The William Powell Company

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 7, 1939

12 N.L.R.B. 115 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of THE WILLIAM POWELL COMPANY and PATTERN
MAKERS ASSOCIATION OF CINCINNATI
Case No. R-1013.-Decided April 7,1939
Valves and Engineering Appliances Manufacturing Industry-Investigation
of Representatives : controversy concerning representation of employees : con-
troversy concerning appropriate unit ; refusal by employer to recognize petition-
ing union as representative of pattern makers-Unit Appropriate for Collective
Bargaining : pattern makers , excluding foremen-Representatives : proof of
choice : testimony as to membership in union-Cei tification of Representatives:
upon proof of majority representation.
Mrs. Mary Telker Ilijf, for the Board.
Mr. Carl Lehmann, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. George Q. Lynch and Mr. Charles D. Madigan, of Washington,
D. C., for the Association.
Mr. Lee Pressman, of Washington, D. C., and Mr. T. Louis Majors,
of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the S. W. O. C.
Mr. Victor A. Pascal, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Ott October 2, 1937, Pattern Makers Association of Cincinnati,
herein called the Association, filed with the Regional Director for
the Ninth Region (Cincinnati, Ohio) a petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of The William Powell Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, herein
called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification
of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On July 29, 1938,
the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice.
12 N. L. R. B.. No. 15.
169134-39-vol. 12--9
115
116 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On August 20,1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, the Association,
and upon Steel Workers Organizing Committee, herein called the
S. W. O. C., a labor organization claiming to represent employees
directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to the notice, a
hearing was held on September 8, 1938, at Cincinnati, Ohio, before
Horace A. Ruckel, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board.
The Board, the Company, the Association, and the S. W. O. C. were
represented by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties.
During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several
rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds
that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
Pursuant to notice duly served upon the parties, oral argument was
had before the Board at Washington, D. C., on November 8, 1938.
The Association and the S. W. O. C. were represented by counsel and
participated in the argument. The Company did not appear.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The William Powell Company is an Ohio corporation engaged in
the manufacture, sale, and distribution of valves and engineering
appliances. Its principal office and plant are in Cincinnati, Ohio.
During the period from July 1, 1937, to July 1, 1938, the value of the
raw materials used by the Company at the plant exceeded $1,000,000,
more than half of which was obtained from sources outside Ohio.
During the same period, the value of the Company's sales and ship-
ments from the plant exceeded $2,000,000, more than half of which
was sent to customers outside Ohio.
The Company normally employs about 800 workers.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Pattern Makers Association of Cincinnati is a labor organization
admitting to its membership pattern makers in Cincinnati. It is a
local of the Pattern Makers League of North America which is
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.
Steel Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization affili-
ated with the Committee for Industrial Organization, admitting to its
THE WILLIAM POWELL COMPANY 117
membership all employees of the Company at its Cincinnati plant
engaged in production work, exclusive of foremen, assistant foremen,
supervisors, watchmen, and salaried employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Prior to April 1937, an employees' representation plan was in effect
at the Company's plants. In that month the plan was abandoned and
the Company entered into negotiations with the S. W. 0. C., which
had begun organizing the employees in February 1937. As a result of
the negotiations conducted by the S. W. 0. C. on behalf of all the
employees eligible to its membership, including pattern makers, the
Company, in April 1937, issued a statement of its policy with refer-
ence to terms and conditions of employment. Following similar nego-
tiations again conducted by the S. W. 0. C. during March and April
1938, the Company issued a second statement of policy to be in effect
for a year from April 15, 1938, and from year to year thereafter, unless
terminated by written notice given 30 days prior to the end of any
year. Prior to the publication of the second statement of policy, the
Association requested the Company to recognize it as the exclusive
bargaining representative of the pattern makers. This request for
recognition by the Association was discussed at the conferences be-
tween the Company and the S. W. 0. C. The S. W. 0. C. refused to
concede that the pattern makers constituted a bargaining unit separate
from the other employees. The Company took the position that it
would bargain with the organization which the Board determined was
the exclusive representative of the pattern makers.
We find that a question has arisen concerning representation of the
employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Association contends that the pattern makers at, the Cincinnati
plant, exclusive of foremen, constitute a unit appropriate for bar-
gaining purposes. The S. W. 0. C., on the other hand, maintains
118 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
that the pattern makers are properly part of an industrial unit con-
sisting of all the production employees at the plant eligible to its
membership . The Company took no position on the question of unit.
The Pattern Makers League of North America was organized in
1887 as a labor organization for pattern makers and , through the
Association , has been functioning in Cincinnati since at least 1919.
For a number of years the Company has called upon the Association
to supply it with pattern makers when their services were needed at
the plant . In supplying prospective employees , the Association also
specified the salary they were to receive . It appears that long before
February 1937, when the S. W. 0. C. commenced organizational ac-
tivities among the employees at the plant , members of the Association
were employed by the Company as pattern makers. However, the
Association did not request the Company to recognize it as the exclu-
sive bargaining agent of all pattern makers until after the Company
had instituted bargaining negotiations with the S. W. 0. C.
The work of the pattern makers is an essential process in the manu-
facture of the Company 's products . Blueprints of patterns designed
by the engineering and drafting departments are delivered to the pat-
tern makers who construct the entire patterns . The pattern makers
constitute a distinct and highly skilled craft which requires the service
of an apprenticeship of about 5 years. Employees are not inter-
changed between the pattern making and the other departments at
the plant . The pattern makers' wages are higher than the wages re-
ceived by most of the other employees engaged in production work.
It was shown that it is common for pattern makers to move from plant
to plant, in accordance with the demand for their work, and not to
work year in and year out for a single employer. The Association took
the position that this factor made it necessary for them to belong to a
separate national organization which was concerned solely with pat-
tern makers and engaged in placing them in available positions.
The S. W. 0. C. contends that its membership includes employees
engaged in other distinct and highly skilled crafts at the plant and
that a majority of all the employees have indicated their desire to
bargain on an industrial rather than a craft basis by becoming mem-
bers of the organization . It also urges that it actually has represented
the pattern makers in bargaining with the Company on behalf of all the
employees eligible to its membership , with the result that it secured
for the pattern makers, as well as the other employees, wage increases,
vacations with pay, and other improvements in their working condi-
tions. The pattern makers have not requested the S. W. 0. C. to
handle any grievances.
We are of the opinion that the record shows that the pattern makers
could satisfactorily function either as a separate unit or as part of
THE WILLIAM POWELL COMPANY 119
a larger industrial unit. Accordingly, we shall follow our rulings
in similar situations that the determining factor is the desire of the
employees themselves.' As found below in Section VI, a majority of
the pattern makers are members of the Association, thereby showing
that they desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit.
We find that the pattern makers employed by the Company at its
Cincinnati, Ohio, plant, excluding foremen, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that such unit,
will insure to employees of the Company the fall benefit of their right
to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise
effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
During the week ending September 3, 1938, 5 days before the hear-
ing, there were 14 employees in the appropriate unit. The business
manager of the Association, testifying from membership records which
were produced at the hearing, stated that 11 of the 14 employees
in the unit were members of the Association. This testimony was not
controverted. The S. W. O. C. admitted that it had no members
among the pattern makers. We find that 11 of the 14 employees in the
unit are members of the Association.
We find that the Association has been designated and selected by
a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representa-
tive for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the
exclusive representative of all of the employees in such unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining and we will so certify.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The William Powell Company at its Cincin-
nati, Ohio, plant, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
'Matter of The Globe Machine and Stamping Co . and Metal Polishers Union, Local
No. 3; International Association of Machinists , District No 54; Federal Labor Union
18788, and United Automobile Workers of America, 3 N. L R. B 294 ; Matter of Common-
wealth Division of General Steel Castings Corporation and International Brotherhood
of Boilermakers , Iron Ship Builders , Welders and Helpers of America; International
Association of Machinists, District No 9; Pattern Makers Association of St Louis and
Vicinity, and Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of America,
Local Lodge No. 1022, 3 N. L. R . B. 779; Matter of Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Com-
pany and International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, Local 2/i8,
4 N. L. R. B 159 ; Matter of Worthington Pump and Machinery Coi p. and Pattern
Makers Association of New York and Vicinity , Pattern Makers League , 4 N. L. R. B.
448; Matter of Fairbanks, Morse d Company and Pattern Makers Association of Beloit,
7 N. L. R . B. 229.
120 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. The pattern makers employed by the Company at its Cincinnati,
Ohio, plant, excluding foremen, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the National Labor Relations Act.
3. Pattern Makers Association of Cincinnati is the exclusive repre-
sentative of all employees in such unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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,
49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Pattern Makers Association of Cincin-
nati has been designated and selected by a majority of the pattern
makers employed by The William Powell Company at its Cincinnati,
Ohio, plant, excluding foremen, as their representative for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining and that, pursuant to the provisions of
Section 9 (a) of the Act, Pattern Makers Association of Cincinnati
is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes
of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment.
MR. EDWIN S. SMITH, concurring :
Although there has been no formal history of bargaining by the
pattern makers as a separate unit, the record shows that prior to the
advent of the S. W. O. C. the Company had called upon the Associ-
ation to supply it with pattern makers and had paid the employees so
hired the wages which the Association asked. By this informal ar-
rangement, the pattern makers have, in effect, established a sufficient
background of separate bargaining to warrant, if that is their choice,
setting them apart from the industrial unit. For this reason, I concur
in the certification of the Association.2
2 See Matter of American Hardware Corporation and United Electrical and Radio
Workmen of America, 4 N. L. R. B. 412 ; Vultee Aircraft Division, Aviation Manufactur-
ing Corporation and United Automobile Workers of America, Local 361, 9 N. L R. B. 32