Harnischfeger Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 22, 1947

75 N.L.R.B. 642 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter Of HARNISCHFEGER CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and PAT-
TERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, MILWAUKEE ASSOCIATION,
A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 13211-R-9.-Decided December 22,1947
Mr. T. W. Korb, of Milwaukee, Wis., for the Employer.
Mr. George Q. Lynch, of Washington, D. C., for the Petitioner.
Mr. W. 0. Sonnemann, of Milwaukee, Wis., for the Intervenor.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, on June 25, 1947, before Gustaf B. Erickson, hear-
ing 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Harnischfeger Corporation, a Wisconsin corporation with its office
and principal place of business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is engaged
in the assembly, sale and distribution of electric motors, electric over-
head cranes, hoists, are welders, position finders; power shovels, trench-
ing machines and truck cranes. The Employer annually purchases
for use in its manufacturing operations materials valued in excess of
$10,000,000, of which approximately 75 percent is shipped to Mil-
waukee from points outside the State of Wisconsin. It annually sells
finished products valued in excess of $30,000,000, of which approxi-
mately 90 percent is shipped to points outside the State.
' The request of the United Steelworkers of America , C. I. 0 , on behalf of the United
Steelworkers of America, Lodge No 1114, C I 0, herein called the Intervenor , for oral
argument to contest the constitutionality of Section 9 (f), (g) and (h) of the Act, as
amended, ?end the Board's authority in connection with the interpretation thereof, is hereby
denied See Matter of Rite-Form Corset Company, 75 N L R B 174
74 N L. R. B., No. 74.
642
HARNISCHFEGER CORPORATION 643
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Em-
ployer.
United Steelworkers of America, Lodge No. 1114, is a labor organi-
zation affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
Ill. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer has refused to recognize the Petitioner as the ex-
clusive bargaining representative of employees in the Employer's
pattern shop until the Petitioner has been certified by the Board in
an appropriate unit.
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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Petitioner seeks a unit of journeyman pattern makers and ap-
prentice pattern makers employed in the pattern department of the
Employer's Milwaukee plant, excluding clerks, repairmen, utility
and storage men, and supervisors. The Employer and the Intervenor
contend that the proposed craft unit is not appropriate, because of a
history of collective bargaining on a more inclusive plant-wide basis.
In 1938, in an unfair labor practice case,2 the Board ordered the
Employer to bargain with Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel
and Tin Workers of North America, Lodge No. 1114, C. I. 0., the
predecessor of the Intervenor, on a plant-wide basis, including pat-
tern makers, but excluding operating engineers.3 No one then re-
quested, and consequently no one then secured, a self-determination
election among the pattern makers to ascertain whether they desired
to bargain separately or to be merged in the over-all production and
maintenance unit. From 1939 to the present, the Intervenor, or its
predecessor, has been the bargaining representative of the employees
2 Matter of Harnisch feger Corporation, 9N L R B 676. 0
The engineers had thei etofore. affiliated themselves with International Union of Oper-
ating Engineers, AFL, and had already bargained successfully on a craft unit basis.
766972-48-voI 75-42
I
644 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in the plant-wide unit under successive 1-year collective bargaining
contracts.
Since 1944 the pattern makers have evidently not been wholly
satisfied with their representation by the Intervenor. Since that
year they have ceased using the Intervenor's bargaining committee
for grievance adjustments and have dealt directly with the shop fore-
man. On one occasion, by appealing from the foreman to the Works
Manager directly, they obtained a wage increase of 21/2 cents per
hour greater than that won by the Intervenor for the employees in
the larger unit. Eight of the 11 pattern makers and their appren-
tices were actual members of the Petitioner at the time of the
hearing.
The pattern makers comprise a highly skilled craft group frequently
recognized as such by the Board. They are employed in an industry
in which separate bargaining units of pattern makers are prevalent.4
Under the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the pattern makers
may at this time constitute a separate appropriate unit if they so
desire. However, we shall make no unit determination pending the
outcome of the election directed hereinafter. If, in this election, the
employees select the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated
their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit. We shall not
place the Intervenor's name on the ballot, because, it has not complied
with Section 9 (f) and (h) of the amended Act.,'
In accordance with the foregoing, we shall direct that an election
be held among all pattern makers and apprentices employed by the
Employer at its Milwaukee plant, excluding clerks, repairmen, utility
and storage men, and supervisors as defined in the amended Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Harnischfeger Corporation,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 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 Thirteenth Region, and subject to Section 203.61 and
203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 5, among the employees in the voting group described in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
a See Matter of Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company, 64 N. L. R. B. 750; Matter of
The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, 58 N. L. R. B. 1129, and Matter of Erie City Iron
Works, 47N L.R.B 381.
6 See Matter of Rite-Form Corset Company, supra.
HARNISCHFEGER CORPORATION 645
diately 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, 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
or not they desire to be represented by Pattern Makers League of
North America, Milwaukee Association, A. F. L., for the purposes of
collective bargaining.