Madison Iron Works, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 20, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 649 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of MADISON IRON WORKS, INCORPORATED and AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF LABOR, MARINE WORKERS, METAL' TRADES DEPART-
MENT, COUNCIL
Case No. 4-R-1663.-Decided April 20,1945
Mr. Alfred W. Roberts, Jr., of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. Samuel R. Isard, of Newark, N. J., for the Union.
Mr. Joseph D. Manders, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed on February 6, 1945, by American
Federation of Labor, Marine Workers, Metal Trades Department,
Council,, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Madison Iron Works, Incorporated, Madison, New Jersey, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Eugene M. Purver,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Morristown, New Jersey,
on February 26, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and
participated. All parties 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 hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All par-
ties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Madison Iron Works, Incorporated, a New Jersey corporation, is
engaged in the manufacture of marine mufflers under contracts with
I At the commencement of the hearing the Trial Examiner granted a motion presented
by the Union to amend its petition, changing the name of said Union to read as herein
stated.
61 N. L. R. B., No . 100. 649
650 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the United States Navy. The Company's sole plant, located at Mad-
ison, New Jersey, is involved in the instant proceeding. During the
fiscal year ending April 30, 1944, the Company purchased raw mate-
rials, consisting principally of sheet and steel plates, bolts, and nuts,
valued in excess of $155,000; approximately 75 percent of such pur-
chases was shipped to its plant from points outside the State of New
Jersey. During the same period, the Company delivered approx-
imately 100 percent of its finished products, valued in excess of $650,-
000, to the United States Navy at the Madison, New Jersey plant.
We find that the operations of the Company affect commerce within
the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Marine Workers, Metal Trades Department, Council, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its employees at the Madison,
New Jersey, plant until the Union has been certified by the Board in an
appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of 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 Union urges that all production and maintenance employees in-
cluding the working foremen, subforemen (snappers or leadmen),
burners and machinists, skilled, and unskilled laborers, assemblers,
welders, and set-up men, but excluding -executives, superintendents,
storekeeper-chief of guards, armed guards, office employees, time-
keeper and cost accountants, draftsmen, chief draftsman, and super-
visory employees, constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargain-
ing. The Company took no position with respect to the composition of
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 32 authorization cards which
bore apparently genuine original signatures , that the names of 32 persons appearing on
the cards were listed on the Company 's pay roll of February 14, 1945, which contained the
names of 43 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that all the cards were dated January
11, 1945.
MADISON IRON WORKS, INCORPORATED 651
the appropriate unit. Certain specific classifications of employees
within the unit designated by the Union warrant special mention'
herein.
Working foremen. The hierarchy of the Company is substantially
as follows : Executives, superintendents and storekeeper-chief of
guards, working foremen, subforemen, first class workers, and other
employees. Although the working foremen devote approximately 80
percent of their time to the performance of tasks similar in nature to
those performed by the employees they supervise, they have, at all
times, the authority to discharge, discipline, and recommend raises.
During the night shift, the working foremen, on duty are in complete
charge of the entire plant. Under these circumstances, we find that
the working foremen are supervisory employees within our customary
definition, and they are excluded from the unit.
Subf oremen (snappers or leadmen). The subforemen devote prac-
tically all their time to the performance of production and mainte-
nance tasks. These subforemen receive a 5-cent bonus over their
'normal hourly rate of pay because they substitute for the working
foremen in the latter's absence. At no time during their employ as
subforemen are they clothed with the authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or effectively recommend changes in the status of
employees. It is only when a foreman has been absent for "months"
that the subforeman assumes the status of a working foreman.
We find that the subforemen do not have any of the indicia charac-
teristic of supervisory employees and we, therefore, include said
subforemen in the appropriate unit.3
Armed guards. These employees are armed, uniformed, and sworn
in as peace officers by the Borough of Madison. They are responsible
to the storekeeper-chief of guards. In conformance with the custom-
ary policy of the Board, we shall exclude the guards from the appro-
priate unit.4
We find that all production and maintenance employees, including
subforemen (snappers or leadmen), burners and machinists, skilled
and unskilled laborers, assemblers, welders, set-up men, janitors, test-
ers, and maintenance electricians, but excluding executives, superin-
tendents, storekeeper-chief of guards, working foremen, guards, office
employees, timekeeper and cost accountants, draftsmen, chief drafts-
man, and all or any other supervisory employees with authority to
hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute
3 See Matter of Wheeler Shipbuilding Corpw ation, 56 N L R B 1350, Matter of P S
Thorsen and Co., 56 N. L. R B 1340.
4 See Matter of Continental Can Co., 55 N L R B. 180
652 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot
among the 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 5
It appears that the Company employs parttime employees. Said
part-timers work between the hours of 7 and 11 p. in.; they neither
work on specific days, nor for a definite number of hours. The Union
desires their exclusion from the list of eligible voters; the Company
states its position to be neutral. The record reveals that during a
specific period of time some of the part-timers worked with sufficient
regularity to average 20 hours per week.6 There is no indication in
the evidence that the part-time employees work on any different basis
than full-time employees as to rates of pay, duties, or other conditions
of employment. Regular part-time employees who devote a substan-
tial amount of time over a representative period of time to the per-
formance of work in a particular plant are employees who become
vitally engrossed in wages, hours, and working conditions which there
prevail. They derive from this substantial amount of work an interest
in their industrial environment, and the correlative right to participate
in an election to determine the representatives of this interest. On
the basis of the record before us, we deem eligible to vote those part-
time employees who have worked an average of 20 or more hours per
week over the following representative period of time, to wit : that
interval of time commencing with the 4-week period preceding Febru-
ary 14, 1945,7 and ending with the pay-roll period immediately preced-
ing the date of this Direction of Election.8
5 The request of the Union to have its name appear on the ballot as "A. F. of L., M. W. M.
)•. D. Council" is hereby granted
9 During the 4-week period preceding February 14, 1945, the number of hours performed
y the following employees appears as herein indicated :
Hours
Delbert N . Engle, Jr------------------------------------------ 1277/2
John L Pico-------------------------------------------------- 107
Joe G. Pico--------------------------------------------------- 97
Joseph Dowling ------------------------------------------------ 50
Jim Ryan---------------------------------------------------- 387/
The record is devoid of evidence manifesting the length of employment of any of the
ove part-time employees.
7 This is the period as to which evidence was introduced at the hearing See footnote
Rupra.
9 See Matter of Armour and Company, 51 N. L . R. B. 28.
MADISON IRON WORKS, INCORPORATED
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
653
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 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Madison Iron
Works, Incorporated, 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 Fourth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Sections
10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in Section IV, and the determination of as to
part-time employees set forth in Section V, 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 em-
ployees 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 A. F. of L., M. W. M.
T. D. Council, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILL.IS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
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