Utility Appliance Corp.

398 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD of representatives to the appropriate labor organization for each such unit. If a majority of the employees in all or any of the voting groups vote for the Smelter Workers, the Board finds that such employees in the group or groups so voting to be ap- propriately represented in the existing residual productionand maintenance unit, in that event, and the Regional Director shall issue a certification of results of elections to that effect. [The Board dismissed the petitions.] [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication] UTILITY APPLIANCE CORP. and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, C.I.O., Petitioner UTILITY APPLIANCE CORP. and INTERNATIONAL ASSO- CIATION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT 94, Petitioner. Cases Nos. 21-RC-3089 and 21 -RC-3141. July 24, 1953 DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Max Steinfeld and Fred W. Davis, hearing officers. The hearing officers' rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board t finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the Act. 2. The labor organizations named herein claim to represent certain employees of the Employer.2 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the mean- ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and similar appliances at its Los Angeles, California, plant. Since 1940 it has bargained jointly with the Sheet Metal Workers, the Machinists, and the Teamsters for the production and maintenance employees at the plant. Its most recent contract which expired June 30, 1953, provides:' I 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 [Members Houston, Murdock, and Peterson]. 2 The Petitioner in Case No. 21-RC-3089 is referred to herein as the Steelworkers. The Petitioner in Case No. 21-RC- 3141 is referred to herein as the Machinists The Intervenors, Sheet Metal Workers International Association, Local 371, AFL, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers, Local 598, AFL, and International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, are referred to herein respectively as the Sheet Metal Workers, the Teamsters, and the IUE. The motions of the Teamsters and the IUE to withdraw from the proceeding are hereby granted. 3This was the only contract introduced in evidence at the hearing. 106 NLRB No. 68. UTILITY APPLIANCE CORP. 399 ARTICLE I. COVERAGE THIS AGREEMENT establishes by mutual consent of all parties specific rules and regulations to govern employ- ment wage scales and working conditions of company em- ployees engaged in the production of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning equipment and similar appliances, whose jobs are listed in the schedule of rates attached hereto only. Each of the Unions severally agree that it has and claims jurisdiction only over such of the Em- ployer's employees as hold and may hold those job classi- fications respectively set forth in Schedule A attached hereto, and that the Employer shall at no time become involved in any jurisdictional dispute either between or among the Unions which are parties hereto or between any of them and any other Union or Unions, and no em- ployee of the Employer shall be required to terminate his employment by reason of any such jurisdictional dispute. Each Union respectively is hereby recognized as the sole collective bargaining agency for the employees holding job classifications as set forth upon such Schedule A attached hereto. Schedule A of the contract divides the jurisdiction of the three contracting Unions as follows: Sheet Metal Workers Machinists Teamsters Assembler Carpenter Combination Fork Combination Drill Press Op- Lift Operator Welder erator Crater Dynamic Balancer Elevator Operator Ford Truck Op- Model Maker Jig and Fixture erator Painte r Builder Janitor Painter's Helper Journeyman Ma- Laborer Power Brake Op- chinis t Lift Truck Operator e rator Maintenance Elec- Material Handler Power Shear Op- trician Receiving Clerk e rator Maintenance Shipping Clerk Punch Press Op- Mechanic Stock Clerk erator Milling Machine Tool Crib Attendant Salvage Mechanic Operator Truckdriver Spot Welder Oiler Warehousemen Production Ma- chinist Tool and Die Maker Turret Lathe Op- erator The Steelworkers and the Sheet Metal Workers contend that the Board should direct self-determination elections for the 400 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD three groups of employees designated in the contract. The Machinists and the Employer, however, contend that only a plantwide production and maintenance unit is appropriate. We agree with the latter contention. Although the contract provides that each union is recognized as the sole bargaining agent for the employees holding jobs within its jurisdiction, the substantive terms of the contract, except for wage rates, are identical for all employees. Further, it appears from the record that the division of jurisdiction between the contracting unions does not follow any recognized craft or departmental line. Thus, in some instances employees in job classifications allocated to each of the 3 Unions work in 1 department under common supervision. Indeed, on the present record none of the 3 groups can be distinguished or readily identified by reason of any special skills, duties, functional independence, separate supervision, separate work locations, separate manner of pay, or general working conditions. In these circumstances past bargaining history, which is based in large measure upon a jurisdictional agreement between the contracting parties, cannot justify a Board determination that the existing bargaining units are appropriate for collective bargaining.4 We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition of the Steelworkers in Case No. 21-RC-3089.5 On the other hand, the integrated nature of the Employer's operation and the close community of interest of the employees involved compel us to find that all of the production and maintenance employees employed in the Employer's Los Angeles plant, excluding all office clerical employees, watch- men, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. [The Board dismissed the petition.] [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 4Anheuser-Busch, Inc., Falstaff Brewing Corporation, Griesedieck Brothers Brewery Company, Griesedieck-Western Brewing Company (Hyde Park Plant), 103 NLRB 1205. We do not, of course, hereby determine that no unit less than plantwide can be appropriate. We are not here called upon the determine whether a craft or appropriate departmental grouping may constitute a separate unit. 5 As the Steelworkers has intervened in Case No. 21-RC- 3141 we shall accord it a place on the ballot in the election herein directed for the overall production and maintenance unit.