Taylor Forge & Pipe Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 3, 1943

51 N.L.R.B. 48 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of TAYLOR FORGE & PIPE WORKS and TAYLOR FORGE:
& PIPE WORKS EMPLOYEES' ASSOCIATION
Case No. B-5392.-Decided July 3, 1943
Fyffe & Clarke, by Mr. David R. Clarke, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Company.
John Long and Joseph M. Jacobs, by Mr. Joseph M. Jacobs, of
Chicago, Ill., for the Association.
Mr. David B. Rothstein, of Chicago, Ill., for the CIO.
Mr. Vernon Ford, of Chicago, Ill., for District 50.
Mr. Nathan J. Kaplan, of Chicago, Ill., for the United.
Mr. Wallace E. Royster, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Taylor Forge & Pipe Works Em-
ployees' Association, herein called the Association, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Taylor Forge & Pipe Works, Cicero, Illinois, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Leon A. Rosell,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Chicago, Illinois, on May
17, 18, and 19, 1943. The Company, the Association, Local 453,
United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers
of America, C. I. 0., herein called the CIO, District 50, United Mine
Workers of America, herein called District 50, and United Brother-
hood of Welders, Cutters and Helpers of America, herein called the
United, 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.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
51 N. L. R. B., No. 14.
48
TAYLOR FORGE & PIPE' WORKS
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
49
Taylor Forge & Pipe Works is an Illinois corporation, with its
principal office and plant in Cicero, Illinois. . The Company is
engaged in the manufacture and fabrication of steel forgings and
other steel products. Of the raw materials purchased annually by
the Company, more than $1,000,000 in value is received at the Cicero
plant from points outside Illinois. Of the annual production of the
Company, more than $1,000,000 in value is shipped from the Cicero
plant to points outside Illinois. The Company does not contest the
jurisdiction of the Board, and we find that the Company is engaged
in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Taylor Forge & Pipe Works Employees' Association is an unaffili-
ated labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
Local 453, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, C. I. 0., is a labor organization affiliated with
the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
District 50, United Mine Workers of America, is a labor organiza-
tion admitting to membership employees of the Company.
United Brotherhood of Welders, Cutters and Helpers of America
is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On February 22, 1943, the Association requested recognition ofthe
Company as bargaining representative of the Company's production
and maintenance employees in a plant-wide unit. The Company ex-
pressed doubt that the Association represented a majority of such em-
ployees and refused recognition. On March 8, 1943, the United re-
quested recognition as bargaining representative of certain of the
Company's employees engaged in welding operations. The Company
denied the appropriateness of the unit sought by the United and re-
fused recognition. Neither the C. I. O. nor District 50 has requested
recognition of the Company but at the hearing the Company clearly
indicated its unwillingness to accord recognition to either organiza-
tion.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates the membership of the contending unions in
50 DECISION'S OF' NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the units they claim to be appropriate. According to the statement
and the testimony at the hearing, the membership of the unions is
distributed among the various units and departments as follows :
Number
of em-
ployees Associ- United District CIOon coin
s ation rep- rep- 50 rep- rep-
ofpayroll resents resents resents resents
Apr 17,
1943
nt-wide unit excluding guards, welders, shipping
epartment employees, stock department em-
loyees, sales department employees, laboratory
mployees, tool and diemakers, supervisory em-
oyees, and executives of the Company 1, 788 (1) (2) 59 71
1-time welders, cutters, and apprentices, De-
rtments A-2 and A-3----------------------------- 112 86 89 1 1
ve-men and helpers employed in Department
-3------------------------------- --------------- 6 3 5 0 0
nt-protection guards---------------- ___ 39 33 (2) (2) 0
Aping department employees __ 32 15 (2) 0 1
k department employees________________________ 111 59 (1) 1 0
Pla
d
p
e
]P
Fu]
pa
Me
A
Pla
Shi
Stec
1 Over 50 percent.
2 No claim.
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 DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Association requests a unit embracing all production and main-
tenance employees of the Company including packing-room rem-
ployees, shipping-room employees and stock-room employees, but ex-
cluding office and clerical employees, salesmen, laboratory employees,
supervisory employees, foremen, and executives of the Company.
The Association intends that all employees engaged in welding opera-
tions be included. The Company and District 50 agree that the
above unit is appropriate.
Since 1937 the Association has dealt with the Company as the
representative of the employees in the unit it claims. From time to
time the Company, as a result of bargaining conferences with the
Association, has published statements of policy governing wages,
hours, and conditions of employment. The last such statement was
published in May 1941. Neither the Association nor the Company
rely upon the statement as constituting a contract in bar of this pro-
ceeding but both urge that the only collective bargaining in the his-
tory of the Company is that which occurred between them and, since
this bargaining was on the basis of a plant-wide unit, such unit has
become established by tradition and use as the appropriate unit for
TAYLOR FORGE & PIPE WORKS 51
the purposes of collective bargaining. Although, as stated above,
the negotiations between the Association and the Company have been
on a plant-wide basis, they have not resulted in a collective bargain-
ing contract and thus have not established such relations as would
persuade the Board to find that a smaller unit is not appropriate.'
The C. I. 0. asserts that employees in the shipping-room and stock
department are distinguishable on grounds of function from produc-
tion and maintenance employees and should be excluded from the
plant-wide unit. The evidence in respect to the duties of these em-
ployees is largely undisputed and it appears that their work is closely
and intimately integrated with the production work of the plant as
a whole. Shipping-rooms are located throughout the plant and ap-
proximately 65 percent of the product is routed directly from the pro-
duction line to the shipping-rooms. In respect to one item, orifice
flanges, shipping-room employees perform a portion of the assem-
bling work. The Company has two stock departments in the plant
where products are stored for future shipment or further processing.
Much of the stock is scattered throughout the plant and the stock-
department employees have close physical contact with production
employees. The work performed in these departments is chiefly
manual ; the employees are hourly paid; and their earnings are com-
,parable to those of similarly skilled workers in the production de-
partments. We find no reason to exclude shipping-room and stock-
department employees from a plant-wide unit.
The United requests a unit of all full-time manual welders, cut-
ters, welder apprentices, and welder helpers, employed by the Com-
pany, who manually operate electric-arc, thermit, and oxy-acetylene
cutting torches and welding machines, excluding operators of auto-
matic welding or cutting machines, those employees who perform
part-time welding and cutting operations in the production process,
and supervisory employees. According to the various definitions
offered at the hearing, the Company employs from 112 to 500 em-
ployees engaged in welding operations. Most of these, however, do
not possess the skills or perform the work of those within the pur-
view of the unit requested by the United. The operations of the
plant are departmentalized, although most departments are not physi-
cally separated, and department A-3 is the manual welding depart-
ment. Approximately 110 employees work in this department, 104
of whom are designated as welders, cutters, or apprentices. We shall
hereafter refer to such employees as welders. The remaining 6 are
helpers, move-men or sweepers. In department A-2, 8 additional
welders are employed whose work appears to be the same as that of
See Matter of Gene,al Petroleum Corporation of California , 39 N. L. R B 1180.
540512-44-vol 51-5
52 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
those in department A-3. Both departments are under the super-
intendence of a welding engineer; most, if not all, the manual weld-
ing done in the plant is performed by these employees; and only the
welders in these departments receive training in the Company's weld-
ing school. As indicated above, many employees are engaged in
welding operations but none outside the named departments works
exclusively with manual welding equipment and none attains as high
an hourly wage. When the foreman in department A-3 receives a
request for a welder from a production department, he designates a
welder to report to that department. The welder performs the task
to which he is assigned, perhaps at one of the welding stations lo-
cated throughout the plant, and then reports to department A-3 for
further assignment. From this it is clear that welders are a com-
pact, readily identifiable group; and the practice of the Company in
centralizing their supervision emphasizes their homogeneity.
The 6 move-men, helpers, or sweepers in department A-3 are
claimed by the United to be welder helpers. The record does not
substantiate this claim. It is true that these employees move equip-
ment to a position for welding and on occasion act as helpers but
they appear to be more accurately defined as general utility men of
no substantial skill and they work interchangeably with other move-
men in the plant. Since the United is seeking a skilled craft unit,
we find that the move-men named do not- qualify by skill or function
as a part of that unit.
Upon the basis of the entire record in this proceeding, we are of
the opinon that welders may appropriately constitute a separate
bargaining unit, as contended by the United, or form a part of a
plant-wide unit as contended by the Association, the CIO, and Dis-
trict 50.
We shall direct that separate elections be held among the Com-
pany's employees in the following groups: (1) all production and
maintenance employees, including shipping-room employees, stock-
department employees, packing-room employees, tool and die makers.
and move-men, helpers, and sweepers in Department A-3, but ex-
cluding all full-time manual welders, cutters, and apprentices in de-
partments A-2 and A-3, salesmen, laboratory employees, office and
clerical employees, executives of the Company, all supervisory em-
ployees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, and plant-protection guards, -to determine
whether they desire to be represented by the Association, the CIO,
District 50, or by none for the purposes of collective bargaining;
(2) all full-time manual welders, cutters, and apprentices in depart-
ments A-2 and A-3, excluding move-men, sweepers, and helpers, the
TAYLOR FORGE & PIPE WORKS 53
foremen and 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, to de-
termine whether they desire to be represented by the Association,
the CIO, District 50, the United, or by none of the said labor organi-
zations for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Upon the results of these elections will depend in part our finding
as to the appropriate unit or units. If a majority of'the employees
in each of the aforesaid voting groups selects the some organization,
the two voting groups will together constitute a single appropriate
unit. If the majority in either group selects a representative not
selected by the other group, each will constitute a separate appro-
priate unit.
Those eligible to vote in the elections which we shall direct, shall
be all employees of the Company described in groups (1) and (2),
above, 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 therein.
The Company einploys 39 plant-protection guards who are claimed
by the Association to be within the plant-wide unit. The guards are
armed, uniformed, and under the supervision of the military authori-
ties. Since it is the settled policy of the Board that such employees
be represented in a separate unit,2 and since none of the parties objects
to such a unit,3 we find that the plant-protection guards employed by
the Company at its Cicero plant, excluding the chief guard, the assist-
ant chief guard, and all 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 a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
We shall direct that the 'question concerning representation which
has arisen in respect to employees in the guard unit be resolved by an
election by secret ballot among such employees 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. Since the CIO has made no showing of
membership among the plant-protection guards and since District t0
and the United claim no interest in that unit, we shall accord the
Association alone a place on the ballot.
See Matter of Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park Plant, 44 N. L R. B 881.
8 At the hearing, District 50 objected to the oral request of the Aosceiation for a separate
unit of guards claiming that such a request must be made by formal petition. We find no
merit in this objection. See Matter of Westcio9 Division, General Time Instruments Cor-
poration, 47 N. L R. B. 418.
54 DECISIONS, OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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 Rela-
tions 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 Taylor Forge &
Pipe Works, Cicero, Illinois, separate 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
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among all
employees of the Company who fall within the groups described
below who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including those who did not
work during such 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 who have since quit or been discharged for cause :
(1) All production and maintenance employees, including shipping-
room „employees, packing-room employees, stock-department em-
ployees, tool and die makers, and move-men, helpers, and sweepers in
department A-3, but excluding all ful-time manual welders, cutters,
and apprentices in departments A-2 and A-3, salesmen, laboratory em-
ployees, office and clerical employees, executives of the Company, all
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge,
discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees or
effectively recommend such action, and plant-protection guards, to
determine whether they desire to be represented by Taylor Forge &
Pipe Works Employees' Association, or by Local 4,53, United Automo-
bile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, C. I. 0.,
or by District 50, United Mine Workers of America, for the purposes
of collective bargaining, or by none;
(2) All full-time manual welders, cutters, and apprentices in depart-
ments A-2 and A-3, excluding move-men, sweepers and helpers, the
foremen, and 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, to determine
whether they desire to be represented by Taylor Forge & Foundry
Works Employees' Association, or by Local 453, United Automobile,
Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, C. I. O. `or
by District 50, United Mine Workers of America, or by United
TAYLOR FORGE & PIPE ' WORKS 55
Brotherhood of Welders, Cutters and Helpers of America, for the
purposes of collective bargaining, or by none; and
(3) All plant-protection guards, excluding the chief guard and the
assistant chief guard, and all other supervisory employees with au-
thority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect.
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by
Taylor Forge & Pipe Works Employees' Association for the purposes
of collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN Mrra .Is took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.