreed to the latter's inclu-
sion, we find that his helper also belongs in the appropriate unit.
The Company employs a shop foreman and an assistant shop fore-
man. At the close of the hearing the Company -asked that they be
In housing construction projects the Company is a subcontractor The Union admits
to membership construction superintendents of general contractors or builders of entire
projects It places such superintendents in a separate internal organizational division and
conducts separate collective bargaining negotiations in their behalf, apart from its negotia-
tions in behalf of engmeeriiig or technical employees
323428-42-vol 27-46
706 DECISIONS - OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
included in the unit. The Union opposes this inclusion. Although
the shop forem ,an and his assistant periodically confer with the super-
visory draftsman and, company officials regarding practical methods
of construction -and perhaps other technical problems , they are pro-
duction officials stationed in the Company 's factory , which is separate
from the engineering department. They appear to be ineligible to
membership in the Union. We shall exclude them from the unit.
We find that all employees in the technical or engineering depart-
ment of the Company, including draftsmen , the supervisory drafts-
man, the lister or scheduler , if any, the production engineer , and the
assistant to the production engineer , but excluding estimators, as-
sistant superintendents of construction , and the shop foreman and his
assistant, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com-
pany the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collec-
tive bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
We shall direct that those eligible to vote in the election shall be
the employees within the appropriate unit who were employed by
the Company during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
.date of our Direction of Election, including employees who did not
work during that pay-roll period because they were ill, on vacation,
,or were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding
those who have since quit or been discharged -for cause.
Upon -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 World Steel 'Products, Corporation, New
York City , within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6)
and _(7) of the Act.
2. All employees in the technical or engineering department of
the Company , including draftsmen , the supervisory draftsman, the
lister or scheduler , if any, the production engineer , and the assistant
to the production engineer , but excluding estimators , assistant super-
intendents of construction , and the shop foreman and his assistant,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
WORLD STEEL PRODUCTS CORPORATION 707
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 Rela-
tions Act, 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 ordered by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with World Steel Products Corporation , New York City, 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 Elections
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for
the Second 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 employees in the technical or
engineering department of World Steel Products Corporation who
were employed by it during the pay-roll period immediately pre-
ceding the date of this Direction of Election , including draftsmen, the
supervisory draftsman , the lister or scheduler , if any, the production
engineer , the assistant to the production engineer , and employees who
,did not work during that pay-roll period because they were ill, on
vacation , or were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but
excluding estimators , assistant superintendents of construction, the
shop foreman and his assistant ; and those who have since quit or
been discharged for cause , to determine whether or not they desire
to be represented by Architectural & Engineering Guild, Local 66,
International Federation of Technical Engineers ', Architects', &
Draftsmen 's Unions, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.
I