United States Gypsum Co.

In the Matter of UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICUL- TURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No.'2-RC---3098.-Decided September 02, 1950 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Jennie M. Sarrica, 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three- member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Rey- nolds]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. .2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees of the Employer. 3. A 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. 4. The parties agree that an appropriate unit should comprise all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Clark Township, New Jersey,2 plant, including shipping and receiving em- ployees, but excluding office and clerical employees, the storekeeper, guards, watchmen, and supervisors. They agree further to the exclu- sion of 16 specific classifications as managerial or supervisory. These 16 classifications comprise 19 individuals, below the rank of works ' The hearing officer referred to the Board the Employer 's motion to dismiss the petition upon the ground that the Petitioner failed to establish that it was a labor organization within the meaning of the Act. As we have repeatedly found the Petitioner to be such a labor organization , the motion is hereby denied. 2 This plant is engaged in producing the types of paper used by other United States Gyp- sum plants in manufacturing paper board . It is also equipped to manufacture roofing felt, but no roofing felt operations are carried on at present. 91 NLRB No. 65. 404 UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY 405 manager, who exercise supervisory authority over production and maintenance employees. The Employer would also exclude as supervisors, four categories of lead mechanics, a mechanic B painter, refiner engineers, machine tenders, and back tenders. The Petitioner contends that none of these classifications is supervisory. These disputed classifications comprise at least 17 individuals. The unit deemed appropriate by the Employer comprises only 97 employees. Thus the Employer is con- tending that there are 36 supervisors to 97 production and mainte- nance employees, a ratio exceeding 1 to 3. The Employer would also exclude, on other ground, trainees and testers whom the Petitioner would include. Trainees: There are six trainees, all college graduates, hired under a training program set up to develop personnel capable of filling supervisory and managerial positions. There is no specific training period, and no assurance that a trainee will ever become a supervisor. None of the positions to which trainees are assigned during training is supervisory. Their wages and other conditions of employment are identical with those of other employees in the position to which they are assigned. The only advantage trainees enjoy, which other em- ployees do not, is the possibility of gaining a more varied experience, in a shorter time, through greater flexibility of assignment. We find that trainees while in training have a clear community of interests with other employees performing the same work. Accordingly, we shall include them in the unit. Testers: We have frequently excluded laboratory testers from pro- duction and maintenance units in other United States Gypsum plants because of the technical nature of their work, and the fact that they work under separate supervision in a separate location." The testers in the Clark Township plant satisfy all these conditions, except that four of the eight testers conduct their tests at wet-end testing stations on the plan floor. The other four perform their tests in a separate laboratory. • However, all the testers are trained to perform both laboratory and wet-end testing and are interchanged. Accordingly, we find that their work does not differ substantially from that of testers in other United States Gypsum plants whom we have excluded from production and maintenance units. We shall therefore exclude the testers. Disputed Supervisory Classifications Lead. mechanics: The pipe and powerhouse lead mechanic, construc- tion lead mechanic, electrical lead mechanic, and the.maintenance 2 United States Gypsum Company, 85 NLRB 9, 80 NLRB 779, and cases cited therein. 406 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD lead mechanic direct crews of two to six men. Although they work with their crews, the plant engineer testified, without contradiction, that they spend 90 percent of their time in supervision and have the authority effectively to recommend changes in the status of subordi- nates. We find that the lead mechanics are supervisors. We shall therefore exclude them from the unit. Mechanic B painter: The mechanic B painter is in charge of the paint crew, consisting of two other painters and a painter's helper. He works. with his crew and directs their activities. Although the 'Employer estimated that 30 percent of mechanic B painter's time is spent in directing the work of the crew members, it was established that this direction amounted to nothing more than telling them where to paint and checking on safety requirements. It is not alleged that the mechanic B painter possesses any power to recommend personnel action. Accordingly, we find that the mechanic B painter is not a supervisor, and shall include him in the unit. Refiner engineers: The refining operations, which comprise all steps necessary to prepare stock for the paper machine, are performed, on each of the four shifts, by a refiner crew which consists of a refiner engineer and five fellow crew members. Directly over each refiner crew is a refiner foreman, whose sole function, as described by the mill superintendent, is responsibility for all refining operations and the personnel engaged in performing them .4 The work of the refiner engineers is substantially equivalent to that of beater engineers, or head beater men, whom we have included in production and maintenance units at other plants of the Employer.5 We find that refiner engineers are not supervisors. Accordingly, we shall include them in the unit. Machine tenders: The machine tender is responsible for the opera- tions of the wet-end of the paper machine, comprising the whole paper- forming machine, including screens, auxiliary pumps, the machine itself (which is a complicated one), cylinder baths, felts, and suction equipment. These operations require his constant skilled attention. The only employee working with the machine tender is a screen man whose primary duty is to keep the screens clean. Although the pro- duction of some types of paper requires the almost constant presence of the screen man, others require very little, or even none. When the screen man is not required for cleaning screens, or other wet-end clean- ing jobs, the tour foreman assigns him to work in other'parts of the mill. 4It is evident from the above that such personnel on each shift consists exclusively of the refiner crew. 6 United States Gypsum Company, 85 NLRB 162 and 80 NLRB 779. UNrrED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY 407 As the screen man's duties are routine in character and not complex„ the machine tender spends little time in directing him. The Employer estimated that 10 percent of his time at the most is spent in direction, and this estimate includes time spent directing several men in the per- formance of prearranged tasks on the monthly clean-up days when the machinery is shut down. We find that the relationship of the machine tender to his screen men is that of a highly skilled workman to his helper and that he is not a supervisor.. We shall therefore include him in the unit. Back tenders: Back tenders are highly skilled employees respon- sible for the operation of the dry end of the paper-making machine. In addition to the back tender, the dry-end crew includes a winder man, fourth and fifth hands, a truck operator, and a loader. Each member of the crew has his own assigned duties. Most of the back tender's directions to other crew members are merely signals. as to when to perform certain types of work. When the back tender detects imperfections in the paper, he takes steps to correct them. This involves giving directions to some of the crew, but as the types of difficulty are recurrent, it is not necessary for the back tender to give detailed directions in each case. The mill superintendent testi- fied that a back tender spends 25 percent of his time in direction. This statement is qualified by the fact that the operation of the machine requires the unremitting attention of the back tender, who can rarely leave his post. It includes all direction given while the back tender continues his own work. The Employer testified that back tenders have the power effectively to recommend personnel action and exercise that power. However, a member of the dry-end crew, a truck operator, testified that the other crew members had never been told that back tenders were super- visors and that they were not so regarded by the men. When he inquired of his tour foreman, in another connection, whether he had more than one supervisor, the tour foreman replied that he alone was the truck driver's supervisor. Although there is no previous bargaining history in this plant,,. bargaining contracts throughout the paper industry have normally included back tenders in the production and maintenance units. We have so included them in other United States Gypsum plants.? In view of all the circumstances, we find that the direction given, by back tenders to the men working with them.is merely the general supervision normally exercised by highly skilled and experienced employees over those who are less skilled. We find that they are not ° United States Gypsum Company, 80 NLRB 779. 408 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Accordingly, we shall include back tenders in the unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees, at the Employer's Clark Township, New Jersey, plant, including shipping and receiving employees, trainees, mechanic B painter, refiner engi- neers, machine tenders, and back tenders, but excluding office and clerical employees, the storekeeper, guards, watchmen, testers, paper buyer, works manager, mill superintendent, plant engineer, warehouse foreman, receiving and shipping warehouse leaders, general fore- man, tour foremen, refiner foremen, quality superintendent, quality supervisor, steam and powerhouse superintendent, operating engineers, master mechanic, construction engineer, chief electrician, pipe and powerhouse lead mechanic, construction lead mechanic, electrical lead mechanic, and maintenance lead mechanic constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.]