C. H. Wheeler Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 18, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 861 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of C. H. WHEELER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, EM-
PLOYER and PATTERN MAKERS LEAGUE OF NORTH AMERICA, PHILA-
DELPHIA ASSOCIATION , A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. 4-RC-265.-Decided February 18,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employee' within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all pattern makers and pattern
makers' apprentices employed in the Employer's main building at
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, excluding supervisors as defined in the
Act. The Employer and the Intervenor, Independent Workers Union,
contend that the proposed unit is inappropriate because of the history
of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis and because they con-
sider the work of the pattern makers to be closely integrated with
the work of the other production and maintenance employees.
The Intervenor has bargained collectively for the pattern makers as
part of a plant-wide unit of production and maintenance employees
since 1944.1
'Reynolds, Murdock, and Gray
1 As a result of a cross check in Case No 4-R-1413, the Intervenor was designated in
April 1944 as the bargaining representative for all hourly paid production and maintenance
employees in the Employer's plant here involved.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 131. 861
862 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer is a Pennsylvania corporation engaged in the manu-
facture of steam condenser equipment, deck machinery, steering gears,
cooling pumps, and machines for fine particle processing. The Em-
ployer employs six pattern makers, including two apprentices. Neither
the Employer nor the Intervenor dispute the fact that these pattern
makers are highly skilled employees requiring a 4-year apprenticeship ;
that they are among the highest paid craftsmen in the plant; that they
work in separate quarters and are separately supervised; and that their
,cork consists principally of the making of wood patterns, to be used
for foundry castings, based upon drawings prepared by the Employer's
engineers.
We have held in similar situations that pattern makers and their
apprentices constitute a well-recognized craft group who may appro-
priately constitute a separate unit for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining notwithstanding their previous inclusion in a broader unit.2
We shall, however, make no final determination at the present time,
but shall direct an election among all pattern makers and pattern
makers' apprentices employed in the Employer's main building at Phil-
adelphia, Pennsylvania, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act.
If a majority of these employees voting select the Petitioner as their
bargaining representative, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to constitute a separate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Fourth Region, and subject to
Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees described
in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elec-
tion, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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
2 See Matter of Sehutte cE Koerting Company, 79 N L R B 399 ; Matter of General Mo-
tors Corporation , Buick Motors D, r ision. 79 N L R B 422, Matter of Jarecki Machine R
Tool Company, 78 N. L . R. B 930 . Matter of Read Maehinerit Division of the Standard
Stoker Company , Inc, 77 N L . R B 732 We believe , contrary to the Employer ' s conten-
tion, that the present case is clearly distinguishable on its facts from such cases as Matter
of National Tube Company , 76 N L . R B 1199, and Matter of Baldwin Loeomotiee lrorks,
Standard Steel Works Division , 78 N. L R. B 803
C. H. WHEELER MANUFACTURING COMPANY 863
election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to
reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for
the purposes of collective bargaining, by Pattern Makers League of
North America, Philadelphia Association, A. F. of L., or Independent
Workers Union, or neither.