Radiomarine Corp. of America

RADIOMARINE CORPORATION OF AMERICA 151 All our employees are free to become or remain , or to refrain from becoming or remaining, members of any labor organization, including International Association of Machinists, District Lodge No. 727, and its Local Lodge 758, except to the extent that said right may be affected by an agreement in conformity with Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act. PLASTIC AGE COMPANY, PLASTIC AGE REINFORCED PRODUCTS, INC., PLAS- TIC AGE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION, AND PLASTIC AGE SALES, INC., Employer. Dated---------------- By---------------------------------------------- (Representative ) ( Title) This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be altered, defaced, or covered by any other material. RADIOMARINE CORPORATION OF AMERICA and THE RADIO OFFICERS' UNION OF THE COMMERCIAL TELEGRAPHERS UNION, AFL, PETI- TIONER. Cases Nos. 2RC-6098 and 2-RC-6348. January 6, 1955 Decision and Order Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before George Turitz, 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 : I 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees of the Employer. 3. No 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, for the following reasons: In Case No. 2-RC-6098, the Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of the radio operators at all of the Employer's marine coastal stations. In Case No. 2-RC-6348, the Petitioner seeks to represent a separate unit of the teletype operators 3 at these coastal stations. The Peti- tioner, in the alternative, would accept a single unit of the teletype operators and radio operators. The Employer contends that the units sought by the Petitioner are inappropriate because they are too limited in scope. Rather, the Employer contends that the appro- priate unit is one which would include the employees both at its coastal stations and its marine service or MRI depots.' i The Employer's motions to clarify our earlier decision in 75 NLRB 651 and to dismiss the petition herein are disposed of in accordance with our decision herein. 2 The Employer 's request for oral argument is hereby denied as the record and the briefs adequately present the issues and positions of the parties. 8 Also referred to as printer operators or printer clerks. * The term MRI means maintenance , repair, and inspection. 111 NLRB No. 16. 152 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Employer, a subsidiary of RCA, operates, inter alia, a system of radio communications that is nationwide in scope. In its com- munications system, the Employer maintains 9 coastal stations, 26 marine service depots, and 2 combined stations throughout the various States. Several of the depots are located in the same geographical area as the coastal stations. The coastal stations communicate via radio with ships at sea and on the inland waterways. The record indicates that there are a total of about 88 employees at the Employer's coastal stations. Approximately 60 of these are classified as radio- telegraph operators, 10 as radio-telephone operators,' 10 as teletype operators, 5 as technicians, and 3 as maintenance employees. From its marine service depots, the Employer repairs, maintains, inspects, and installs radio communication equipment on many thousands of ships. In addition, on about 2,500 of these ships, the Employer is the licensee of, and therefore primarily responsible for, the effective operation of the radio communication equipment. The employees who service this equipment on board ships when dockside are known as MRI technicians. The MRI depots employ about 100 MRI tech- nicians, together with some miscellaneous classifications, mostly clerical employees. The Petitioner argues for a separate unit of radio operators at the coastal stations on the ground that they constitute a craft group. On the other hand, in support of its position for a broader unit, the Employer contends that the radio operators are not craftsmen but only a segment of the Employer's technical employees, including both radio operators and MRI employees. Moreover, the Employer fur- ther contends that, if a craft does in fact exist, such craft comprises the MRI technicians as well as the radio operators. There is no history of collective bargaining concerning the em- ployees involved herein. The principal issue thus raised is whether or not the coastal station radio operators may be represented on a craft basis. Radio-telegraph, operators send messages to and receive messages from ships in Inter- national Morse Code. To send in code, coastal station operators must have a FCC radio-telegraph license. The Employer generally hires only experienced operators, usually those having first-class licenses. To qualify for a first-class license, coastal station operators must have a year of service as a radio-telegraph operator and pass a code speed test of 20 code groups or 25 words in plain language per minute.6 To 5 All coastal stations, except the 3 inland stations , are radio-telegraph stations. St. Louis and Pittsburgh aie exclusively radio-telephone -stations , while Buffalo is primarily a radio-telephone station but also serves the 2 Great Lakes' vessels which still use radio telegraph ° Twenty code groups are the equivalent of 25 words in plain language Before receiv- ing a first-class license, an operator must have qualified for a second -class radio -telegraph license which requites passing a speed test of 16 code groups or 20 plain words per minute. This test further includes technical questions on radio theory and FCC requirements. RADIOMARINE CORPORATION OF AMERICA 153 attain a proficiency of about 20 code groups or 25 words per minute would require on the average only a few months of full-time study and practice. In practice, the speed of transmission of coded mes- sages to and from the coastal stations depends not only on the ability of the coastal station operator but also on such external factors as out- side interference and the ability of the ship operator on the other end. Also certain messages of an urgent nature, like storm warnings, are required to be sent at only 16 code groups a minute rather than 20 code groups per minute. Generally speaking, accuracy, rather than speed, as such, is strived for by the operator. While not entirely clear in this respect the record indicates that, on the average, coastal station mes- sages are seldom sent or received at more than 25 to 30 words per min- ute, while lesser speeds are quite common. However, apart from the above license requirements, no formal apprenticeship is required for qualification as a radio-telegraph operator at a coastal station, or on board ship where most coastal operators originally gain their ex- perience.' As to the radio-telephone operators who merely relay mes- sages by voice and do not use code, little or no skill is required and a radio-telephone license is necessary only in order to adjust the fre- quency of the radio telephone equipment.' On the basis of the entire record, including the foregoing facts, we are not persuaded that the radio operators at the Employer's coastal stations possess the skills or characteristics which the Board recog- nizes as indispensable for representation on a craft basis. On the other hand, apart from the question as to whether a coastal station operator's craft exists, there are persuasive factors indicating the propriety of the broader unit including the MRI technicians rather than a unit limited to radio operators. First, we note that the great majority of the MRI technicians also possess radio operator's licenses. An MRI technician who repairs radio, equipment must, as a practical matter, have a radio-telegraph license because he has to put the transmitter on the air in order to test the repair equipment. FCC regulations require such a license in order to test. In addition, there are other substantial common elements in the background of the coastal station radio operators and the MRI techni- cians. Thus, a majority of the operators have also studied radio technology, usually at schools, while apparently many MRI techni- cians formerly were radio operators at sea. During World War II numerous coastal station operators and MRI technicians were trans- ferred back and forth. Although the number of permanent transfers has dwindled in the past few years, the policy behind such interchange ° Normally on ships which carry a single radio operator, FCC regulations require a sec- ond-class license with an endorsement showing 6 months' sea experience A first-class license is required only for chief operators on a passenger vessel. 8 For this purpose, however, either a radio-telephone or a radio-telegraph license suffices. 154 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD still remains in effect. Moreover, vacation, holiday, and other fringe benefits are identical for all of the Employer's employees. Although the hours of the coastal station and MRI employees necessarily differ due to the nature of their work, the pay range for the two groups is similar. Payroll records for both groups are kept at the same office in New York. Generally speaking, the coastal stations do all their own maintenance repair, with the operators in many instances per- forming this work. In addition, at Savannah, Georgia, and Port Arthur, Texas, where the coastal stations and MRI service depots are combined, some of the employees work both as MRI technicians and operators. The Chatham, Massachusetts, and Tuckerton, New Jersey, coastal stations employ technicians who perform work which is basi- cally related and similar to that performed by the MRI technicians. Although there has been no history of bargaining concerning any of the employees involved therein, two previous elections have been conducted by the Board in the broad unit including coastal station and MRI employees. In 1938, in Case No. 2-R-919, involving a different labor organization, a consent election was held in such broader unit. In 1947 the present Petitioner requested, and the Board found ap- propriate, the very broad unit of coastal station and MRI employees that the Employer contends is the only appropriate unit herein.' In that case the Board stated : ... in view of the functional interrelationship, the centralized control under a single department head, the interchange of per- sonnel, and the similarity of skills and working conditions among the employees in both service depots and coastal stations through- out the country, only a Nation-wide unit of communications de- partment employees is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.lo The Petitioner, however, contends that the MRI depots and the coastal stations are no longer within the communications department under a single head. Although the record indicates that in 1949 the official in charge of the communications department had been temporarily relieved of direction over the service department because of attendance at international conferences, he once again resumed control of the MRI depots in late July or early August 1953. Current organiza- tional charts confirm this fact. In these circumstances, we believe the record before us, as that in the 1947 case, strongly supports a find- ing that the broader unit of coastal station and MRI employees is ap- propriate rather than the limited unit sought by the Petitioner. Additional support for this conclusion is revealed in other Board decisions where coastal radio operators have been included in broader 0 Radroomartine Corporation of America, 75 NLRB 651 No request was made for a unit limited to operators 10 Ibid. at page 654. HOSPITAL HATO TEJAS 155 units with technicians, teletype operators, and clerical employees." We particularly note our decision in American Cable c€ Radio Corpo- ration,12 involving a competitor of the Employer, in which the Board directed an election in a unit of "live traffic" employees including both coastal operators and MRI technicians. The term "live traffic" was defined as "those who are engaged in the transmission, reception, handling, and delivery of messages and those who maintain and serv- ice equipment used in those operations." 13 The Board has also set up "live traffic" units in the field of land, as distinguished from marine, communications.14 In the land communications field, "live traffic" em- ployees were also similarly defined as "those workers who handle mes- sages from the time they are received by the Company until delivered, and those workers who repair and maintain the equipment." 15 On the basis of the foregoing and upon the entire record, we believe and find that the broader unit including employees at both the coastal station and the MRI service depots is the appropriate unit and that units limited to radio operators and teletype operators at the coastal stations are inappropriate. Accordingly, we shall dismiss both petitions herein. [The Board dismissed the petitions.] 11 Globe Wireless, Ltd , 101 NLRB 1043 ; Tropical Radio Telegraph Company, 63 NLRB 1115 In these cases, the employers operated no MRI service depots as such. " 101 NLRB 1759 13 101 NLRB 1759, at 1762 At page 1763, "non-live" traffic which was excluded from the unit was defined as "those engaged in administrative functions such as bookkeepers, accountants , stenographers , typists, and solicitors " II R C. A . Comieuni cations, Inc, 2 NLRB 1109 , 1115 ; 9 NLRB 915, 920, 921. In 2 NLRB 1109 , at 1114 , the Board stated "In the radio communications industry `live traffic' employees have been regarded as a unit by two of the Company 's competitors, the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Company and the Globe Wireless Company." 152 NLRB 1109 at 1112 See also Alaska Salmon Industry, Inc, 78 NLRB 522, where an election was directed in a unit of all licensed radio officers who operate and maintain radio-telegraphic equipment or radio-telephone equipment at cannery shore stations in Alaska. HOSPITAL HATO TEJAS, INC., D/B/A HOSPITAL HATO TEJAS 1 and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO. Case No. 04- RC-746. January 6,1955 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 John F. Burst, hearing offi- cer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is a Puerto Rican corporation operating a hos- pital for profit at Hato Tejas, Puerto Rico. During the year 1953, 1 The name of the Employer appears herein as corrected at the hearing. 111 NLRB No. 9.