Armstrong Tire And Rubber Co.

892 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The EOM excepted to the Regional Director's conclusion that this objection was without merit regardless of the truth or falsehood of the statement complained of. In so doing it ap- parently takes the position that if the statement was false it was necessarily coercive and therefore the Board must determine its truth or falsity. Wee do not agree . Absent threats or other elements of intimidation we will not undertake to censor or police union campaigns or consider the truth or falsity of official union utterances,' unless the ability of the employees to evaluate such utterances has been so impaired by the use of forged campaign material or other campaign trickery that the unco- erced desires of the employees cannot be determined in an election.4 Such circumstances do not exist here. The statements complained of are obvious propaganda, clearly recognizable as such by the employees, who, in our opinion, were and are entirely competent to evaluate such material. We find this objection to be without merit, and hereby overrule it. The EOM filed but one other objection, a general allegation that the CIO had circulated "other false propaganda" which did not come within the bounds of legitimate campaigning and which the Board should investigate. The Regional Director recommended that the objection be overruled because the EOM offered no supporting evidence in the course of his investiga- tion. No exceptions were filed to this recommendation. The objection is hereby overruled. ORDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this case be, and it hereby is, remanded to the Regional Director for the Second Region for further appropriate proceedings under Sections 102.61 and 102.62 of the Board's Rules and Regulations. 2 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act the Board has delegated its powers in connection with the supplemental proceedings in the case to a three-member panel [Chair- man Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock]. 'Kearney & Trecker Corporation, 96 NLRB 1214; Western Electric Company, Incorporated, 87 NLRB 183. 4For examples of devices held to have produced such impairment see United Aircraft Corporation. 103 NLRB 102, and Timken- Detroit Axle Company. 98 NLRB 790. ARMSTRONG TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY' and INTER- NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS LODGE NO. 855, AFL, Petitioner. Cases Nos. 15-RC-808, 15-RC-809, 15-RC-810, 15-RC-811, 15-RC-812, 15-RC-813, 15-RC-814, and 15-RC-815. May 11, 1953 DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph Smolen, i The eight petitions herein were consolidated by order of the Regional Director. 104 NLRB No. 105. ARMSTRONG TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY 893 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 these cases, 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 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. The Intervenor contends that its contract constitutes a bar to this proceeding. The latest contract between the Company and the Intervenor was effective from November 6, 1950, for a period of 2 years, and was to extend for yearly periods thereafter unless notice of desire to terminate or modify was given at least 60 days, but not more than 70 days, prior to the expiration date. Notice to modify was timely given by the Intervenor, and the petitions involved herein were filed on September 5, 1952, prior to the "Mill B" date of the contract. We find that the contract is not a bar to a pre sent determination of representation. 4. The Petitioner seeks to sever from the unit of production and maintenance employees, represented by the Intervenor since 1945,9 eight separate groups of employees, contending that the employees in each of these categories constitute an appropriate bargaining unit of a craft or craft-like type traditionally recognized as appropriate for bargaining pur- poses . The Petitioner will accept any appropriate unit or units designated by the Board, and alternatively claims a unit of all maintenance employees, except electricians or electrical workers. Both the Employer and the Intervenor contend that the requested units are inappropriate and that bnly the plantwide production and maintenance unit is appropriate, relying on their history of collective bargaining as well as the alleged pattern in the tire and tube industry of representation on a plantwide basis without separate craft representation. Also, the Employer claims that the manufacturing process employed in the tire and tube industry is so integrated that units smaller than plantwide are inappropriate. So far as the first contention is concerned, the Board has consistently held and recently reaffirmed that neither the fact that past bargaining has been successfully conducted on a plantwide basis, nor the fact that the Board has found a plant- 2 The United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America, Local No. 303, CIO, herein called the Intervenor, was permitted to intervene upon the showing of a con- tractual interest in the employees involved. The Intervenor's request for oral argument is hereby denied as the record and brief adequately present the positions of the parties. The Employer and the Intervenor moved to dismiss the petitions filed herein because of certain unit contentions. We deny the motions for reasons hereinafter stated. 3The Intervenor was certified for this unit in 1945 following a Board-directed election. Since 1945 the Employer and the Intervenor have maintained contractual relations. 894 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD wide unit appropriate in an earlier proceeding, precludes the severance of craft units.' As to the remaining contention, the record reveals that in this plant, as in most continuous-process operations in which preventive maintenance is an important factor, there is a relatively high degree of integration between production and maintenance. However, we do not perceive in this particular industry that degree of integration between production and maintenance which has impelled the Board to the conclusion in certain industries that only units embracing all production and maintenance employees are appropriate.5 There remains for determination the question of whether the eight groups of employees petitioned for constitute appropriate units for severance. At the Nachez, Mississippi, plant, involved herein, the Employer manufactures tires and tubes from natural and synthetic rubber, rayon, cotton and nylon cord, carbon black, sulphur, zinc oxide, and other chemicals. The raw materials are mixed in large quantities under controlled heat. These mixtures are applied to fabrics which are molded into tires. After processing in a curing room, they become mar- ketable. The building of a tire fundamentally involves control of heat at all stages, and each production step must follow at determined intervals. Interference with the schedule at any stage results in damage to the quality of the tires. Administratively the plant consists of 3 main divisions: production, service, and the division under the treasurer. Under the production manager are various department6 super- intendents who in turn have at least 3 foremen under them. On the Z night or back shifts the shift superintendent assumes the duties of all the department superintendents.8 The service division is divided into approximately 8 departments.' This case is concerned primarily with the plant engineering depart- ment of which the maintenance and stores departments are a part. Approximately 600 employees constitute the present bargaining unit of production and maintenance employees. Most production workers are incentive workers and maintenance work must be well coordinated with production if loss in pay is to be avoided. While seniority is computed on a plantwide basis, all employees have departmental seniority under the present contract. All employees share the same cafeteria, 4See Section 9 (b) (2) of the Act; Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 75 NLRB 638; W. C. Hamilton and Sons, 104 NLRB 627. Chairman Herzog, while deeply impressed by the arguments made by Member Peterson in the Hamilton case ( in which he did not participate), believes that the Board should await the possible action of Congress, which has heard witnesses critical of its present policy on craft severance, before changing a trend which has been constant for about 6 years. i E. g., National Tube Company, 76 NLRB 1199 6 The preparation department, assembly department, and the curing and final finish depart- ment. 7 The larger departments are divided into subdivisions and a foreman is in charge of each subdivision. 8 There are 3 shift superintendents who rotate on the 2 night shifts. 9Industrial relations , industrial engineering , plant engineering , inspection, technical scheduling, stores, and warehousing, shipping, and receiving. ARMSTRONG TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY 895 locker room, and showers, and participate equally in the hospital and medical service program. Bargaining between the Intervenor and the Employer has resulted in an integrated wage structure for all employees, and contractual rights are usually agreed upon after the industry pattern has been determined by the Big Four10 and wages are settled on the basis of the industry pattern. The Employer does not have apprenticeship programs for any of the maintenance groups involved and fills vacancies by hiring from outside the plant or by transferring employees from production departments. Only about 25 percent of the maintenance work is pre scheduled; the remaining maintenance is of an emergency nature. Case No. 15-RC-808--The original petition in this case sought all machinists and toolroom employees including tool sharpeners and toolroom clerks. At the hearing, the petition was amended to also include the mold maintenance man and his helper, and the machinist in the salvage department. The Employer has approximately 16 employees in this group including 10 machinists in the machine shop and 1 machinist and helper in the salvage department, 1 mold maintenance man and 1 helper, and 2 toolroom employees, a tool sharpener, and a toolroom clerk. The machinists, who work under the supervi- sion of the mechanical foreman, spend most of their time within the machine shop which is in the basement of the curing building, a production building, making parts for machines and repairing machines used in the manufacturing process. They use micrometers in the close precision work about 50 percent of their time. The machinist in the salvage department does machinist work which requires the same skill as the other machinists have, and he is paid on the same wage scale. He has one regularly assigned helper. Machinists are divided into grades "A" and "B", there being a difference of 4 cents per hour between the top grade of each range. Progression among the machinists is based on their becoming familiar with the Employer's machinery; the average seniority among the machinists is 5 or 6 years and all but 1 are of the "A" grade. Within a year a grade "B" machinist may be upgraded to grade "A". In hiring grade "B" machinists the Employer would prefer men with 6 months' machinist experience. We are of the opinion that the machinists, including the machinist in the salvage department, may, with their regularly assigned helpers, constitute a craft unit if they so desire, despite a history of collective bargaining on a broader basis." As for the two toolroom employees who sharpen and issue tools to all the employees, including the production employees, and who are under the supervision of the stores department, we shall exclude them from the machinist group because they lack a special community of interest with the machinists sufficient to warrant their inclusion.12 10 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, B. F. Goodrich Company, and United States Rubber Company. ii See Campbell Soup Company, 98 NLRB 741. 12 See Johns-Manville Products Corporation, 98 NLRB 748. 896 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD There is one mold maintenance man and a helper who work in the basement of the curing building in proximity to the other alleged maintenance craftsmen. The mold maintenance man is required to know how to drill, file, and perform a simple cut, perhaps on a boring mill. His duty is to keep the mold in repair as it frequently becomes chipped or a steam leak appears. The work is specific and the Employer stated that he would be taught exactly what is wanted on the molds. No experience is necessary for this position, but the Employer would prefer to have an employee with from 6 months' to a year's experience handling tools. The present mold maintenance man was for- merly classified as a machinist, and previous to that was employed in production. Both he and his helper are under the supervision of the engineering department. We shall exclude the mold maintenance man and helper from the machinists group. Case No. 15-RC-809--The original petition in Case No. 15-RC-809 sought all millwrights and oilers but was amended at the hearing to add all mechanics, scale and maintenance. The millwrights are supervised by a millwright foreman. They compose a heavy-work gang whose primary duty is to load and unload machinery to and from freight cars and trucks. Their work involves crating and uncrating the machinery, and moving and relocating machinery in all parts of the plant. No particular skill is necessary prior to hiring. The Employer's complicated heavy machinery is returned to the manufacturer for repairs, and most machinery is bought as a "packaged deal." One of the plant engineers is responsible for the actual direction of the millwrights in placing the machinery, leveling, and aligning it. This group of millwrights is regularly composed of nine employees but is frequently augmented by borrowing or shifting men from the yard gang or general labor. There are two general laborers in the same department as the millwrights who are on the same seniority list. The millwrights are regularly scheduled to work only on the first shift. The oilers, scale mechanics, and shift mechanics are in a different department from the millwrights. The oilers attend to the lubrication of machinery all over the plant, and from 10 to 25 percent of the time assist the mechanics in their work. They have the same supervisor as do the carpenters, painter, and mechanics. Very little special skill is necessary to be an oiler. The Employer usually prefers that a mechanic have at least 6 months' prior experience in mechanical work, but at least 4 of the present 9 employees had no such experience.'s Knowledge of the Employer's own machinery is considered more important than prior training. The mechanics make adjustments, repair machines, and replace parts; the scale mechanic checks and repairs the scales, spray guns, and other machines. Much of the work performed by mechanics is tsHaver worked as a foreman in a box factory for 15 years prior to coming to work for the Employer and prior to that was a plumber; Bute was a painter; Cothan was a saw filer and mill foreman; and another's only prior experience was that of a saw filer. ARMSTRONG TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY 897 actually directed by production supervisors. Although they report to the curing building, their workbenches are located amid the production machinery.14 The record fails to indicate that any of the employees sought in this group have the journeyman skills and duties which the Board requires in order to grant severance on a craft basis. Therefore, we shall dismiss the petition in Case No. 15-RC-809. Case No. 15-RC-810--The Petitioner under this petition originally requested all mechanics (including the moldmainte- nance man and helper, and scale, floor, and shift mechanics) and maintenance store employees, but amended the petition at the hearing limiting it to the maintenance store employees. The maintenance store employees consist of 1 inventory clerk and 2 issuance clerks who hand out supplies to both production and maintenance employees. They are under the supervision of the store department and the Employer and the Intervenor would exclude them from any units as office cleri- cals, but the Petitioner desires to represent them separately as plant clericals. Although the Board certification of the production and maintenance unit includes employees of the receiving, stores, warehouse, and shipping departments, the present contract between the Employer and the Intervenor excludes these maintenance store employees as office clericals. There are other plant clericals: the toolroom clerks who work near the maintenance stores employees and are under the supervision of the stores department, and 2 or 3 clerks who work in a small office located near the stores employees in the basement. Neither of these groups is sought by the Petitioner. We shall dismiss the petition in Case No. 15-RC-810. Case No. 15-RC-811--The Petitioner seeks a unit of all welders . The Employer has four welders who are under the ultimate supervision of the maintenance foreman. They are assigned to work with various groups of service employees and are subject to the immediate direction of the supervisor of the group to which they are assigned . Hence their immediate supervision changes from time to time. They spend all their time working with other maintenance employees, pipefitters, mechanics, machinists, and millwrights. Several of the em- ployees in these classifications to which they are assigned also do welding in connection with their regular work. The Employer requires very little experience prior to hiring.is The welders do no specialized welding or work requiring a high knowledge of stresses in heattreatment.16 We do not find that these employees have the journeyman skills and duties of craftsmen. Therefore, we shall dismiss the petition in Case No. 15-RC-811. l4Most operators of machines are paid on an incentive basis and when the machine needs repair his pay reverts to a minimum basis. Therefore, when a mechanic works on the machine , the operator assists him in an effort to return the machine to production work as soon as possible. is The Employer prefers that a new employee "have at least had a torch in his hand done some simple welding"; that he have at least 6 months ' experience. isOn one occasion when a boiler tube needed welding it was necessary to obtain a welder from outside who was qualified under the State regulations to perform such welding. 898 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Case No. 15-RC-812--The Petitioner by this petition seeks a unit of pipefitters including the instrumentman. The Employer has 7 pipefitters and 5 shift pipefitters whose primary duty is to repair water and air piping throughout the plant. The pipe- fitters are on the day shift and are separately supervised by a pipefitter foreman. The shift pipefitters who work on the two back shifts are ultimately responsible to the same foreman, but are directly supervised by the production shift foremen. In spite of the fact that both groups are paid the same rate, the record indicates that some of the so-called pipefitters are actually general laborers.17 One pipefitter does no work other than changing molds used in the curing department and he is under the supervision of production scheduling personnel. The Employer prefers, however, that new employees have a year's pipefitters' experience prior to hiring. We are of the opinion, although the record is somewhat limited on the craft duties and skills of this group, that some of the Employer's pipefitters are skilled pipefitters and together with those lesser skilled pipefitters constitute a craft group. We shall direct an election to determine their desires. The instrumentman's duty is to keep the instruments record- ing correctly. On most of the instruments there is more regulation required than repairing. All the instruments have some pipe connections, and the instrumentman may take an instrument off and replace it. However, the record indicates that approximately 80 percent of his time is spent checking and reading the instruments located in the curing department and the mixing department. Although the basic training of the instrumentman may have included the rudiments of pipefitting, it does not appear that as an instrumentman he is exercising the skill of a pipefitter and we shall exclude him from the above grouping. Case No. 15-RC-813--The Petitioner here seeks aunitof all painters and carpenters. The 2 carpenters have been with the Employer 9 and 10 years. At the hearing the testimony revealed that the Employer's carpenters work exclusively at jobs requir- ing the exercise of craft skills, do not interchange with other employees, and accumulate seniority within the individual craft group. On the entire record the Board finds that the Employer's carpenters comprise a highly skilled, identifiable, and homo- geneous group who may appropriately form a separate bar- gaining group or be included in a larger unit depending, in part, upon the expression of their wishes in the elections herein directed. As there is only one painter who in addition to his regular work of painting walls and equipment does glazing and replaces window glass, we are precluded from establishing a separate craft unit for the painter, and he does not appear to have associations and interests with any other craft sufficient to warrant inclusion therein. Accordingly, he will continue to 17 The Petitioner's representative stated, "To my knowledge there are only 4 pipefitters and there are some general laborers " ARMSTRONG TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY 899 remain a part of the production and maintenance unit repre- sented by the Intervenor.18 Case No. 15-RC-814--The Petitioner inthis case seeks a unit of four powerhouse employees, called boilerroom engineers. They perform the usual duties of powerhouse engineers, i.e., keeping the boilers operating properly and regulating the water and steam pressure used throughout the plant. They are licensed stationary engineers, have separate seniority from others in the plant, and are immediately supervised by the assistant to the chief engineer . We find that the powerhouse employees are a distinct, homogeneous, and functionally coherent group similar to other powerplant units to which we have granted severance. Case No. 15-RC-815--Finally, the Petitioner seeks a unit of sheet-metal workers. There are two employees in this classi- fication. The Employer stated that both these employees are highly skilled sheet-metal workers, but that the company does not utilize all their skills. The Employer would, however, require 3 years of experience prior to hiring. The sheet-metal workers have the same supervision as the machinists and mold maintenance man, are in the same department, and have seniority with them. The bulk of their work is fitting connec- tions, repairing duct work, making guards, and similar opera- tions as the Employer has very little preassembly and cutting of sheet metal. Their machinery is located in the basement of the curing house, adjacent to other maintenance employees, but they are required to work all over the plant. We find that the sheet-metal workers are a distinct craft group entitled to separate representation if they so desire. Accordingly, we shall establish a separate voting group for them. In view of the foregoing, we shall direct separate elections among the Employer's employees at its Natchez, Mississippi, plant in the voting groups set forth below, including in each group any regularly assigned helpers and excluding from each group all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act: 1. All machinists excluding the toolroom employees and the mold maintenance man. Z. All pipefitters excluding the head instrumentman. 3. All carpenters. 4. All powerhouse employees. 5. All sheet-metal workers. If a majority of the employees in any of the voting groups indicate, by voting for the Petitioner, their desire to be repre- sented in a separate unit, the Board finds such unit to be appropriate and the Regional Director conducting the elections directed herein is instructed , in that event, to issue a certifi- cation of representatives to the Petitioner for each such unit. If a majority of the employees in any voting group vote for the Intervenor, the Regional Director shall issue a certification of results of elections to that effect, and the employees in that group will remain a part of the existing production and mainte- nance unit. 18 See Johns-Manville Products Corporation, supra. 900 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD CRDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions in Cases Nos. 15-RC-809, 15-RC-810, and 15-RC-811 be, and they hereby are, dismissed. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.] Member Peterson, dissenting: In this case there has been a successful 8-year bargaining history; the bargaining pattern in the tire and tube, industry tends toward representation on a plantwide basis; the Em- ployer's operations are highly integrated; there is no evidence that the proposed craft groups maintained their identity as such during the period of bargaining on a more comprehensive basis; nor is there evidence that the Petitioner had obtained membership among the craft employees prior to the establish- ment of the broader unit; and the petitioning IAM does not seek only machinists and related crafts. Under these circumstances, and for the reasons more fully set forth in my dissenting opinion in the Hamilton19 case, I would dismiss the petitions herein. 19 W. C. Hamilton and Sons, 104 NLRB 627. PITTSBURGH PLATE GLASS COMPANY (MILWAUKEE PAINT DIVISION)' and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED PLANT GUARD WORKERS OF AMERICA, AMALGAMATED PLANT GUARD LOCAL 555,1 Petitioner. Case No. 13-RC-3203. May 11, 1953 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 Joseph Cohen, 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]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent em- ployees of the Employer. 3. The question concerning representation: International Union, United Plant Guard Workers of America, Amalgamated Plant Guard Local 555, the Petitioner herein, 1 The names of the Employer and Petitioner appear as corrected at the hearing. 104 NLRB No. 110.