Allied Gear & Machine Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 17, 1980

250 N.L.R.B. 679 (N.L.R.B. 1980)

ALLIED GEAR AND MACHINE CO.
Allied Gear and Machine Company, Inc. and Dis-
trict No. 9, International Association of Ma-
chinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, Pe-
titioner and Local 505, Graphic Arts Interna-
tional Union, AFL-CIO-CLC, Petitioner. Cases
14-RC-9078 and 14-RC-9080
July 17, 1980
DECISION ON REVIEW AND
DIRECTION
BY MEMBERS JENKINS, PENELLO, AND
TRUESDALE
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section
9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Offi-
cer Janet Goldberg of the National Labor Rela-
tions Board. On March 4, 1980, the Regional Di-
rector for Region 14 issued a Decision and Direc-
tion of Election, in which he directed that repre-
sentation elections be held in two separate units of
the Employer's employees: (I) a unit limited to all
employees in the Employer's pattern and plate de-
partment, for whom Local 505, Graphic Arts Inter-
national Union, AFL-CIO-CLC (hereinafter Local
505), seeks representation; and (2) a unit of all pro-
duction and maintenance employees excluding,
inter alia, pattern and plate department employees,
sought by District No. 9, International Association
of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO
(hereinafter District No. 9). Thereafter, in accord-
ance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as
amended, the Employer filed a timely request for
review of the Regional Director's decision, con-
tending that the Regional Director erred in finding
appropriate a separate unit of pattern and plate de-
partment employees.
By telegraphic order dated March 31, 1980, the
Board granted the request for review. On April 2,
1980, in accordance with the Regional Director's
Decision and Direction of Election, the election
was conducted' and the ballots were impounded
pending resolution of the request for review.
Thereafter, Local 505 filed a brief on review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
' At the hearing. District No 9 stated that. should the Employer's
contention hbe upheld it would seek to represent all production and main-
tenance employiees, including pattern and plate employees. Accordingly,
the Regional Director directed that the pattern and plate employees he
issued hallots permitting them to vote for Local 505, District No. 9 or no
union
The Board has considered the entire record in
this case, including Local 505's brief on review,
and makes the following findings:
The Employer, a Missouri corporation, manufac-
tures and sells rotary engraved cutting dies, flexo-
graphic label presses, and flexographic printing
plates. The Employer has seven departments: pat-
tern and plate, die, machine, sales, purchasing,
computer, and engineering. The pattern and plate
department is located in a separate area, and con-
sists of a darkroom, file room, plate room, and
stripping room. The pattern and plate department
has entrances from both the production and office
areas of the plant.
Each of the Employer's production departments,
including pattern and plate, has its own depart-
mental manager, although all employees are subject
to the ultimate supervision of the plant manager.
The pattern and plate department manager has a
desk in the stripping room, within his department;
some of the other departmental managers also have
desks within their department, while others share
space in the office area of the plant.
All production employees, including pattern and
plate employees, are hourly paid, punch a time-
clock, work the same hours (except for a second
shift for die department employees), receive the
same benefits, are subject to the same payroll clas-
sification system and work rules, receive annual
performance reviews, and use common facilities in
the plant.
The pattern and plate department, consisting of
five employees, produces the following: patterns
for dies made by the die department,2 plates for
pressure sensitive labels used by customers, front
panels for printing presses manufactured by the
Employer in its machine department, line drawings
used by the engineering department in making
blueprints for dies, and line dies sent by the Em-
ployer to customers for approval before dies are
cast. Most of the items produced by pattern and
plate employees are used by other departments of
the Employer.
Approximately 6 or 8 years ago, the Employer
separated the patternmaking work from the die de-
partment, acquired a camera and darkroom equip-
ment, and assigned two die department employees
to this separate department. Subsequently, the Em-
ployer added platemaking to this department, in
order to prepare plates for sale to customers who
own one of the Employer's presses.
1 he malkilng of rotar) dies is the fI mploycr's prinillr? husilless r ind
sillce pitltern, alre esscnt lal to the production of dies. the making of pat-
ernls constiltutcs the majority of the pattern and plilte dep.alrtmm clt'
output
250 NLRB No. 97
679
DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The pattern and plate department is composed of
four basic job classifications: negative stripper, pat-
tern artist, darkroom person, and platemaker. The
negative stripper prepares negatives to be printed
for transfer onto the plates, spending her worktime
at the litho light-up table or in the darkroom. The
pattern artist draws patterns from information pro-
vided in work orders which are then prepared for
the making of dies by the darkroom person. The
darkroom person photographs the line drawn nega-
tives and operates a distortion unit to prepare the
artwork for placement on the printing press cylin-
der. The platemaker prepares flexographic plates
from stock or line-drawn negatives, through the
use of a chemical water solution, and takes these
plates to the shipping department for delivery to
customers. The platemaker also makes patterns,
using different materials and chemical solutions.
These employees interact with each other in pro-
ducing plates and patterns and have been trained or
are being trained in each of the various jobs in the
department. Other employees in the department or
the department manager will substitute for an
absent pattern and plate employee. Pattern and
plate employees are not assigned work in other de-
partments of the plant, except for occasional as-
signments to perform office clerical tasks. Employ-
ees of other departments do not perform pattern
and plate work, except that the second shift die de-
partment leadman may make or repair a pattern
needed for second shift production. In the perform-
ance of their duties, pattern and plate employees
have daily contact with the die department engrav-
ers, the quality control inspector, and the shipping
clerk. The equipment used by pattern and plate em-
ployees is located within the department and is
used only by them, except that other production
employees enter the pattern and plate department
to use the band saw located there.
The pattern and plate employees receive the
same economic benefits and enjoy the same terms
and conditions of employment as all production
and maintenance employees. Their pay range is be-
tween level I through 6 on the Employer's pay
scale of I through 10. All pattern and plate em-
ployees have been hired by the departmental man-
ager directly from the outside. Except for one or
two employees who briefly worked in the pattern
and plate department shortly after its inception, no
employees have transferred into or out of the de-
partment. Previous experience is not a prerequisite
for working in the department, although at least
two of the current employees had relevant experi-
ence at the time they were hired. There is no li-
censing or training requirement for pattern and
plate employees, nor is there a formalized appren-
ticeship or journeyman or journeyman program for
them. The on-the-job training provided by the Em-
ployer ranges from 1 to 6 months, with all employ-
ees being proficient in their duties by completion of
training.
Based on the above, the Regional Director con-
cluded that employees in the pattern and plate de-
partment constituted an appropriate unit. In so con-
cluding, the Regional Director relied on the lack of
previous bargaining history at the Employer, Local
505's "specialized experience representing employ-
ees performing similar work;" the "substantial on-
the-job training" given pattern and plate employees
to develop a skill which requires the "use of special
equipment that is traditionally used in the lithogra-
phic craft;" their limited interchange with other
employees; and their separate supervision. The Re-
gional Director discounted the integrated nature of
the employer's operations, the lack of a formal ap-
prenticeship or journeyman program, and the fact
that pattern and plate employees receive the same
benefits as other employees and do not represent
the highest paid classifications.
We find, contrary to the Regional Director, that
a unit limited to the Employer's pattern and plate
department employees is inappropriate. In our
view, the pattern and plate department employees
do not possess sufficient specialized skills and train-
ing to warrant a conclusion that they comprise a
special craft unit, akin to a lithographic craft unit,
nor do they possess a sufficiently separate commu-
nity of interest from other production and mainte-
nance employees to warrant separate representa-
tion.
This case differs from those cases relied upon by
the Regional Director in which we found separate
lithographic craft units to be appropriate.3 Initially,
these employees are not performing traditional lith-
ographic work, and the skills and equipment used
by these employees in the flexographic process are
not as complex as those utilized in the lithographic
process. 4 Moreover, unlike in those cases, neither
previous experience in the industry nor participa-
tion in a formal training program are conditions for
employment in that department. New employees
are given on-the-job training, rather, than formal
I See Meyer Label Co., 232 NLRB 933 (1977), enforcement denied 597
F 2d 18 (2d Cir. 1979); R. W. Nowels, d/b/a N'owels Publications, 219
NLRB 222 (1975). George Rice d Sons, 212 NLRB 947 (1974), Paramount
Press. Inc. 187 NLRB 586 (1970); Lianco Container Corporation, 177
NLRB 907 (1969) F. 1. Dupont De Nemours and Company. 162 NL RB
413 (1966)
4 In finding appropriate a separate unit of pattern and plate department
employees, the Regional Director relied in part on evidence in the record
that the Graphic Arts International Union, with which Local 505 is affili-
ated. primarily represents lithographic employees, and that the lithogra-
phic process is similar to the flexographic plate process engaged in by the
Employer's platemaking employees
680
ALLIED GEAR AND MACHINE CO.
apprenticeship training, and can become fully profi-
cient within 4 months of hire.
Moreover, the unit sought by Local 505 is inap-
propriate as a separate departmental unit. The pat-
tern and plate department operations are closely in-
tegrated with activities in the die department, the
machine department, and the shipping department.
Although the pattern and plate department em-
ployees have limited interchange with other pro-
duction and maintenance employees, their wages,
hours, and working conditions are, with minor ex-
ceptions,5 identical to that of all of the Employer's
production and maintenance employees, and they
are paid in accordance with the pay scale applica-
ble to all production and maintenance employees.
Furthermore, while pattern and plate employees
are separately supervised by their department man-
ager, employees of the other production and main-
tenance departments, which were included in the
unit sought by District No. 9, are also separately
supervised by their department managers. Accord-
ingly, we find that the pattern and plate depart-
ment employees do not have a separate community
of interest apart from the production and mainte-
nance employees, and that a separate unit limited
to them is not appropriate. 6
For the reasons stated above, we conclude that
the following employees of the Employer represent
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of the Act:
5 Pattern and plate employees do not always take their morning or
afternoon coffeebreak, at the same time as other production and mainte-
nance employees, since they cannot leave their work in the middle of
certain activities. They may take a break after the work in question has
been completed, or may forego the break entirely
I Olin Corporation, 229 NLRB 793 (1977); Walt Disney World Co., 215
NLRB 421 (1974)
All full-time and regular part-time production
and maintenance employees including pattern
and plate department employees, plant clerical,
quality control inspector, janitor, shipping
clerk, tape cutter, and draft technicians em-
ployed at the Employer's St. Louis County,
Missouri, facility, EXCLUDING sales em-
ployees, purchasing department employee,
office clerical and professional employees,
guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.
As noted above, District No. 9 has stated that it
would seek to represent all employees in this unit,
and, accordingly, the Regional Director proceeded
with the election, permitting the pattern and plate
employees to vote for Local 505, District No. 9, or
no union. As the election has already been con-
ducted and the pattern and plate employees have
had an opportunity to cast their ballots for any of
the choices set forth above, we shall direct the Re-
gional Director to open and count the ballots cast
by all employees of the Employer in the appropri-
ate bargaining unit, and to issue a tally of ballots.
DIRECTION
It is hereby directed that the Regional Director
for Region 14 shall, pursuant to the Board's Rules
and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, within 10
days from the date of this Decision on Review and
Direction, open and count the valid ballots cast in
the election held on April 2, 1980, and prepare and
cause to be served on the parties a tally of ballots
in accordance with Section 102.69 of the Board's
Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, which
shall thereafter be applicable to the further process-
ing of this matter.
681