Todd Shipyards Corp.

In the Matter of TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and IN- DUSTRIAL UNION OF MARINE AND SHIPBUILDING W ORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, LOCAL No. 39, PETITIONER Case No. O-RC-1312.Decided December 15, 1949 DECISION AND ORDER Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before I. L. Broadwin, hearing officer. 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-Inember 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 organization named herein claims to represent em- ployees 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 At for the following reasons: The Petitioner seeks a unit of production and maintenance snappers, excluding electrician snappers, employed at the Employer's Brooklyn, New York, shipyard. The Employer contends that all snappers em- ployed by it at this shipyard are supervisors within the, meaning of the amended Act and that the petition should, therefore, be dismissed. The Petitioner has bargained for all production and maintenance employees, including snappers, at the Employer's Brooklyn shipyard 1 The Employer moved , at the hearing, to dismiss the petition on the grounds that (a) prior dismissals of the Employer's petitions by the Regional Director is determinative of the issue presented herein, and (b) the Petitioner is barred, by the provisions of its con- tract with the Employer , from maintaining the present petition . These motions were re- ferred to the Board by the hearing officer. Inasmuch as we are dismissing the petition for other reasons hereinafter set forth , we find it unnecessary to pass upon the contentions raised by the above motions. 87 NLRB No. 103. 877359-50-vol. 87=41 627 628 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD since its certification by the Board in 1941.2 ' Pursuant to a petition filed in 1948, the Board severed production and maintenance elec- tricians from the existing unit and established a separate bargaining unit for them.3 The Board, in that proceeding, found that electrician snappers were supervisors within the meaning of the Act, as amended, and excluded them from the unit therein established. Subsequent peti- tions filed by the Employer seeking a determination of representatives for certain other snappers,4 were dismissed by the Regional Director for the Second Region on the ground that the snappers involved were supervisors within the meaning of the Amended Act. No appeals from these rulings were filed by proper parties to the proceedings. The present petition, filed in May 1949, was dismissed by the Regional Director for the Second Region for the same reason that the Employer's petitions were dismissed. The petitioner appealed from the Regional Director's ruling, and the Board, on August 31, 1948, reversed the Regional Director and directed that the issue be resolved upon rec- ord testimony. The Employer repairs, overhauls, and converts ships at its Brook- lyn shipyard. For this purpose it employs electricians, tinsmiths, carpenters, pipe fitters, iron workers, painters, machinists, and other less skilled employees. These employees are employed on a daily basis the total number fluctuating with the size and number of repair jobs which the Employer may have at a given time. They are paid an hourly wage and are selected for work each day by a "shape-up" procedure. Under this procedure, not all of the employees reporting for work each day are employed for that day. Each trade craft is under the direction of a foreman and/or assist- ant foreman. However, each craft, in turn, is subdivided into smaller groups ranging from 5 to 30 mechanics in number. Each of these groups is under the immediate direction and guidance of a person designated as a "snapper." It is the snappers whole the Petitioner seeks to include in the proposed unit and who the Employer con- tends are supervisors.' The Employer, upon receipt of a repair or overhaul job, breaks the job down and assigns the work to the various trade crafts which that particular job calls for. The breakdowns for each trade, includ- 2 Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company, 33 NLRB 15; 34 NLRB 864. The Board in- cluded snappers in the unit found appropriate in that proceeding without passing upon their supervisory status. 3 Todd Shipyards Corporation, 80 NLRB 382. 4 2-RM-83; 2-MM-84. S As hereinabove noted, snappers were included in the original bargaining unit estab- lished in 1941. In negotiating the 1.948 contract, however, the Employer refused to bargain relative to the snappers, contending that they are supervisors. Accordingly, the present contract contains a clause providing for the deletion therefrom of all references to snappers in the event of a determination by the Board that snappers are supervisors. TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION 629 ing plans and specifications, are given to the foremen of the respec- tive trades. The foremen, in turn, assign the work to snappers. Each snapper makes a survey, estimates the number of man-hours that will be required to do the job , and requests as many men as are necessary to complete the job in the allotted time. The estimate and the number of men requested are reviewed by the snapper's foreman . The latter either approves or revises the estimate and request. The snapper is then assigned the number of mechanics requested (if approved), de- cides upon and selects the necessary tools and materials for the job, and proceeds to direct the mechanics in performing the work. De- cisions as to how the job is to be done, within the limits of the plans and specifications , are made by the snapper. Although the foreman or superintendent has the authority to change the method selected by the snapper, the record indicates that, as a practical matter, the snapper's decision usually prevails . Each snapper keeps the time of the mechanics working under him, assigns the work to the several mechanics in his group, and is responsible for the conduct of the men in his group . A mechanic must obtain the permission of the snapper before he may leave the job. Snappers do not hire employees, nor do they have authority to dis- charge employees . However, the Employer has established a set of regulations providing for specified disciplinary action in the event of violation by the employees . It is the duty of each snapper to report any violations of regulations by the employees in his group. For this pur- pose, the snapper is furnished a pad of forms called "pink slips," which lie fills out in triplicate for each violation. One copy is given to the employee involved, the other two are turned in to the personnel depart- ment through the snapper 's foreman. In the event of a dispute as to any violation, the personnel department, in its investigation, talks with the snapper and with the foreman. Although two snappers testi- fied that they had never issued any pink slips, the record is clear that in the past few years a large number of pink slips have been issued to, employees by snappers, resulting in discharges and other disciplinary action being taken against the employees . Snappers are consulted by their foremen as to the work progress of the mechanics, and the record indicates that the opinions and recommendations of the snapper are given weight in effecting promotions . If a snapper tells his foreman that a mechanic in his group is incapable of doing his job, the mechanic is removed from that snapper's group. Snappers are subject to the same shape-up procedure as the pro- duction and maintenance employees. They are paid on an hourly basis. The hourly wage of each snapper is from 10 to 18 cents per hour above that of the highest paid mechanic under him. ' The snapper 630 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD does no work with tools other than , occasionally, to show a mechanic how to do a certain task . Foremen and assistant foremen, however, are salaried employees and are not subject to shaping. Each foreman usually has several groups and , correspondingly, several snappers, un- der his supervision. Foremen are not normally present on the night shift, and their duties are then assumed by the snappers: We find that snappers employed at the Employer 's Brooklyn ship- yard responsibly direct employees under them, and are, therefore, supervisors within the meaning of the Act.6 As the unit proposed by the Petitioner does not embrace employees within the meaning of the amended Act, we shall dismiss the instant petition. ORDER Upon the basis of the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant matter, be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 6 The authority and duty of the snappers involved herein are substantially the same as those of the electrician snappers whom the Board found, in an earlier case, to be super- visors . Todd Shipyards Corporation, 80 NLRB 382.