Lockheed Aircraft Corp.

In the Matter of LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION and ASSOCIATED ENGINEERS AND TECHNICIANS (INDEPENDENT) Case No. 01-R-1992.-Decided November 5, 1943 O'Melveny rfi Myers, by Mr. Homer I. Mitchell, of Los Angeles, Calif., for Lockheed. Mr. Philbrick McCoy, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Associated. Dr. Robert C. Burt, of Pasadena, Calif., for Burbank. Mr. Leland G. Hewitt, of Burbank, Calif., for the Machinists. Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ORDER STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition duly filed by Associated Engineers and Technicians, herein called the Associated, alleging that a question affecting com- merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Lock- heed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, California, herein called Lock- heed, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro- priate hearing upon due notice before William B. Esterman, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Los Angeles, California, on October 5, 1943. Lockheed, the Associated, Burbank Chapter, Engi- neers and Architects Association, herein called Burbank, and Inter= national Association of Machinists, Local 1712, herein called the Ma- chinists, appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. At the close of the hearing, Locke heed moved to dismiss this proceeding on the ground that the unit set forth in the petition was inappropriate for bargaining purposes. For reasons which appear in Section III, below, the motion is granted. 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. 53 N. L. R. B., No. 73. 427 428 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 - Lockheed Aircraft Corporation has its principal place of business at Burbank, California. Vega Aircraft Corporation, herein called Vega, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed. Lockheed and Vega are both engaged in the manufacture and sale of aeroplanes and parts and each corporation owns and operates eight plants within the State. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1941, Lockheed's pur= chases of raw materials exceeded 50 million dollars in value, approxi- mately 85 percent of which was shipped to Lockheed's plants from points outside California. During the same period, total sales of Lockheed and Vega exceeded 85 million dollars, more than 90 per- cent of which represented products sold and shipped to points outside California. The volume of business of Lockheed and Vega has greatly increased since 1941. Lockheed admits that it is engaged 'in commerce, within the mean- ing of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Associated Engineers and Technicians is an independent labor organization, admitting to membership employees of Lockheed. Burbank Chapter, Engineers and Architects Association, is an un- affiliated labor organization, admitting to membership employees of Lockheed. International Association of Machinists, Local 1712, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,' ad- mitting to membership employees of Lockheed. III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT The Associated contends that engineers employed by Lockheed in the design department constitute a separate bargaining unit. ' Bur- bank contends that the restricted unit proposed by the Associated is an appropriate bargaining unit, but takes no position with respect to cer- tain categories of engineers in the department which the petitioner would include in the unit. The Machinists and Lockheed contend that the only- appropriate bargaining unit for Lockheed's engineers includes engineers both of Lockheed and of Vega on a broad basis coincident with their employment functions. I At the time of the hearing the Machinists was an unaffiliated labor organization. We take note that the Machinists has since affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 429 Lockheed and Vega are separate corporate entities with interlocking officers and directors. They are both engaged in manufacturing aero- planes and parts at Burbank, California. Vega -is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed.2 The 2 companies operate, under one general employment policy, approximately 16 plants and divisions. The com- panies have a common comptroller, a common credit and finance de- partment, a common sales and service department, and a common in- dustrial relations department. All employees are hired through a cen- tral hiring department. Common policies govern the hiring, promo- tion, and training of employees, general working rules, and labor policies in both companies. Each company employs persons for similar kinds of work with some minor differences in job classifications. Vega employs about one-third less employees than Lockheed. The principal plants of Vega and Lockheed are about 1 mile distant. Pro- duction at Vega was begun with a nucleus of employees transferred from Lockheed for the purpose. Employees, are freely lent by one company to the other and employees are permanently transferred from one to the other. Such transfers do not affect the employees' seniority rights in employment with the companies. Lockheed divides its engineers among five departments known as design, plant, manufacturing, tool, and outside tool engineering, re- spectively. Engineers at Vega are classified in departments known as the design, plant, manufacturing, and tool departments. There is no outside tool department at Vega. Engineering employees of the two companies are of the same general caliber, education, and training. Engineers in the several departments at each plant coor- dinate their work. Design and tool engineers at Lockheed necessarily collaborate,las their work projects are closely allied. Manufacturing engineers necessarily work in close coordination with design and tool engineers and must approve their work. Design engineers em- ployed by Lockheed are not all working at Burbank. The unit proposed by the petitioner is not a departmental unit since employees working with design engineers but doing artistic, rather than engineering, work are excluded from coverage. We find no clear definitive line in training, skill, and work between design en- gineers and tool engineers at Lockheed, which would justify a divi- sion along the craft line suggested by the petitioner. The Asso- ciated, Burbank, and the Machinists are all engaged in organizing the engineers of Lockheed and of Vega on a broad basis. The peti- 2 we take note that on October 20, 1943, the parties entered into a stipulation that on October 19, 1943, Lockheed announced to einployees of Lockheed and Vega that necessary legal steps were underway to dissolve Vega and to cause Lockheed to acquire all assets, and to assume all liabilities, of Vega; that such transaction would be concluded on or about No- vember 30, 1943 ; and that the Board might consider these facts in resolving the issues in the instant proceeding . The stipulation is hereby made, and is , part of the record in the instant proceeding. 559015-44-vol 53-29 430 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD tioner does not contend that the employees for whom it has filed its petition herein necessarily constitute a permanent or stable bargain- ing unit. It would establish the present unit on a tentative basis on the scope of its organization among Lockheed's engineers. The record indicates that the petitioner has only recently begun its efforts to organize Lockheed's employees. It does not appear that organiza- tion within the unit proposed by the Machinists and Lockheed, which employment conditions clearly indicate as appropriate, is not entirely feasible. Since 1937 the hourly paid employees of Lockheed and Vega have bargained and contracted with their employers as one bargaining unit through an affiliate of the Machinists as their bar- r•aining representative. All monthly employees, including the en- gineers covered by the instant petition, have been excluded from these contracts. In view of the bargaining pattern establishing among the hourly paid employees of Lockheed and Vega,8 and for reasons set forth above, we find that the bargaining unit proposed by the Associated is not an appropriate bargaining unit. For these reasons, we shall dismiss the petition filed herein. ORDER Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of employees of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, California, filed by Associated Engineers and Technicians be, and it hereby is, dismissed. $ Matter of The Murray Oorporation of America, 45 N. L. R. B. 855.