Mallinckrodt Chemical Works

312 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 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: Subsequent to the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the peti- tion on the ground that the showing of interest to support it was ob- tained through the active participation of Frank W. Kelly, an alleged supervisor. At the hearing testimony was introduced without objec- tion which indicates that Kelly is in charge of 11 to 23 employees on the night shift, and that he has authority to hire and discharge and has effectively recommended the hiring and layoff of employees. We find on these facts alone that he is a supervisor as defined in the Act. The question raised by the Employer in its motion as to whether Kelly participated in obtaining the Petitioner's showing may not be litigated in this proceeding but is a subject for administrative determination. See Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc., et al., 124 NLRB 908; Georgia Kraft Company, 120 NLRB 806. For this reason, we have treated the Em- ployer^s motion as a request for administrative investigation of the Petitioner's showing. We have determined on the basis of our ad- ministrative investigation that Kelly participated in obtaining the signatures of all the employees whose cards were submitted to estab- lish a showing of interest to support the instant petition. We have held that such solicitation by a supervisor impairs a Petitioner's show- ing interest. The Wolfe Metal Products Corporation, 119 NLRB 659. As the Petitioner's showing is thus inadequate, we shall dismiss the petition. [The Board dismissed the petition.] Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, Uranium Division and Local 1, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, Uranium Division and Inter- national Brotherhood of Firemen, Oilers, Maintenance Men, Local No. 6, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Cases Nos. 14-RC-3770 and 14-RC-3805. October 7, 1960 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Walter A. Wer- ner, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 129 NLRB No. 41. MALLINCKRODT CHEMICAL WORKS, URANIUM DIVISION 313 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 Rodgers and Fanning]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 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. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c) (1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The appropriate units : The Petitioner in Case No. 14-RC-3770, hereinafter called Local 1, seeks to sever from an existing production and maintenance unit at the Employer's Weldon Spring, Missouri, plant, a unit of mainte- nance and construction electricians, their helpers, and apprentices. The Petitioner in Case No. 14-RC-3805, herein called Local 6, seeks an election in the production and maintenance unit. The Employer, Local 6, and Independent Union of Atomic Workers, herein referred to as the Intervenor,' contend that only a plantwide unit is appropri- ate and moved that the petition of Local 1 be dismissed. However, Local 6 took the alternative position that it will accept a plantwide unit excluding the electricians. The Employer is engaged in the purification of uranium ore and the manufacturing of uranium salts and metal under contract with the Atomic Energy Commission. Prior to the time that the Weldon .Spring plant began operation, during the latter part of 1956, the Em- ployer operated a uranium facility in St. Louis, Missouri, where the final product was uranium ingots. Similar ingots are now manufac- tured at the Company's present location, and orange oxide and green salts previously made at the old plant are now being produced at the new plant. The only significant difference is that the end product in 1956 was ingots, whereas presently this product is further processed into extruded ingot. The Employer's uranium division now occupies a 250-acre tract upon which a dozen buildings house 903 employees, 488 of whom are classified as supervisors, professionals, technicians, personnel at the steam plant, clericals, and guards, and are excluded from the produc- tion and maintenance unit. Of the approximate 415 production and maintenance employees, 100 are classified as pilot plant personnel, custodians, warehousemen, storekeepers, and laborers; 165 are produc- tion employees, and 150 are maintenance employees. 'The Atomic Workers was certified for the production and maintenance unit on June 13, 1958, following a consent election. It has represented the production and maintenance employees under a contract terminating on July 1, 1960. 314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The 25 electricians sought are classified as : special electricians, of which there are 6; electricians class A, of which there are 16; electri- cians class B, of which there are 2; and electrician trainee, of which there is presently 1. Trainees receive on-the-job training. They are assigned to act as helpers to the electricians. By performing the duties assigned to them and observing the electrical work that is per- formed they acquire the necessary skill after 6 months to advance to the bottom of the class B classification. Class B electricians, after an approximate period of 20 months are advanced to the bottom of the class A. From that classification to the top of the class A electricians, requires a similar period of 20 months. The record discloses that it takes an inexperienced trainee approximately 46 to 48 months to attain the top of the class A classification. There is one special electrician or leadman for every four electricians. Newly hired electricians are required to have 5 years' or more industrial experience in electrical construction and maintenance work. Of the 21 electricians working on the day shift, 15 work out of the electric shop under the direct supervision of the electrical foreman; 2 of the remaining 6 electricians are assigned each week to various buildings where they perform general electrical maintenance under the immediate supervision of the area foreman. Electricians on each shift report to the electric shop for their assignments. In the event of difficulties the electricians consult their electric foreman. The same is true of the electricians working on the second and third shift who work under the immediate supervision of the shift foreman. The elec- trical foreman is directly responsible to the licensed electrical engineer. All electricians perform exclusively electrical work. The primary source of the Company's power is electricity. The electric power enters the Company's premises from three substations located outside the plant's cyclone or chain link fence. These substations are likewise fenced in and the gates locked. Only electricians have keys to these gates. The primary incoming voltage of one of the three substations located on the outside is 34,000 volts. The secondary side of this sub- station steps down the voltage to 13,800 volts. This particular sub- station in turn is connected by transmission and distribution lines to eight other substations located both outside and inside the plant's fences where it is further stepped down to 13,800, 6,900, 2,300, 440, and 220 volts. This network of substations and transmission and distribu- tion lines are interconnected by means of relays and branch circuit lines throughout the plant by means of panelboards and switchboards. Due to this complex electrical system, the various types of electrical power-driven machinery scattered throughout the Company's plant are energized and the equipment actuated. The various types of electrical power-driven machinery include heating elements, furnaces, motors, motor generators, electric lights, MALLINCKRODT CHEMICAL WORKS, URANIUM DIVISION 315 alarm systems, hoists and cranes, extrusion presses, and two-way radio substations. The electricians trouble shoot, maintain, and repair this electrical equipment, and perform all the necessary preventive maintenance. In addition to the electrical maintenance work, the electricians engage in electrical construction; they are required to read electrical blueprints; must be capable of using electrical working tools and electrical testing equipment, such as voltmeters, ammeters, ohm- meters, circuit analyzers, high voltage probes, fuse pullers, hickeys, fish tape, hot sticks, and all other electrical tools of the trade. The record discloses that electricians enjoy their own seniority with respect to transfer, layoff, and recall. They distribute their overtime among themselves as a group. Their vacations are separately sched- uled and listed. The same is true for each of the other craft groups in the Employer's plant. From the foregoing, it appears that the electricians classified as special electricians and class A electricians have, and use, the normal skills of electricians and are experienced craftsmen. It appears further that class B electricians and the electrician trainee, when they become qualified, progress to the higher classifications. In these circumstances, we find that the electricians, their helpers, and appren- tices constitute a distinct craft group of employees such as the Board has found to be entitled to separate representation.2 As they are sought by a labor organization which traditionally represents craft electricians, they may be severed from the existing production and maintenance unit if they so desire.' However, a unit of production and maintenance employees including them would also be appropriate. Accordingly, we deny the motions to dismiss, and shall direct separate z Universal Match Corporation , 116 NLRB 1388 ; A 0 Smith Corporation, 116 NLRB 1328. We note that 9 or 10 of the electricians herein involved were employed until 1956 at the Employer' s old uranium plant in St Louis, Missouri They were among the group of electricians granted a self-determination election in -Ifallinckrodt Chemical Works. 115 NLRB 730, upon petition of Local 1 3 The Employer contends that the establishment of a separate "electricians" unit is inappropriate because of the integrated nature of the Employer's operations and the previ- ous pattern of collective bargaining on an industrial basis in the chemical industry In making this contention, the Employer relies on the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in N.L R B. v Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, 270 F. 2d 167, cert denied 361 U.S 943 . With 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 cf Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418 , with respect to the severance of craft units Accordingly, we find no merit in this contention E I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , 126 NLRB 885, footnote 3 Member Fanning concurs in the decision of the majority directing a separate election for the electricians in this case In his opinion , the record establishes that these em- ployees are skilled craftsmen with interests and duties sufficiently different from those of other employees of the Employer to warrant their representation in a separate unit, if they so desire. He therefore finds it unnecessary to, and does not, pass upon the question whether in a highly integrated plant he would adhere to the Board's decision in American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418. In his opinion , the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in N.L R.B. v. Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, 270 F. 2d 167, requires a thorough reexamination of the American Potash case. 316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD elections in the following voting groups of employees at the Em- ployers Weldon Spring, Missouri, plant, excluding from both groups office clerical employees, laboratory personnel, powerplant employees, guards, watchmen, professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. Group 1: All maintenance and construction electricians, their help- ers, and apprentices; Group 2: All production and maintenance employees, but exclud- ing electricians. If the employees in the electrician voting group vote for Local 1, they will be taken to have voted for separate representation, and the Regional Director conducting the election is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to Local 1 for a separate unit of elec- tricians, which the Board, in these circumstances, finds to be appro- priate for the purpose of collective bargaining. And, in that event, should a majority of the employees in the production and maintenance voting group select a bargaining representative, the Regional Di- rector is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to such bargaining representative for a unit of production and maintenance employees, excluding electricians, which the Board in these circum- stances finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. On the other hand, if a majority in the electrician voting group do not select Local 1, the ballots of the employees in the electrician voting group will be pooled with those of the employees in the production and maintenance voting group.4 If the employees in the pooled group select a. bargaining representative, the Regional Director is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to such bargaining repre- sentative for a unit of production and maintenance employees, includ- ing electricians, which the Board in such circumstances finds to be an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.] ' If the votes are pooled, they shall be tallied in the following manner The votes for Local 1 shall be counted as valid votes, but neither for nor against Local 6 or the Intervenor ; all other votes are to be accorded their face value whether for or against representation by Local 6 or the Intervenor Outboard Marine Corporation 1 and Independent Marine and Machinists Association , Petitioner. Case No. 13-RC-7303. October 7, 1960 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 Sinclair Kassoff, hearing 1 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing. 129 NLRB No. 32.