The Billings and Spencer Co.

928 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Since 1937, the Intervenor has represented, in one unit, all of the employees of the Employer's operations department, in- cluding the powerplants, maintenance and distribution workers. In 1950, this group was joined with the clerical employees to form a single, systemwide, overall unit embracing all of the Employer's employees. The Board has long held that the optimum unit in a public utility is a systemwide industrial unit.' Where, as in the instant case, such a unit has been established for a considerable period of time we are most reluctant to disrupt it. For this reason, and in the light of the high degree of integration of the Employer's operations and the community of interest that exists between all groups of employees, we find that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate and we shall, there- fore, dismiss the petition filed herein.4 ORDER Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in this case be, and the same hereby is, dismissed. 3Lynn Gas and Electric Company, 78 NLRB 3. 4 East Ohio Gas Company, 94 NLRB 61; Public Service Company of Indiana, 91 NLRB 1151. THE BILLINGS AND SPENCER COMPANY and INTER- NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BLACKSMITHS, DROP FORGERS & HELPERS, A. F. L., Petitioner. Case No. 1-RC-3152. May 12, 1953 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Joseph Lepie, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Putsuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations 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. 4. The Petitioner seeks to sever from the existing production and maintenance unit all the Employer's forge shop, steel rack, forge maintenance, and hot inspection employees, the forge 104 NLRB No 118. THE BILLINGS AND SPENCER COMPANY 929 shop tool crib attendant, and the die vault attendant. Local 289, International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, herein called the Intervenor, contends that the unit sought is inappropriate. The Employer takes a neutral position. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and sale of wrenches, nuts and bolts, and aircraft and commercial forgings and presses. Forgings for all its products are made in the Employer's forge shop. About 40 percent of the forgings are shipped out as such; the remainder is further processed in the Employer's plant into finished tools and parts. Since 1941, a unit of production and maintenance employees has been represented by the Intervenor; and since 1945, a craft unit of diesinkers has been represented separately. About 250 employees have thus been represented in collective bargaining. No contract bar is asserted. The Employer's manufacturing operations are located on three floors of the plant building. Substantially all the employees sought by the Petitioner are physically employed immediately in and around the forge shop situated on the first floor. Overall supervision of the entire plant is divided between 2 assistant superintendents, 1 of whom is in charge of operations, among others, performed by the employees in question. In the forge shop there are about 80 employees who function under separate supervision. They include first- and second- class forgers, or hammermen, first- and second-class header operators, forging and header helpers, blacksmiths, floormen, counters, sweepers, and a gas-powered lift-truck operator. The record shows that the forgers, the header operators, and the blacksmiths, at least, are engaged in skilled functions on a variety of 1,000 or more different forgings, many of which require work at close tolerances. In November 1952, the Employer instituted a formal apprenticeship program for the forgers fixing a minimum period of training of 4,000 hours, after eligibility is established through previous experience in the forge shop. Before November 1952, the training of forgers, following no formal pattern, was accomplished in less than 4,000 hours, but nevertheless involved an indefinite training period of reasonable length. There are about 20 steel rack employees under separate supervision. These are essentially unskilled employees whose functions include the shearing, storing, unloading, and trans- porting of metals used in the forge shop. The forge shop receives 95 percent of the metals cut and stored by the steel rack employees, who are physically located immediately adjacent to the forge shop. There are four hot inspection employees who work under supervision emanating from the forge shop. They perform work in the forge shop, although they are separately head- quartered outside the shop. Their function is to prevent, check, and correct defects in forgings in the formative stages. They are regarded as more highly skilled than the rough inspectors, not sought by the Petitioner, who inspect the cold finished forgings before shipment by the Employer. The hot and rough 930 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD inspectors are not interchangeable; each group is separately located and supervised. Hot inspectors occasionally perform overtime work in the rough inspection department, during which time they are supervised by the foreman in that depart- ment. Under the Employer's contract with the Intervenor, the hot inspectors are included in the rough inspection department for seniority purposes. There are three forge maintenance employees classified as "hammer repair men," who work under supervision emanating from the forge shop. They are headquartered in an enclosed area in the machine shop but perform work in the forge shop. These employees have specialized experience and ability in maintaining, repairing, and adjusting the heavy machines in the forge shop, e.g., the hammers and the headers. They are distinct from the Employer's other maintenance and repair employees who work on machines outside the forge shop. For seniority purposes under the Intervenor's contract, they are grouped with the machine shop employees. The forge shop tool crib attendant stores and supplies tools and parts exclusively for use in the forge shop and is under the supervision of the forge shop foreman. It thus appears from the record that the skilled employees in the forge shop, described above, whose skills are not duplicated elsewhere in the plant, constitute a craft nucleus such as would support the severance of a unit on a departmental basis.' While the steel rack employees are, for administrative reasons, physically located outside but adjacent to the forge shop proper, and operate under their own immediate supervision, it is clear that they are functionally an adjunct of the forge shop, and constitute an essential part of the Employer's forging opera- tions. Such employees have in other cases been included in a unit of forge shop employees.2 The hot inspection and forge maintenance employees, and the tool crib attendant, we believe, are virtually a part of the forge shop, particularly in view of their actual work location and their supervision.3 The die vault attendant is sought by the Petitioner because his duties include the transporting of dies from the die storage area into the forge shop. This employee is supervised in the die room. It appears, and we find, that the die vault attendant is too remotely related in function to the forge shop to be included in the unit. The forge shop and the steel rack section each employ a gas-powered lift-truck operator ,4 sought by the Petitioner. Their trucking functions are essentially confined to the forge shop area. Another employee, not sought by the Petitioner, who operates the same equipment, is employed by the Employer for general trucking duties around the entire plant. These truckers, under the Intervenor's contract, are included with general 'See International Harvester Company, (Louisville Works), 100 NLRB 1349; Green Bay Drop Forge Company, 95 NLRB 1122. 2See International Harvester Company, (Louisville Works), ibid. $See The Plomb Tool Company, 87 NLRB 134, where such forge shop maintenance em- ployees were included as part of the forge shop unit. 4Gabriel and Pennington, respectively. IDEAL ROLLER & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 931 maintenance employees for seniority purposes . However, as the Board has held in previous cases , the fact that there are other employees in the plant performing work comparable to that of the less skilled employees in a departmental unit, does not preclude the finding that such a unit may be appropriate. $ Nor is the unit sought precluded by the fact that a few of the employees in question are administratively grouped with other plant employees outside the unit for seniority purposes, par- ticularly in view of the evidence that under the Intervenor's contract a substantial quantum of discretion is reserved by the Employer in selecting employees for layoff and recall on the basis of ability and classification. Accordingly , we find that the following employees may constitute an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining within-the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All forge shop , steel rack , hot inspection , and forge maintenance employees , and the forge shop tool crib attendant in the Employer's Hartford, Connecticut , plant , but excluding the die vault attendant , all other employees , and supervisors as defined in the Act. We shall direct an election to determine the desires of these employees . If a majority 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 is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for the unit described above, which the Board, under such circumstances , finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining . In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor , the Board finds the existing unit to be appropriate and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to such effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication. I SE, g., The Plomb Tool Company, supra. IDEAL ROLLER & MANUFACTURING COMPANY and UNITED SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION, LOCAL 329, AFL, Peti- tioner. Case No. 13 -RC-2538. May 12, 1953 DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent elec- tion, an election was conducted among the employees in the stipulated unit on April 15, 1952. The tally of ballots showed that of approximately 164 eligible voters , 130 cast valid ballots which were counted , and 24 cast challenged ballots. Of the 130 valid votes counted, 74 were for the Petitioner , and 56 against. As the challenged ballots were sufficient in number to affect the results of the election, the Regional Director conducted an investigation and, on July 21, 1952, issued his report on challenges wherein he recommended that the Board order a 104 NLRB No. 116.