B. F. Avery & Sons Co.

In the Matter of B. F. AvERY & SONS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LODGE 681, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER In the Matter of B. F. AVERY & SONS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and ELECTRICAL WORKERS UNION LOCAL No. 369, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, A. F. L., PETITIONER Cases Nos. 9-RC-530 and 9-RC-535, respectively.Decided September 00, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held before William A. McGowan, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. For the reasons given in paragraph 4, below, the motions to dismiss the petitions made by the Employer and United Auto- mobile Workers of America, Local Union No. 715, A. F. L., herein called the Intervenor, upon the ground that the units sought are inappropriate, are hereby denied. 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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray]. 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. Th labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting comerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The appropriate unit; determination' of representatives : The Petitioner in Case No. 9-RC-530, herein called the IAM, seeks to sever from the existing plant-wide unit, a unit of all employees in the Employer's maintenance machine shop and toolroom. The Peti- tioner in Case No. 9-RC-535, herein called the I. B. E. W., similarly 86 N. L. R. B., No. 6. 24 B. F. AVERY & SONS COMPANY 25 seeks to sever a unit of maintenance electricians . The Employer and the Intervenor contend that only the existing plant-wide unit is appro- priate. The Employer is a comparatively small manufacturer of farm ma- chinery, which presently employs about 350 employees at its plant in Louisville, Kentucky. Since 1941 the Employer has recognized the Intervenor as bargaining representative of all its production and maintenance employees, except foundry workers, who have been repre- sented by International Molders and Foundry Workers of America, AFL. Case No. 9-RC-530 The toolroom and machine shop units that the I. A. M. seeks to sever would include all the employees in the toolroom and in the mainte- nance machine shop. The 2 groups have their headquarters in separate buildings, and each is under the supervision of its own foreman. The machine shop crew comprises 7 maintenance machinist mechanics, an unspecified number of shop machinists, a die fitter, a forging diemaker, 2 helpers, a tool crib attendant, and an automotive repairman. The toolroom crew is composed of 13 tool and die makers and 3 toolroom machinists.' The maintenance machine mechanics work throughout the plant, keeping the plant machinery in repair, and occasionally making parts. The shop machinists work in the machine shop, making parts for use by the maintenance machine mechanics. The toolroom machinists work in the toolroom making parts for tools and dies. All these em- ployees are highly skilled workmen who perform the usual duties of the machinist's trade. Taken together, and with other employees in the machine shop and toolroom, they would form an appropriate unit,2 except for the fact that, in this case, the Employer employs many other skilled machinists who differ from the maintenance and toolroom machinists only in that they do production work, making parts for the machinery that is sold by the Employer, not for the machinery used by the Employer. For example, there are 14 such skilled ma- chinists in the tractor machine shop, and 3 in the harvester shop. As the proposed unit of toolroom and machine shop employees comprises only a segment of a craft group possessing similar skills and perform- ing comparable work, we find that it is inappropriate.3 I The record is not clear as to whether or not there is a tool crib attendant in the tool room. 2 Matter of International Harvester Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 1452. 8 Matter of Et1 yl Corporation (Sodium and Tetraethyl Lead Areas), 80 N. L. R. B. 6 Matter of Teletype Corporation, 79 N. L. R. B. 1051; Matter of Shell Oil Company, In- corporated, 79 N. L. R. B. 618; Matter of International Harvester Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 520. 26 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD At the hearing, the IAM declared that it wishes to represent any part of the unit sought which the Board might find appropriate. The toolroom alone, with its complement of 13 tool and die makers, who form the craft nucleus, and 3 toolroom machinists who make parts for the tools and dies, constitutes such a unit.4 The toolroom em- ployees work only in the toolroom, which is separately located and under separate supervision. The tool and die makers perform the usual duties of their craft. They are highly skilled employees whose skills do not appear to be matched by those of related categories of employees elsewhere in the plant. Accordingly, we believe that the toolroom employees may, if they so desire, constitute a separate unit, and properly may be severed from the existing plant-wide unit, not- withstanding a history of collective bargaining on a more comprehen- sive basis. Case No. 9-RC-535 The Petitioner in this case, the IBEW, seeks to represent a unit of four electricians who constitute a part of the maintenance depart- ment. The group sought is composed of one leadman, two electricians, and one apprentice. The leadman and the electricians are highly skilled craftsmen. The leadman is not a supervisor-he merely trans- mits to his fellow electricians the work orders given him by the main- tenance foreman who is the immediate supervisor of all the electri- cians. These employees are engaged exclusively in work relating to electrical repair and maintenance throughout the plant. Although upon occasion an employee from a production department may be "lent" to the electricians as a helper, the electricians are not trans- ferred to other departments. These employees form an identifiable, homogeneous, and skilled craft group such as we have often held may constitute an appropriate bargaining unit, if they so desire, notwith- standing their previous inclusion in a broader unit.,' We shall direct separate elections in the following voting groups, excluding from each group all other employees, guards, and super- visors as defined in the Act : (1) All employees in the toolroom of the Employer's plant in Louis- ville, Kentucky. (2) All maintenance electricians at the Employer's plant in Louis- ville, Kentucky, including the leadman. However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of the employees as expressed in 4 Matter of Robertshaw-Fulton Controls Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 316 ; Matter of General Motors Corporation, 74 N. L. R. B. 18; Matter of The Beach Company, 72 N. L. R. B. 510. 4Matter of International Harvester Company (Fort Wayne, Indiana, Plant), 80 N. L. R. B. 1451. B. F. AVERY & SONS COMPANY 27 the elections hereinafter directed. If a majority in either voting group vote for the Petitioner for that group, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, 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 Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees described 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 not 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 : (a) Whether the employees in voting group (1) desire to be repre- sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Lodge 681, Inter- national Association of Machinists, or by United Automobile Workers of America, Local Union No. 715, A. F. L., or by neither; and (b) Whether the employees in voting group (2) desire to be repre- sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Electrical Workers Union Local No. 369, international Brotherhood of Electrical Work- _ ers, A. F. L., or by United Automobile Workers of America, Local Union No. 715, A. F. L., or by neither.