Alcan Aluminum Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 5, 1969

178 N.L.R.B. 362 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

362 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Alcan Aluminum Corporation and Local Union 328,
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
AFL-CIO,'
Alcan Aluminum Corporation and United
Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO,' Cases
3-RC-4364 and 3-RC-4403
September 5, 1969
DECISION ON REVIEW, ORDER, AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
On March 22, 1968, the Regional Director for
Region 3 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election (attached) in Case 3-RC-4364, in which he
found the IBEW's requested unit of maintenance
employees at the Employer's Oswego (Scriba), New
York, plant to be appropriate. Thereafter. the
Employer and Steelworkers, which intervened in
that proceeding,filed requests for review, asserting,
inter alia, that the Regional Director departed from
officially reported precedent in his unit finding.
While the requests were pending before the Board,
Steelworkers, on April 9, filed a petition in Case
3-RC-4403 for an election in a unit of production
and maintenance employees at the same plant.' On
April 12, the Regional Director issued a
Supplemental Decision, in which he treated the
pending requests for review as motions for
reconsideration. rescinded his Decision previously
issued, consolidated the two cases, and provided for
reopening of the hearing. Thereafter, the parties
stipulated that the record made in Case 3-RC-4364,
together with documents subsequently filed, would
constitute the record in the consolidated
proceedings.
On June 6, the Regional Director issued a Second
Supplemental Decision and Direction of Elections
(attached) in which he found that the IBEW's
requested maintenance unit, as well as the broader
unit sought, may be appropriate and directed
self-determination elections in voting groups of the
maintenance department employees and the
production employees, respectively. Thereafter, the
Employer and Steelworkers filed requests for review.
in which they again urged that the Regional
Director' s finding that a maintenance unit may be
appropriate was a departure from precedent. The
IBEW filed opposition to the requests. The Board
by telegraphic Order on October 1 granted the
requests for review and stayed the elections directed
pending decision on review. All parties filed briefs
'Herein called the IBEW
'Herein called Steelworkers
'Steelworkers , we are administratively advised, had a showing of
interest , based on authorization cards antedating the hearing date, which
was adequate to support its petition and to block the election directed in
Case 3-RC-4364
on review.
The Board has considered the entire record in
these cases with respect to the issues under review.
including the briefs on review, and makes the
following findings:
The Employer's Oswego plant is an aluminum
rolling mill.4 Its employees have no history of
collective bargaining.
At the time of the hearing there were
approximately 160 production and 117 maintenance
employees at the Oswego plant. These employees
are located mainly in three departments, Production,
Maintenance, and Purchasing and Traffic, whose
managers report to the plant manager. Most
production employees work a 5-day, 40-hour week.
some on a three-shift basis, some on a two-shift
basis.' Production employees rotate shifts every 2
weeks. About 70 of the maintenance employees
work on the same rotating shift basis; some work
the same shift every day, usually the day shift: some
work a 6-day, 40-hour week on a rotating three-shift
basis.
The Maintenace Department is comprised of a
number of subsections. Reporting to the department
manager are a mechanical engineer and two general
foremen, one for building and services and one for
plant maintenance.
Building and services has 2 subsections, building
and yards and mobile equipment and service, each
headed by a foreman. The building and yards
subsection has its own shop in a separate building, a
short distance from the plant. There, two building
repairmen, four yard crew men, and two equipment
operators work days, and seven janitors work shifts.
The mobile equipment and service subsection has its
own shop in the plant near the loading dock.
Working days are an auto mechanic,' two general
mechanics and an apprentice. On shifts are four
forklift mechanics, three equipment operators, and
three equipment operator helpers.
The plant maintenance general foreman has seven
foremen reporting to him. The second and third
shift foremen have overall plant maintenance
responsibilities. The other five foremen have their
own subsections, as follows:
The instrument maintenance subsection has two
groups of men: four instrument men and an
apprentice, working out of the hot line maintenance
office, on days; and five pyrometrics electricians,
The Employer has a number of other plants in the United States and
Canada Headquarters for the division of the Employer's operations to
which the Oswego plant belongs is at Cleveland , Ohio Other plants within
this division are at Warren, Ohio (a cold mill and paint mill), Fairmont,
West Virginia (a cold mill and a remelt operation ), Riverside , California
(cold mills, forging and assembly ), South Carney , New Jersey (finishing
mill for siding and extruded stock); and Elizabeth Town and Melrose Park,
New Jersey (both warehousing operations). All of these production
facilities have existing production and maintenance units
'Remelt production is a 3-shift operation, as are certain operations in the
plate mill, the soaking pit is "a 7-day, 4-turn trick" (the meaning of
"4-turn trick " is not given in the record presumably it meant on a 4-shift
basis), the rest of production operates on a 2-shift basis
`The auto mechanic works in the building and yards subsection shop
178 NLRB No 55
ALCAN ALUMINUM CORPORATION 363
working out of a cage in the remelt area, on shifts.
The electrical maintenance subsection has a shop in
the hot line motor room and comprises three groups
of electricians: shift maintenance electricians (a
group leader and two electricians on each shift plus
two apprentices on the third shift); two or three
construction electricians on days; and four or five
shop electricians, including two apprentices and an
air-conditioning specialist, also on days. The mill
maintenance subsection operates from a crib close
to the 100 inch mill. Each shift has a group leader,
three mechanics and an apprentice--the first shift
has one helper and the third shift three helpers. The
remelt maintenance subsection comprises shift
mechanics (a group leader, three mechanics and an
apprentice on each shift) operating from their own
shop in the remelt area; and a mason and a mold
repairman on the day shift. each with his own small
shop in the remelt area. The machine shop
subsection is made up of a roll shop, a machine
shop and a fabrication shop. The machine shop,
located at one end of the motor room, has a group
leader, two machinists, a tool grinder, and an
apprentice on the first shift, and a machinist on each
of the other two shifts. The fabrication shop, within
the machine shop, has a group leader, six
fabricators and a helper, on days only. The roll
shop, adjacent to the machine shop, has a group
leader, a roll grinder on each shift, two assemblers
and an apprentice on days, and two bearing
inspectors on the second shift.
The mechanical engineer supervises directly three
shift lubricators who use a desk in one of the two
roll coolant buildings as their headquarters.
In addition to the foregoing Maintenance
Department employees, the following employees in
other departments perform both production and
maintenance functions: three roll coolant operators
in the Production Department, working shifts,, and
the stores employees (a chief storekeeper, a
storekeeper. a receiving clerk, four stores clerks, and
a truck driver-expediter-stores clerk) in the Traffic
and Purchasing Department.
The flow of production at the Oswego plant may
be described as follows:
About 60 percent of the aluminum ingots' used in
production at the Oswego plant is shipped in from
the Employer's Canadian smelting plants; the other
40 percent is cast from aluminum scrap in the
remelt mill at the Oswego plant.
The remelt process involves first the unloading of
scrap from railroad cars or trucks by trackmobiles
operated by a two-man crew (the shift equipment
operator and his helper in the equipment and service
subsection). In these unloading operations. and in
transferring the scrap from the trackmobiles to the
mill receiving dock, production employees in the
remelt mill and building and yards maintenance
employees are frequently assigned to help. The scrap
is stored in scrap boxes. It is taken from storage by
forklift and dumped into a scrap charging machine
which shoves the scrap into one of two melting
furnaces. Dross collecting on the surface of the melt
is removed and conveyed to a nearby dross pad
where usable metal is recovered. The melt, when
heated to the proper temperature, is transferred to a
holding furnace, where tests are made and alloy
ingredients added, if necessary. The melt is then
given a chlorine bath (under pressure) and
transferred to a casting unit, a table with
water-cooled molds mounted on hydraulic cylinders
which are retractable into a deep pit. As the melt
flows into the mold it solidifies and the cylinder
retracts into the pit, generally 10 to 12 feet.
depending on the length of ingot desired. A crane
then removes the ingot and places it on the floor. A
fork trucker then picks it up, weighs it and conveys
it either to storage or, if it is to go directly into
production. to the nearby scalper area. Before going
into hot line production, all ingots are taken to the
scalping machine which cuts off one-half to 1 inch
from both sides of the ingot.
The hot line production department consists of
the soaking pits, the 120 inch rolling mill, and the
100 inch rolling mill. The soaking pits at the
Oswego plant are 14 gas-fired furnaces with
retractable roofs which are retracted by radio
control from a large crane. The crane loads the
ingots into the pits where they are heated to the
required rolling temperatures, which vary from 900
to 1200 degrees F. The ingots "soak" in the pits for
periods of a few to 24 hours. After the soaking
process is completed the crane removes the ingots
from the pits and places them in an "ingot
buggy"which takes them by rail to a position in
front of the 120 inch rolling mill.
The 120 inch mill is a large 4-high rolling mill
through which the ingot is passed back and forth
until the thickness of the ingot has been reduced to
1 -- 1 1 /2 inches. After this process the ingot is
trimmed at a shear and, unless it is to be processed
into plate in the adjacent plate mill, passed on to the
100 inch mill.
The 100 inch mill consists of three stands through
which the material passes just once." After passing
through the last stand the product is coiled on a
coiling machine, weighed, transported to the
shipping department, wrapped, and loaded into
truck or trailer car for shipment to other plants.
Material to be moved from the 120 inch mill to
the plate mill is cut into lengths from 4 to 20 feet
and in the plate mill several operations are
performed. including stretching and sawing, to
achieve the correct shape and size. The plate is then
taken to the shipping area by crane for wrapping or
packaging and shipment.
'These ingots are big slabs of aluminum 18 inches thick , up to 4 feet
wide, and roughly 10 feet long This mill is closed down for maintenance at least 1 day a week.
364 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
As to the integration of the various maintenance
functions performed by the aforementioned groups
of maintenance employees, the record reveals the
following facts:
Building and yards subsection employees work
with production employees on major repair fobs,' as
extra help in the remelt department. and in
rebuilding remelt furnaces (such rebuilding projects
occur two or three times a year for periods of about
3 weeks on a three-shift basis). Production
employees work with building and yards employees
during annual production slowdowns (of I to 3
months' duration). Production employees working
on the 100 inch mill may be assigned to such
building and yard work at least I day each week
when that mill is down.
The shift forklift mechanics in the mobile
equipment and service subsection service, repair and
maintain the 24 forklift trucks in use as well as 2
trackmobiles and 10 personnel carriers. They spend
at least half their time doing such work in the
remelt area and the rest in the hot line departments,
or in the shop doing major repairs. Forklift
operators frequently assist fork lift mechanics when
emergency repairs are being made on their vehicle,,.
The two general mechanics in the subsection service
equipment, such as compressors, scales, water
treatment equipment, water cooling towers and roll
coolant pumps, throughout the plant The
trackmobile crews, although assigned to this
subsection, take directions from the remelt
production foreman, and, as aforementioned,
frequently are assisted by production employees in
scrap moving operations.
The shift lubricators are responsible for the
correct operation of all lubricating equipment in the
plant. Every several months sludge collecting in the
oil tanks under the mills must be removed When
such cleaning occurs during slack production
periods, the lubricators are assisted by production
employees.
Instrument maintenance men repair, maintain and
troubleshoot instruments throughout the plant.
Production employees assist them in troubleshooting
work. Pyrometrics electricians do electrical work on
the furnaces, troubleshoot thermocouples, install
piping and controls, and, with the instrument men,
do electrical maintenance on the dross pad. As
aforesaid, on major repairs and furnace rebuilds,
pyrometrics electricians are assisted by production
employees and building and yard employees. The
shift maintenance electricians keep the hot line
running. Production operators assist then in their
frequent troubleshooting assignments. Construction
electricians install and repair wirings throughout the
plant. The air-conditioning specialist maintains the
plant air-conditioning equipment. Other electricians
work mainly in the shop
'including major repairs of the remelt furnaces which occur about every
2 months and involve 3 days ' to a week's work
The mill maintenance mechanics perform
mechanical maintenance mainly for the 100 inch
rolling mills and, as needed, for the 120 inch rolling
mill and the plate mill. This maintenance involves
millwright work, pipe fitting, welding, mechanical
repairs. and changing of rolls. Production employees
assist them at controls when repairs are being made
while the mills are in production.
The remelt maintenance mechanics on each shift
perform the necessary mechanical repairs to keep
the remelt production equipment operating. The
mason does masonry repair and installation on
furnaces and takes directions from the remelt
production foreman. Production employees as,,ist
these mechanics and the mason in troubleshooting
repairs and, as above stated, assist in furnace
rebuilds and major repairs. The mold repairman
repairs molds in his shop and sets them up with the
help of mechanics and casting pit crew men, and he
takes directions from the man in charee of the
casting station.
Machine shop employees spend most of their time
in their shop, which has lathes, milling machines,
drills, shapers, etc. The machinist on the second and
third shifts is responsible for servicing the scalping
machine. He goes to the scalper to install the newly
sharpened sets of knives in the scalper head. The
tool grinder, who grind,, these knives, changes the
knives for the day shift. He also regrinds the saw
blades in the plate mill. The fabricators spend about
three-quarters of their time in their shop fabricating
Steel parts for equipment and the rest of their time
in the plant installing these parts. The roll shop
employees also spend most of their time in their
shop. The roll grinders change rolls on the first
stand of the 100 inch mill at least once a day: on the
second stand, about every second day; on the third
Stand, twice a week: and on the 120 inch mill,
usually once a week. In their work they have some
contact with the production foremen. The
assemblers disassemble and reassemble roller
bearing housings (attach(,d to spray bars which
spray coolant on the rolls) and stripper bars
(attached to the rolls). The bearing inspectors on the
second shift spend about half their time inspecting
bearings, which are dismantled, washed, oiled and
inspected twice a year. The rest of their time they
work as assemblers.
The roll coolant pump operators, under the
supervision of the hot line general foreman, operate
the equipment in the two roll coolant buildings, one
for each rolling mill. They maintain the proper
levels of coolant in the oils, clean the tanks out.
remix coolant, operate water softeners, run the
pumps, change filters, and also perform some repair
work on their equipment.10 The stores employees
handle stores for, and serve, both production and
maintenance departments.
"The general mechamc^ do most of it
ALCAN ALUMINUM CORPORATION
Seniority for job openings is departmental, and if
openings are not filled from within the department.
bids are sought from other plant departments before
use is made of outside advertising. Most
maintenance employees have previously worked in
production jobs. However, such transferees
frequently have had prior maintenance experience
and those without it are transferred to generally
unskilled maintenance jobs. Few maintenance
employees have transferred to production jobs.
Production and maintenance employees receive
the same fringe benefits and their jobs are evaluated
under the same system. They use the same plant
entrance and the same wash and locker rooms.
Although there are common eating facilities,
maintenance employees generally eat in their own
shops.
The Regional Director concluded that "the
identity of the maintenance employees is not
obscured or obliterated by a fusion of functions in
the production process . ," and, therefore,found
that, in the absence of a bargaining history for a
broader unit, a maintenance unit may be
appropriate wider American Cyanamid Company,
131 NLRB 909. and subsequent cases applying the
principles enunciated therein. The Employer and
Steelworkers dispute the Regional Director's
conclusion. The IBEW points to a number of factors
in support of the conclusion reached by the Regional
Director and, in addition, argues that Steelworkers'
petition, filed after the issuance of the initial
Decision and Direction of Election herein, should
have been dismissed as untimely, because
Steelworkers did not have a showing of interest to
support a cross-petition in Case 3-RC-4364, and
that, in any event, because of its time of filing, the
petition for the broader unit should not be
considered as a factor by the Board in judging the
appropriateness of the requested maintenance unit.
We reject this argument. The IBEW filed no request
for review of the Regional Director's Supplemental
Decision, Order Consolidating Cases and Notice of
Hearing. Moreover, as above-noted, Steelworkers
had a sufficient showing of interest to support a
cross-petition for a unit of production and
maintenance employees.
Upon our evaluation of the facts of this case, as
set forth above, we conclude, contrary to the
Regional Director, that the maintenance department
unit sought herein is not a distinct and homogeneous
group of employees with interests separate from
those of other employees and therefore it may not
be represented as a separate appropriate unit. At the
outset, we note that the Employer's plant here
involved is in the basic aluminum industry in which
operations are highly integrated and bargaining has
proceeded historically on a plantwide basis. It was
principally for these reasons that the National Tube"
doctrine was extended to the aluminum industry in
The Permanente Metals Corporation, 89 NLRB
804. Although since our Mallinckrodt12 decision we
365
no longer adhere to the National Tube doctrine, we
nevertheless view the integrated nature of operations
and the pattern of bargaining in industries
previously covered by that doctrine, although not
themselves controlling, as relevant factors to be
considered, together with all other facts and
circumstances in each case, in making unit findings.
Indeed, our overruling of National Tube was
intended to apply a uniform standard to all
industries and make integration of operations a
relevant factor in all. The effect of the change was
to end the automatic denial of separate units in the
four previously favored industries, and the total
disregard of this factor in all others. Starting with
Mallinckrodt, we have considered, and shall
continue to do so, the fact and degree of integration,
as well as the industry pattern of bargaining, in each
case on its merits. That is the standard we apply to
this case.
We are persuaded that a number of the other
relevant factors set forth more fully above support
our conclusion. Thus, production employees over the
year spend substantial periods of time in various
maintenance functions, especially in assisting
building and yards employees and remelt
maintenance employees. Likewise, maintenance
employees, particularly building and services
employees, are frequently called on to work as extra
help along with production employees in the remelt
departments. Furthermore, a number of equipment
operators in building and services, although in the
maintenance department, perform functions which
are not strictly maintenance, while others do both
production and maintenance work. 13 In addition,
there is a close relationship among production
employees and all the groups of maintenance
employees in plant maintenance; all maintenance
personnel perform functions essential to the
continued operation of the various production
processes, spending a substantial percentage of their
time in troubleshooting production equipment and
machinery; some work in close contact with, and
require the assistance of, production employees in
making repairs; and some take directions from
production foremen in the performance of their
maintenance duties. Indeed, it appears that,
generally, the groups of employees in the various
subsections of the maintenance department have
more contact with production employees than they
have with each other. And it appears that most
maintenance employees have previously worked in
production jobs.
For the above reasons, and upon the entire record
in these cases, we find the requested maintenance
department unit to be inappropriate,"' and we shall
"National Tube Company. 76 NLRB 1199
"Mallinckrodt Chemical Works. Uranium Division . 162 NLRB 387
"As noted above, the roll coolant operators and stores employees, not
sought to be included in the requested maintenance unit, perform both
production and maintenance functions
"See American Cyanamid , supra . US Plywood-Champion Papers. Inc.
366 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
dismiss the IBEW's petition.15 We further find that
the only appropriate unit herein , for the purposes of
collective bargaining , is as follows:
All production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Oswego (Scriba), New York plant,
excluding office clerical employees, professional
employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed in Case
3-RC-4364 be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
[Direction of Election" omitted from publication.]
MEMBER FANNING , dissenting:
My colleagues here reverse a factually accurate,
precedent-supported, well reasoned and discerning
decision by the Regional Director granting
self-determination to a maintenance department. I
cannot agree.
The setting is a plant where earlier bargaining
attempts on a plantwide basis have not succeeded.
The current consolidated proceeding arose after the
initial petition for the maintenance unit was filed
and decision granting it had issued. Quite
significant, apparently, is the fact that the plant is
an aluminum rolling mill.
"At the outset," as my colleagues say, this is the
"aluminum industry" highly integrated and
accustomed to plantwide bargaining. "Other
relevant factors," they say, support their conclusion
that the maintenance employees sought are not a
distinct and homogeneous group of employees- a
conclusion which, I must say, reflects a remarkable
talent for aggrandizing completely normal,
run-of-the-mill contact between production and
maintenance employees to keep a plant in operation.
Thus it would seem that craft maintenance
employees in the aluminum industry are right back
where they were before Mallinckrodt, 162 NLRB
387. That decision in significant part dealt with a
promised end to plantwide unit guarantees in four
basic industries. My colleagues subscribed to this
principle, but they have now effectively negated
application of it in the aluminum industry. dust as
174 NLRB No 48 The case of Crown Simpson Pulp Company, 163
NLRB No 109, cited by the Regional Director as support for his contrary
conclusion , is in our view, factually distinguishable
"The IBEW indicated at the hearing that it did not wish to participate
in an election in a production and maintenance unit
"In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which may be used to communicate with them Excelsior
Underwear Inc, 156 NLRB 1236, N L R B v Wyman-Gordon Company,
394 U S 759 Accordingly , it is hereby directed that a corrected election
eligibility list containing the, names and addresses of all the eligible voters,
must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 3
within 7 days of the date of this Decision on Review and Direction of
Election The Regional Director shall make the list available to all parties
to the election No extension of time to file this list shall be granted by the
Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances Failure to
comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the election
whenever proper objections are filed
their Timber Products decision, 164 NLRB No. 109,
did in the lumber industry . I dissented there; I
dissent here."
American Cyanamid , 131 NLRB 909, a decision
presumably applicable to all industries, is cited in
support of their conclusion that the employees at
this aluminum plant are entitled to bargain only on
a combined production and maintenance unit basis.
The Regional Director cited this decision for the
opposite result. Two of my colleagues participated
with me in American Cyanamid , reiterating a
longstanding Board policy of permitting separate
maintenance units on initial organization and
providing the lead case on this principle since.38
Another colleague participated with me in Crown
Simpson Pulp, 163 NLRB No. 109, which relied
upon American Cyanamid and is now termed
factually distinguishable from the instant case,
without discussion.19
The industry was chemical in American
Cyanamid, an industry with integrated processing
not unlike aluminum and steel and lumber and wet
milling, though never added to that exempt group
under the National Tube doctrine. The maintenance
employees at the chemical plant involved were
established in separate departmental sections, with
their own supervision. They performed varied
maintenance work for the entire plant, exercising the
particular skills required. Their work was frequently
accomplished in groups and sometimes in
conjunction with production workers, who also
made adjustments on their own machinery. It is
difficult to ignore the parallel between that case and
this. The main witness here was the Employer's
maintenance manager and we have in evidence the
Employer's organization chart of its maintenance
department. This reflects complete departmental
organization of a group of approximately 106
employees and apprentices. The maintenance
manager who testified is the head of this major
department, which is supervised at the intermediate
or section level by general foremen - one for
Buildings and Services and one for Plant
Maintenance- andsupervised at the subsection level
by foremen. The subsections are: Buildings and
Yards, Mobile Equipment. Instruments. Electrical.
Machine Shop (including a Roll Shop and a
"My colleagues speak of pre - Mallinckrodt severance as automatic
denial for four favored industries on the basis of integrated operations and
"total disregard" of that lactor " in all others ' Total disregard is a
sweeping conclusion My own concern for the impact of integrated
processing on severance is apparent in Mallinckrodt , 129 NLRB 312, to 3,
and in Kennecott Copper, 138 Ni RB 118 124 that my colleagues no
longer deny severance automatically in all industries is still not clear to
me Their uniform standards seem to he insuring that sort of umlormily
"I had dissented from an earlier decision in the same American
Cyanamid proceeding , 130 NLRB I, 4 Chairman McCulloch, Member
Brown, and then Member Leedom voted to vacate that decision at 131
NLRB 909, and I concurred
"Member Zagoria there agreed with Member Jenkins and me that the
maintenance lunction was separately identitiable at Crown Simpson's
highly integrated and automated pulp mill despite the tact that some
maintenance work was done in conjunction with production employees
ALCAN ALUMINUM CORPORATION 367
Fabricating Shop, the latter working days only),
Mill Maintenance, and Remelt Maintenance,
reflecting by their titles a comprehensive plant of
maintenance for structures, grounds, and equipment.
My colleagues recite the full classification
complement of each of these subsections of
maintenance and then separately discuss various
functions. The approach taken avoids meaningful
correlation. It fails to show the true impact of the
maintenance operation at this plant, as reflected by
the testimony of the plant's maintenance manager.
Apparently my colleagues are not impressed by the
fact that employees hired at the top of the
maintenance scale are hired as journeymen and that
those recruited from production for maintenance are
subject to apprenticeship "for instrumentation,
electrical work, millwright work, and other areas of
the plant." Their emphasis is a focus on contacts
between production employees and maintenance
employees at times when lack of such contact would
be abnormal during periodic shutdowns, major
breakdowns, and troubleshooting.20 The approach is
piecemeal, to say the least.
If ever a record established the existence of a
distinct, well organized. separately supervised
maintenance operation, this is it.21 It is an
understatemenc. to say, as I do, that there is ample
justification for the Regional Director's conclusion
that here, as in American Cvanamid and in Crown
Simpson Pulp, there has been no "fusion" of
maintenance functions with the production process.
To dismiss the petition for a separate maintenance
unit by emphasis on troubleshooting, on "some"
maintenance personnel working in contact with
production employees and being assisted by them (in
all ways but skill), and on `'some" taking
"directions" from production foremen (when all are
provided to the hilt with their own supervision to the
extent they need it), avoids responsible assessment
of this record and achieves the same old plantwide
unit long accorded this industry by the Board.
American Cyanamid, lead case'though it is, is left
a hollow shell, and that part of Mallinckrodt
intended to end plantwide unit guarantees only an
"Shutdowns of parts of the plant aie periodic, partly due to basic repair
and rebuilding regularly required and partly to the product being produced
at particular times, such as the 100 inch mill not operating when plate is
being produced The ctilization of production employees whose production
work has temporarily been eliminated to assist maintenance employees is
both economic and humane . But, on this record , there can be no question
that the contact between the two during such shutdowns does not result in
production employees contributing maintenance skills to the work at hand.
The same is true during major breakdowns, when all employees bend their
efforts to restore production As to calls for maintenance troubleshooting
being made by production foremen without bothering the shift maintenance
foreman, the authority so exercised is one of summoning not supervising,
and the help supplied by the production operator whose equipment requires
repair is that which any production employee would be expected to do, like
starting a motor or watching a dial , while the maintenance employee
attempts a repair.
'The unit sought in this case is a particularly appropriate maintenance
unit because of its comprehensiveness , including laborers and janitors as
well as skilled employees See Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, 120
NLRB 63,67
illusory signpost. 22
Self-organization is a right guaranteed employees
in Section 9(b), as I observed in American
Cvanamid. Until the statute is changed by Congress
itself, it is my interpretation that, on initial
organization, maintenance employees as a group
may be accorded self-organization, if they so desire.
I would affirm the Regional Director.
MEMBER JENKINS, dissenting.
For the reasons expressed by the Regional
Director, I would affirm his decision.
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 a hearing officer of the National Labor
Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and
are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, the Board has delegated its powers in
connection with this case to the undersigned
Regional Director.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Regional
Director finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization(s) involved claim(s) to
represent certain employees of the Employer.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of certain employees
of the Employer within meaning of Section 9(c) (1)
and Section 2(6) and(7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act:'
"See "Two Years Under Mallinckrodt A Review of the Board's Latest
Craft Unit Policy" by Laurence J Cohen, in CCH Labor Law Journal,
April 1969, Volume 20, Number 4
'United Steelworkers of America . AFL-CIO, herein called Intervenor,
was permitted to intervene on the basis of a showing of interest.
'The Employer is engaged in the operation of an aluminum rolling mill
in Oswego (Scriba ), New York. There is no history of collective-bargaining
at this mill Basically, mill' s personnel structure consists of about 100
production employees who a re directly involved in the continuous process
of producing aluminum and about 118 maintenance employees who do the
repair work necessary to keep the plant functioning
The Petitioner seeks a unit limited to all maintenance employees at the
plant The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the highly integrated
nature of the aluminum mill operation , including the necessity of the
production employees working closely with the maintenance employees to
facilitate continuous operations , make a unit consisting of the production
and maintenance employees the only appropriate unit
The Employer ' s maintenance department consists of the buildings and
services section and the plant maintenance section. each of which is headed
by a general foreman who reports directly to the maintenance manager
Both the maintenance manager and production manager report directly to
the plant manager
The buildings and services section and the plant maintenance section are
divided into subsections which are located in separate areas throughout the
plant, generally in close proximity to the production area which they
368 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
All maintenance employees employed by the
Employer at its plant on Lake Road, Oswego
(Scriba), New York, excluding office clerical
employees, production employees, guards,
professional employees, and all other employees
and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Direction of • Election3", i omitted from
publication.1
service One of the subsections of the building and services section, the
buildings and yard subsection , is located in a separate building away from
the main plant
The buildings and services section is subdivided into a buildings and
yards subsection and a mobile equipment and service subsection Each is
headed by a foreman who reports directly to the general foreman of the
buildings and services section The plant maintenance section is subdivided
into an instrument subsection, an electrical subsection , a machine shop
subsection, a mill shop subsection and a remelt subsection , each of which is
headed by a foreman who reports directly to the general foreman of the
plant maintenance section Also reporting to the general foreman of plant
maintenance are a second shift and a third shift maintenance foreman. The
machine shop subsection is further subdivided into a roll shop , a machine
shop, and a tabricating shop. Some of the classifications which are utilized
in the various maintenance functions include auto , general, and equipment
mechanics, forklift operators . electricians , instrument men, roll grinders.
assemblers , tool grinders, fabricators , mold repair men, various
apprentices, janitors, helpers, etc There are also three shift lubricators who
report to the mechanical engineer who reports in turn directly to the
maintenance manager
Maintenance and production employees receive the same fringe benefits
Approximately 70 of the maintenance employees work the same hourly
schedule as do the production employees . and the balance of the
maintenance employees work a schedule which is different from that of the
production employees.
According to the record , departmental seniority is utilized in
maintenance promotional situations Thereafter , employees from the
production department are permitted to bid upon any remaining opening
before an outsider is hired to fill a vacancy . A majority of the Employer's
present maintenance employees formerly worked in the production
department From the record it appears that transfer of employees from
the maintenance department to the production department is rare.
The production employees and the maintenance employees do not
interchange . For the most part, any work performed by production
employees with maintenance employees appears to be incidental to the
production employee's regular employment The record does disclose,
however, that there are some instances where maintenance and production
employees will work together on tasks which are not strictly related to the
production process . Thus, when a furnace has to be rebuilt , employees are
drawn from all departments and the maintenance supervisors will be
allocated production employees who work with maintenance employees
tearing down and rebuilding the furnaces Major rebuilding jobs occur two
or three times a year and last roughly three weeks. Less extensive repairs
of the same nature can require from three days to a week to complete
There is also a track mobile crew (operator and a helper ) on each of the
three shifts who works out of the building and service section, one of
whose functions is to bring cars of scrap and ingot into receiving sections
When material is jammed into the operator ' s truck , and extra help is
required to remove it, production people can be utilized for this purpose.
Generally, the track mobile crew (the operator and his helper) are directed
by a production foreman, although they do not officially report to him
Employees from the building and yard subsection can assist in the remelt
department if there is a pile up of equipment or a flow out of metal into a
casting pit in which case they will help the casting operator remove such
metal from the pit When the plant has slow periods of production, the
mill is run on a four day production schedule On the fifth day production
employees from the mill may be used for such miscellaneous items as grass
cutting or snow shoveling , painting and general cleanup, which would
include the removal of oil and muck from the bottom of tanks Finally, the
Employer ' s 100" mill and the hotline is generally shut down for a full day
a week when the Employer is producing plate At this time the employees
who are normally employed on the 100" mill and hotline, who are not
utilized on the Employer 's plate operation or engaged in clean up work for
a production foreman, can , upon request by maintenance , assist mechanics
from the maintenance department in the repair and maintenance of the
100" mill
On the second and third shifts , when a production foreman determines
that he requires the assistance of a maintenance man for such functions as
changing a motor on a furnace door, he may, in the absence of the shift
maintenance foreman, direct a maintenance employee to perform the work
without consulting with the shift maintenance foreman However , as noted
above, there is a maintenance foreman on both the second and third shifts
whose responsibility it is to oversee the maintenance operations Also,
when a production foreman has a special project involving such things as
the improvement of equipment under his jurisdiction he may request and
utilize maintenance employees to accomplish the task where their skills are
needed From the record as a whole, and the examples furnished therein, it
appears that the maintenance assistance work occasionally assigned to
production employees is of the simplest kind consisting of elementary
maintenance tasks which demand no special skill This fact suggests the
narrow competence of production employees in the area of maintenance
work See Chas Pfizer & Co. Inc. 162 NLRB No 137
In accord with longstanding Board policy concerning initial organization,
and based on the record herein made concerning the separate function of
these maintenance department employees , I find that they may constitute a
separate unit for purposes of collective-bargaining See American
Cyanamid Company. 131 NLRB 909. The reasons assigned by the Board
in S D Warren Company, 144 NLRB 204, aftd. 353 F.2d 494 (C A 1),
cent denied 383 U S 958. for finding appropriate the unit of engineering
division employees are equally applicable to the unit sought in the present
case The Board said in Warren
In all the circumstances of this case, the absence of any bargaining
history and the fact that the engineering division is a distinct
administrative subdivision of the employer having a functional base of
maintenance , construction and utility work and employing primarily
skilled employees who work out of their respective craft shops and do
not work directly in the productive process, we agree . that such unit
is appropriate for collective bargaining purposes In reaching this
result we are not unmindful of the fact that there is some overlapping of
work skills among some of the employees doing maintenance work in
the productions divisions and some of the lesser skilled employees in the
engineering division However, we do not believe that in the
circumstances of this case this factor is sufficient to destroy the
homogenity and mutuality of interests of employees in the engineering
division
From the present record it appears that despite the integrated nature of the
Employer's operation , the maintenance function is separately identifiable
The maintenance department, while located in various sections of the
Employer's operation to facilitate efficient service to the production areas
they accommodate , nevertheless are separate and apart from the
production areas The maintenance employees are, with only minor
exception, under the separate maintenance supervision and do not
interchange with production employees Additionally , it appears that they
possess in the aggregate complex, skills not possessed by production
employees Further, at times when the maintenance employees work in
conjunction with production employees, the function performed by
production employees is for the greater part only incidental to regularly
assigned production tasks, and where this is not the case it appears that the
assistance rendered to the maintenance employees by production employees
is of the simplest kind requiring little or no maintenance skill
Accordingly , I find that the maintenance employees constitute a unit
appropriate for collective -bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of
the Act Myers Drum Company, 165 NLRB No 107. Crown Simpson
Pulp Company . 163 NLRB No 109, Gerber Products Company. 162
NLRB No. 14.
'Three election eligibility lists, containing the names and addresses of all
eligible voters , must be filed with the Regional Director within seven (7)
days of the date of this Decision and Direction of Election The Regional
Director shall make the list available to all parties to the election In order
to be timely filed, such list must be received in the Regional Office, The
120 Building , 120 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, New York 14202, on or
before March 29, 1968. Under Board directives , no extension of time to
file this list may be granted except in extraordinary circumstances, nor
shall the filing of a request for review operate to stay the filing of such list
Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside
the election whenever proper objections are filed Excelsior Underwear
Inc., 156 NLRB 1236.
The Intervenor reserved decision on whether it wished to appear on the
ballot in the event a unit limited to maintenance employees was found
appropriate In the event Intervenor should decide to appear on the ballot,
ALCAN ALUMINUM CORPORATION 369
then those eligible siall vote whether they desire to be represented for
collective bargaining purposes by Local Union 328, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers of
America, AFL-CIO, or by neither.
SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
On March 22, 1968, the undersigned issued his
Decision and Direction of Election in Case
3-RC-4364. On April 3, 1968, the Intervenor
therein, United Steelworkers of America. AFL-CIO,
filed its request. for review with the National Labor
Relations Board, and on April 4, 1968, the
Employer filed its request for review of the said
Decision.
On April 9, 1968, the United Steelworkers of
America, AFL: CIO, filed its petition in Case
3-RC-4403, involving a larger unit but one
encompassing the unit set forth in the Decision
mentioned above.
On April 12. 1968, the undersigned issued a
Supplemental Decision, Order Consolidating Cases
and Notice of Hearing, wherein; the requests for
review were considered as motions for
reconsideration, the original Decision and Direction
of Election in Case 3-RC-4364 was rescinded. and
the above-named cases were consolidated for
hearing and decision.
However, in lieu of a hearing, the parties
stipulated and agreed that the record testimony and
exhibits received at the hearing on February 20.
1968 in Case 3-RC-4364. together with documents
subsequently submitted by the parties,' would
constitute the record herein. All parties have filed
supplemental briefs which have been duly
considered.
In its supplemental brief Local Union 328,
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
AFL-CIO, hereinafter called IBEW, contends that
the petition of the Steelworkers in Case 3-RC-4403
was untimely filed and, therefore, requests that said
petition be dismissed . However, no valid issues, e.g.,
contract bar or expanding unit, have been raised
with respect to the question concerning
representation, as raised by the Steelworkers, and,
accordingly. the request of the IBEW is denied. Cf.,
Myers Drum Company, 165 NLRB No. 107.
In its supplemental brief the Steelworkers contend
that an election should be directed only in the
production and maintenance unit and. therefore,
urges that the petition of the IBEW in Case
3-RC-4364 should be dismissed. For reasons set
forth below, I find no merit in this contention, and
the request to dismiss is denied.
In support of their arguments that, on the basis of
the record herein, a production and maintenance
'These documents consist of a request for review filed in Case
3-RC-4364 by the United Steelworkers of America , AFL-CIO (hereinafter
called the Steelworkers), a request for review filed in Case 3-RC-4364 by
the Employer , the petition filed by the Steelworkers in Case 3-RC-4403.
and the related official documents
unit is the only appropriate unit, the Steelworkers
and the Employer rely, in large measure, upon such
post- Mallinckrodt2 cases as: Wah Chang Albany
Corp., 171 NLRB No. 47; Molony Electric Co., 169
NLRB No. 66; and General Foods Corp., 166
NLRB No. 126. All these cases involved petitions
for severance from established or historic production
and maintenance units, and the petitions therein
were dismissed on the grounds that the units sought
for severance were inappropriate under the
standards set forth in Mallinckrodt.
Herein we are concerned with the unit
composition where there has been no history of
collective bargaining. In the circumstances of initial
organization and where the record shows that
maintenance employees are readily identifiable as a
group apart from the production employees, the
Board has found that the maintenance employees
may constitute a separate unit if they so desire.
Myers Drum, supra, Crown Simpson Pulp
Company, 163 NLRB No. 109; American
Cyanamid Company, 131 NLRB 909.
In further support of their unit positions, both the
Steelworkers and the Employer have cited Dundee
Cement Company, 170 NLRB No. 66. Dundee is
distinguishable from the instant case. In Dundee the
maintenance employees spend about 75 percent of
their time in troubleshooting assignments which
were integrated with the employer's automated
cement manufacturing process. In the instant case,
most of the occasions when maintenance and
production employees may work side-by-side. or
interchangeably on the same project, are planned,
regular and foreseeably recurrent. In the main, these
situations occur during the periodic rebuilding of
furnaces, during the annual slack period when the
mill is operated on a four-day production schedule,
and during the weekly full-day shutdown of the 100
inch mill.
I have reviewed the entire record herein, and find,
for the reasons stated in my original Decision dated
M arch 22, 1968. that the identity of the
maintenance employees is not obscured or
obliterated by a fusion of functions in the
production process, but, rather, these employees are
readily identifiable as a group whose similarity of_
functions and skills creates a community of interest
apart from the production employees and, therefore,
they may constitute a separate bargaining unit if
they so desire. American Cyanamid, Crown
Simpson Pulp, supra; Cf. International Paper Co.,
171 NLRB No. 89.
In view of this determination, I shall make no
final unit determination at this time, but shall direct
separate elections in the following voting groups at
the Employer's Oswego (Scriba), New York plant,
excluding from each group all office clerical
employees, professional employees, guards and
'Mallinckrodi Chemical Works, Uranium Division , 162 NLRB No 48
370 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
supervisors as defined in the Act:
Voting Group (A): All maintenance department
employees, excluding all other employees, guards
and supervisors as defined in the Act.
Voting Group (B): All production employees,
excluding office clerical employees, professional
employees, maintenance department employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
If a majority of the employees in voting group
(A) select the IBEW, they will be deemed to have
indicated their desire to constitute a separate
bargaining unit, and the undersigned Regional
Director will issue a certification of representative to
such organization for such group, which, under these
circumstances, is found to be an appropriate unit for
purposes of collective bargaining. If, in those
circumstances, a majority of the employees in voting
group (B) elect to be represented by the
Steelworkers then a certification of representative
will issue for a separate unit of production
employees, which, in the circumstances, is found to
be appropriate. However, if a majority of the
employees in voting group (A) do not vote for the
IBEW, such group will appropriately be included in
the unit with the employees in voting group (B) and
their votes will be pooled with those of voting group
(B).' A certification of representative will issue to
the Steelworkers if selected by a majority of the
employees in the pooled group of production and
maintenance employees which, in the circumstances,
is found to be a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining. In all other events, the
undersigned Regional Director will issue a
certification of results of the election as appropriate
in the circumstances.
[Direction of Elections' omitted from publication.]
'Pooled votes shall be tallied as follows . Votes for IBEW shall be
counted as valid votes , but neither for nor against the Steelworkers. All
other votes are to be accorded their face value, whether for representation
by the Steelworkers or for no union
Three election eligibility lists containing the names and addresses of all
the eligible voters, must be filed with the Regional Director within seven
(7) days of the date of this Second Supplemental Decision and Direction of
Election The Regional Director shall make the list available to all parties
to the election In order to be timely filed , such lists must be received in
the Regional Office, The 120 Building , 120 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo,
New York 14202, on or before June 13, 1968. Under Board directives, no
extension of time to file this list may be granted except in extraordinary
circumstances , nor shall the filing of a request for review operate to stay
the filing of such list . Failure to comply with this requirement shall be
grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed
Excelsior Underwear Inc, 156 NLRB 1236