General Time Corp.

In the Matter Of WE, STCLOx DIVISION, GENERAL TIME CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and LODGE No. 1629, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER Cases Nos. 13-RC-696 through 13-RC-699.-Decided December 6, 194 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed, a hearing in these consolidated matters 1 was held before Morris Slavney, hearing officer. The hear- ing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Purusant 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 Houston 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. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. Questions affecting commerce exist 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 units : The Petitioner seeks separate units of carpenters, maintenance elec- tricians, and pipe fitters 2 on a craft basis. The Employer opposes the units requested, contending in substance that these employees are not journeymen as they are generally recruited from among the production workers and the Employer maintains no formal apprenticeship pro- gram for them; that they are subject to the same conditions of employ- ' By order of the Regional Director issued May 24, 1949 , Cases Nos. 13-RC-696, 13-RC- 697, 13-RC-698 , and 13-RC-699 were consolidated. 2 The Petitioner originally also sought a unit of maintenance millwrights , machinists, welders, and tinners ( Case No. 13-RC-697). However , at the hearing, the Petitioner requested permission to withdraw its petition in that case . Neither the Employer nor the Intervenor objected to the Petitioner's request . Accordingly , permission to withdraw the petition in Case No . 13-RC-697 is hereby granted. 87 NLRB No. 39. 406 WESTCLOX DIVISION 407 ment as the other production and maintenance employees ; and that because of the nature of the Employer's operations, they constantly mingle and work with the other employees in the plant. The Inter- enor 3 also opposes the units requested. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of timing devices and instruments, clocks, and watches, and operates a plant at Peru, Illi- nois, where it employs approximately 3,900 employees, of which 3,300 are production and maintenance employees. The 3 units sought in this proceeding are in the maintenance division. There are 2 carpenters, 13 electricians, and 6 pipe fitters. In February 1943, after Board-conducted elections, the Intervenor was certified as collective bargaining representative of a unit of the Employer's production and maintenance employees, and the Peti- tioner was certified as collective bargaining representative of a unit of the Employer's toolroom employees 4 Since March 1943, the Em- ployer has had collective bargaining agreements with the Intervenor for the production and maintenance unit and with the Petitioner for the toolroom unit. The two carpenters work in the carpenters' shop, located in the north end of the maintenance building. Their work consists of build- ing cabinets, benches, furniture, platforms, trays, making simple wooden patterns, splicing endless belts, and repairs. One of the two carpenters has been doing carpentry work for the Employer for more than 30 years; he acts as leadman 5 directly responsible to the plant engineer who is in charge of the maintenance division as a whole. The other carpenter has been doing carpentry work for 4 years. They own their own carpentry tools. Although the Employer also has construc- tion workers who occasionally, in the absence of carpenters, do some of the minor work of the carpenters, the construction workers gen- erally do unskilled work clearly distinguishable from the skilled work of the carpenters. The maintenance electricians work under their own supervisor who supervises no other employees. They are headquartered in a separate room in one of the buildings and spend about 70 percent of their time performing their duties in the various production departments. Their job classification is subdivided into three grades. Class A electricians install and service electronic control equipment, potentiometer instru- ments, electric furnaces and heating equipment, and dust collector 3 The hearing officer granted the motion of District 50, United Mine Workers of America,. to intervene on the basis of an existing collective bargaining agreement covering the pro- duction and maintenance employees. ' Westclox Division, General Time Instruments Corporation , 47 NLRB 418. He is not a supervisor ; he merely transmits to the other carpenter the work orders given him by the plant engineer. 408 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD units. The Class B electricians install and service motors and allied equipment, such as power lines, control instruments, and switches. The Class C electricians assist the Class B electricians and also perform minor installation jobs. The electricians are recruited from among the .production workers; they first serve under some of the more experi- enced employees. Some have also taken courses in electronics and related subjects. The maintenance electricians own their own tools, which are common to the electricians' trade, perform no production work, and are not interchangeable with production employees. No other employees in the plant perform the work of the electricians.. The pipe fitters work under the separate supervision of a supervisor who is a registered journeyman pipe fitter. They are classified as Class A, B, and C, depending on their degree of skill. Thus, the pipe fitter who testified at the hearing, a journeyman pipe fitter with 11 years' service with the Employer in the performance of this work, is classified as Class A. Their work consists of the installation, repair, and maintenance of all pipes and fixtures used for supplying heat, water, gas, and air equipment used in the operation of the plant. They engage in no production or new construction work, and are not inter- changed with any of the production employees. They use their own tools which are common to the pipe-fitting trade, and have their own headquarters. On the basis of the record, we are satisfied that all of the employees involved in this proceeding possess and exercise in substantial degree the skills traditionally associated with their respective crafts.6 Al- though the Employer maintains no formal apprenticeship program, the record shows that the employees involved herein nevertheless re- ceive the necessary training equipping them for the performance of their respective duties.7 Nor do we find any merit in the Employer's contention that the proposed units are inappropriate because of alleged mingling and working with production workers. It does not appear that the functions of these employees are so intimately related with those of the production workers as to preclude the severance or separa- tion of craft'groups. Although these employees are on occasion in- structed by production department supervisors as to where to do cer- tain maintenance work, they are at all times under separate supervision and take their orders and instructions directly from their own super- visors.s 0 Reynolds Metals Company, 85 NLRB 110 (as to maintenance electricians) ; General Aniline & Film Corporation, Ansco Division, 85 NLRB 547 (as to pipe fitters) ; Anaconda Wire cG Cable Co ., 81 NLRB 1235 ( as to carpenters). 7 General Aniline & Film Corporation, Ansco Division, supra; see also Dayton Steel Fundry Company, 85 NLRB 1499. 8 See General Electric Company, 86 NLRB 327. WESTCLOX DIVISION 409 Under the circumstances, we believe that these employees should be given an opportunity to demonstrate in a Board election whether they desire representation on a separate basis or as part of the production and maintenance unit. Accordingly, we shall make no final unit deter- mination at the present time, but shall direct separate elections among the following groups of employees, excluding supervisors, at the Em- ployer's Peru, Illinois, plant : (a) All carpenters. (b) All Class A, B, and C maintenance electricians. (c) All Class A, B, and C pipe fitters. If a majority of employees in each of the voting groups select the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to consti- tute a separate appropriate unit. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes 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 super- vision 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 in the voting groups described in paragraph 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 excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elections, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Lodge No. 1629, International Association of Machinists.9 9 Having failed to achieve compliance, or to initiate steps for compliance with the filing requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act, the Intervenor, District 50, United Mine Workers of America, will not be accorded a place on the ballot.