Davis & Furber Machine Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 21, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 372 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

372 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the total sales. Generally, all of the trucks are owned by the
Employer, who pays for the gasoline, oil, and other upkeep.
The driver-salesmen are given a free hand in the manner in which
they service their territory and may set a route which is most con-
venient to themselves. At present, oral agreements establish the
manner of payment and other incidents of the relationship between
the driver-salesmen and the Employer.
The helpers are hired directly by the driver-salesmen and may be
discharged by the latter without recourse to the Employer. The
driver-salesmen pay their helpers' wages and provide for their work-
ing conditions. The Employer makes no payments to the workmen's
compensation fund on behalf of the driver-salesmen or the helpers.
There is no income tax payroll deduction system in Puerto Rico.
The work of the helpers is sharply differentiated from that of the
driver-salesmen or the other employees of the Employer. The helpers
are hired solely to load and unload cases of cola from the trucks. In
Puerto Rico this type of physical work is not performed by the driver-
salesmen. The helpers do not assist the driver-salesmen either in
driving the trucks or selling cola to customers of the Employer.
From the foregoing it appears that there is a virtual, if not absolute,
employer-employee relationship between the driver-salesmen and their
helpers. In any event, it is clear that the interests and working con-
ditions of these two groups are so dissimilar that a unit including
both groups would not be appropriate for purposes of collective bar-
gaining.4 Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
MEMBERS REYNOLDS and STYLES took no part in the consideration
of the above Decision and Order.
' We therefore find it unnecessary to determine whether the driver- salesmen are
independent contractors or employees of the Employer.
DAVIS & FURBER MACHINE COMPANY and AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
LABOR, PETITIONER . Case No. 1-RC-1841. February 01, 1951
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Leo J. Halloran, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
93 NLRB No. 58.
DAVIS & FURBER MACHINE COMPANY 373
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its power in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.:'
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to sever eight card clothing machine operators,
or "card setters," and one apprentice, from an existing production and
maintenance unit now represented by the Intervenor.2 The Inter-
venor contends that the proposed unit is inappropriate because card
setters are not craftsmen, and because their functions are closely
integrated with those of other production employees. The Employer
is neutral.
The Employer produces and sells textile machinery at its plant
in North Andover, Massachusetts. With 860 employees occupying
31 different buildings, it fabricates many kinds of heavy, very com-
plicated machines, processing metals from ingot to finished product.
There are about 600 employees in the established production and
maintenance unit. Of these, 50 work in the card clothing department,
where the 9 employees sought by the Petitioner are located.
The card clothing department is devoted to production of certain
flexible wire brushes made of leather, cloth, or rubber, and wire staples.
These brushes, called card clothing, are wrapped around rollers in
carding machines made and sold by the Employer. Over half of the
card clothing produced in this department is used either on new ma-
chinery or sold for replacement of used parts on machines previously
sold. It seems, although the record is not clear on this point, that the
remainder is sold for like use on comparable textile machines.
The card setters-9 in number-operate the machines which insert
wire brushes or staples in the foundations of the card clothing. Each
card setter operates as many as 13 machines.3 They adjust their ma-
chines to handle different kinds of wire and foundation materials and
to set the wire staples for the various styles of Bard clothing manu-
factured. Each machine is automatic, and once started, requires
'United Steelworkers of America, CIO, herein called the Intervenor, asserts that its
contract with the Employer bars this proceeding. As the contract was executed on
October 31, 1950, after the petition was filed, it cannot serve as a bar.
2 The only other unit in the plant mentioned in the record embraces the foundry
workers, represented by The International Molders and Foundry Workers Union, AFL.
2 Card clothing is often produced in 300-foot strips.
374 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
little attention from its operator. In addition to the operation of
card clothing machinery, the card setters make some dies and other
tools for their machines. The record does not show how much of their
time is spent in such activities. A toolmaker, a former card setter,
located in the same department but not included in the proposed unit,
also makes dies and parts for the machines.
In the same department, also engaged in producing the card cloth-
ing, are about 40 additional employees, including several categories
of production workmen. The trimmers cut selvage edges from the
foundation strips after the clothing is removed from the machines.
Other employees, including the inspectors, then inspect the card cloth-
ing, replace missing staples by hand, straighten out bent staples, and
see that the clothing otherwise meets requirements. After trimming
and inspection, the grinders finish the card clothing by sharpening the
square cut ends of the staples. °
The Petitioner's request for severance of the card setters is based
on their high degree of skill and the fact that for many years they
have retained membership in an organization called Card Clothing
Machine Operators Union .4 It cannot be denied that these employees
possess and exercise a high and specialized skill. They work on the
machines for 3 years, a period during which they are called "ap-
I)rentices," before the Employer recognizes them as accomplished
operators of the card clothing machines. There is no evidence, how-
,ever, that the work they do pertains to any recognized craft, or that
their training follows any formal program with a prescribed course
of study leading through an orderly progression to journeymen status.
What skill they have acquired, therefore, is no more than a production
talent, greater, no doubt, than that of the other workmen in their
department, but not different in kind. Indeed, it appears that among
the very workmen who prepare the leather immediately before it
reaches the card clothing department, are other production workers
more highly trained than the card setters. One of these leather
workers testified that after 17 years he had not reached the final stage
of learning for his particular operation. In reality, therefore, the
card setters are only production specialists, and not craftsmen such
as are ordinarily entitled to separate representation following sever-
ance from an existing production unit.5
Nor is the Petitioner's claim of craft status for these employees
strengthened by their past membership in the Card Clothing Machine
Operators Union. Despite the 60-year history of that organization,
the Petitioner failed to show that it had ever represented a unit com-
4 On August 11, 1950 , before the petition herein was filed , this union became Federal
Labor Union 24738 , affiliated with American Federation of Labor.
5 Ford Motor Company ( Maywood Plant ), 78 NLRB 887.
ARENA-NORTON, INC., ET AL. 375
posed of card setters, and its last president admitted at the hearing
that it had never achieved a written contract with any card clothing
manufacturer.
As the card setters are not craftsmen but production employees,
and as they work in the same department, under common supervision,
and together with other production employees, no persuasive reason
appears for severing them from the existing production and main-
tenance unit. Accordingly, we find that the unit requested by the
Petitioner is inappropriate for collective bargaining purposes.
Having found that the unit is inappropriate, we shall dismiss the
petition.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
ARENA-NORTON , INC., ET AL.1 and UNITED FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLE
WORKERS, L. I. U. 78, CIO 1 PETITIONER . Cases Nos. 21-RC-1428
- through 1438, and 21-RC-1440 through 1472. February 21, 1951
Decision , Direction of Elections , and Order
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated 2 hearing was held before
Ben Grodsky, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
1 Involved in this proceeding are the Employers listed in Appendices A and B As it
appears from the record that Dunlap Farms Company, Inc . ( 21-RC-1446 ), Mitchell
Packing Co ( 21-RC-1449 ), and Valley Produce Distributors ( 21-RC-1465) are no longer
in business , the petitions in these cases will be dismissed The petition in John Jacobs
Farms ( 21-RC-1452 ) will also be dismissed for the reasons set forth in paragraph 3, infra
In Case No 21-RC-1435, the named employer , Burrell Collins , was a partnership but
both partners are now deceased . The estates of the partners have continued the operation
of the business . At the time of the hearing , a corporation was being organized by the
partnership accountant , who was present at the hearing, and a brother of one of the
deceased partners When this corporation comes into existence , it intends to continue
the operation of the partnership business . Although the partnership name is used in this
decision , the packing shed employees of any legal successor or assignee of the partnership
are eligible to vote in the election hereinafter directed . See Allen W . Fleming, Inc, 91
NLRB 612
2 The captioned cases were consolidated for hearing by order of the Regional Director
dated October 2, 1950
I In Case No. 21-RC-1461 , the Employer named in the petition is "Stanley Fruit Com-
pany ." It appeared at the hearing that this company is merely a sales organization, and
that the packing shed and farming operations are conducted by the partnership of Stanley
and McDaniels The partnership was represented at the hearing and was afforded adequate
opportunity to present evidence . The hearing officer properly granted the Petitioner's
motion to amend the name of the Employer in this case.
The motion of the Employers to dismiss this proceeding on the ground that the employees
involved are "agricultural laborers" within the meaning of the Act is denied, except in
Case No. 21-RC-1452, for reasons given in paragraph 3.
93 NLRB No. 56.