Food Machinery and Chemical Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 28, 1952

101 N.L.R.B. 116 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

116 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
FOOD MACHINERY AND CHEMICAL CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL
MOLDERS AND FOUNDRY WORKERS UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL
No. 164, AFFILIATED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL MOLDERS AND
FOUNDRY WORKERS UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER.
Case No. 0O-RC-179.. October 28, 19.52
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before John H.
Immel, Jr., 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel. [Chairman Herzog and Members
Murdock and Peterson.]
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. The Intervenor, International Association of Machinists, Dis-
trict Lodge No. 93, Local Lodge No. 504, the present contracting union,
contends that a union-authorization election, held in October 1949,
in which some of the employees included in the group sought as a
unit by the Petitioner participated, is a bar to an election in, the
present proceeding.' This contention clearly lacks validity in that
the Board does not regard a union-security referendum as that type
of election which for 1 year thereafter will bar a representation
election? Furthermore, the referendum election took place more
than 2 years before the date of the filing of the petition herein and
cannot, therefore, bar the present proceedings.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
1 See Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, Section 9 (c) (3) which provides that
"no election shall be directed in any bargaining unit or any subdivision within which,
in the preceding twelve -month period , a valid election shall have been held."
2 Baker Ice Machine Company, 86 NLRB 385.
101 NLRB No. 33.
FOOD MACHINERY AND CHEMICAL CORPORATION 117
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit comprising all the Employer's em-
ployees in the aluminum shop of the Employer's John Bean western
division. The Petitioner, in support of its unit request, contends that
the aluminum shop employees are entitled to separate representation
upon the ground that they are essentially a craft group engaged in the
type of work normally performed by molders and coremakers in a
foundry. The Employer and Intervenor contend that the only appro-
priate unit is that which is now represented by the Intervenor and
presently includes, besides the aluminum shop employees, all produc-
tion and maintenance workers in the Employer's plants located in
San Jose, California. In support of their position, the Employer
and Intervenor contend that the operations in the aluminum shop are
repetitive in nature and, not requiring the normal craft skills of
foundry workers, do not permit the employees engaged therein to
qualify for severance as a craft group.
The Employer's Operations
The Employer operates, in the city of San Jose, California, four
divisions all of which are separately housed and are engaged in sepa-
rate enterprises making distinct and different products. The John
Bean western division, which is involved herein, is engaged, among
other things, in the manufacture of agricultural spraying equipment,
fire-fighting equipment, packinghouse equipment, and the "Shur-rane
Irrigation System," a portable overhead system of irrigation. The
aluminum shop, which is a part of this division and where the group
herein concerned is employed, is engaged, for the most part, in sand-
casting aluminum parts for the aforesaid irrigation system. The only
other function of the aluminum shop is the die casting a of hub caps for
tanks manufactured by the separate ordnance division.
The aluminum shop is physically separated from the rest of the
plant and operates under separate supervision. Aluminum shop em-
ployees have distinct interests, and have duties which do not bring
them into contact with the employees from other departments or divi-
sions, as the only time when it becomes necessary for the aluminum
shop employees to leave the shop in the course of work is to obtain pat-
terns which are made and stored elsewhere. Although there is some
evidence of interchange of employees when work is slack in either the
aluminum shop or other departments, such interchange takes place
only among employees who are laborers or who possess few skills. The
end products of the aluminum shop are sent directly to the shipping
8 The die casting operation occupies the time of only one employee.
4 The Intervenor' s business representative admitted that the aluminum shop employees
had separate and distinct grievances peculiar to their own group and that they were
arranging for their own shop steward.
118 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
department and are not processed or assembled anywhere else in the
plant.
The Employer's Bargaining History
The Intervenor was first certified in 1942 as the bargaining repre-
sentative for the production and maintenance unit it now represents.
When the aluminum shop was opened in September 1950, and recruit-
ment of workers therefor was commenced, the Employer addressed a
letter to the Intervenor relating its intentions to open the shop, setting
forth its chief functions, and requesting the Intervenor's written con-
sent or refusal to represent the workers in the aluminum shop under a
master contract aand supplemental agreement 5 between the Intervenor
and a multiemployer association, the Santa Clara County Machine
Shop Employers Association,6 of which the Employer was a member.
The Intervenor, in writing, informed the Employer that the proposed
work of the aluminum shop would qualify its employees for member-
ship in the over-all production and maintenance unit represented by
Intervenor. As a result, all of the persons, other than supervisors,
engaged in the operation of the aluminum shop either became mem-
bers of the production and maintenance unit after being hired, or
merely retained membership therein upon being transferred from
some other department of the Employer's division. No opportunity
was ever given to the aluminum shop employees, as a group, to choose
their own bargaining representative.
The Craft Character of the Aluminum Shop Employees
The record reveals that the employees in the aluminum shop pro-
duce castings which, for the most part, are couplers and fittings for
the "Shur-rane" system and are made in long runs and are classified
into five main series. Except for differences in size, the components
of one series are similar to those of the other series. Although with
some exceptions, these components are molded in the same size flask,
they do require the application of some variety of patterns. How-
ever, the employees engaged in molding are not required to exercise
the resourcefulness that would be expected of molders in a foundry
where the products differ greatly in form and size. In addition, the
Employer has installed machinery which, to an extent, eliminates some
of the traditional hand operations at one time common to all foundries.
The Employer claims that it does not require any foundry experience
of applicants seeking work in the aluminum shop and, furthermore,
"The supplemental agreement amends the master contract as it applies to the Employer.
"This multiemployer association, having been served with notice of this proceeding,
and having failed to answer or appear at the hearing, is deemed to have waived its interest
in this proceeding. Moreover, it is well to note that none of the members of the associa-
tion, aside front the Employer herein, maintains any type of foundry operation.
FOOD MACHINERY AND CHEMICAL CORPORATION 119
does not maintain an apprenticeship program for unskilled aluminum
shop employees. Moreover, men have been trained for positions as
squeezer operators (molders), coremen (coremakers), and furnace
operators (the three jobs requiring the most skills) in periods of ap-
proximately 2 months. The most skilled employees in the aluminum
shop are classified by the Employer in a pay group considerably
lower than skilled employees in other so-called craft groups in the
division.
The foregoing would indicate that the aluminum shop employees
do not have or exercise craft skills. On the other hand, the record
also clearly indicates that the work performed in the aluminum shop
is foundry work. Thus, the squeezer operators, who are actually
molders, perform the exact work and operate in the same manner, step
by step, as do the molders in foundries. The same is true insofar
as the coremakers and furnace operators are concerned. The record
discloses that the machinery found in the shop is much the same as
that used in most modern, well-equipped job foundries, where workers
performing similar operations to those in the aluminum shop are con-
sidered craftsmen. In this respect, there is testimony to the effect
that the squeezer operators had made up a number of somewhat diffi-
cult samples and had performed some traditionally skillful floor work
as well as bench work, thereby exhibiting resourcefulness not ordi-
narily expected of unskilled foundry workers. Moreover, uncon-
troverted testimony reveals the fact that two of the shop employees,
who applied for work with the Employer and were at first summarily
refused, were recalled and immediately placed at work in the alumi-
num shop when it was learned by the Employer that the applicants
had some foundry experience. Further testimony, although not en-
tirely uncontroverted, indicates that at least 2 of the 30-odd workers
in the aluminum shop had been told by the foreman that any squeezer
operator or coremaker then employed in the aluminum shop could
qualify as journeymen molders in any foundry in the San Francisco
Bay area. From this testimony it would appear that although the
Employer has not designated the aluminum shop as a foundry, nor
classified the employees thereof as foundry workers, it does, in prac-
tice, regard the operation as a foundry of the type requiring the use
of craft skills.
By reason of the foregoing, we conclude that the employees in the
aluminum shop perform work and exercise skills which are essentially
craft in character. Accordingly, although such employees do not
possess or practice all of the traditional skills associated with the
molders and coremakers craft,' we believe that, because they comprise
* The fact that foundry workers do not necessarily exercise the entire gamut of skills
within the molders and coremakers craft or that certain skills are no longer needed
because of technological improvements in the industry, does not prevent such groups
120 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a craft group of the type to whom we have frequently awarded sev-
erance," they may, if they so desire constitute a separate appropriate
unit. We shall direct a self-determination election for the following
employees of the Employer: 9
All foundry production employees, including helpers and appren-
tices, engaged in the making and processing of aluminum castings,
but excluding the inspector and his helper,10 office and clerical em-
ployees, all other production and maintenance employees, and super-
visors as defined in the Act.
If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have
indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit, and
the Regional Director conducting the election directed herein is in-
structed to issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner
for the voting group heretofore described which the Board, under
such circumstances, finds to be an appropriate unit for purposes of
collective bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the Inter-
venor, the Board finds the existing unit to be appropriate and the
Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to
such effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
constituting appropriate units. Texas Foundries , Inc, 83 NLRB 679; National Farm
Machineru Cooperative , Inc., 88 NLRB 125; Goslin-Birmingham Manufacturing Company,
84 NLRB 957
8 The Fayscott Corporation , 78 NLRB 1256; W. A. Jones Foundry & Machtne Co., 83
NLRB 211 ; United States Pipe & Foundry Co ., 87 NLRB 115.
9 By reason of the fact that no other member of the association conducts an operation
similar to the one herein involved , the unit described is limited to employees of the
Employer rather than expanded to be coextensive with the multiemployer association,
Members of The California State Brewers Institute , 90 NLRB 1747. Cf Pacific Coast
Association of Pulp and Paper Manufacturers , 94 NLRB 477, where although only one
member of a multiemployer association conducted a lithographic operation , the Board
granted craft severance for a broad unit coextensive with the association . In that case
the petitioner sought the broader unit whereas in the instant case the Petitioner seeks a
single employer unit
30 The record discloses that the inspector and his helper , whom the Petitioner would
include and the Employer exclude, perform inspection duties in other departments of the
John Bean western division and are separately supervised They are therefore excluded
from the voting group.
TILE COLEMAN COMPANY, INC. and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED
Au'rOMOBII,E, AIRCRAFT & AGRICUI.TUR.1L IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF
AMERICA (UAW-CIO) , PETITIONER . Case No. 17-RC-1329. Oc-
tober 28,19592
Decision and Certification of Representatives
Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent election,
an election by secret ballot was conducted on August 15, 1952, under
101 NLRB No. 51