Celanese Corp. of America

In the Matter of CELANESE CORPORATION OF AMERICA, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL 470, PETITIONER In the Matter of CELANESE CORPORATION OF AMERICA, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LODGE No. 1779,1 PETITIONER Cases Nos. 10-RC-393 and 10-RC-41 25, respectively .Decided June 13, 1949 DECISION AND ORDER Upon petitions duly filed , a consolidated hearing was held before Milton C. Talent, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. After the completion of the hearing Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, and intervenor , moved to consolidate this case with Matter of Sylvania Division , America Viscose Corp., 84 N. L. R. B. 202. All other parties to this proceeding filed objections to this motion.. The motion is hereby denied.2 The Textile Workers also requested oral argument. The request for oral argument is denied because the record and the briefs submitted by the parties, in our opinion, adequately present the issues and the positions of the parties. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.3 I The Petitioner' s name appears as amended at the hearing 2 From the assertions made in its motion, it appears that the Textile Workers Union desired consolidation solely for the purpose of incorporating evidence regarding bargaining practice in the industry involved herein , which was introduced in the American Viscose case It is unnecessary to consolidate these cases, involving wholly unrelated' employers, for this purpose , as the Board takes judicial notice of its own proceedings ( Matter of Shell Chemical Corp , 81 N. L R B 965 ) and the bargaining practice in the industry is adequately summarized in the American Viscose decision . See infra fn. 12 See Matter of Crucible Steel Company of America, 71 N. L R B 1480, 1481 ; Matter of Bentwood Products, 81 N. L. R. B 635 , Matter of M. L Townsend, 81 N. L R B 739. 2 Objections were made to the hearing officer' s rulings granting intervention to each of the Intervenors named below Most of these objections were based on contentions with respect to the showing of interest or the compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the unions seeking intervention , or their locals. We have repeatedly held , however, that both of these matters are for administrative determination and are not litigable by the parties Matter of 0 D Jennings & Co., 68 N. L R. B. 516; Matter of Ozark Dam Con- structors, 77 N L R B 1136 Nor was the hearing officer in error in permitting inter- vention by labor organizations who merely sought to oppose the units requested by the Petitioners , or to propose units other than those requested by the Petitioners . Matter of 84 N. L R B, No. 26. 207 208 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 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 Petitioners and the Intervenors, named below, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. No question affecting commerce exists 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, for the following reasons: The Petitioner in Case No. 10-RC-425, herein called the IAM, requests the following alternative units : a. all maintenance employees at the Employer's Rock Hill, South Carolina, plant; b. departmental units of the Machine Shop, Welding Shop, Tin and Pipe Shops, with a residual unit of mechanical servicemen to be grouped with instrument men and helpers in the Instrument Shop; c. individual craft units of employees in the Machine Shop, welders, pipe fitters, and helpers, tinsmiths and helpers, car- penters and painters, insulators and helpers, and a residual unit of all mechanical servicemen to be grouped with instrument men and helpers in the Instrument Shop; d. any unit which includes any of the above-named employees that the Board deems appropriate. The Petitioner in Case No. 1-RC-393, herein called the Operating Engineers, requests the following alternative units: a. all crane and bulldozer operators, helpers, locomotive engi- neers, brakemen; turbo and boiler operators and assistant opera- tors, filter-plant operators and assistant operators, pump house operators and assistant operators; mechanical servicemen perma- nently assigned to the power-plant and air-conditioning depart- ment; b. any other classifications the Board deems appropriate to include. The following labor organizations intervened in both cases, and made the following contentions : 1. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, herein called the IBEW, requests : all employees in the River Pump House, Instrument Shop, Elec- trical Shop and Power Plant, including janitors if employed on a departmental basis. If. L. Handy, 81 N L. R. B. 425; Matter of T. C. King Pipe Co., et al., 74 N. L. R. B. 468, 473, and see Matter of Tin Processing Corp., 80 N. L. R. B 1369. CELANESE CORPORATION OF AMERICA 209 2. The Textile Workers Union of America, CIO, herein called TWU-CIO, asserts that the only appropriate unit consists of "all production and maintenance employees" and requests inclusion on the ballot in any election directed by the Board. 3. United Textile Workers of America, AFL, herein called UTW- AFL, contends that the only appropriate unit consists of "all hourly paid non-supervisory employees," and requests inclusion on the ballot in any election "ordered by virtue of the pending proceedings." The Employer opposes any unit which crosses departmental lines but takes no position on the appropriate unit, contending that any election at the present time is premature 4 At its Celriver Plant, Rock Hill, South Carolina, the Employer engages exclusively in the manufacture of cellulose-acetate yarns. The production of rayon yarn is a continuous time chemical process, taking 1 to 8 days; many phases of the process have only 30-second intervals. This production process clearly resembles that of cello- phane, differing chiefly in the time certain chemical processes are permitted to run and in the type of spinneret head used to extrude the viscose.5 The typical routine in rayon production involves four stages : In the cellulose acetate division, wood pulp or cotton lint, and acids are mixed to produce the acetate which is then dried, flaked and stored, or piped without drying into the spinning division where, after further chemical treatment, it is filtered and pumped under pres- sure through spinnerets on a spinning machine into an acid bath. Under specially controlled conditions of atmosphere and humidity, the extruded filaments are dried, twisted into a single thread, and mechanically wound on a bobbin. The bobbins are then conveyed to the twisting section where yarn of varying twist numbers is mechani- cally twisted. The yarn is rewound on bobbins which are sent to the coning section where it is rewound into commercial packages for ship- ment to customers. After inspection, the cones are packed and shipped. Excess chemicals which do not enter into chemical com- pounds are automatically piped to the acid recovery building where, through distillation, the acids are recovered for further use. The Celriver Plant is not yet completed and imports cellulose acetate in flake form. * The Celriver Plant is less than one-half equipped and has only one -third of its antici- pated complement of hourly paid employees, although more than 85 percent of the anticipated number of employees within the job categories covered by the petitions have been hired. As we are dismissing the present petitions on other grounds , we need not decide whether any election at this time would be premature. 5 See Matter of Sylvania Division, American Viscose Corp., 84 N. L R. B: 202, issued today. The close similarity between rayon and cellophane production is recognized in the classification of both within the same subdivision of the chemical industry by the Bureau of the Budget, Standard Industrial Classifications. 210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Because the plant operations must be continuous, maintenance work must be well coordinated with production if losses are to be avoided. In this industry, at least 75 percent of repair and maintenance work is regularly prescheduled. The Employer's older Amcelle Plant, described as less highly integrated and mechanized than the presently incomplete Celriver Plant, follows this industry practice. Although the record contains some evidence to the effect that the Celriver Plant has certain features which make it unique among plants,engaged in rayon production, the record indicates that the, differences are such a to increase rather than decrease the extent of integration of production and maintenance operations. Continuous production, dictated by the nature of the product, requires continuous maintenance and repair, synchronized with production schedules and involving the concerted action of various maintenance employees, e. g., carpenters, painters, machinists, electricians, welders, pipe fitters, and the production em- ployees themselves. The plant is divided into 17 departments : spinning, textile, field engineering, power plant, river pump house, filter plant, air condition- ing, cellulose acetate, machine shop, electric shop, welding shop, tiu shop, pipe shop, instrument shop, chemical laboratory, P. A. labor- atory, cafeteria and stores. There is no maintenance department and the maintenance employees are permanently assigned to various of the above-mentioned departments. Each of these departments is sepa- rately supervised and maintenance employees are for the most part. supervised by production foremen.6 The record establishes that work assignments in this plant follow considerations of administrative necessity and efficiency rather than either job classifications or tradi- tional craft lines. All production and maintenance employees are hourly paid, carried on the same pay roll, and are governed by the same personnel policy. All the production and maintenance employees have similar working conditions, receive identical employee benefits, and use the same plant facilities and conveniences. The plant has both plant and departmental seniority and transfers between production and maintenance functions are based on the functional demands of the particular operation and the previously acquired skill of a given employee. The Employer has not instituted any apprenticeship pro- gram but contemplates a generalized program for all newly hired employees. The facts set forth above compel the conclusion that there exists in this plant, as there existed in the plant under consideration in the 6 The only exceptions occur in the spinning and textile departments where the me- chanical servicemen have it separate foreman for the first shift, although they work under pi oduction foremen on the second and third shifts No definite arrangement has been made concerning the supervision of the "maintenance crews." CELANESE CORPORATION OF AMERICA 211 American Viscose case, supra, an unusually high degree of integration between production and maintenance employees. Although this fac- tor, standing alone, does not necessarily dispose of the issues presented here, it is against this background that the specific unit requests, and in particular the request of the IAM, must be considered. The JAM request for a unit of all maintenance employees involves a dispersed group of workers with diverse skills and work task in which the only common denominator lies in the fact that they are all en- gaged in work relating to the maintenance of the Employer's plant and equipment. Under certain circumstances, where the maintenance employees are an easily identifiable group composed primarily of craftsmen performing typical craft work, having little association with production employees and separate supervision, we have found suffi- cient evidence of common interests distinct from those of the remaining workers to warrant the separate representation of maintenance em- ployees.' We are not persuaded that this situation obtains in this case. Where, as here, there is no separate maintenance department, there is common supervision of maintenance and production employees, a high degree of integration between maintenance and production, and the maintenance employees perform tasks of specialists rather than true craftsmen, we believe that the interests of the maintenance employees are not sufficiently distinct and severable from the interests of the other employees to warrant separate representation of mainte- nance employees as a group. We find, therefore, that a unit of all maintenance employees are requested by the TAM is inappropriate. And by the same token the smaller units requested by the IAM, which are in effect merely splinter groups from the all maintenance em- ployees unit," are likewise inappropriate. The Operating Engineers request a heterogeneous group, occupied in unrelated and diverse activities, from operating cranes which un- load chemicals to watching the air-conditioning equipment, variously supervised and situated. The record fails to establish the homo- geneity of the requested group or any distinctive community of inter- ests among them. The group is neither a separate department nor a craft group.° The apparent basis for the request is solely one of the 4 Matter of Weston Biscuit Company, Inc., 81 N L R B 407 , Matter of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, 80 N L R B 1347 ; Matter of Armstrong Cork Company, 80 N L. R B 1328 'See Matter of George S Mepham Corp , 78 N I, R B 1081 ; Matter of St Louis Public Service Co, 71 N. L. It B 160, 165 , cf Matter of International Harvester Co, 82 N L R B 740 " See Matter of American Manganese Steel Division of the American Blake Shoe Co, 50 N L R B . 475, 478 ( cranemen excluded from unit of similar employees called "elec- trical workers") , Matter of Johnson, City Foundry if Machv,ne Works, Inc , 75 N L R B. 475 (cranemen included in production and maintenance unit ) , Matter of Neff Concrete Products, 73 N L R B 1499 212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD extent of organization, a factor which under the present statute cannot be deemed controlling 10- We therefore find the unit requested by the Operating Engineers inappropriate. The IBEW request is likewise inappropriate. It is arbitrary in its inclusions and exclusions, seeking to combine electrical shop workers with instrument workers and with power plant employees," without demonstrating any special community of interest among these vari- ously occupied and skilled employees. Although the TWU-CIO and UTW-AFL contend that the only appropriate unit in this plant is an over-all production and mainte- nance unit,12 we need not rule upon this contention at this time for there is no basis upon which to hold an election in such a unit on the record before us. It is necessary for an intervening labor organ- ization which seeks a unit appreciably larger than that sought by a petitioner to file a separate petition covering its proposed unit or to make an administrative showing of sufficient interest to support an independent petition.13 The TWU-CIO and the UTW-AFL have done neither. As we have found inappropriate every unit requested by petition or for which an adequate show of interest has been made by any party'14 we shall order the petitions dismissed. ORDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions in this proceeding be, and they hereby are dismissed. MEMBER GRAY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Order. 10 Sec 9 ( c) (5). " Matter of Tin Processing Corp., 78 N L. R B 96; see also Matter of Celanese Corp. of America, 78 N L. R. B. 1047 and Matter of Celanese Corp' of America, 80 N L R B 61. 17 It may be noted that such units are typical in the synthetic textile industry See Matter of Sylvania Division, American Viscose Corp , supra. 13 Matter of T. C. King Pipe Co , et al, 74 N. L R B 468, 473. 14 The IAM requests for inclusion on the ballot in an election for "any unit the Board deems appropriate," is likewise unsupported by a show of interest sufficient to justify its inclusion in any unit larger than those it specifically requested . Matter of Raybestos Division of Raybestos -Manhattan Company, Inc ., 74 N. L. It. B 1321.