The Lennox Furnace Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 19, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 1329 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of THE LENNOx FURNACE COMPANY and UNITED FARM
EQUIPMENT & METAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 18-R-1176.-Decided March 19, 1946
Mr. H. G. Cartwright, of Marshalltown, Iowa, for the Company.
Meyers and Meyers, by Mr. Ben Meyers, of Chicago, Ill., and Mr.
Charles W. Hobbie, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the C. I. O.
Messrs. Joe B. Tye and Ray Bowen, of Marshalltown, Iowa, for the
Furnace Workers.
Mr. James Ashe, of St. Paul, Minn., and Messrs. Earl P. Hogan and
James Brand, of Des Moines, Iowa, for the A. F. L.
Mr. Julius G. Serot, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
-DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly- filed by United Farm Equipment & Metal
Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of The Lennox Furnace Company, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropri-
ate hearing upon due notice before Clarence A. Meter, Trial Examiner.
Said hearing was held at Marshalltown, Iowa, on January 9, 1945.
The Company, the C. I. 0., United Furnace Workers of Marshalltown,
Iowa,' herein called the Furnace Workers, and International Associa-
tion of Machinists, District 118, A. F. of L., herein called the A. F. L.,2
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 hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
I Prior to the hearing the Furnace Workers filed a motion to intervene, which was
granted by the Regional Director.
a The A. F. L. intervened at the hearing.
60 N. L. R. B., No. 230.
628508-45-vol . 6085 1329
1330 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
The Lennox Furnace Company is an Iowa corporation, with its
principal office and place of business in Marshalltown, Iowa, where it
is engaged in the manufacture of steel furnaces and war material, ap-
proximately 45 percent of its present work being the production of
war materials, partly as a prime contractor and partly as a subcon-
tractor. During the year ending December 31, 1944, the Company
purchased raw materials consisting principally of steel, pig iron, mo-
tors, and blowers valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which 95 percent
was shipped to the Company at Marshalltown from points outside the
State of Iowa. During the same year the valu€ of the finished
products manufactured by the Company was in excess of $2,000,000,
of which more than 75 percent was shipped by the Company to points
outside the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Farm Equipment S , Metal Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organiza-
tion admitting to membership employees of the Company.
United Furnace Workers of Marshalltown, Iowa, is an unaffiliated
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company. '
International Associotion of Machinists, District 118, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By letter dated November 14, 1944, the C. I. O. requested the Com-
pany to recognize it as the bargaining agent for all production and
maintenance employees in the Marshalltown, Iowa, plant of the Com-
pany. On No-,ember 17, 1944, the Company replied, refusing to ac-
cede to the request of the C. I. O. on the ground that it was bargain-
ing with an agent certified by the Board.
As a result of a previous petition filed by the C. I. 0., a consent
election was held on February 25, 1944, and, on March 2, 1944, the
Furnace- Workers was certified as the bargaining agent for the em-
ployees defined in Section 2 of the consent agreement. On April 1,
THE LENNOX FURNACE COMPANY 1331
1944, the Furnace Workers entered into a collective bargaining agree-
ment with the Company, the expiration date of which was January 1,
1945. On November 1, 1944, the Furnace Workers informed the Com-
pany that, on or about December 1, 1944, it would desire to enter into
negotiations for a new contract. Apparently, such negotiations were
commenced on December 1, 1944, but had not culminated in a contract
by the time the hearing was held. The Furnace Workers claims that
this petition has interrupted those negotiations and delayed the execu-
tion of a new contract. Although there is no contention that the
contract of April 1, 1944, is a bar, the Furnace Workers does' main-
tain that because of the previous certification, made less than a year
prior to the filing of this petition, the showings now made by the
C. I. O. and the A. F. L. are not sufficient to warrant the holding of an
election. In view of the fact that any certification made as a result
of these proceedings will be dated approximately a year after the pre-
vious certification, and since the C. I. O. and the A. F. L. have made
a substantial showing of interest among the employees of the Com-
pany,, we find no merit in the Furnace Workers' contention.3
A statement of a Field Examiner, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.4
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 Company employs approximately 350 employees, of whom about
60 work in its foundry. These 60 foundry workers have for some time
been represented by the International Molders, A. F. L., and are, by
stipulation of all parties, excluded from the unit which is now sought.
In its petition, the C. I. O. asked for a unit consisting of all produc-
tion and maintenance employees at the Marshalltown, Iowa, plant of
3 Matter of Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company, 14 N L R B 920 See
also Matter of Martin Dyeing ct Finishing Co , 59 N L R B 411 ;, Matter of Aluminum
Company of America (Newark Works), 57 N L R. B 913
The fact that the Furnace Workers' contract was to terminate on January 1, 1945, is
an additional reason why the C I 0 's request for recognition, on November 14, 1944,
followed by its petition on November 30, was appropriately timed to raise a question con-
cerning representation.
4 The Field Examiner reported that the C I 0 submitted 181 authorization cards, all
of which bore apparently genuine original signatures , that the names of 94 persons appear-
ing on the cards were listed on the Company's pay roll for the period ending December 13,
1944, which, contained the names of 268 employees in the appropriate unit , and that 16
of these cards were undated, 42 were dated in January and February 1944, and the bal-
ance between April 1944 and December 1944 The A F. L submitted 37 cards, all with
apparently genuine original signatures, 31 of which bore names appearing on the above-
mentioned pay roll Of these 37 cards, 30 were dated in December 1944, and 7 were
undated.
The Furnace Workers relies upon its contract to show its interest in these proceedings.
a
1332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Company, excluding these foundry workers, the office and clerical
employees, the foremen, and all supervisory employees. All parties
have stipulated to include group leaders in this unit, but to exclude
supervisory employees, foremen, time-study employees, and the cleri-
cal employees who work in the Company's office, as distinguished from
those clerical employees who work in the various factory offices. There
are, however, four disputed categories of employees, i. e., assistant
foremen, pattern makers, laboratory workers, and the clerical em-
ployees employed in the factory offices, the C. I. O. asking for their
exclusion from,-and both the A. F. L. and the Furnace Workers seek-
ing their inclusion in, the appropriate unit. The Company takes no
part in the dispute. The record indicates that since 1937 all of the
collective bargaining agreements made by the Company, except those
relating to the foundry workers, included all employees- in each of
these four disputed categories. It is also indicated that, except for
differences in the rates of pay,' the employees in each of these four
groups enjoy the same employment benefits and work under the same
conditions as the production employees.
Of the four men classified as assistant foremen, one is obviously a
foreman rather than an assistant foreman, since he devotes all of his
time to exercising the duties of a foreman. Although he is classified
as an assistant foreman by the Company, all parties have properly
stipulated to exclude him from the unit. The other three assistant
foremen are actually ordinary production employees who have been
designated to substitute for the regular foremen whenever these regu-
lar foremen absent themselves from the plant, whether because of va-
cation or illness or some other reason. The record indicates that except
for the 2-week vacation period, these assistant foremen act as fore-
men only for a day or two and only now and then, and that during the
greater part of the year, although they are the highest paid production
workers, they work as, and are, ordinary production employees. We
find that they are not supervisory employees within the meaning of
our usual definition.
The four pattern makers have, since 1937, enjoyed the rights of col-
lective bargaining as part of the same unit with the production em-
ployees. Although they are called pattern makers, and although their
work is pattern making, they apparently lack some of the skill and
training associated with that craft, none having served the usual ap-
prenticeship and none having the ability to work from blueprints. We
shall include them in the appropriate unit.
The production employees, in accordance with the Company 's incentive plan, work on
a piece-work basis, whereas the employees in these disputed categories are on an hourly
basis.
THE LENNOX FURNACE COMPANY 1333
Insofar as the laboratory workers are concerned, they are not techni-
cal workers in the true sense.; Apparently none have had more than
an ordinary high school education. Except for the fact that the labor-
atory worker may construct an entire furnace for use as an experi-
mental model by the chief engineer, under whom he works, his work
does not differ from that of the ordinary production worker who con-
structs the furnace which is to be sold. Both the laboratory worker
and the production employee work from blueprints and merely follow
instructions; the one does not experiment any more than the other.
We shall include the laboratory workers in the appropriate unit.
The last group, the factory clerical workers, numbers eight em-
ployees.? Two of these work in the office of the foundry superintend-
ent, where they keep the daily reports and a record of the molders'
turn-ill cards. Although they work under the supervision of the
foundry superintendent, none of the parties considers them within the
Foundry unit, but- rather as part of the factory clerical group. An-
other of these employees works in the shipping office, writing the bill-
ings and affixing shipping tags; still another works in the steel shop,
keeping a record of the time cards ; a fifth is in the stockroom, where,
under the direction of a foreman, she works on control inventory books
and, also makes a record of the tickets which are sent to the foreman;
and the other three are in the Company's planning department where
they take care of the time cards and the shop orders which are made
out and then returned to the foreman. Apparently, these eight em-
ployees relieve the respective foremen in whose offices they work from
some of the clerical details of a foreman. They are paid on an hourly
basis, have no connection with the clerks who work in the Company's
office, and who receive a monthly salary,'are on the factory pay roll
and not on the office pay roll, and are neither stenographers nor regular
typists. The Company calls them "trainees" on the theory that they
are being trained for production jobs. We, find that the interests of
these eight employees are more akin to those of the production em-
ployees than to those of the employees who are properly a part of the
Company's clerical staff and we shall, therefore, include this group in
the unit."
We find that all production and maintenance employees of The
Lennox Furnace Company, Marshalltown, Iowa, including pattern
makers, laboratory workers, and the factory clerical employees, but
excluding office clerical employees, the foundry employees, time-study
employees, foremen, and all or any other supervisory employees with
° See Matter of TTa,ame) mill Paper Companu, 48 N L R B 1269, 1271, 1272
r There is an additional, so-called factory clerical employee, but since he works in the
tune-study department, all parties have stipulated to exclude him.
s Matter of Hughes Toot Companif, 33 N L R B 1089, 1098, Matter of Goodman
Manufacturing Corp . 58 N I. It B 531
1334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the 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.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an , election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion 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 Rela-
tions 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 The Lennox
Furnace Company, Marshalltown, Iowa, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60)
days from the date of this Direction , under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Eighteenth 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 Regu-
lations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Sec-
tion IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who
did not work during the 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 and have not been rehired or reinstated
prior to the date of the election, to determine whether they desire
to be represented by United Farm Equipment & Metal Workers of
America, C. I. 0., or.by United Furnace Workers of Marshalltown or
by the International Association of Machinists, District 118, A. F.
of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining , or by none of the
aforesaid organizations.