Wilmington Boat Works

In the Matter of WILMINGTON BOAT WORKS and UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF WELDERS, CUTTERS, AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL No. 53 Case No. R-5840.Decided September 15, 1948 Messrs. Ralph' D. Sweeney and J. E. Simpson, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Company. Mr. Earl I. Be Ming, for the Welders. Mr. David Sokol, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Council. Mr. Robert E. Tillman, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ORDER STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition duly filed by United Brotherhood of Welders, Cut- ters, and Helpers of America, Local No. 53, herein trilled the Welders, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Wilmington Boat Works, Wilmington, California, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Daniel J. Harrington, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Los Angeles, California, on August 10, 1943. The Company, the Welders, and Los Angeles Metal Trades Council, herein called the Council, 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. The Council moved at the hearing that the petition of the Welders be dismissed on the ground that the unit requested was inappropriate for collective bargaining purposes. In view of the findings of fact set forth in Section LII, infra, the motion is hereby granted. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following 52 N. L. R. B., No. 105. 614 WILMINGTON BOAT WORKS FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 615 Wilmington Boat Works, a California corporation, maintains its -principal office and place of business at Wilmington, California, where it is engaged in the building and repair of wooden boats for the United States Navy. During the yearly period ending May 31, 1943, the Company purchased materials (consisting chiefly of lumber, pipe, pipe fittings, paint, machinery, and. boat equipment) having a value of $462,581, of which approximately 65 percent originated outside the State of California. The Company admits that it is engaged in com- merce within the meaning of the Act. H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Brotherhood of Welders, Cutters, and Helpers of America, Local No. 53, is a labor organization admitting to membership em- ployees of the Company. Los Angeles Metal Trades Council comprises several craft organiza- tions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, which admit to membership employees of the Company. III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATD UNIT The Welders petitions for a unit'of welders, cutters, lead-burners, and their helpers, excluding supervisors with the right to hire or dis- charge. The Company and the Council contend that such a unit is inappropriate, particularly in view of the history of collective bar- gaining on a plant-wide basis. It has previously been indicated that the Company is engaged in the construction of wooden vessels. Such construction work requires little welding. Prior to June 1942, the Company had no welders; when- ever welding had to be done, job welders were called in. Following June 1942, the Company began hiring a few welders. A peak employ- ment of 12 was reached about 6 months prior to the hearing. There- after the number began to fall steadily as the necessary welding operations were completed. As of the time of the hearing the Com- pany employed only 3 welders and 2 helpers.' The total number of production and maintenance employees was between 175 and 200. The Company has no separate department for its welders, and the welders do not have a foreman of their own. They are under the immediate supervision of a field engineer insofar as work assignments 1 One helper worked with the welders only part of the time ; the rest of the time he performed other work about the yard. 616 DEICRSIO'NS OF NAfrIONAL LABOR RELATION'S BOARD are concerned.2 Work assignments, however, are made to various, departments of the Company. The individual welder thereupon not only, comes under the supervision of the foreman of the department to which he is assigned, but makes out his time card to that depart- ment. The welders have a shed in the yard as their central head- quarters where they generally report for' assignments. Much of their- work is laid out at the shed, and approximately 50 percent of the weld- ing is performed there. There is no question but that the work performed by the Company's, welders is skilled, and that the welders do no other work than welding.. On the other hand, many of the Company's other employees are skilled craftsmen. Accordingly, the welders have the same wage standards. as many other employees. Moreover, their hours and working con- ditions do not differ from those of the other employees. The Company has maintained collective bargaining relations with American Federation of Labor unions for 15 years. rn December '1940 a dispute between the, Boat Builders' Assn. of Southern Cali- fornia, of which the Company was a member, and five A. F. of L. unions was settled by arbitration. As a result of the arbitration the Company and the unions became parties to a, contract effective for one year from December 2, 1940, with a provision for automatic renewal from year to year, by which the unions were jointly recognized as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of all production and maintenance employees. This contract was twice automatically renewed. On June 1, 1943, the Company and the Council entered into a master zone agreement of the Pacific Coast shipbuilding area. Prior thereto on May 7, 1943, however, the Welders had presented a contract to the Company. The president of the Company testified that the 1940, arbitrator's contract and the subsequent renewals thereof, did -not cover welders. The 1940 contract by its terms is applicable to all production and maintenance employees.- The Council contends that this language applied to the welders who were hired by the Com- pany after the contract was signed. We consider the Council's con- tention to be a reasonable interpretation of the contract, and find accordingly that collective bargaining relations with the Company for the past 3 years have been upon an industrial basis. We are of the opinion that the factors which may be considered to favor a separate unit of welders in this case do not balance the factors tending to support a continuance of bargaining upon a single production and maintenance unit basis. - While the Company's weld- ers are skilled employees, nevertheless, their position in the operational set-up of the Company is not such as to set them off from other pro- 2 The welders do have a lead man. It was testified that the lead man laid out the work and made all work assignments. WILMINGTON BOAT WORKS 617 duction employees so that they can be considered to have interests peculiar to themselves apart from their common skills. Thus in the manufacture of wooden ships, their work plays only a minor, not a major role. The Company does not even recognize welding as an independent department under independent supervision. Moreover, the welders do not work as a group, but are individually assigned to various production departments from day to day. It thus appears that the welders have as much contact with other employees as with one another. This absence of a definite identity as a group, when coupled with the fact that past bargaining relations have been conducted upon an industrial basis, leads to the conclusion that a separate unit of welders is not appropriate at this time. We find that the unit requested by the, Welders is inappropriate for the purposes of col- lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION Since, as stated in Section III, above, the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition is not appropriate, we find that no question concerning the representation of employees of the Company in an appropriate unit has arisen within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the Act. , ORDER Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of employees of Wilmington Boat Works, Wilmington, California, filed by United Brotherhood of Welders, Cutters, and Helpers of America, Local No. 53, be, and ,it hereby is, dismissed. CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Order.