Federal Cartridge Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 21, 1951

94 N.L.R.B. 1421 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

FEDERAL CARTRIDGE CORPORATION 1421
2. The two remaining objections with respect to which the Regional
Director conducted an investigation and then recommended that
the objections be overruled, generally challenge the Board's action in
holding the election as illegal, characterizing said action as a depriva-
tion of the Employer's personal rights, a violation of the Employer's
"property and constitutional rights," and a usurpation of the Em-
ployer's "business management prerogatives and authority." The
Board's authority for holding elections following hearings upon peti-
tions duly filed is found in the Labor Management Relations Act, the
constitutionality of which is too well established to require citation
of authority. Moreover, we are convinced that the Regional Director
and his agents conducted the election in strict conformity with the
Board's Rules and Regulations issued pursuant to Section 6 of the
Act. Accordingly, we adopt the Regional. Director's recommendation
that these two objections be overruled.
On. the basis of the foregoing, we find that neither the objections
or exceptions of the Employer raise substantial or material issues with
respect to the conduct of the election in this case.
Inasmuch as the tally of ballots shows that a majority of all bal-
lots was cast for the Petitioner, and that the challenged ballots are
insufficient to affect the results of the. election, we shall certify the
Petitioner as the collective bargaining representative of the employ-
ees in the appropriate unit.
Certification of Representatives
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that International Brotherhood of Boiler-
makers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America, AFL, Local No.
433, has been designated and selected by a, majority of the employees
of White Construction and Engineering Company, Inc., St. Peters-
burg, Florida, in the unit heretofore found by the Board to be ap-
propriate, as their representative for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, and that pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organ-
ization is the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit
for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay,
Wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.
FEDERAL CARTRIDGE CORPORATION (TWIN CITIES ARSENAL) and INTER-
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS. DISTRICT LODGE No. 77,
A. F. OF L., P]?,TITIONER. Case No. 18-i?C-1044. June 921, 1951
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Max Rotenberg,. hearing
94 NLRB No. 206.
1422 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed?
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-mem-
ber panel. [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
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 certain em-
ployees 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.2
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of employees engaged in
branches of the machinist trade, excluding office and professional
employees, electricians, sheet metal Workers, plumbers, steamfitters,
carpenters, painters, guards, and supervisors. The Petitioner would
include millwrights within its craft unit. The Employer and the
Intervenors agree that a machinist unit is appropriate for bargaining
purposes, but would exclude millwrights from this unit.
The parties agree that employees properly included in the proposed
craft unit are employees engaged as tool, die, fixture, and instrument
makers, machinists' helpers, and lTIechanics who service and repair
automobiles, trucks, tractors, and other motive equipment and ma-
chinery. In 1943, the Board certified the Petitioner as the bargaining
representative of these employees.' At that time. the Employer did
not employ millwrights, and no issue was therefore raised in that pro-
ceeding with respect to their inclusion as a category in the craft unit
represented by the Petitioner herein. In 1950, the Employer hired
millwrights. These millwrights were deemed included in the residual
plant unit and covered by the contract between the Employer and the
Intervenor for residual plant employees.
Millwrights are primarily concerned with the erection of plant
machinery or the moving of machinery from one location in the plant
to another. They install and repair conveyors, conveyor belts, ele-
vators, monorails, and hoists. Machinists and mechanics are chiefly
concerned with the repair of gauges and motors; they fabricate parts,
I The petition and other formal papers are amended to show the correct names of the
Employer and the Petitioner.
2 Millwrights & Machinery Erectors Local Union No. 548, an intervenor, herein called
Millwrights, and St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, an intervenor, hereirx
called Council, jointly contend that their contract with the Employer dated March 27,
1951, constitutes a bar to this proceeding. We do not agree. Neither the oral agreement
between the Employer and the Intervenors nor the written agreement which was executed
after the filing of the petition herein constitutes a bar to this proceeding. Giustince
Brothers Lumber Co ., 68 NLRB 451; United States Time Corporation , 86 NLRB 724.
3 Federal Cartridge Corporation ( Twin Cities Ordnance Plant ), 48 NLRB 92.
WILLARD STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY 1423
replace worn or broken parts, service machines, and test and assemble
machinery. It thus appears that the working conditions and interests
of millwrights at the Employer's plant are closely allied with those
of machinists and mechanics and that all these employees may ap-
propriately be joined in the same bargaining unit.4 It is also appar-
ent that millwrights may remain part of the larger residual unit of
production and maintenance employees, including carpenters, pres-
ently represented by the Intervenor.' The Board has also held that
millwrights may constitute a separate bargaining unit apart from
other plant employees.6
We shall make no final unit determination with respect to mill-
wrights at this time but shall first ascertain the desires of the em-
ployees as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. We shall
direct that separate elections be held among the employees at the
Employer's New Brighton (Twin Cities), Minnesota, plant, and
within the voting groups described as follows : 7
(1) All machinists and machinists' helpers, including tool and die
shop employees, automotive mechanics, floor machinists, maintenance
mechanics, and machine tool operators, but excluding millwrights,
office employees, professional employees, electricians, sheet metal work-
ers, plumbers, steamfitters, carpenters, painters, guards, and all other
employees and supervisors.
(2) All millwrights, excluding all other employees and supervisors.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
4 International Harvester Company, 73 NLRB 971 ; W. B. Willett Company, 85 NLRB 761.
5 Calumet and Heela Consolidated Copper Company, 86 NLRB 126; Heyden Chemical
Corporation , 85 NLRB 1181 . Intervenor Council presently represents carpenters , electri-
cians, sheet metal workers , plumbers, steamfitters , painters , and millwrights.
6 United States Rubber Company, 91 NLRB No . 213 ; International Harvester Company
(Louisville Works), 87 NLRB 317.
T It does not appear that any question exists concerning the representation of other
employees at the plant.
WILLARD STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL UNION,
UNITED AUTOMOBILE , AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT
WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW-CIO), PETITIONER . Case No. 32-RC-
311. June 21, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Anthony J. Sabella,
hearing officer . The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
94 NLRB No. 203.