Elgin National Watch Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 21, 1954

109 N.L.R.B. 273 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH COMPANY 273;
ELGIN NATIONAL WATCH COMPANY, WADSWORTH DIvISION and DIE AND.
TOOL MAKERS ASSOCIATION OFD DAYTON, KENTUCKY and DISTRICT'
LODGE No. 34, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL,,
PETITIONERS . Cases Nos. 9-RC-2145 and 9-RC-2189. July 21,1954
Decision , Order, and Direction of Election
Under separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, separate hearings were held before Rose-
mary S. Macke, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at
the hearings are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
The cases are hereby consolidated for purposes of decision.
Upon the entire record in these consolidated cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. Die and Tool Makers Association of Dayton, Kentucky, herein
called the Die and Tool Makers; 1 District Lodge No. 34, International
Association of Machinists, AFL, herein called the Machinists; Inde-
pendent Light Metal Workers Union, herein called the Light Metal,
Workers; and Local 68, Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Helpers.
International Union, herein called the Metal Polishers, are labor organ-
izations claiming to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A 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.
4. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of watch cases, em-
blems and decorative trine, and ordnance parts at its Dayton, Ken-
tucky, plant. On December 10, 1937, the Board certified the Metal
Polishers as the exclusive bargaining representative of polishers,
buffers, platers, and employees engaged in processes related thereto,
at the Dayton plant. In the same proceeding 1 the Board certified,
under its former name of Wadsworth Watch Case Workers Alliance,
the Light Metal Workers as the bargaining representative of other pro-
duction and maintenance workers at the plant.3
In Case No. 9-RC-2145, the Die and Tool Makers seeks to sever tool
and die employees from the larger production and maintenance unit at
the plant, presently represented by the Light Metal Workers. In Case
No. 9-RC-2189, the Machinists seeks certification of production and
'Contrary to the contention of the Employer, we find that the Die and Tool Makers,
the purpose of which is to represent employees of the Employer in matters regarding
wages and hours and other conditions of employment and which has duly elected officers
and a constitution, is a labor organization within the meaning of the Act Knox
Corporation, 104 NLRB 789
2 Wadsworth Watch Case Company, 4 NLRB 487 at p 492
2 On April 17, 1940, the Board again certified the same oiganizatiom as the exclusive
bargaining representative of these production and mainten-ince employees Wadsworth
Watch Case Company, 21 NLRB 470 at p 480, 22 NLRB 1010.
109 NT.RR No CT
274 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
maintenance employees at the plant, excluding employees represented
by the Metal Polishers, and including or excluding the tool and die em-
ployees, depending upon the Board's decision as to the appropriateness
of the separate unit for these employees sought by the Die and Tool
Makers. The Employer and the Light Metal Workers contend that
the proposed unit for tool and die employees is not an appropriate
separate bargaining unit.
In the recent American Potash case,4 the Board laid down two req-
uisites for the severance of groups of employees from a larger pro-
duction and maintenance unit established by collective bargaining.
The Board held (1) that the group to be severed must constitute a true
craft or traditional departmental group, and (2) that the labor,organ-
ization seeking severance must be a labor organization traditionally
representing the employees sought for severance. The first question
before us is whether the Die and Tool Makers is a labor organization
which traditionally represents tool and die employees.
The Die and Tool Makers is an outgrowth of a social club among
the Employer's tool and die employees at the Dayton plant, known
as the "Harmony Club." In January 1953, the tool and die employees
at the plant reorganized the Harmony Club as a labor organization
to represent them, because these employees wished self-representa-
tion in bargaining with their Employer. On March 17, 1953, the new
organization formally adopted its present name, under which the in-
stant petition was filed, and a code of regulations. Its primary func-
tion is to serve as a labor organization for tool and die employees at
the Employer's Dayton plant-to which its membership is limited;
it retains the social activities of the former Harmony Club as a sec-
ondary feature It has held its second annual election of officers. It
has completed the necessary filings so that it is in compliance with the
requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act.
Representatives of the Die and Tool Makers, the Light Metal
Workers, and the E mployer, respectively, met in December 1953 to
discuss the demands of the Die and Tool Makers with respect to the
working conditions of the tool and die employees at the plant. The
proposals made at this meeting, which apparently amounted to con-
cessions to the Die and Tool Makers, were referred by that organiza-
tion to its membership for approval. Thereafter, the Die and Tool
Makers filed the instant petition in Case No. 9-RC-2145.
in requiring that the union seeking severance must be the one
which traditionally represents the craft or departmental group
sought, the Board took cognizance of the fact that these are unions
which have devoted themselves to the special problems of the various
craft or traditional department employees, and have thereby acquired
+.Amencan 1'ota,h cf Chsn ical Corpo; two., 107 NLRB 1418
GENERAL DRIVERS, ETC. 275
special experience and proven effectiveness in representing those em-
ployees. The concept of a traditional bargaining representative, it
seems apparent, conveys the idea of a history of representation of
such employees. It follows, therefore, that a newly formed labor
organization can hardly be termed to be a "traditional" bargaining
representative. Under these circumstances, we find that the newly
organized Die and Tool Makers does not now constitute a union which
traditionally represents tool and die employees within the meaning of
the requirements set forth in the American Potash decision. We shall
therefore dismiss the petition by which the Die and Tool Makers
seeks to sever tool and die employees from the larger production
and maintenance unit which has included these employees since 1937.
We shall, however, consider this labor organization as an intervenor
in Case No. 9-RC-2189 for all purposes.
The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Day-
ton, Kentucky, manufacturing plant, including factory clerical em-
ployees and setup men, but excluding all employees engaged in metal
polishing and buffing, plating, and the processes related thereto, time-
study employees, office clerical employees, guards, professional em-
ployees, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.
[The Board dismissed the petition in Case No. 9-RC-2145.]
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
MEMBER PETERSON took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision, Order, and Direction of Election.
GENERAL DRIVERS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS , LOCAL 968, INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFFEURS , WAREHOUSE-
MEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA , AFL, AND M. W. MILLER , TRUSTEE,
GENERAL DRIVERS , WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS , LOCAL 968 and
OTIS MASSEY COMPANY, LTD. Case No. 39-CC-11. July 22, 1954.
Decision and Order
Upon charges duly filed on January 18, 19, and February 2, 1954,
by Otis Massey Company, Ltd., the General Counsel of the National
Labor Relations Board, herein called the General Counsel, by the
Regional Director for the Sixteenth Region, issued a complaint dated
February 19, 1954, against General Drivers, Warehousemen and
109 NLRB No. 61.
334811-55-vol. 109-19