Green Bay Drop Forge Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 1, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 334 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY and UNITED
FARM EQUIPMENT AND METAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 13-R-3663.-Decided February 1, 1915
Mr. F. N. Trowbridge, of Green Bay, Wis., for-the Company.
Meyers cfi Meyers, by Mr. H. E. Baker, of Chicago, Ill., for the CIO.
Mr. A. J. Eberhardy, of Chicago, Ill., for the AFL. _
Mr. Harold M. Humphreys, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Farm Equipment and
Metal Workers of America, CIO, herein called the CIO, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Green Bay Drop Forge Company, Green
Bay, Wisconsin, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Gustaf B. Erickson, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Green Bay, Wisconsin, on December 28, 1944. The Company,
the CIO, and International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forg-
ers & Helpers, Local 93; AFL, herein called the AFL, appeared and
participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing, on the issues. At the hearing, the AFL moved to dismiss the
petition and the Trial Examiner referred the motion to the Board
for determination. For reasons set forth in Section III, infra, the
motion is denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties
were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Green Bay Drop Forge Company, a Wisconsin corporation, oper-
ates a drop forge plant at Green Bay, Wisconsin, where it is engaged
60 N. L. R B., No. 68.
334
GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY 335
in jobbing drop forge products; the Company also maintains a ma-
chine shop at Green Bay which manufactures precision machinery.
Raw materials used by the Company consist of steel bars, fabricated
metal sheets, and forgings. During the past 12-month period, the
Company purchased raw materials amounting in value to more than
$100,000, of which approximately 50 percent was received from points
outside the State of Wisconsin. For the same period the Company's
sales amounted in value to more than $500,000, of which more than
50 percent was shipped to points outside the State of Wisconsin.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Farm Equipment and Metal Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor.organiza-
tion admitting to membership employees of the Company.
International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers & Help-
ers,-Local 93, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, is a
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Com-
pany.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused, to grant recognition to the CIO as the
collective bargaining representative of certain of its employees.
Since 1933 the AFL has been recognized by the Company as its
employees' exclusive bargaining agent. These parties are bound by
a contract whose anniversary date is March 1, and which provides
for automatic renewal for yearly periods "unless notice is filed by
either party in writing of a desire for a change or modification, 30
days prior to expiration of any such period." In May 1944, the CIO
filed a petition with the Board, seeking an investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives of employees of the Company, which was
dismissed on August 19, 1'944, upon the ground that the agreement
between the Company and the AFL constituted a bar to the proceed-
ing.' This dismissal was "without prejudice to the right of the CIO
to file a petition a reasonable time prior to March 1, 1945, the next
renewal date of the contract." On September 18, 1944, the CIO filed
the petition in the instant case.
It is claimed by the AFL that the CIO's petition was prematurely
filed, is consequently defective, and that its contract with the Company
precludes a current determination of representatives. The AFL also
'asserts that certain matters now pending before the War Labor Board
warrant a dismissal of the petition. We are not persuaded that the
' Matter of Green Bay Drop Forge Company, 57 N. L. R B. 1417.
336 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
petition is fatally defective merely because it was filed in September
1944. The issues in the case were brought to a hearing considerably
later, and no prejudice to the contracting parties was shown to have
resulted from the CIO's action. Apart from any question of timely
notice, inasmuch as the anniversary date of the agreement between
the Company and the AFL is approximately 1 InQitth from the pres-
ent time, we find that it does not constitute a bar to this proceeding.2
Furthermore, the War Labor Board proceedings adverted to in the
record, are insufficient reason to delay a present determination of
representatives, for the AFL has been recognized by the Company
since 1933 and, during that period, apparently obtained for the em-
ployees it represented the benefits of collective bargaining.3
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the CIO represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.4
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE, APPROPRIATE llNIT
The parties are agreed that the appropriate, unit should consist of
.all production and., maintenance employees, including probationary
employees and watchmen, but excluding office and clerical employees,
militarized armed guards, and supervisory employees. They are in
disagreement, however, concerning foremen. The Company would
exclude these employees on the ground that they are supervisory per-
sonnel, the AFL would include them, and the CIO states that it will
abide by the- Board's determination.
The four foremen in question are also known as working foremen.
Originally production workers, they were included in the unit covered
by the contract between the Company and the AFL and, after their
promotion to their present positions, the AFL continued'to bargain
for them. However, they are paid a monthly salary, whereas the
production and maintenance employees are paid on an hourly basis,
they are the heads of their respective departments, and they have
2 See Matter of Flinthote Company, 55 N L. R B. 1442.
See Matter of Bethlehem Supply Company , 56 N. L. R. B. 439.
The Field Examiner reported that the CIO submitted 164 membership cards, of which
130 were dated May 1944, 6 in June 1944, 12 in July 1944, 4 in August 1944, and 12 were
undated ; and that there were 200 employees In the alleged appropriate unit.
The AFL relies upon Its contract with the Company as evidence of Its Interest In the
proceeding.
We find no merit In the AFL's contention that, since most of the cards submitted by the
CIO are dated before the time of the dismissal of the petition In the prior case, the CIO has
not demonstrated a present Interest with respect to the employees It seeks to represent.
As noted before, the dismissal was predicated on the fact that an agreement operated
as a bar , and no election was held.
GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY 337
authority effectively to recommend hiring and discharging. We shall
exclude them as supervisory employees.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany at its Green Bay, Wisconsin, operations, including probationary
employees and watchmen, but excluding office and clerical employees,
militarized armed guards, foremen, and all other supervisory employ-
ees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or other-
wise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recom-
mend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
nas arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Green Bay Drop
Forge Company, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 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, under the direction and supervi-
sion of the Regional Director for the-Thirteenth Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the
election, to determine whether they desire to be represented by United
Farm Equipment and Metal Workers of America, CIO, or by Inter-
national Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers & Helpers, Local
93, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
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