Mohawk Data Sciences Corp.

SOROBAN INCORPORATED 445 Soroban Incorporated , a subsidiary of Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), Petitioner. Case 12-RC-3291 October 30, 1969 DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND ZAGORIA On June 6, 1969, the Regional Director for Region 12 issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding.' Thereafter, in accordance with the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, the Employer filed a timely request for review of the Regional Director's Decision on the grounds, inter alia, that in reaching his unit finding he made findings of fact which are clearly erroneous on the record. The Petitioner filed opposition thereto. On June 27, 1969, the National Labor Relations Board by telegraphic Order granted the request for review and stayed the election pending decision on review. Thereafter, the Petitioner and the Employer filed briefs on review Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has considered the entire record in this case with respect to the issues under review, including the briefs on review, and makes the following findings: The Petitioner requested a unit of all machine shop production and maintenance employees and toolroom employees at the Employer's Palm Bay, Florida, plant. It indicated that it would be willing to proceed to an election if certain quality control inspectors and inventory control dispatchers assigned to the machine shop area were included in the unit but disclaimed interest in any broader unit. Intervenor International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, agreed with the Petitioner's unit position and was willing to participate in any election directed. The Regional Director found that the unit primarily sought is not a craft unit. However, he found that the machine shop and toolroom employees, together with the quality control and inventory control employees assigned to the machine shop area, are a functionally homogeneous group and constitute an appropriate unit. In its request for review, the Employer asserts that its machine shop employees are engaged in repetitive production operations and have a close community of interest with other 'On June 25, the Acting Regional Director issued an Order granting the request of Intervenor International Union of Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-CIO-CLC, to withdraw its intervention and to remove its name from the ballot production employees assigned to assembly areas of the plant. It contends, therefore, that there is no basis for finding a traditional machine shop departmental unit herein and that the requested unit must be broadened to encompass all production and maintenance employees. At its Palm Bay plant the Employer is engaged in the manufacture of peripheral computer equipment, such as card punches, card readers, tape punches, and tape readers. The plant is in a single building comprising three wings to the rear and four in the front, connected by a corridor. Production and maintenance operations are under a director of manufacturing. Reporting directly to him are a shop superintendent who is over the machine shop, a superintendent of assembly who is over component assembly and systems assembly, and a director of material who is over quality control and inventory control. The toolroom has 9 employees (toolmakers and tool and model-makers) under the immediate supervision of a supervisor of tooling and methods.' There are about 101 employees (5 sheet metal mechanics, 14 metal finishers, an unspecified number of machinists of various classes, a crib attendant, a storage keeper, and 2 inventory control dispatchers) assigned to the machine shop which is subdivided into four departments; namely, grinding, mills, lathes, and metal finishing.' The shop is supervised by a general foreman with the assistance of four other foremen. Assigned to component assembly are 35 assemblers classed as trainee, B, A, or lead, and an inventory control dispatcher. Systems assembly has 47 employees: assemblers classed as trainee, B, A, or lead, wirers classed as B or A, and an inventory control dispatcher. Quality control, under a manager, has 25 employees, 10 of whom are mechanical inspectors assigned to the machine shop under separate immediate supervision. Inventory control, under a separate supervision, has 16 production planners in addition to the 4 dispatchers who, as above indicated, are assigned to the production areas which they service. Raw materials in the form of bar stock, castings, or piece parts are processed through inventory control and stored in the machine shop area. As work orders are received and production programs prepared by production planners, the dispatchers move the required materials to the appropriate departments for machining operations. The machinists, after making the necessary set up of their machine tools, repeat the same operations on the required number of parts.4 After the machining of the parts is completed - and while it is in progress - the work is inspected by the mechanical 'It is not clear from the record whether this supervisor reports to the shop superintendent or directly to the director of manufacturing 'This department does deburring , drill press work , and sheet metal work and is also called the bench area 'A machinist may work on as many as 10 to IS work orders a day and the quantity of parts required by each work order may vary widely 179 NLRB No. 74 446 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD inspectors stationed in the machine shop area After inspection, the parts are moved into storage or to the assembly areas (to component assembly for mechanical assembly and to systems assembly foi marriage of electronic controls to the component products). The product is then given final inspection and is packed for shipment. The machinists in the machine shop, although skilled in the operation of the machine tools in the department to which they are assigned, are not required by the Employer to develop the skills needed to operate all the machine tools in the shop. There is no formal apprenticeship program. An employee progresses at his own rate. However, on the average, a trainee or 3d class machinist may acquire the skills needed for a machinist 1st class in about 4 years. The Employer pays its machinist specialists (higher rated than machinists 1st class) and its assemblers the same wage scale, and it considers their skill levels to be comparable. The machine shop contains the kinds of machine tools usually found in such shops. Also, the machinists have personal tools ranging in value from $200 to $2,000-to-$3,000 and they work to close tolerances. We note, however, that the mechanical assemblers also work to close tolerances and have occasion to use a drill press and a small lathe located in their work area Upon the foregoing and the entire record in this case, we are unable to conclude that the machinists herein are required by the Employer to possess and exercise machinist craft skills. It appears, rather, because of the repetitive production machining they do on the machine tools to which they are assigned, that they are production specialists, not craftsmen Furthermore, although the toolroom employees, the machine shop employees, the inventory control and quality control personnel assigned to the machine shop, perform functionally related work in a separate area of the plant, we note that each of these four groups of employees is in a separate administrative division of the Employer's operation, under separate immediate supervision. In the circumstances, we conclude, contrary to the Regional Director, that these employees lack cohesiveness and do not have the substantial nucleus of craftsmen required for a traditional departmental unit, and they do not therefore constitute an appropriate unit for purposes of collective bargaining.' Accordingly, as the Petitioner indicated that it did not seek an election in a unit broader than that found appropriate by the Regional Director, we shall dismiss its petition. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 'See Hyster Company , 106 NLRB 347 The cases of St Louis Car Company, 108 NLRB 1388, and General Refractories Company. 117 NLRB 81, relied on by the Regional Director, are, factually distinguishable