Ingersoll Rand Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 1, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 1342 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

1342 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
him on December 17, 1950, and by refusing to pay him the usual and customary
Christmas bonus, thereby discouraging membership in United Cement, Lime &
Gypsum Workers International Union , Local 129, AFL, the Respondent has
engaged in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of
Section 8 (a) (3) and (1) of the Act.
6. By interfering with , restraining , and coercing the employees in the exercise
of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act, the Respondent has engaged
in and is engaging in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section
8 (a) (1) of the Act.
7. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting
commerce within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
8. The Respondent did not commit any unfair labor practice by discharging
Berton Delamater on December 17, 1950.
[Recommendations omitted from publication in this volume.]
INGERSOLL RAND COMPANY 1 and INTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN
AND ASSISTANTS UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER. Case
No. 4-RC-1578. October 1, 19,52
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harold Kowal, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Houston, Styles, and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner requests a unit comprising pressmen, compositors,
lockup men, bindery workers, folding machine and cutting machine
operators, cuts attendants, proofreaders, janitors, working foremen,
and trucker-oiler-stitcher setup men, all employed in the Employer's
print shop, and storekeepers and stores attendants employed in the
advertising department storeroom, at the Employer's Phillipsburg,
New Jersey, plant. The Employer contends that the unit sought is
1 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
100 NLRB No. 213.
INGERSOLL RAND COMPANY 1343
not a true craft group and that only a comprehensive production
and maintenance unit covering the Easton,, Pennsylvania, and Phillips-
burg plants, which the Intervenor has represented over about the past
9 years, is appropriate?
The Employer is engaged in the manufacturing of pumps, com-
pressors , and engines at its 2 plants. At its major plant in Phillips-
burg, 1 of its 10 sections is designated as the advertising division and
is subdivided into an advertising department and a printing depart-
ment. The latter operates the print shop, which prints price lists,
parts lists, instruction books, literature, and other office and shop
forms used in connection with the Employer' s business . An assistant
superintendent is in separate charge of the print shop, which has
sections for press, composing, and bindery operations, each under the
immediate supervision of foremen or a forelady. All operations of
the print shop are performed in 1 room, which has 1 partitioned
area for an office and another for machine compositors. All print
shop employees sought by the Petitioner, except the janitor, perform
work directly and functionally related to the printing process, and
they share the same conditions of employment. All have and exercise
the basic skills usually found in similar classifications in commercial
printing establishments. The functions and duties of these employees
are not interchangeable with those of other employees in the plant,
nor, in general, are the employees themselves interchanged with em-
ployees having other job classifications .3 There are no similar
employees at the Easton plant.
We are of the opinion that the print shop employees comprise a
functionally distinct departmental group with a substantial nucleus
of craftsmen 4 and are similar to those whom the Board has previously
held may constitute an appropriate unit, if they so desire, notwith-
standing a past bargaining history on a more comprehensive basis.5
However, they may also remain part of the existing broader unit repre-
sented by the Intervenor. Accordingly, we shall make no unit deter-
mination at this time, but shall be guided in part by the results of the
election which we shall direct among the employees in the voting
group described below.
There remains to be decided the voting group placement of certain
personnel classifications :
2Intervenor ( Local 451, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America,
appeared at the hearing but did not state its position on the unit question
"The bindery workers occasionally may be assigned tasks in the adjoining direct mail
room and , as hereinafter noted , the proofreaders sometimes perform office clerical work.
A See Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company, 77 NLRB 719, 725.
'Square D Co., 79 NLRB 71.',, cf. Paterson Parchment Paper Co, 80 NLRB 1378, and
Bond Crown & Cork Co.. 75 NLRB 1152. The decision in The Standard Register Com-
pany, 84 NLRB 939, relied upon by the Employer , is clearly distinguishable on its facts
1344 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Proofreaders : These employees perform their duties in the parti-
tioned office in the print shop. They serve directly under the print
shop assistant superintendent. While, unlike the other print shop
employees, they are salaried and may in emergencies be called upon
to perform office clerical duties, most of their time is spent regularly
performing proofreading duties. Under all the circumstances, includ-
ing the fact that proofreaders perform work which is directly related
to the printing process, we shall include them.6
,Storekeeper and stores attendants: These employees work in the
storeroom, two rooms away from the print shop, under the separate
supervision of the advertising department assistant superintendent.
They handle materials for other sections as well as the print shop. We
find that these employees lack sufficient community of interests with
the print shop employees and, under all the circumstances, we shall
exclude them.
Print shop janitor: Although this employee does general janitorial
work and does not participate directly in any of the operations of the
print shop, he is a part of the print shop and is under the same super-
vision as the other print shop employees. We are of the opinion that
the print shop janitor has a sufficient community of interests with em-
ployees engaged in the printing process to warrant his inclusion in the
unit. We shall therefore include him.7
Foremen and f orelady : Two foremen and a forelady each supervise
a section of the print shop on the first shift, and another foreman
supervises all operations performed on the second shift. Two are paid
by salary and two are hourly paid. They may recommend hiring and
discharging, as well as wage increases under a merit rating plan, and
their recommendations are usually followed. We find that they are
supervisors and shall exclude them.
Accordingly, we shall direct an election in the following voting
group :All print shop employees at the Employer's Phillipsburg, New
Jersey, plant, including pressmen, compositors, lockup men, bindery
workers, folding machine and cutting machine operators, cuts attend-
ants, proofreaders, trucker-oiler-stitcher setup men and janitors, but
excluding storekeepers, stores attendants, office clerical employees,
foremen, foreladies, and other supervisors 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 Re-
gional Director conducting the election directed herein is instructed to
issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for the unit
8 Cf. Uarco Incorporated, 71 NLRB 605 ; A. B. Dick Co , 74 NLRB 367 ; Banta Publish-
ing Company , 73 NLRB 491.
'Cf. The Reliance Electric & Engineering Company, 98 NLRB 488; Layne & Bowler, Inc.,
90 NLRB 1872
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, CANTON WORKS 1345
described above, which the Board, under the circumstances,. finds to
be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining . In the event a
majority vote for the Intervenor, the Board finds the existing unit to
be appropriate and the Regional Director will issue a certificate of
results of election to such effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, CANTON WORKS and INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BLACKSMITHS, DROP FORGERS AND HELPERS,
AFL, PETITIONER
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, CANTON WORKS and INTERNA-
TIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL
IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER. Cases Nos.
13-RC-2822 and 13-RC-2878. October 2,1952
Decision , Order, and Direction of Election
Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held in Case No. 13-RC-2822 before
I. M. Lieberman, hearing officer, on July 21, 1952, and before Ivan C.
McLeod, hearing officer, on July 29 and 30, 1952. Another petition
was duly filed in Case No. 13-RC-2878, and pursuant to an order con-
solidating cases and notice of enlarged representation hearings issued
by the Regional Director of the Thirteenth Region, the above-entitled
cases were consolidated for hearing on August 7, 1952. Therefore the
consolidated hearing was held before Hearing Officer McLeod. The
hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.'
3. For reasons stated below no question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of employees of the Employer in Case
I At the hearing the United Farm Equipment and Metal Workers , Local No. 157 (UE),
herein called Farm Equipment Workers, was permitted to intervene in both cases on the
basis of a recently expired contract covering the employees in the proposed units. The
International Union, United Automobile , Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America, CIO , herein called U.A.W., was permitted to intervene in Case No . 13-RC-2822
on the basis of a card showing . The International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop
Forgers and Helpers, AFL , herein called Blacksmiths , did not seek intervention in Case
No. 13-RC-2878.
100 NLRB No. 219.