International Engineering Works, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 26, 1943

49 N.L.R.B. 1129 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

,In the Matter Of INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING WORKS, INC. and
UNITED PAPER,. NOVELTY AND Toy WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION
(C. L, O.)
Case No. R_5249.-Decided May 06, 1943
Mr. Anthony Di Cicco, Jr., of Framingham,. Mass., for the
Company.
Mr. Sam Sandberg, of Leominster, Mass., for the Toy Workers.
Mr. William E. Allison, of Providence, R. I., for the Boilermakers.
Miss Muriel J. Levor, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND '
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon amended petition duly filed by United Paper, Novelty and
Toy Workers International Union (C. I. 0.), herein called the Toy
Workers, alleging that a question affecting commerce had 'arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of International Engineering
Works, Inc., Framingham, Massachusetts, herein called the Com-
pany,' the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Thomas H. 'Ramsey, Trial
Examiner. Said' hearing was held at Framingham, Massachusetts,
on April 27, 1943. The Company, the Toy Workers, and Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders and Helpers
of America, herein called the Boilermakers, appeared, participated,
and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce' evidence bearing on the issues.
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing ' are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
' A motion was made and granted at the bearing to amend the petition and other
documents to set forth the Company 's name as above.
49 N. L. R. B., No. 164.
1129
1130 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE ' COMPANY
International Engineering Works, Inc., a Massachusetts corpora-
tion with its principal office and place of business at Framingham,
Massachusetts, is engaged in the manufacture of fabricated steel
work. The Company at present operates two divisions. The older
division, which the Company calls the boiler division, manufactures
heavy steel products such as boilers, tanks, and smoke stacks. In the
other, or Meeco division of the Company, light iron products, such
as drinking fountains, lockers, batteries, and boxes, are manufactured.,
We are concerned with both divisions in this proceeding. The
principal raw materials used by the Company are steel plates, cast-
ings, and tubings. The value of these materials used anually by the
Company is approximately $350,000, of which about 67 percent is
shipped from points outside the State. of Massachusetts. The total
annual sales of the Company are approximately $680,000, of which
about 67 percent is shipped to points outside the State of Massa-
chusetts. '
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Paper, Novelty and Toy Workers International Union is
a labor' organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders and
-Helpers of America is a labor 'organization affiliated with the
American Federation of -Labor, admitting to membership employees
of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about March 26, 1943, the Toy Workers requested the Com-
pany to bargain with it as the exclusive representative of . the
Company's production and maintenance employees. The Company
refused on the ground that -it had a contract with the Boilermakers.
The contract referred to by the Company was executed by the
Company and the Boilermakers on September 3, 1941. It provided
that it was to remain in effect for 1 year and from year to year
thereafter and that it was to be renewed automatically in the absence
of 30 days' notice of a desire to make changes. Neither party ever
gave notice to the other of a desire to amend or terminate the contract.
It is the Toy Workers' contention that the Boilermakers ceased' to
function and became defunct before the date on which the contract
INTERNA'T'IONAL ENGINEERING W'ORK', INC. 1131
would have been automatically renewed, and hence, that the Company'
has no presently subsisting contract with its employees. Both the
Company and the Boilermakers claim that the Boilermakers never
ceased to exist and that consequently the contract was automatically
renewed and constitutes a bar to a present determination of repre-
sentatives.
It appears that the Boilermakers' local for the Company's em-
ployees, called the Local herein, was set up sometime in August
1941, and in September, as above stated, after a card check by the
Company, an exclusive bargaining contract with the Company was
executed! Until 'sometime in December 1941, dues were collected,
grievances were handled by a-committee headed by the president of
the Local, one Murphy, and meetings were held. It is 'undisputed
that no members of the Local paid due's after December 1941, at
which time the financial secretary left the Company's employ; no
successor has since filled his office. ' Although grievances appear to
have been brought to Murphy's notice afterwards, no grievances
were brought to the Company's attention, other than individually
by the persons aggrieved, later than 6 months after the signing of
the contract, and even within that period, it appears, sometime
during February 1942, Murphy referred to an employee, who made a
complaint concerning the Company's night shift policy, to the Com-
pany's superintendent. None of the Local's officers attended any
meetings held later than December 1941 or January 1942. However,
in February 1942, certain of the members, about eight in number, did
arrange meetings to revitalize the Local at the home of Kendall, one
of their number. Murphy was invited but never attended. They
also wrote the Kansas City headquarters of the Boilermakers. As
the result of these activities, Lynch, an international representative,
attended a meeting on or about March 8, 1942, at Rendall's home.
At that time Lynch suggested some arrangement about payment of
dues in arrears, and he also discussed grievances with the members
and told them that he would "take it up" at the Company's main
.office. It appears that the Local's members never saw or heard from
Lynch again. Their efforts to interest other employees of the Com-
pany were fruitless, and there were no further meetings after April
1942. It further appears that the first time Murphy discussed work-
ing conditions with a representative of the Company, subsequent to
the handling of grievances during the early months of the contract's
existence, was' in February 1943, when he asked Superintendent
Adams for a personal increase in wages. At this time Superintend-
ent Adams informed Murphy that the Company was working on a
' The Boilermakers was recognized as agent for the "employees of the Boiler Shop De-
partment," it t that time the Company's only production division.
1132 DECISION'S OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
wage schedule providing for a general increase in wages which it
was going to submit to the War Labor Board for approval. Neither
Murphy nor any representative of the Boilermakers had anything
to do with the preparation of this wage schedule . Murphy, who in
March 1943 signed an application for membership in the Toy
Workers, testified that other members of the committee , who had
negotiated grievances during the first months of the contract's ex-
istence, as previously described , had left the Company's employ and
had never been , replaced.
Upon these facts,3 , we find that the Boilermakers ' Local had not
'functioned , and had no dues-paying members for a substantial period
of time prior to August 3, 1942, the date upon which the contract
would have been automatically * renewed if the contentions of the
Company and the Boilermakers ' had been supported by the evidence.
The Boilermakers is dormant at the Company 's plant and a substan-
tial number of employees now desire to be represented by the Toy
Workers.4 We find, therefore , that the contract between the Com-
pany and the Boilermakers does not constitute a bar to an election.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of the 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,parties agreed at the hearing that employees of both the boiler
and Meeco divisions of the Company, constitute a single appropriate
bargaining unit. Accordingly, we find that all production and
maintenance employees of the Company at its Framingham, Massa-
chusetts, plant, including watchmen, but excluding office and clerical
employees, superintendents, foremen, and supervisory employees
having the power to hire and discharge or to recommend such action
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
had arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
Certain letters to Murphy from a representative of the Boilermakers were put in evi-
dence by the Company These letters discuss Rage questions concerning the Company
employees but contain no 'statement at variance with events, as recounted above.
4 The Regional Director reported that the Toy workers submitted 46 designations, of
which 41, beating appaienily genuine original signatures, correspond with names on the
Company's pay roll containing 80 names. The Boilermakers did not submit any evidence
of representation but relied on the existence of the contract.
5 Matter of Nashville Bridge Company and International Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
ers, International Brotherhood of Boilerniakers , Iron Slviiibnilders and Helpers of America
and International Association of Machinists , 49 N. L. R B. 629.
INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING WORKS, INC. 1133
employees 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 Direction.
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 Relations 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 International
:%,ngineering Works, Inc., Framingham, Massachusetts, an election oy
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 First 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 employed 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 those employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause, to determine whether they desire to be
represented by United Paper, Novelty and Toy Workers International
Union, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or by
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders and
Helpers of America, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
I