Rheem Manufacturing Co.

564 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD of the two labor organizations are not paid on the same basis. While both organizations seek and receive the same hourly rate of pay, members of Carpenters receive time and one-half for hours worked in excess of six daily, whereas members of IATSE do not receive the higher rate until the daily hours have exceeded eight. Thus,-based upon an 8-hour day, carpenters receive a higher daily rate of pay. According to Rossal, this information relative to which organization the employee is affiliated with is provided by the superintendent solely for the assistance of the payroll department in computing payrolls. It would appear that these varying overtime pay practices are promulgated by the respective labor organizations and not the Company. Under the foregoing circumstances, the undersigned makes no finding of an unfair labor practice predicated upon the use of this form. The undersigned will therefore recommend that the complaint be dismissed in its entirety. Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire record in the case, the undersigned makes the following: CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. The operations of Respondent Company affect commerce within the mean- ing of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 2. International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees and its Local Union 44, and Studio Carpenters Local 946, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL, are labor organizations within the meaning of Section 2 (5) of the Act. 3. Respondent Company has not engaged in unfair labor practices within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (1), (2), and (3) of the Act. 4. Respondent Union has not engaged in unfair labor practices within the weaning of Section 8 (b) (1) (A) and (2) of the Act. [Recommendations omitted from publication in this volume.] RIIEEM MANUFACTURING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF, ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION 11, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER. Case No. 21-RC4516. August 8, 1952 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 Fred W. Davis, 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 Styles and Peterson]. i 'At the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate . For the reasons expressed in paragraph numbered 4, infra, his motion is denied. 100 NLRB No. 88. RHEEM MANUFACTURING COMPANY 565 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 organizations involved claim to represent certain em- ployees 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 2 4. Since April 30, 1941, the Intervenor has represented production and maintenance employees at the Employer's South Gate, California,. plant, including electricians, in a single unit. The Petitioner now seeks to sever, and represent as a separate unit, maintenance and con- struction electricians and their apprentices or full-time helpers at the plant, excluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer and the Intervenor oppose the severance, alleging (1) that the Employer is engaged in the "basic steel" industry and severance should be denied under the doctrine of the National Tube Company 3 and Scullin Steel C0.4 cases; (2) that the proposed unit is not a true craft group; and (3) that the highly integrated operations of this plant preclude the severance of any craft group from the existing production and maintenance unit, established by 10 years' bargaining history. The severance of the proposed group is not precluded, as the Em- ployer contends, by the doctrine of the National Tube Company and Scullin Steel Co. cases, in which the Board enunciated the principle that, due to the integrated nature of operations in the "basic steel" industry, it will deny, in that industry, severance of a craft from a production and maintenance unit. The Employer's South Gate plant is principally engaged in the fabrication of various metal products b from pressed sheet steel. It does not produce ingot steel, rolled steel, or sheet metal products, which are the principal products of the "basic steel" industry. Accordingly, we find that the Employer's South Gate plant is not primarily engaged in the "basic steel" industry and that 2 The Employer and United Steelworkers of America, Local 3941, CIO, the Intervenor herein, contend that their existing contract, as supplemented, is a bar to the instant peti- tion The contract in question was originally executed on September 18, 1950, to be effec- tive from July 1, 1950, to July 1, 1952, with a 60-day automatic renewal provision. On December 14, 1950, the contracting parties executed a supplemental contract and, among other things, extended the contract term through January 31, 1953. The instant,petition was filed on April 15, 1952. As it appears that the petition herein was timely filed with respect to the automatic renewal date in the original contract, we find the contract. as extended, does not constitute a bar to a present determination of representatives. The Reliance Electric & Engineering Company, 98 NLRB 488. 3 76 NLRB 499. 4 95 NLRB 530. 5 Its principal products are steel barrels and steel gasoline containers made for the armed forces, commonly called "blitz" cans. 566 DECISIONS .OF NATIONAL LABOR; RELATIONS BOARD the National Tube Company and Scullin Steel Co. cases are not de- terminative of this case.6 The Employer's maintenance department is under the general super- vision of a maintenance engineer. - The electricians, as well as the maintenance carpenters, painters, and pipefitters, work under the im- mediate supervision of an assistant maintenance foreman. When reporting for work, electricians, as well as other maintenance employ- ees, report to one of the two maintenance shops located at this plant. This maintenance shop has one corner reserved for the electricians and their work benches. Electricians and other maintenance department employees are subject to call 7 anywhere throughout the three build- ings of the South Gate plant. The primary function of the electri- cians is to repair electrical breakdowns occurring on all production lines." One electrician spends his full time as an operator of an electrically controlled welding machine." This electrician's duties as operator are similar to those of the other electricians in that his duties are to start the machine, see that the machine runs properly, and in case of any electrical breakdown, repair the same. This machine is auto- matically fed, so that the electrician has only to perform maintenance functions in regard to its operation. Although the Employer has no formal apprenticeship program, each electrician, when hired, is required to have 4 years' experience in the electrical field: He then receives additional on-the-job training at the plant. Upon the foregoing facts, we are satisfied that these employees exercise the degree of skill characteristic of the electrical craft. They do not perform routine and repetitive tasks of the type which are in- separable from the production process.1° For this reason, we do not believe that the Employer's operations at South Gate are so integrated as to preclude their severance. Notwithstanding a 10-year bargaining history on a broader basis, we find that the Employer's electricians constitute an identifiable, skilled, homogeneous craft group who may, if they so desire, constitute an appropriate unit' Under these circumstances, we shall direct an election in the fol- lowing voting group : All maintenance and construction electricians 0 The Board has frequently recognized that the fabrication of commercial products is not within "basic steel" operations. See e. g. General Steel Castings Corporation, 99 NLRB 607, Mesta Machine Company, 94 NLRB 1624. An exclusive whistle call is used to summon the electricians to a desired place. It was estimated by the maintenance foreman that the electricians spend 60 percent of their time doing strictly electrical work and the remainder of their time performing routine duties such as installing light bulbs , making routine checks of electrical equipment, and occasionally assisting other maintenance department employees. 0 On another shift, the operator of this machine is a maintenance mechanic. 10 General Steel Castings Corporation, supra, and cases cited therein ; The Baldwin Loco- motive Works, Eddystone Division, 89 NLRB 403. 11 General Steel Castings Corporation, supra, and cases cited therein. UNION STARCH AND REFINING COMPANY 567. and their apprentices or full-time helpers at the Employer's South Gate, California, plant, excluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act, If a majority of them vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the election directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for this group, which the Board, under such circum- stances, finds to be an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor, the Board finds the existing plant unit to be appropriate, and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to that effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] UNION STARCH AND REFINING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL CHEM- ICAL WORKERS UNION, AFL PETITIONER . Case No. 14-RC-1784. August 8,1952 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Benjamin E. Cook, 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 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. The Employer and the Intervenor, American Federation of Grain Millers, Local 153, AFL, urge their 3-year contract, now in its last year, as a bar to this proceeding, contending primarily that it is of reasonable duration in the light of an alleged general trend toward longer collective bargaining contracts.' The Board has reexamined its current contract-bar rule, under which no contract of more than 2 years' duration may serve as a bar 1 As the record and briefs in this case are sufficient, we hereby deny the Employer's re- quest for oral argument. 2 The Employer also argues that factors other than the custom of contract terms in the industry should be considered in connection with this issue. It points particularly to the special conditions of the Employer 's business and its bargaining with the Intervenor. His- torically, however, the Board has considered the custom of contract duration in a particu- lar industry, rather than special circumstances relating to an individual employer , in deter- mining the reasonableness of contracts for terms longer than those reasonable per se. Reed Roller Bit Company, 72 NLRB 927. The Board does not believe that special circum- stances, such as those relied upon by the Employer here , warrant a reversal of the Board's normal contract bar policy. 100 NLRB No. 89.