Royal McBee Corp.

896 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Royal McBee Corporation and International Union , United Auto- mobile, Aircraft, Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner Royal McBee Corporation and Local Union No. 453, Interna- tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Petitioner. Cases Nos. 17-RC-3140 and 17-RC-3145. May 25, 1960 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the Na- tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Michael J. Lucero, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record, the Board finds : t 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 2 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 Employer has no bargaining history at its Springfield, Missouri, plant involved herein. International Union, United Auto- mobile, Aircraft, Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL- CIO, hereinafter referred to as the UAW, seeks to represent a unit of all production and maintenance employees of the Employer at this plant, including tool and die apprentices, but excluding electrical maintenance employees and the trades helpers assigned to the electrical maintenance department. Local Union No. 453, International Broth- erhood of Electrical Workers, hereinafter referred to as the IBEW, seeks to represent a unit of the employees in the electrical maintenance department and the trades helpers assigned to that department. The AIW and IAM seek to represent a unit similar to that sought by the UAW, except that the AIW would include the electrical maintenance employees and their trades helpers, and the JAM takes no position as to whether those employees should be included in the unit. The Employer agrees with the unit position of the AIW except that it would exclude tool and die apprentices. We hereby deny the Employer's motion for oral argument , as the record, including the briefs, adequately sets forth the issues and positions of the parties. 2 Allied Industrial Workers of America, AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as the AIW, and International Association of Machinists, hereinafter referred to as the IAM, inter- vened at the hearing in Case No. 17-RC-3140. 127 NLRB No. 113. ROYAL McBEE CORPORATION 897 The Employer, at its Springfield, Missouri, plant, is engaged in the manufacture and assembly of portable typewriters. Its maintenance department includes an electrical maintenance group which consists of an electronics teclulician, three maintenance electricians, and two. trades helpers. Of the maintenance electricians, two are licensed journeymen electricians, and the other had 5 years of electrical main- tenance experience before his employment by the Employer. The electrical maintenance employees are located within the maintenance department in a separate area where they have their own workbench and keep their tools. Although these employees have the same hours and conditions of employment as other maintenance employees, they are among the highest paid maintenance employees and are separately supervised by a master electrician. While the Employer has no ap- prenticeship program, and journeyman status is not a requirement for employment, prospective maintenance electricians are questioned as to their journeyman status and electrical knowledge and experience and are required to pass a written examination on electrical matters. The maintenance electricians keep electrical equipment in repair and operating condition. The electrical equipment, much of which is in the production area, includes wiring, motors, switches, and electrical mechanisms. Their duties include replacing defective wiring and making connections to new electrical installations, replacing small parts in motors, cleaning and oiling motors, and repairing electrical fixtures. They work on energized circuits, may make new installations of fixtures, motors, and other electrical equipment, and are required to be familiar with the use and care of electrical hand tools and diagnostic test instruments. The electronics technician maintains electronic equipment and per- forms routine electrical maintenance work. He was not required to take the examination given to maintenance electricians and it does not appear that he possesses or exercises the skills of the electrician's craft. Of the 15 to 20 trades helpers assigned to assist the various skilled maintenance workers, 2 are assigned to the electrical maintenance department. Like the other trades helpers, these two were hired on the basis of general mechanical skill, are in the same wage grade level, have the same hours and conditions of employment, and are subject to transfer by the plant engineer to any other department at any time. They are not in any direct line of progression in the group with which they are associated nor are they under any apprenticeship or special- ized training to qualify them as electricians. It is the Employer's intention eventually to establish a trades helpers' pool whereby trades 560940-61-vol. 12T-58 898 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD helpers will be interchangeable and subject to assignment to any main- tenance serviceman. On these facts and the entire record we find that the maintenance electricians comprise a craft group of employees who may, if they so desire, constitute a separate appropriate group.' In accord with Board precedent, however, we believe that neither the electronics tech- nician nor the trades helpers in issue are entitled to be included in this craft group.' We shall include them with the production and maintenance employees described below who may also constitute an appropriate unit in this case. The maintenance employees, if they do not vote for separate representation, also properly belong in the production and maintenance unit. As noted above, the Employer would exclude the tool and die ap- prentices from the production and maintenance unit. The tool and die apprentices work under apprenticeship contracts with the Em- ployer. They are in training to achieve journeyman status and work under direct supervision of the department foreman to whom they are assigned. They receive the same benefits as other production and maintenance employees and, except for about 4 hours a week spent in outside classroom instructions, work with employees in the production and maintenance unit. Contrary to the Employer, we find that the tool and die apprentices have sufficient interests in common with production and maintenance employees to be included in the same unit with them. We shall include them.' Accordingly, we shall direct separate elections in the following voting groups of employees at the Employer's Springfield, Missouri, plant: Group 1: All production and maintenance employees, including all trades helpers, tool and die apprentices, warehousemen, inspectors, shipping and receiving clerks, and the electronics technician, but ex- cluding maintenance electricians; maintenance department and tool- room clerk typists; dispatchers; the chief clerk, shipping and re- ceiving; the chief clerk, finished stock; the toolroom records coordinator; the maintenance records coordinator; laboratory and 9 Duval Sulphur & Potash Company, 124 NLRB 1279; Southern Paperboard Corpora- tion, 112 NLRB 302, 306; The Fhntkote Company, Pioneer Division, 109 NLRB 1407 In its opposition to the establishment of a separate unit of maintenance electricians, the Employer relies on the opinion of the Court in NLRB v Pittsburgh Plate Glass Com- pany, 270 F 2d 167 (CA. 4). However, as stated in E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company ( Houston, Texas, Plant), 126 NLRB 885: "With all due respect to the opinion of the Court in that case, the Board has determined to adhere to its policy , as expressed in American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418, with respect to the sever- ance of craft units." 4 Southern Paperboard Corporation , supra, at 307; Beaunit dti.lls, Inc., Coosa Pines Division, 109 NLRB 651, 657 5 Green Bay Drop Forge Company, 104 NLRB 156, 157-158. ROYAL McBEE CORPORATION 899 other technicians; time-study engineers; time-study observers; time- study men; the chief custodian; employees in research and develop- ment department, draftsmen, office clerical employees; guards; and all supervisors as defined in the Act s Group 2: All maintenance electricians, excluding the electronics technician, the trades helpers assigned to the electrical maintenance department, and all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. We shall place the names of the UAW, the AIW, and the IAM on the ballot in the election among the employees in voting group 1, and the UAW, the AIW, the IAM, and the IBEW on the ballot in the election among the employees in voting group 2.' If a majority of the employees in voting group 2 select the IBEW, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a sep- arate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the elections directed herein is hereby instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the IBEW for such unit, which the Board; in such circumstances, finds appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. However, if a majority of the employees in voting group 2 do not vote for the IBEW, those employees will appropriately be included with the em- ployees in voting group 1 and their votes will be pooled with those in voting group 1.$ The aforesaid Regional Director is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the labor organization se- lected by the majority of the employees in voting group 1 or in the pooled group, as the case may be, which the Board, in such circum- stances, finds to be a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. 5. The Employer contends that, because of its expanding opera- tions, the petition of the UAW is premature and should be dismissed or, in the alternative, an election should not be held therein until after June 1, 1960. The Employer is in the process of moving its manufacture of portable typewriters from Connecticut to Springfield, Missouri. In September 1959 it moved into its new plant in Springfield and, as of December 1, all assembly equipment, 63 percent of the machines, and Except as indicated , the parties concerned are not in dispute as to the composition of this unit T If the UAW does not wish to appear on the ballot in voting group 2, we shall permit it to withdraw from the election in that group upon written notice to the Regional Director within 10 days from this Decision and Direction of Election. 8If the votes are pooled , they are to be tallied in the following manner: The votes for the labor organization-seeking a separate unit in voting group 2 shall be counted as valid votes , but neither for nor against the labor organizations seeking to represent a production and maintenance unit All other votes are to be accorded their face value, whether for representation by the unions seeking the more comprehensive group or for no union. 900 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 52 percent of the tools necessary for production were in operation, and all production divisions were occupied and at least in partial opera- tion. By December 15 it had 605 production and maintenance em- ployees, of whom half were trainees undergoing a 3-month training program. At the hearing on December 17 the Employer anticipated that by March 1, 1960, 80 percent of the machines necessary for pro- duction would be in operation and it would have 785 production and maintenance employees; it expects employment to increase at a rate of about 10 percent a month until a full complement of 1360 produc- tion and maintenance employees is reached at the end of 1960. In these circumstances, we see no reason for departing from our usual policy of directing an immediate election .9 [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.] MEMBER RoDGERS took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Elections. 9 Hussman Refrigerator Company, 125 NLRB 621. Hermandad de Trabajadores de la Construccion (Puerto Rico District Council), United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL-CIO; United Brotherhood of Car- penters and Joiners of America, AFL-CIO; Braulio Martinez and Jose M. Lebron, their agents and Levitt Corp. Cases Nos. 24-CC-62' and 24-CB-321. May 26, 1960 DECISION AND ORDER On January 5, 1960, Trial Examiner George L. Powell issued his Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceedings, finding that the Respondents had engaged in and were engaging in certain unfair labor practices and recommending that they cease and desist there- from and take certain affirmative action, as set forth in the copy of the Intermediate Report attached hereto. Thereafter, the Respond- ents filed exceptions to the Intermediate Report and a supporting brief. 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 Leedom and Members Bean and Fanning]. i Cases Nos. 24-CC-68 and 24-CB-322 involving the Teamsters Union were severed from this proceeding and thereafter a consent Board order and court decree was executed in those cases, which was approved by the Board on November 19, 1959. 127 NLRB No. 112.