Lockheed Aircraft Corp.

594 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR Floyd Salas Samuel Sapolsky G. Hugh Sapp Abraham Serota William Silverman Benjamin Aaronson Frederic Alton Joseph Babineau Walter Bailey Roosevelt Bates Samuel Bates Allen Begnaud Willie Brooks Chester Carter Robert Childress James Cole Clarence Cooley Carl Crandall Arlen Davis Francisco De La Torre Eliseo Estrada Wardell Felstet James Flanagan Adrier Frazier Lucia Gallegos Max Gallegos Victor Guerrero Jon Gunn Wilbert Hardy Harold Henley William Heske Richard Hesketh RELATIONS BOARD John P. Torres Amelia Valles Rudy M. Vidal Willie Wilson Frank Ybarra Appendix B Eugene Jackson Melvin Jackson Freddie Jenkins Thomas Kelly Lucretia Kennedy Henry Kent Henry Klein Normand La Carra Mary Little Walter Lyon Bernardo Macias Tony Mangan Porter Marshall, Jr. James Mason Richard Montford Ray Moore Albert Nix Edward Perkins Lorin Reynolds Edward Richard Walter Stewart Lawrence Tait Eugene Traverse Carl Ward Elisha Wyatt Carl Young LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION GEORGIA DIVISION 1 and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 613, AFL,2 PETITIONER . Case No. 10-RC-906. February 10, 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 Gilbert Cohen, hearing officer. 1 The Employer's name appears as amended at the hearing. 2 At the hearing, Local 613 was substituted for the International as the petitioning party. 111 NLRB No. 94. LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 595 The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju- dicial error and are hereby affirmed. - Upon the entire record in this case, the Board funds : 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. 4. The appropriate unit : The Petitioner seeks to sever from an existing production and main- tenance unit at the Employer's Marietta, Georgia, plant, all employees classified as maintenance electricians, electronic maintenance men, line- men and motor rewinders, contending that the employees in these clas- sifications constitute a distinct homogeneous craft group. The Em- ployer and the I. A. M. contend that this unit is inappropriate and move that the petition be dismissed. The motion to dismiss is denied for the following reasons. The Marietta plant is primarily engaged in the production of the B-47 airplane. It has a work force of approximately 14,850 employees. The 93 employees the Petitioner seeks to represent are assigned to the maintenance division which has a complement of 506 employees. Most of the 93 employees in question are considered to be within an electrical maintenance department. However, a substantial number are assigned to maintenance crews on the flight line and the graveyard shift where their work is performed under supervisors who also supervise em- ployees performing other work. None of the 93 employees ever en- gages in production work and their duties are confined to electrical matters. No contention is made that severance should be granted on a depart- mental basis. Accordingly, it is only necessary to determine whether or not these employees comprise a traditional craft group performing distinctive and typical craft tasks which may be severed from an exist- ing production and maintenance unit in compliance with the Board policy set forth in the American Potash case.4 This may best be ac- complished by an individual consideration of each of the four classi- fications which together comprise the unit requested. Motor Rewinders Motor rewinders are classified as either "A" or "B." However, at the present time all four employees designated as motor rewinders are 8 The International Association of Machinists , AFL, District Lodge No. 33, hereinafter referred to as the I. A. M., intervened on the basis of a current contractual interest. 4 American Potash f Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418. 344056-55-vol. 111-39 596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL , LABOR RELATIONS BOARD in the "A" classification. None of the motor rewinders is a licensed electrician, and none has served an apprenticeship . The function of these employees is the rewinding and repairing of motors, and when- ever _possible this task is performed in a screened off area which has been designated the motor rewinding shop. Linemen The seven employees who are classified as linemen have been placed in a regular line crew by the Employer. They are concerned primarily with work outside the main buildings. 'They have a truck which car- ries their equipment, and it is their job to take care of the overhead and underground wires that distribute electrical current to the vari- ous buildings which comprise the Employer's plant. It is also their job to service and maintain the substations. In performing this duty they check, clean, and replace installers, check cables entering and leaving the substations, check switch boxes, transformers, insulating equipment, net work protectors, and protective devices, and clean re- sistors. None of the linemen is a licensed electrician, and none has completed an apprenticeship. However, their skills are those normally acquired by an electrician. Maintenance Electricians There are 74 maintenance electricians "A" and 2 maintenance elec- tricians "B" presently employed at the plant. They install new wir- ing and electrical devices, repair electrical circuits and wiring on the equipment, and maintain and repair the various lighting systems. On the flight line maintenance electricians maintain electrical motors which operate doors, air-conditioning, and machine tools. One of the maintenance electricians is licensed and three maintenance electricians completed an apprenticeship prior to their being hired. The Em- •ployer does not have an apprenticeship program but rather relies upon on-the-job training to equip the maintenance electricians to handle .their electrical duties. Although some maintenance electricians with- out prior electrical experience have been hired, the Employer tries to find, and usually hires, only those with some experience in the electri- .cal field. After hiring, an employee is placed in the "B" classifica- tion where he remains until he has acquired sufficient knowledge to handle the more complicated tasks which the "A" maintenance electri- cian is called upon to handle. As part of his training, the "B" main- tenance electrician is first placed on such simple jobs as lamp replace- ment, and then is progressively given more complicated jobs. There in some classroom work; and in order that maintenance electricians may become familiar with the various electrical jobs in the plant, they LOCKHEED `AIRCRAFT-CORPORATION'"" 597 -are moved -from one job to another after-they have become- mainte, nance electricians "A."- Electronics Maintenance Men The work of the six electronics maintenance men is confined, so far as is possible, to the controls and complex control circuits of the plant's electronic equipment, public address system, and radio. Usually the background of these employees is in radio engineering or industrial electronics: However, if a maintenance electrician displays aptitude, he may be assigned to work as an electronics maintenance man. In a normal instance the electronics maintenance men possess the same basic background, so far as knowledge and information are concerned; as- that possessed by the maintenance electricians. In order to keep abreast of the highly complex electrically controlled equipment that the Employer is continually acquiring, the electronics maintenance men attend training classes at the plant and also at the factory where the equipment is produced. In August 1952, the Board directed that an election be held at the Employer's Marietta plant among all maintenance electricians "A," "B," and "C" to determine whether or not they desired to constitute a separate appropriate bargaining unit.5 At that time, 93 "A," 25 "B," and 2 "C" maintenance electricians were employed. All these electri- cians worked out of an electrical maintenance shop, and advancement from "C" classification to "B" and then to "A" depended on the ability of the individual and how quickly he was able to learn. An "A" electrician usually had from 7 to 8 years' electrical experience. Job descriptions for the maintenance electricians then employed show that their work ran from lamp replacement to installation and main- tenance of the plant's electrical equipment. There were no employees classified as motor rewinders or linemen; rather, the job descriptions for the maintenance electricians contained these duties. Further, the "A" maintenance electricians were to help separately classified elec- tronics maintenance men as required. The record in the 1952 case does not indicate the duties of the electronics maintenance men then em- ployed, their status not being an issue in the proceeding. It is apparent from the above facts that the motor rewinders, line- men, maintenance electricians, and electronics maintenance men con= stitute a true craft group such as the Board has, on numerous occasions, established in separate units for the purpose of collective bargaining in the aircraft industry.' The employees in each of these classifica- tions either exercise the variety of craft skills that are expected of a craftsman or are presently learning these skills through on-the-job 6 Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Georgia Division, 100 NLRB No. 147 (not reported in printed volume of Board Decisions and Orders). 6 North American Aviatwn Inc., 108 NLRB 863 and cases cited therein. 598 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD training. The fact that the Employer does not maintain an apprentice program is counterbalanced by the extensive on-the-job training which the Employer affords the employees.- The success of this'program is demonstrated by the fact that men are developed who can install, operate, and maintain the highly complicated electrical equipment that is to be found in an aircraft factory. Further, the success of the on- the-job training program is attested to by the Employer's estimation. that 12 employees among the group of motor rewinders, linemen, main- tenance electricians, and electronic maintenance men could qualify as licensed electricians. The fact that the Employer has, since 1952, designated some of the maintenance electricians as motor rewinders and linemen cannot alone be determinative and serve as the basis for excluding these employees from the craft group. Further, the fact that the electronics mainte- nance men possess some skills normally not possessed by electricians cannot serve as the basis for their exclusion. They have and use the normal skills of an electrician, work with the electricians, and are selected from the maintenance electrician classification. As the employees in the classification of motor rewinder, lineman, maintenance electrician, and electronics maintenance man constitute a distinct group of craft employees who meet the test for severance of a craft unit recently enunciated by us in the American Potash case,' and as the Petitioner is affiliated with an international union which has historically represented separate units of electricians in industrial plants, including aircraft manufacturing plants, the Board finds that all motor rewinders, linemen, maintenance electricians, electronics maintenance men, and their leadmen 8 employed at the Employer's Marietta, Georgia, plant, excluding all other employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, may, if they so desire, constitute a separate appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. If a majority of such employees 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 that unit which the Board, under such circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the I. A. M., the Board finds the existing plantwide unit to be appropriate and the Regional Director will issue a certifica- tion of results of election to such effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 4 American Potash ct Chemical Corporation, supra. 8 The parties agree and we find that the leadmen are not supervisors. The record re- flects that 80 percent of their time is devoted to regular work and the remainder to instruct- ing employees under them. They do not have the authority to fire, hire, or discipline, neither can they effectively recommend such actions. ,