Graver Tank & Mfg. Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 27, 1943

49 N.L.R.B. 1217 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of GRAVER TANK & MFG. CORP . and UNITED CONSTRUCTION
WORKERS, DIVISION OF DISTRICT 50, UNITED MINE WORKERS OF
AMERICA
Case No. R 52& .-Decided May D7 , 19-1j3,
Fyffe c0, Clarke, by Mr. John Harrington, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Company .
Mr. Fraide Baim,lzart, dMr. Roy M. Peck and Mr. William L. Jones, of
Hammond, Ind., for District 50.
Mr. Daniel D. Carmell, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr. Martin G. Petersen,
of Hammond, Ind., for the Boilermakers.
Mr. Norman L.'Harris, of East Chicago, Ind., and Mr. Jess Gon-,
tales. of Chicago, Ill., for the U. S. A.
3f r. Loins Cokin; of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
- AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition and amended petition duly filed by United Construc-
tion Workers, Division of District 50, United Mine Workers of
America, herein called District 50, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerliing the representation of employees of
Grayer;'' Tank & Mfg: Corp., East Chicago, Indiana, herein called the
Company,'the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing, upon due notice before Lester Asher, Trial Examiner.
Said heariu g was held at Hammond, Indiana, on May'3, 1943, and 'at
Chicago, Illinois, on May 4, 1943. On April '24, 1943, the Regional
Director granted a motion of International Brotherhood of Boiler,
milkers, Irvin Shipbuilders and Helpers of America, Local 374, herein
called the Boilermakers, to intervene. At the commencement; of the
liea'ring,`,the Trial'EYaminer granted a'motion of United Steelworkers
of America, herein called the U. S. A., to intervene. The Company,
District 50, the Boilermakers,' and the U. S. A. appeared at and par-
ticipated in 'the hearing and all parties were afforded full opportunity
to be heard, to examine an'd cross-examine witnesses; an'd to introduce
49 N -L H B , No. 180.
1217
1218 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL IaABOtR RELATIONS, BOARD
evidence bearing on the issues.' The-Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS, OF FACT I
,
1. THE BUSINESS OF THES COMPANY
Graver Tank X Mfg." Corp. is an' Indiana corporation with its prin-
cipal-place. of business,at East Chicago, Indiana, where it is engaged
in th'e 'steel plate construction bu`•siiiess. Tlie`'Company prodilces'
finished products valued in excess of, $500,000 annually, apps oxi
nlately 90'pei'cent of whie'liis shipped to'points outside"tl e'`State'of
Indiana. The Company admits that' it' is ' engaged in commerce
within th' nieaning'of the'l\Tatiorial'I;abor''Relations Act. '
II.'TE '•ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Construction Workers, Division- of •District 50, United Mine
Workers of America, is a labor organization admitting to membership
employees of the Company. ' i•'
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders and
Helpers of America,, Local 374, is a,labor organization affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor`adniitting to membership employ-
ees of the Company.
United Steelworkers of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the:Congress.of:Industrial'Orgai izations, admitting to member-
ship'employees of the Company.
t i i •a Ali r_ ^!,, . ,£; ,f
}. ;,!ii;,,•,"'r,, III .,THE QUESTION,OF, REPRESENTATION
Un,D2arch 9, 1943, District 50, claiming,toii;epreseiit a majority of
the ; employees, asked the • Company fors recognition as rexelusive; ,col
lectiye bargaining representative of its employees. The "Coinpanj',
,did not, reply to this request.
. t • ' rA
On•May'15,,1937, the Company and-the 13oilermakers•entered into
an exclusive collectiv,e bargaining contract. Said contract, provides
that it, shall, remain in effect until June 30, 1938, and from year to
year thereafter unless' either party, notifies the other ofits,desire to
terminate at least 30,days prior to, any annual, expiration date. On
April 20,,1943, the, Boilermakers requested that, the Company meet
with it for the purposes of negotiating •a new ^ragi-eeriieiit. • The 'Boil:
.ermakers ,contends that the petition should•'be' dismissed, because of
I During the course of the hearing the Trial, Examiner notified the;International Asso-
ciation of Machinists of the instant proceeding . The International Association of Ma-
chinists' seated that it had no interest in this proceeding.
GRAVER TANK & MFG. CORP. 1219
'its' contract with the Company. Inasmuch as Distiict 50 made its
iclaim upon the Coin'pany prior to.May 30, 1943, and the Boilermakers
'requested negotiations for a new 'agreement. prior to May 30, 1943,
the date upon which the contract would have been automatically re-
newed, we find,that the contract'does not preclude the Board from
-investigating or certifying .a bargaining representative for the pur-
pose of negotiating a new agreement for the period following June
30, 1943,•if such is desired.
'A, statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence
at the hearing, indicates that District 50 and the, Boilermakers each
r-epresents'a substantial-number of employees in each of the units;
hereinafter found to be appropriate.'
We find that a question ailectiilg commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPEOPRIATE UNIT.
District 50 urges that 'all employees of the Company,.•including
watchmen, but excluding supervisory, traffic; engineering, drafting,
estimating, administrative, office, and clerical employees, constitute
an'appropriate unit. The 'only controversy with respect to the unit
concerns watchmen and two alleged supervisory employees. ,
The Company employs seven persons classified by it as watchmen.
.District 50, the Boilermakers, and the Company would include them
in;the industrial unit,•'and•th_e U. S. A. would exclude then. The
watchmen are uniformed, armed, and sworn in as auxiliary United
States military police: f In accordance,with our. ,usual practice we
shall exclude watchmen from the production and maintenance unit.
'We''fihd, however, that all watchmen, 'employed by the-Company, ex-
eluding supervisory employees,' constitute' a separate'lappropriate
u11it., • , i ;1 , , .. -
Simonton' and' Kinak'are listed' 'oil the Company's pay .roll as, fore-•
men. The Company and the Boilermakers would include them in
the-unit while District 50 and the U. S. A.••would exclude them.
'1'hese'two elilployees are 'paid on an liburly basis in contrast to other
supervisory "employees who atel,paid a salary.- The'record indicates
The Regional Director repor ted that District 50 presented 200 membership or'authoriza-
tion cards bearing ; appaienily genuine signatures of persons whose names appear on the
Company's pay roll of April 1, 1943 Hi; further reported that the Boilermakers submitted
authorization petitions bearpig 337 apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names
appear ori••the,;April 1,,1943, pay ioli, The'Trial Examiner repotted that the U. S. A.
presented 45 membership application cards bearing appar'entiy genuine signatures of per-
sons whose names appear on that pay roll . ,'There are approximately 462 employees in the
industrial unit . , Six of District 50's cards bear signatures of persons in the i atclnnen's
unit while one of the Boilermakers ' cards bears the signature of a person in that unit
Theie are 7'employees in the watchmen's unit , The U. S A made no showing among the
watchmen. , -
531647-43-vol 49-78
1220
r
DECISIONiS-OF NATIONAL LABOR REILA'11ONS BOARD
,that,-Sinlontonyandl;K ►nak spends less tllan . 10',percenit °,,of theirv-time-
perfornting minor supervisory duties and that they a re both covered
by the contract between the Boilermakers and the Company. We
=shall include ' them in the unit.
We find that the following employees constitute units appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the Act :
(1) All employees of the Company, including Simonton and Kmak.
but excluding supervisory, traffic, engineering, drafting, estimating,
'administrative, office, and clerical employees, and watchmen.
(2) All watchmen employed by the Company, excluding, super-
-visory employees.
1 J
V. TILE DETERMIN ATION OF REI'RESHNT ATI\ES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by means of elections by secret ballot among
-the employees in the appropriate units, who were employed during
the pay-roll period immediately preceding'the date of the Direction
.of Elections herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth
-in the Direction.., ,
Distrzct' , 50,,urgesjuthat the U. S.-A.-be denied a placc'ron -,the ballots
in the elections on the ground that the U. S. A. has not made a suf-
ficient showing of representation in either group . , However-, inas-
much as elections are to be conducted and inasmuch as the U. S. A.
leas made some showing-of membership, we shall accord it a place, on
the ballots.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue 'of and, pursuant, to the power , vested. in the National
Labor Relations Board by , Section , 9 (c) of the ''Natiorial L'abor 'llela-'
tions Act and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
-hereby ,
DIRECTED that; as part of the investigation to ascertain represent-
-atives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Graver,Tank
oL Mfg. Corp., East Chicago, Indiana, elections 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 Thirteenth Region, acting in this mat-
ter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject` to
Article ' fII, Section 10, of said Rules and-Regulations ; among the-em-
ployees -in, the units found appropriate' in Section ITT, above, who
were employed during'the'pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction; including employees who cdid -not-work d'tir-
GRAYER TANK & MFG. CORP.
r
1221
ing said pay -roll period because they were,ill or on vacation or'tein-
poraril}, 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 , with respect to each unit , whether they desire to be repre-
sented by United Construction Workers, Division of District :i0,
United Aline Workers of.America, or by International Brotherhood'
of Boilermakers , Iron Shipbuilders and Helpers of America, Local
374, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor , or by United
Steelworkers of America , affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining , or by none
of the said organizations.