United States Gypsum Co.

In the Matter of UNITED STATES Gypsum COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LOCAL 278, UNITED GAS, COKE & CHEMICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA,' C. I. 0., PETITIONER - - - Case No. 13-RC-196.-Decided August 27, 1948 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held on May 6 and 7, 1948, 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 Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent em- ployees of the Employer. 3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The parties agree that all production and maintenance employees, including truck drivers, at the Employer's East Chicago, Indiana, plant, but excluding watchmen, office and clerical employees, master mechanics, quality supervisors, supervisor trainees, superintendents, assistant superintendents, general foremen, foremen, professional em- ployees, and supervisors would constitute an appropriate unit. The Petitioner would also include, and the Employer would exclude, testers, gang leaders, and inspectors. In the event the testers are excluded from the production and maintenance unit, the Petitioner seeks to represent such employees in a separate unit. *Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray. 79 N. L. R. B., No. 24. 194 UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY 195 On April 30, 1946, pursuant to a Board-directed election,, the Board certified the Petitioner as collective bargaining agent for a unit of production and maintenance employees at the Employer's East Chi- cago, Indiana, plant, including gang leaders 2 and inspectors, but excluding testers. The Petitioner entered into a contract with the Employer covering this unit on July 2,1946. The contract expired on May 5, 1948, and was not renewed. On September 10, 1946, the Board found appropriate a separate unit of testers at the Employer's East Chicago plant, and certified the Petitioner.3 However the Em- ployer and the Petitioner have never signed a collective bargaining contract for the employees in such unit. Gang Leaders: 4 There are 13 hourly paid gang leaders, each of whom is in charge of from 6 to 14 employees. As it appears that gang leaders responsibly direct other employees in their work and make effective recommendations that affect their status, we find that -they are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. We shall, therefore, ex- clude them from the unit. Testers: There are 12 testers' who perform tests on incoming raw materials, materials in process of production, finished products, and competitive prolhlcts. The' work in their own laboratories and are under separate supervision. They perform no production work. In view of the technical nature of their work, and in accordance with our previous findings, we shall exclude the testers from the production and maintenance units As the duties of the testers at the Employer's East Chicago plant are substantially the same as on September 20, 1946, when we established a separate unit of testers,7 we shall follow that decision and set up a separate unit of testers. Inspectors: There -are six' inspectors in the board and Glatex (shingle) plants. Their primary function is to inspect, visually and manually, the boards and shingles, as they come off the production line to determine whether the finished products comply with the -Em- ployer's specifications. If they do not, the inspectors reject the de- fective products. The shingle inspectors may stop the production line if defects are coming through too fast. The -inspectors make ' Matter of United States Gypsum Company, 66 N. L R. B. 619. 2 By agreement of the parties gang leaders were included in the unit. 3 Matter of United States Gypsum Company , 70 N. L R. B. 1322. * Although the term gang leader , technically is not one of the Employer 's job classifica- tions, it is being used, as it was in the record herein, to cover the following categories of employees . 3 head take-off men and 1 specialty board operator in the board plant ; 1 load- ing gang leader and 3 dip and bundling operators in the shingle plant ; and 3 AA mechanics and 2 AA electricians in the general maintenance department 0 Including 3 mill testers, 4 packing testers, 1 board plant tester, 3 shingle and Glatex testers, and 1 main laboratory tester 0 Matter of United States Gypsum Company , 66 N. L. it. B. 619 ; 72 N. L. it. B. 863 ; 65 N. L.R.B 1427;65 N. L. R.B 575. 7 See footnote 3, supra. 196 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD reports which ^ are used by quality supervisors to affect the production process, but they do not make recommendations that affect the status of production employees. In the absence of an inspector, an operator replaces him. In accordance with our previous determination, we shall include inspectors in the unit s We find. that all, production and maintenance employees at the Employer's East Chicago, Indiana, plant, including truck drivers and inspectors, but excluding watchmen, office and clerical employees, master mechanics, quality supervisors, supervisor trainees, superin- tendents, assistant superintendents, general foremen, foremen, pro- fessional employees, gang leaders, testers, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. We also find that all testers at the Employer's East Chicago, Indiana, plant, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with United States Gypsum Company, East Chicago, Indiana, separate elections 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 5, among the employees in the units' found appropriate in para- graph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay=roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but exclud- ing those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have riot been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elec- tions, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre- sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Local 278, United Gas, Coke & Chemical Workers of America, C. 1. 0. ' Matter of United States Gypsum Company, 66'N L. R. B. 619.