Chase Brass & Copper Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 3, 1943

47 N.L.R.B. 298 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter Of CHASE BRASS & COPPER CO., INC. and INTERNATIONAL
11
UNION, MINE, MILL & SMELTER WORKERS, FOR ITSELF AN D ON, BEHALF
OF ITS LOCAL 633, AFFILIATED WITH THE C. I. O.
Case No. R-4734.-Decided February 1943
Jurisdiction : ordnance manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question • re-
fusal to accord, recognition because existing contract allegedly covered em=
ployees in the unit sought by petitioner ; contract covering employees of com-
pany at time company's operations were conducted in •one plant held no bar to
a determination of representatives for employees' at another plant of company
subsequently acquired ; renewal of contract purporting to cover these employees'
not given effect when it was not shown that employees at new plant participated
in negotiations thereof ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all hourly paid and piecework pro-
duction and maintenance employees at a government-owned, company-operated
plant, excluding all supervisors, foremen, assistant foremen, office workers,
research and laboratory workers, cafeteria workers, guards and watchmen
held an appropriate unit.
Mr. Rodney Chase, of Waterbury, Conn.,. and Mr. Val ter L. Smith,
of Euclid, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Edward Lamb and Mr. Peter Zvara, of Toledo, Ohio, for the
Smelter Workers.
Mr. J. J. Murphy and Mr. Matthew De More, of Cleveland, Ohio, for
the Machinists.
Mr. Roy E. Seitz, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Firemen and Oilers.
Mr. R. J. Jamieson, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Operating Engineers.
Miss Muriel J. Levor, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND - -
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by International Union, Mine,
Mill & Smelter Workers, for itself and on behalf of its Local 633,E
1 The petition was filed in the name of the International ; thereafter it requested that _
the'proceedings be corrected to designate the petitioner as set forth above. The request is
granted.
47 N L R. B, No 32.
298
- CHASE BRASS & COPPER CO,., INC. 299
affiliated with the C. I. 0., herein, called the Smelter Workers, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the represen-
tation of employees of Chase Brass & Copper Co., Inc., Euclid, Ohio,
herein called the COmpany,2 the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Max W.
Johnstone, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Cleveland,
Ohio, on January 7, 1943. The Company, the Smelter Workers and
International Association of Machinists, District No. 54, herein called
the Machinists, appeared,' participated, and were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rul-
ings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. The Smelter Workers, Machinists, and the Company filed
briefs which the Board has duly considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Chase Brass & Copper Co., Inc., a Connecticut corporation, has its
principal office in Waterbury, Connecticut. The Company owns and
operates three plants at Waterbury, Connecticut, and one plant, herein
called the Old Mill, at Euclid, Ohio. The Company .also operates a
plant owned by the United States Governnient which is not yet fully
completed, although it has been in production since July 1942. This
plant, herein called the Euclid Case Plant, is also situated at Euclid,
Ohio, and is the only plant for which representation has been claimed
by the Smelter Workers.
Approximately all the raw materials, consisting principally of cop-
per and zinc, used by the Company at its Euclid Case Plant, amount-
ing to about $7;000,U00 in value annually, are shipped from points out-
side the State of Ohio'. The finished products of the Euclid Case Plant
consist of brass sheet and cartridge cases, of which approximately
$15,000,600 in value are produced annually. About 100 percent of the
finished products are shipped to points outside the State of Ohio.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers and its Local
No. 633, are labor organizations affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
1
2 Incorrectly designated as "Chase Brass & Copper Company , Inc " in the petition and
other formal papers and corrected by motion granted at the hearing
I International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers , Local 52 , and International Union of
Operating Engineers , Local 589, also appeared . However , at the hearing they withdrew -
their motion to intervene International Brotherhood-of Electrical workers, Local 559,
was served with notice but did not appear.
300 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
trial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the,
Company.
• International Association of Machinists, District No. ':54, is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION,
On or about October 16, 1942, the Smelter Workers, in a letter to
the Company, requested a conference for the purpose of collective bar-
gaining as representative of the production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Euclid Case Plant. The Company refused in a letter
dated October 23, 1942, on the ground that it was under contract to
recognize the Machinists as the collective bargining agency for cer-
tain classes of its Euclid Case Plant employees.
A statement of the Field Examiner, introduced in evidence at the
hearing, together with a statement made by him after the hearing, and
which, by agreement of the parties, is hereby made a part of the record,
indicate that the Smelter Workers represents a substantial number of
employees of the Company in the unit-it contends to be appropriate .4
On May 26, 1941, the Machinists filed a petition with the Board to
represent the production and maintenance employees ofithe Company
"at Euclid, Ohio." At that time the Company was operating only
one plant at Euclid, Ohio, the Old Mill, and the ground was being
cleared for the plant which is now known as the Euclid Case Plant.
Thereafter, a consent election, for a unit of all hourly paid and piece-
work production and, maintenance employees of the Company at
its Babbit Road, Euclid, Ohio, plant, that is the Old Mill, took place
on June 4, 1941. The Machinists won the election and on June 5,
1941, the Board's Regional Director issued a report certifying that the
Machinists had been'designated as the sole bargaining! agent by the
employees in the unit set forth in the consent election agreement.
After protracted negotiations between the Company, and the Ma-
chinists, in which the Federal Conciliation Service of the Department
of Labor participated, an agreement was finally concluded on July 19,
1941. This agreement recognized the Machinists "as, the exclusive
representative of all hourly paid and piece-work production and main-
tenance employees at Euclid,'Ohio," with certain exclusions, a, descrip-
tion which was meant to include the future employees of the Euclid
* The Field Examiner reported that the Smelter workers had submitted 413 designations
of which 351, bearing apparently genuine signatures, correspond with the names on the
Company's pay roll of November 7, 1942, containing the names of 813 persons within the
appropriate unit At the hearing 190 additional designations were submitted, of which 52
bear apparently genuine signatures and correspond with names on the November 7 pay
roll The Machinists relied on the contract, and did not submit, any evidence of
representation.
CHASE BRASS & COPPER' CO., INC. 301
'Case Plant on which' construction was just beginning. A new, con-
tract was entered into on August 19, 1942, by which time production
was commencing at the new plant. This contract was amended on
November 27, 1942. The term, "employees at Euclid, Ohio" used in
these new contracts was the same as that used in the contract of July
1941. However, in the new contracts there is specific mention that
by this term is also meant the employees of the new Euclid Case Plant.
As heretofore stated, the Machinists contends that its contract is
a bar to an investigation of representatives. However, the Euclid
Case Plant was not operating and no employees were employed at the
plant when the contract of July 19, 1941, was executed. There were
only about 200 employees at the Euclid Case Plant in July 1942; in
August, when the new contract was executed, there were about 600
employees at that plant, and at the time of the hearing, there were
approximately 1,100 employees at the Euclid Case Plant. The record
indicates that none of the employees at the Euclid Case Plant par-
ticipated in negotiating the August and Noverizber agreements. Un-
der these circumstances, we find that-this contract is not a bar to
an investigation of representatives.
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 UNIT
The Smelter Workers contends that the appropriate unit should
consist of all the hourly paid and piece-work production, and mainte-
nance employees of the Company at the Euclid Case Plant. The Com-
pany prefers a 2-plant unit consisting of the Old Mill and the Euclid
Case Plant. The Machinists relies on the contract covering the two
plants, and urges that both plants together form a homogeneous unit
for bargaining purposes. The parties agreed at the hearing that if the
Board fourul-the Euclid Case Plant to be a separate unit, the appro-
priate unit should consist of all hourly paid and piece-work I produc-
tion and maintenance employees, excluding all supervisors, foremen,
assistant foremen, office workers, research and laboratory workers,
,cafeteria workers, guards and watchmen.'
Most of, the work done at the United States Government owned
Euclid Case Plant is the manufacturing of fabricated products fdr the
armed services of the government. On the other hand'the Old Mill
produces only metals and metal alloys, none of which are sent to the
Euclid Case Plant for fabrication. The two plants have separate em-
ployment departments and pay-roll divisions.
6 These exclusions are in substance the same as those provided for in the contiact be
tween the Company and the Machinists and requested in the petition
302 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In view of the fact that the employes in the Euclid Case Plant area
homogeneous group and can function effectively as a separate unit for
the purposes of collective bargaining we conclude that a unit composed
of production and maintenance employees of the Euclid Case Plant is
appropriate. Accordingly we find that all hourly paid and piece-work
production and maintenance employees at the Euclid, Case Plant, ex-
cluding all supervisors, foremen, assistant foremen, office workers, re-
search and laboratory workers, cafeteria workers, guards and watch-
men, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has 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 Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direc-
tion.
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 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Chase Brass &
Copper Co., Inc., Euclid, Ohio, 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 Eighth Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
-III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in, Section IV above, who were em-
ployed 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 any
who have since quit or been discharged for-cause, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by International Union; Mine, Mill-&
Smelter Workers, and its Local 633, affiliated with the C. I. 0.. or by
International Association of Machinists, District No. 54, affiliated with
the A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.