Green Bay Drop Forge Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 14, 1951

95 N.L.R.B. 1122 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

1122 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
gaged in, and is engaging in, unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section
8 (a) (1) of the Act.
7. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices effecting com-
merce within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommended Order omitted from publication in this volume.]
GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY and UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS
OF AMERICA, AFL,1 PETITIONER
GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD
OF BLACKSMITHS, DROP FORGERS AND HELPERS, AFL,2 PETITIONER.
Cases Nos. 13-RC-1894 and 13-RC-1926. August 14,1951
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Ivan C. McLeod, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.3
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with these cases to a three-
member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and
Murdock].
Upon the entire record in these cases, 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
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.
'Herein referred to as the UAW-AFL.
2 Herein referred to as the Blacksmiths
*At the hearing, the Blacksmiths, referring to the imminent completion of Its merger
with another international union, moved to amend its petition by adding "or Its successor"
to its name therein The Intervenor thereupon moved to dismiss the Blacksmiths' petition
claiming that the Blacksmiths, because of such current merging, had lost its representative
capacity The hearing officer granted the Blacksmiths' motion, and referred the Inter-
venor's motion to the Board. We find no merit in the Intervenor's motion
However, we do not deem it necessary to amend the petition, as requested by the Black-
smiths, as to do so might cause confusion in the minds of the voters at the election be-
cause of the indefinite character of the added description. Pittsburgh IMncstone Corpo-
ration, 77 NLRB 710 The hearing officer's ruling is therefore ieversed On the other
hand, if the merger of the Blacksmiths is consummated before the election and a new
name is agreed upon by the merging unions, then the Regional Director, upon propel re-
quest, is hereby authorized to substitute the new name on the ballot for that of the
Blacksmiths.
95 NLRB No. 140.
GREEN BAY DROP FORGE COMPANY 1123
4. The appropriate unit :
The Blacksmiths requests a unit of all forge shop employees. The
UAW-AFL, while seeking a plant-wide production and maintenance
unit, does not oppose the exclusion therefrom of the employees sought
to be represented by the Blacksmiths. The Intervenor, United Farm
Equipment and Metal Workers Council of United Electrical, Radio
and Machine Workers of America, Local 186, and the Employer con-
tend that a plant-wide unit alone is appropriate.
The Employer is engaged at Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the manu-
facture and sale of drop forge products and precision machinery.
The Employer's plant consists of two buildings, located approxi-
mately 200 feet apart. In one of these buildings, the forge shop, all
the forging operations are performed; all the employees sought by
the Blacksmiths work in this building. The other building houses the
production machining division in which the forgings are machine
finished to customer specification. The Employer operates a job
shop and produces forgings on individual order. Although the Em-
ployer machine finishes most of the forgings it produces, some forgings
are shipped to the customer in the raw form.
The record discloses that the Employer has engaged in collective
bargaining for about 15 years. Until 1945 the Blacksmiths repre-
sented the employees in a single plant-wide unit. Since that time
the Intervenor has been the representative in a similar unit.4 The
Intervenor's most recent contract, which was not urged as a bar to
this proceeding, expired on July 2, 1951.
The Blacksmiths' Proposed Unit
All the employees sought to be represented by the Blacksmiths work
in the forge shop and are engaged in operations directly connected
with the forging process. These employees are in job classifications
usually found in a commercial forge shop, and include hammermen,
upsetter, bulldozer press, and wheelabrator operators, and employees
in the die room.
The hammermen operate board drop hammers, and it is clear from
the record that they are among the most skilled employees in the
plant. The hammermen must be able to produce a large variety of
forgings, work to close tolerances, and be capable of exercising inde-
pendent judgment in the performance of their tasks. The hammermen
are, with the exception of the die sinkers, the highest paid employees
in the plant, and are required to complete an apprenticeship, or the
4In 1949 separate consent elections were conducted by the Board in the forge shop and
in the production machining division. The Intervenor won both elections, and continued
to represent the plant -wide unit.
961974--52-vol. 95--72
1124 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
equivalent thereof, in order to qualify for their jobs. The Employer
operates an apprenticeship program for hammermen. There are seven
hammermen and an equal number of apprentices employed in the
forge shop.
The 2 die sinkers and the die trimmer in the die room spend most
of their time making and maintaining the dies used in the forging
process. The other employees in the requested unit are engaged in
cutting and heating operations, trimming, straightening, and cleaning
the forgings, and in general maintenance work. The skills of these
employees vary from that of a machine operator to ordinary laborer,
and none of them are craftsmen. All the employees in the proposed
Blacksmiths' unit work in close physical proximity to each other, are
under the same supervision which is separate from that of the pro-
duction machining employees, and are all either directly engaged in
the making of forgings or in tasks closely related thereto. There are
approximately 50 employees in the projected unit.
The hammermen in this case are skilled craftsmen.° The Board has
previously found appropriate departmental units containing a nucleus
of skilled craftsmen of the type here sought together with less skilled
but related employee classifications., In the present instance, we find
that the hammermen constitute such a craft nucleus, to which may
be added for the purpose of severance the other related forge shop
employees.?
The Residual Production and Maintenance Group
As the UAW-AFL, the Intervenor , and the Employer entered into
a stipulation at the hearing with respect to the content of the residual
production and maintenance group, containing approximately 250
employees , we shall direct the holding of a separate election among
these employees.
In accordance with the foregoing , therefore , we shall make no final
unit determination at this time , but shall first ascertain the desires
of the employees as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed.
We shall direct elections among the following groups of employees
at the Employer 's Green Bay, Wisconsin , plant :
(a) All forge shop employees , including all employees in the press
and wheelabrator rooms, the forge shop inspector , and all maintenance
employees , but excluding all supervisors as defined in the Act.
(b) All remaining production and maintenance employees , exclud-
ing all office clerical employees , storeroom clerks, timekeepers, time-
s See The Plomb Tool Company, 87 NLRB 134 . Cf. International Harvester Company,
87 NLRB 317 , and General Motors Corporation , Chevrolet Forge, Spring and Bumper
Division, 80 NLRB 145.
"The Plomb Tool Company, supra , and cases there cited
7 See Rockford Drop Forge Company, 73 NLRB 26 and 31 NLRB 155.
KEARNEY & TRECKER CORPORATION 1125
study expediters, draftsmen, inspectors, nurses, engineers and "GI"
trainees for such jobs, all employees in voting group (a), guards, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
If the employees in voting group (a) select the Blacksmiths, they
will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate
unit.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
KEARNEY & TRECKER CORPORATION and LocAL 1083, INTERNATIONAL
UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT
WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., PETITIONER. Case No. 13-RC-1900.
August 14,1951
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 Richard C. Swander,
hearing 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-member
panel.2 [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 certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. On July 2, 1950, the Employer and the E. I. U., which had been
certified by, the Board in 1945 as the bargaining representative of
the Employer's production and maintenance employees,3 entered into
a 2-year contract, with provision for automatic renewal, and for
At the hearing, the Employer and the Intervenor , Employees Independent Union,
:affiliated with Confederated Unions of America, herein called the E. I. U., made . various
motions to dismiss the proceeding because of ( 1) a contract bar, and (2) failure of the
Petitioner , herein called Local 1083, to establish that there has been a bona fide schism
in the contracting union . For the reasons set forth in paragraph 3, these motions are
`hereby denied.
The Employer and the E. I. U. also questioned the sufficiency of the Petitioner ' s showing
.of interest at the time of the hearing , and moved to dismiss the petition on that ground.
As a labor organization 's showing of interest is an administrative matter to be determined
solely by the Board , the motion is denied . Lloyd A. Fry Roofing Company , 92 NLRB 1170.
2 The Employer has requested oral argument . As the record and the briefs, in our
opinion, adequately present the issues and the positions of the parties , this request is
denied.
I Case No. 13-R-2673. .
95 NLRB No. 138.