Gerber Plastic Co.

GERBER PLASTIC COMPANY 403 As one of the factors supporting the appropriateness of separate representation for voting group (A) is that the petitioner seeking to represent this group is a labor organ- ization which traditionally represents such employees ( the IAM), we shall provide that if a majority of the employees in this group oelect the union seeking to represent them separately, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a- separate bargaining unit, and the Regional Director con- ducting the election is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to such labor organization for such unit which the Board , in such circumstances , finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining . On the other hand, if a majority of the employees in voting group (A) do not vote for the union which is seeking to represent them in a separate unit, that group will be included in the plantwide unit and their votes shall be pooled with those in voting group ( B),18 and the Regional Director conducting the election is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the labor organ- ization selected by a majority of the employees in the pooled group which the Board , in such circumstances , finds to be a single unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.] 18 American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418, sets out the full language of the new way of counting. GERBER PLASTIC COMPANY and UNITED GAS, COKE & CHEMICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 14 -RC-2487. April 22, 1954. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph H. Solien, hearing officer . The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 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 cer- tain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce 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 parties generally agree that a unit of all production, maintenance , and warehouse employees at the Employer's 108 NLRB No. 73. 404 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD three plants in St. Louis, Missouri,' excluding office clerical and professional employees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors is appropriate. The parties disagree as to the inclusion of the following employees: Experimental employees who workatthe Eighth Street and Spruce Street plants, leadmen working on the second floor of the Eighth Street plant and on the third floor of the Pine Street plant, the electrician, and the maintenance man. The Employer would exclude all of these employees, whereas the Petitioner would include them. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of toys, house- wares, and utility items. It also does some contract molding for other manufacturers. Directly under the president are 2 super- intendents, one in charge of production and the other in charge of designing, development, tooling, and maintenance of equip- ment. Directly responsible to the production superintendent are various foremen and floorladies, located in the 3 plants. Experimental employees: The Employer contends that all of these employees should be excluded from the unit as pro- fessional employees. There are five employees doing experimental work at the Spruce Street plant. They work under the joint supervision of the superintendent in charge of designing , development, tooling, and maintenance of equipment, and the production super- intendent. At the time of the hearing they were devoting the majority of their time to experimenting with fibreglass, although the Employer was not producing anything made of fibreglass. They make experimental parts for the Employer, and also for other companies. They sometimes make finished experimental products which the Employer sells. They must be able to read blueprints, be familiar with chemistry, patternmaking and molding techniques, and know how to lay up and produce fibreglass. The employee who is con- ducting the experiments in fibreglass has a college degree. The others have had schooling and practical experience in the work that they are doing, and varied experience in chemicals and material handling. It takes from 8 to 10 years to train employees for this work. Two of these employees are on a salary basis, and the others are hourly rated. Their hourly rate is the highest in the plant. There are six employees working at the Eighth Street plant who design and make experimental tools, dies, andmolds. They work in a separate shop under the direct supervision of the superintendent in charge of designing, development, tooling, and maintenance of equipment. In making the molds they experiment with different types of metals, and must know the various stresses and reactions of metals under different conditions. A knowledge of plastics is also necessary to their 1 The Employer's factories and warehouse facilities are located at 308 South Eighth Street, herein called the Eighth Street plant; at Eighth and Spruce Streets, herein called the Spruce Street plant; and at 2622 Pine Street, herein called the Pine Street plant. GERBER PLASTIC COMPANY 405 work . If the experimental tools and molds prove satisfactory, they are sent to the production superintendent for production. A few of these employees go into the shop to change dies or molds . Two of them maintain the tools and machines in their own shop. They do not, however , repair or work on any production machines in the plant . The other men are primarily concerned with designing. These employees are more skilled than the average tool and die maker or pattern maker . They do not work from established formulas, but determine their own formulas through trial and error. They must be able to use a drawing board, and not only must know how to read blueprints , but also must be able to make up blue prints . Two of these employees have engineering degrees. They are paid on a salary basis. The others were hired on the basis of their past tool -designing or tool - making experience . They are paid on an hourly basis. We do not believe it necessary to decide whether these em- ployees are professional employees within the meaning of the Act. It is clear from the record that their duties are not of a routine nature , but require the use of independent judgment and discretion. It is also evident that these employees possess and exercise a high degree of specialized skills. They perform no production and maintenance duties, and are not interchanged with production and maintenance employees . We find that their work is technical in character , and that their duties and interests are separate and distinct from those of the production, maintenance , and warehouse employees . 2 We shall therefore exclude them from the unit.' Leadmen : The operations on the third floor of the Pine Street plant are almost identical to those on the second floor of the Eighth Street plant . Both operations work 3 shifts, with 1 foreman and 1 leadman on each shift . The duties of the fore- men and leadmen at both plants are the same. The leadmen are directly' responsible to the foremen , and the foremen to the production superintendent . The foremen have authority to recommend the hiring and discharge of employees, and to grant time off. The foremen make out the work assignments." In addition to the leadmen and foremen , there are approximately 45 to 50 employees working on all 3 shifts on the second floor of the Eighth Street plant . The record does not ' show how many employees work on the third floor at the Pine Street plant. There are about 60 employees working on the second and third floors at Pine Street. 2Cf. Phillips Petroleum Company , 107 NLRB 1207; General Electric Company, 105 NLRB 921; Brady Aviation Corporation, 104 NLRB 220 ; Palmer Manufacturing Company, 103 NLRB 336; Delta Manufacturing Division , Rockwell Manufacturing Company, 89 NLRB 1434; F. W Sickles Company, 81 NLRB 390; Westinghouse Electric Corporation , 81 NLRB 337. 31t is now well-established Board policy that technical employees may not be joined with production and maintenance workers when any party objects to their inclusion . Philip Carey Mfg. Company, 107 NLRB No. 26; Heintz Maufacturing Company , 100 NLRB 1521. 4 The parties agree that the foremen are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. 406 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The leadmen are responsible for the quality of the work done by the production employees. They watch the quality from the raw materials states to the completion of the operation. If a leadman finds that the quality is not up to standard, he usually corrects it by making an adjustment on the mechanical equipment. When scrap pieces result from improper handling by the employees, he shows the employees what they are doing that is wrong. The standards are set by the production superintendent. The leadmen spend about 50 percent of their time doing production work. Their authority is limited to carrying out the orders of the foremen or other management personnel. If, however, a bottleneck develops at one particular point, the leadman can move an employee to another place in the depart- ment to relieve the congestion on the line, without the authority of the foreman. The leadmen do not have authority to hire, discharge, or discipline employees, or effectively to recommend such action.5 They refer to the foremen any requests by em- ployees for time off. Any reports or recommendations made by the leadmen are subject to independent investigation by the foremen. The record does not permit a finding that the leadmen responsibly direct the work of other employees in a manner which requires the use of independent judgment. We are satisfied, on the record as a whole, that the leadmen do not possess supervisory authority within the meaning of the Act. We shall, therefore, include them in the unit. Maintenance employees:7 The Employer urges that two maintenance employees, an electrician and a mechanic, should be excluded from the unit, contending that they are technicians and a lack of community of interest with the other employees in the unit. The electrician and the mechanic work at all three plants, under the supervision of the superintendent in charge of designing, development, tooling, and maintenance of equipment. Both are hourly rated employees. The duties of the electrician consist of general electrical work such as maintenance, in- stallation, and changing of motors, wiring, and putting in light switches. The mechanic works along the production line, but does not do any production work. He repairs, installs, and 5 Leadmen may recommend the discharge of an employee only when the employee has per- formed his duties in a malicious manner. The leadmen, however, have never recommended the hiring or discharge of an employee. 6 Alloy Manufacturing Company, 107 NLRB 1201 The Clinton Construction Company, 107 NLRB 946, Cone Mills Corporation (Tabardrey Plant), 107 NLIIB 866, Textron Incorpora- ted, 107 NLRB 355, York Transfer & Storage Co., 107 NLRB 139, Meier Electric & Machine Co., Inc , 107 NLRB 143; Specialty Manufacturing Company, Inc., 107 NLRB 80 7 The record does not show what other maintenance employees work at the three plants. WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY 407 helps move production machinery. He sometimes helps the electrician.' Contrary to the Employer's contention, there is nothing in the record which indicates that the interests or conditions of employment of these maintenance employees are different from those of other employees in the unit. Accordingly, we shall include them in the unit.' We find that all production, maintenance, and warehouse employees at the Employer's three plants in St. Louis, Missouri, including the leadmen working on the second floor of the Eighth Street plant, and the third floor of the Pine Street plant, electricians, and mechanics, but excluding experimental employees working at the Spruce Street and Eighth Street plants, office cleiical,10 confidential, and professional em- ployees , watchmen, guards , and supervisors ," constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 8The record does not show in what way the electrician directs the work of the mechanic. There is no showing in the record that the electrician exercises any supervisory authority over the mechanic or any other employees. 9 Whiting Corporation, 107 NLRB 493; Sherold Crystals, Inc., 104 NLRB 1072; Peterzell & Gelles, Inc., 94 NLRB 346; Taunton Pearl Works, 89 NLRB 1382; Century-American Corpor- ation, Woodstock Typewriter Division. 79 NLRB 43. 10 The parties stipulated that two inventory clerks should be excluded from the unit as office clerical employees. IIThe parties agree that the following employees are supervisors within the meaning of the Act, and should be excluded from the unit: All foremen, leadmen on the first floor of the Eighth Street plant, and floorladies on the second floor of the Pine Street plant, and on the second and third floors of the Spruce Street plant. WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UN- ION NO. 920, AFL WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY and RAYMOND B. SADLER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELEC- TRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION NO. 1044, AFL WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UN- ION NO. 898, AFL. Cases Nos. 16-CA-411, 16-CA-466, and 16-CA-545. April 23, 1954 DECISION AND ORDER On September 8, 1953, Trial Examiner Thomas S. Wilson issued his Intermediate Report in the above consolidated pro- 108 NLRB No. 80.