General Motors Corp.

234 DECISIONS `OF NATIONAL-LABOR RELATIONS BOARD excluding all other employees, office clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the At. if, in the election to be directed, a iajority 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- circum- stances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor, the Board-finds that they may continue to be represented as part of the existing unit, and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to such effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] MEMBER PETERSON, concurring : A majority of the Board has decided in this case to reaffirm the sever- ance principles enunciated in the American Potash case. While I still adhere to the views expressed in my dissenting opinion in that case, nevertheless I feel bound by the majority's action and therefore concur in the results reached herein. MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. General Motors Corporation, Chevrolet Forge Plant, Detroit, Michigan and Detroit Die Sinkers Lodge No.-110, International Die Sinkers 'Conference (Independent ), Petitioner and Inter- national Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW-CIO, and its Local 262. Case No. 7-RC-2793. October 6, 1955 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF 'ELECUION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Bernard Gottfried , hearing officer. The hearing oil'icer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the Intervetior's request, oral argument in which all parties participated was held be- fore the Board on-August 11, 1955. The Board has considered the entire record, the briefs, and the oral argument and 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. 114 NLRB No. 53. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, CHEVROLET FORGE PLANT 235 3. A question affecting conunerce exists concerning the representa- tion of the employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. On February 5, 1941, after a' Board-directed election,' the Pe- titioner was certified by the Board as bargaining representative for all of the Employer's "lathe sinkers (turning impression sinkers on lathe or boring mills), die sinkers (forging dies), upset die sinkers, and templet makers," at the Employer's Detroit, Michigan, Chevrolet Forge Plant. Since that date, the Employer and the Petitioner have entered into a series of contracts covering the above employees who are currently classified as diesinkers-drop forge dies, diesinker- upset dies, diesinker-lathe, template maker, and template-maker helper. There are 66 employees in this craft group. The Petitioner is seeking to add to its existing craft unit approxi- mately 280 additional employees whose work is closely related to that of the craft employees, but who are presently represented by the Intervenor.' The Employer's Detroit forge plant is subdivided into three ad- jacent plants. Each plant contains a die room which is known as the forge die shop, and is under the overall supervision of a die shop superintendent. Although the Employer, for administrative pur- poses, has designated the die shop in plant No. 1 as department 66, and the die shop in plants No. 2 and No. 3 as department 92, the record reveals that all die shop employees are engaged in closely related functions and that the die rooms essentially constitute one depart- ment.' Except for five die caulkers who perform their duties in the hammer shop, the employees currently represented by the Petitioner and those sought to be added to the existing unit work in the die shop. The Intervenor opposes the severance of employees from its pro- duction and maintenance unit and the creation of a new departmental unit. In effect, the Intervenor is urging here, and in several com- panion cases, reconsideration of the severance principles enunciated in American Potash c i Chemical Corporation4 with respect to the automobile industry and, in addition, contends that the principles 1 28 NLRB 745; 29 NLRB 403 a The job classifications of, these employees , currently represented by the Intervenor as part of a production and maintenance unit, are as follows : die assembler-upset-forg- ings, diemaker-hot forgmgs-trimmer dies . diemaker-cold forgings-trimmer dies, die repair-drop forge dies , die caulker , duplicators (also known as Keller machine operators), grinder-roll dies hand, hardener, inspector-tool, die, and fixture, inspector-layout- lead checker, toolmaker, grinder operator-blanchard, grinder operator-tool and die, tool- and die -maker-drilling, lathe operator-'ew'er, lathe operator , milling machine- vertical and horizontal, planer operator, shaper operator, welder-gas and electric-die, shaper-leader , and saw operator-cutoff-metal See A. P. Controls Corporation, 108 NLRB 593 , 596-7. The die shop manufactures forging dies , trimmer dies , and upset dies, all of which are used in the Employer 's hammer shop and other production facilities. 4 107 NLRB 1418 236 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD established therein are not applicable to the present case. The Em- ployer takes a neutral position. In a companion case issued this day,' the Board reconsidered and reaffirmed its decision in the American Potash case. Therefore, there remains for consideration only the propriety of the Petitioner's re- quest, under the American Potash doctrine, to convert an existing craft unit of diesinkers into a departmental unit by permitting the other employees in the die shop to be severed from the established production and maintenance unit. - In American Potash, the Board held that traditional unions may obtain the severance of employees on either a craft or appropriate departmental basis. Prior thereto, the Board permitted the establish- ment of a departmental unit, such as here requested, which included the craft unit already represented by a petitioner.' In our opinion, this rule is in complete harmony with the objective sought in formu- lating the severance principles in American Potash. Indeed, no logi- cal distinction can be drawn between the original severance of a de- partmental group and its subsequent establishment by the merger of a craft with other employees in the same department. In these cir- cumstances, and since the Petitioner has traditionally represented simi- lar departments to those here involved, we find that a departmental unit of diesinkers may be appropriate.' Accordingly, we shall direct a self-determination election among the employees sought to be added by the Petitioner to its present unit. In view of the foregoing, and upon the entire record, we shall direct an election- among the following employees who work in the Em- ployer's die shop at its Chevrolet Forge Plant, Detroit, Michigan : All die assemblers-upset-forgings, diemakers-hot forgings-trim- mer dies, diemakers-cold forgings-trimmer dies, die repairmen- drop forge dies, duplicators, grinders-roll dies hand, hardeners, in- spectors-tool, die, and fixture, inspectors-layout-lead checker, grinder operators-blanchard, grinder operators-tool and die, tool- and die-makers-drilling, lathe operator-leader, lathe operators, mill- ing machine operators-vertical and horizontal, planer operators, shaper operators, welders-gas and electric-die, shaper-leader, and e General Motors Corporation, Chevrolet Muncie Division (Forge Plant ), 114 NLRB 231. 8 General Electric Company, 97 NLRB 1265; International Harvester Company, Tractor Works, 89 NLRB 212, 215-16 7 While the Board agrees with the Intervenor that all of the employees now sought by the Petitioner are not journeymen craftsmen or apprentices , the record is clear that these employees , together with the existing craft group currently represented by the Petitioner, all of whom ` work under common supervision , comprise a functionally separate depart- mental group of a type which the Board has frequently held , may be severed for bargaining purposes . General Motors Corporation, Chevrolet Muncie Division (Forge Plant ), supra; Gericral Motors Corporation . Chevrolet Forge Plant, Tonawanda, N. Y., 111 NLRB 1238; Ford Motor Co; Case No 8-RC-2453. decided June 27, 1955 ( not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders ), motion for reconsideration denied this date. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION, CHEVROLET FORGE PLANT 237 saw operators=cutoff-metal, excluding all other employees 8 and supervisors as defined in the Act. We shall make no final unit determination at this time. If a ma- jority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to, have indicated their desire to be included in the unit for which the Petitioner was certified on February 5, 1941, and the Regional Director conducting the elec- tion directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of results of election to that effect. If, however, a majority vote for the Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to remain in the unit of production and maintenance employees for which the Intervenor was certified in December 1940, and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to that effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] MEMBER PETERSON, concurring : In a related case,9 a majority of the Board decided that under the principle established in the American Potash decision a departmental unit of die shop employees could be severed from a larger production and maintenance unit, finding that the petitioning union, also the petitioner here, had traditionally represented die shop employees either on a craft or departmental basis. I concurred in the result, deeming myself bound by the reaffirmation of the American Potash rule, from which I had dissented. Here, the only difference is that the Petitioner already represents the craftsmen, and seeks to convert the craft unit into a departmental unit. If severance is to be allowed, and traditionally the Petitioner has represented both craft and depart- mental units of die shop employees, then it seems to me that no' good reason exists for refusing to establish a departmental unit merely be- cause the Petitioner at present represents the craftsmen in that de- partment. Therefore, although I would prefer that units established by years of bargaining history be not disturbed, I concur in the result reached by Members Rodgers and Leedom. MEMBER MURDOCK, dissenting : I cannot concur in my colleagues' decision permitting the Petitioner to sever noncraft employees from the established production and main- tenance unit for the purpose of transforming into a departmental unit its present craft unit of diesinkers which the Petitioner had been al- lowed to carve out in an earlier Board case. Thus, on the strength of 6 There are employees classified as die caulkers, who work In the hammer shop, and certain electricians and oilers , who work in the die shop. The record is not clear as to whether these employees are both assigned to and work under the supervision of the die shop foreman . If, however, they are in fact assigned to and work under the die shop foreman, ' they shall be deemed to he included in the voting group. We shall include, however, the employees classified as die welders and inspector-layout-lead checkers, as the record shows that they work in the die shop under the supervision of the die shop foreman. See General Motors Corporation, Chevrolet Muncie Division ( Forge Plant), 114 NLRB 231. 9 General Motors Corporation, Chevrolet Muncie Division (Forge Plant), 114 NLRB 231 238 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the special craft interests of 66 diesinkers the Petitioner now repre- sents, the accretion of 280 noncraft employees may be accomplished under the majority's ruling. In my view, the severance of noncraft employees in this situation, contrary to the assertion in the principal opinion, can scarcely be regarded as in "complete harmony," nor in- deed can it be fairly reconciled, with the principles governing craft severance laid down by the Board in the American Potash case. It seems to me that my colleagues need again to be reminded of the key policy consideration expressed in American Potash, that "the spe- cific community of interests among members of a skilled craft out- weighs the community of interests among employees in general," and that "the very reason for the birth and growth of craft unions lies in the needs of the skilled craftsmen for a bargaining representative which by history, tradition, and experience, would be better equipped to devote its efforts to the special problems peculiar to the specific craft involved, and thereby be in the best position to serve and advance their interests.7 10 Surely, this result is being fully accomplished in the present representation of the diesinkers in the craft unit; nor will the special interests of these craftsmen be further served and advanced by appending to their unit the noncraftsnien in the department. There is no question that under American Potash a qualified union may sever from an existing, more comprehensive unit a pure craft or an entire appropriate department. As to either type of unit, the sole basis for permitting the craft union's incursion into the already stabi- lized production unit, as already shown, is to afford the specific craft involved the opportunity to pursue and enhance its special interests in separate representation. But where, as here, the craft union initially chose to serer only the pure craft group, and continues to represent their interests in bargaining, the basis for including in the unit the noncraft departmental employees has perforce been eliminated. Returning to the language of the controlling American Potash case, it is relevant here to examine the Board's specific policy pronounce- ment on the departmental severance, viz: As we have already indicated in our discussion of craft groups, there. are unions which hive devoted themselves to the special problems of these employees in functionally distinct departments, indicating that their interests are distinctive and traditionally recognized. The circumstances in which this situation exists are strictly limited in character and extent, and the Board does not propose to allow petitioners seeking severance to use this concept as a basis for establishing extent-of-organization units or for fragmentizing plantwide units into departments wherever craft severance cannot be established. This does not provide by any means a substitute basis for a2+oiding our craft-unit criteria." [Emphasis supplied.] American Potash & Chemical Corp., 107 NLRB 1418, at p. 1420. Id. at 1424. EASTERN METAL PRODUCTS CORPORATION 239 In this quoted passage, and elsewhere in that case, it was made clear that strict adherence to the standards established for craft severance would be demanded, and generally that representation on a pure craft basis would take precedence over representation depar'tmentally.12 These criteria, in my opinion, have been disregarded in the majority holding here. Moreover, I view the present holding unwise not only because it encourages' successive fractionalizing of existing harmoni- ous bargaining relationships, but as providing an open door to craft unions to abuse the Board's severance standards by utilizing an ex- tent-of-organization technique, where indeed such maneuvering would not be sanctioned in comparable circumstances involving requests for original representation.` Thus a department may now be taken out piecemeal-first the craftsmen of whose vote the union is presumably more certain as a craft unit, and later, the noncraft employees who can be found to form a department with the craftsmen. I am concerned with the preservation of the ,right of a craft to separate representa- tion, and the essence of such a right existing in the traditionally unique interests of the craft. Consequently, as I see the problem, there is nothing in the lohg run which *oiild be more destructive of the re- spect for craft rights than to dilute the craft, and its special interests, as in the manner produced by the instant majority decision-albeit the craft union here involved has petitioned for this dilution. Such 'rulings on severance questions as the majority has made here, in my judgment, effectively impair the integrity of the American Pot- ash doctrine, the constancy of which, as originally written; I regard as of vital importance in assuring stable industrial relations. I would accordiiigly deny the request for severance of the noncraftsmen, and dismiss the petition. 17 See my dissenting opinion in A. P. Controls Corp , 108 NLRB 593 13 See, e. g, United Insurance Company, 108 NLRB 843 , 848; The Murray Company of Tetras Inc., 107 NLRB 1571. See also Section 9 ( c) (5) of ' the Act, which provides that in determining the appropriateness of units, "the extent to which the employees have organized shall not be contiolling." Eastern Metal Products Corporation and International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 2-RC-7794. October 6, 1955 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election dated April 19, 1955,1 an election by secret ballot was conducted on May 11, 1955, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second 1 Not reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders. 114 NLRB No. 56.