C. A. Dunham Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 18, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 212 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of C. A. DUNHAM COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL MOLDERS AND FOUNDRY WORKERS UNION OF NORTH
AMERICA, A. F. or L., LOCAL 91, PETITIONER
Case No. 18-R-1731.-Decided June 18, 1947
Mr. H. G. Cartwright , of Marshalltown , Iowa, for the Employer.
Mr. Anton J. Trizna, of Dubuque, Iowa, and Mr. A. G. Bockridge,
of Marshalltown , Iowa, for the Petitioner.
Mr. James Ashe , of St. Paul, Minn., and Messrs. Eric B jvrman and
J. D. Brand, of Des Moines , Iowa, for the Intervenor.
Mr. George M. Yaghjian , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Marshall-
town, Iowa, on February 14, 1947, before Clarence A. Meter, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
C. A. Dunham Company is an Iowa corporation engaged in the
manufacture of heating equipment. In addition to the Marshalltown,
Iowa, plant, the only one herein involved, the Employer operates a
plant at Michigan City, Indiana. During 1946, the Employer pur-
chased raw materials valued at more than $100,000, of which more
than 50 percent was shipped to the Marshalltown plant from points
outside the State of Iowa. During the same period, the Employer
manufactured finished products valued at more than $1,000,000, of
which more than 50 percent was shipped to points outside the State.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
74 N. L. R. B., No. 43.
212
C. A. DUNHAM COMPANY
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
213
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
International Association of Machinists, District 118, herein called
the Intervenor, is an unaffiliated labor organization, claiming to rep-
resent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees in the foundry depart-
ment, including the j anitor-watchman, but excluding the foundry fore-
man, the foreman in charge of the molders, and the foremen in the
core, melting, and shipping departments. In the alternative, the
Petitioner urges that a unit of molders, core makers, and their ap-
prentices in the foundry department is appropriate. The Intervenor
contends that the unit previously determined by the Board in an
earlier representation proceeding,' from which, inter alia, molders,
core makers, and their apprentices were excluded, is the appropriate
unit for production and maintenance workers at the plant, although
the Intervenor does not object to the alternative unit proposed by the
Petitioner. The Employer takes the position that neither of the pro-
posed units is appropriate for bargaining purposes.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of radiators, traps, and
other heating equipment. Its operations are carried on in 2 buildings
which are a block and a half apart. One of the buildings houses the
foundry; the other building contains the factory and machine shop.
The foundry produces brass and aluminum castings, which are used
by the Employer in manufacturing its finished products. The foundry
has 5 subdepartments : stores, melting, core, mold, and shipping.
Immediate supervision of the foundry is exercised by a foundry fore-
man, who is assisted by foremen in charge of the various subdepart-
1 In the earlier representation proceeding , the Board found appropriate a unit of all pro-
duction and maintenance employees at the Employer's Marshalltown plant, including
watchmen and janitors , inspectors and the operating engineer , but excluding office and
clerical employees , skilled molders and core makers and their apprentices , group heads, and
all other supervisory employees. Matter of C. A. Dunham Company, 57 N. L R. B. 1451
58 N. L R. B. 642.
214 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ments. Of the 200 or more employees at the Employer's plant, about
54 are employed in the foundry.
The Board has frequently determined that foundry employees may
constitute separate bargaining units.2 The principal issue in this
proceeding is whether the non-skilled employees in the foundry who
are now included in the plant unit should remain in the plant unit or
should be included in the foundry unit.
In the earlier proceeding, noted above, the Intervenor herein peti-
tioned for a unit of the Employer's production and maintenance em-
ployees in the factory, excluding employees in the foundry. The
Employer urged that the foundry employees should be included in
the factory unit. At that time no labor organization sought a unit
of foundry employees. On the basis of the showing of a considerable
amount of interchange of non-skilled foundry employees between the
foundry and the factory, the Board decided to include them in the
production and maintenance unit, excluding, however, skilled molders
and core makers and their apprentices in the foundry.
Conditions have changed since the Board's previous decision.
Since the termination of the war and the increase in the labor supply,
the number of transfers between the factory and the foundry have
declined markedly. There is now no appreciable interchange of em-
ployees between the foundry departments and the other departments
at the Employer's plant. The brief 3 history of collective bargaining
at the Employer's Marshalltown plant is inadequate to demonstrate
conclusively that unskilled and semi-skilled foundry employees should
remain in the production and maintenance unit rather than be placed
in the foundry unit with the skilled workers with whom they are more
closely associated and with whom they are customarily grouped for
bargaining purposes. We shall not therefore, deny to non-skilled
employees in the foundry placement in a separate departmental unit
which will afford the same representation to all employees in the
foundry. ' °
We find that all foundry department employees at the Employer's
Marshalltown, Iowa, plant, including the janitor watchman, but ex-
cluding the foundry foreman, the foreman in charge of the molders
and the foremen in the core, melting, and shipping departments, and
all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit ap-
21llatter of Food Machinery Corporation, 72 N. L R B 483, Matter of John Deere
Dubuque Tractor Company, 72 N. L R. B 656 , Matter of Bateau Textile Machinery Conr.-
pany,Inc,70N L R B 839
3 The Intervenor was certified on November 4, 1944 However, its first collective bar-
gaining agreement with the Employee was not executed until February 21, 1946 The
election of its shop stewards did not take place until some 5 months befome the healing date
in the instant case
C. A. DUNHAM COMPANY 215
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 4
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with C. A. Dunham Company, Mar-
shalltown, Iowa, 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 supervision of the Regional Director
for the Eighteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, 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 Inter-
national Molders and Foundry Workers Union of North America,
A. F. of L., Local 91, or by International Association of Machinists,
District 118, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
4 Any participant in the election may, upon its prompt request to, and approval thereof
by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.