American Hoist & Derrick Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 19, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 219 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of AMERICAN HOIST & DERRICK COMPANY, EMPLOYER
and LOCAL B-110, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD or ELECTRICAL
WORKERS, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 18-RC-366.-Decided January 19, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Clarence A.
Meter, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made .at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of electricians, helpers,
and apprentices employed in the electrical department at the Em-
ployer's St. Paul, Minnesota, plant. The Employer contends that the
unit is inappropriate because of the integration of the Employer's
operations, and because of the bargaining history in which these
employees for several years were part of a broader unit.2 The IAM
I Lodge No. 459, International Association of Machinists, herein called IAM, was granted
intervention.
2 Since 1937 , these employees have been represented by the IAM in a unit which originally
included all the Employer ' s production and maintenance employees , except the molders who
were separately represented . Subsequently , the Employer 's patternmakers and powerhous2
employees were carved out of this unit, and have been separately represented . The Em-
ployer ' s timekeepers and truck drivers are also separately represented. The Employer's
brief asserts that-the IAM unit is composed of employees who are directly engaged in the
assembly of the Employer 's products . We find, however , that the unit also contains
machinists who do not perform assembly operations.
88 NLRB No . 56. 219
220 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
also contends that the proposed unit is inappropriate, but advances
no reasons in support of its position.
The Employer manufactures heavy hoisting machinery and equip-
ment at its plants in St. Paul, Minnesota, and South Kearney, New
Jersey. Only the St. Paul plant is involved in this proceeding.
Approximately 900 production employees are employed at this plant
in approximately 56 departments and 29 shops or sections. The plant
consists of 15 buildings situated on an 18-acre tract. The Employer's
products include locomotive cranes and revolver cranes which are used
by the Navy, by steel mills, railroads, public utilities, and by manu-
facturers of heavy materials. While the basic component parts of
these machines are of standard types and sizes, most of the finished
products vary as to size and detail to conform to customers' specifica-
tions. The construction of these machines usually takes 3 or 4 months,
and sometimes longer. For these reasons, the Employer at the hearing
described its plant as an "engineering shop," as distinguished from a
"production shop" which manufactures large quantities of identical
products through repetitive operations.3
Assembly of heavy equipment takes place in the structural and
revolver shops which are in adjoining buildings, and in the crane shop
which is separated from these shops by other plant buildings and by
an overhead highway which traverses the plant grounds. Various
structures are simultaneously built in these shops and are brought to
the revolver shop for final assembly. Several groups of employees,
including electricians, steam fitters, machinists, grinders, welders,
and painters are engaged in these operations. The work of these
groups is synchronized as to the place and order in which they perform
their special operations. At times they work together, but frequently
their activities occur at different intervals, the work of one group
following in sequence upon the completion of the work of another
group. There is no evidence that these groups perform their duties
directly under a single over-all supervisor in charge of assembly
operations.
There are 14 employees in the electrical department, supervised by
a foreman who is a master electrician. Included among these em-
ployees are 4 journeymen electricians,4 3 class "B" electricians,5 5
3 In terms of dollar sales , production of specially fitted heavy machinery constitutes 60
percent of the Employer ' s production.
* The Employer requires that its journeymen electricians be licensed or have completed
an apprenticeship . The apprenticeship program in force in the electrical department is
conducted in cooperation with the Minnesota Apprenticeship Council . Although this
course varies to some extent from the Council ' s standard course, the basic subjects are
the same. An apprentice who completes the Employer ' s course receives the same certifl-
Cate issued by the Council to all other electrical apprentices.
6 These are advanced helpers.
AMERICAN HOIST & DERRICK COMPANY .221
helpers, 1 apprentice, and 1 stockman. These employees perform
various types of electrical work, including the wiring of all electrical
apparatus installed on the Employer's products, maintenance, and
repair of electrical equipment throughout the plants and some elec-
trical construction work.7 The percentage of time devoted to each
of these types of work is disputed, but it is clear that a substantial
part of the work of these employees consists of other than production
duties.8 Most of the wiring of electrical apparatus is performed on
the heavy equipment assembled in the structural, crane, and revolver
shops, in conjunction with the other employees engaged in assembly
operations. In preparation for this work, the electrical employees
spend a considerable amount of time in the electric shop,9 where they
bend and cut conduits and wires and build control panels which they
later install on the Employer's products. The electrical employees are
frequently assigned to different duties during each day, depending
upon the needs of the several plant departments for electrical services.
Although the Employer does not ordinarily remove electricians from
assembly operations before they are completed, there have been occa-
sions when they have been taken off these duties for other assignments.
Occasionally an electrician is sent to the field for several days to
correct deficiencies in the electrical system of the Employer's prod-
ucts. The helpers and the apprentice usually work with a journeyman
electrician. Occasionally they work by themselves, but at such times
they are specifically instructed in their duties by the foreman.
It appears that the duties of these employees are those of electrical
craftsmen and that they work with the same tools and many of the
materials ordinarily used by the craft. Moreover, some of their duties
demand the skill and experience of journeymen electricians. It also
appears that, although the Employer's operations are to some extent
specialized, the functions of the electricians are generally similar to
those performed by journeymen in the electrical trade.
9 There are 1,100 electric motors in the plant which power the Employer's machinery.
Some of these motors are repaired each day. Only a journeyman electrician is permitted
to turn off the electric power before these motors are removed and taken to the electric
shop for repairs. The electrical employees also repair and replace switches, power lines,
and transformers, and install and service the electric clocks In the plant.
4 Construction jobs include ordinary wiring for lighting, running lines from electrically
powered machines to sources of electricity, wiring for electric steam heaters, and installa-
tion of buzzer systems for interoffice communications. The Employer sought to prove that
electrical construction work is performed by outside contractors. However, the record
shows only one instance, in August 1949, when a contractor spent approximately 3 weeks
at the plant installing power lines.
8 The Employer produced time records which purport to show that approximately two-
thirds of their time is spent on assembly operations. Several of the electricians, however,
testified that their time is equally apportioned among assembly, maintenance, and con-
struction duties.
9 The electric shop is separately located on a balcony in the building which houses the
thane shop. It was estimated by some of the electricians that they spend from 33%
to 40 percent of*their time working in this shop.
222 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The electrical department employees are supervised only by their
own foreman , whether they are working on assembly operations, in the
electric shop , or in other parts of the plant. They have separate
departmental seniority . Although interdepartmental transfers are
permitted in the plant , the record shows only one transfer involving
the electrical department 10 There is no other evidence of interchange
between these employees and any others.
The Employer relies upon our decisions in several cases 11 involving
assembly line operations, in support of its contention that its opera-
tions are so highly integrated as to preclude severance of the electrical
employees. It is apparent , however, that the Employer does not
manufacture its products on the basis of a continuous assembly line
operation . As noted above , the Employer's products vary according
to customers ' specifications , are assembled in stages in several sepa-
rately located buildings , and are not mass-produced , but require
several months for completion of their assembly . Moreover, the
electrical employees are not regularly stationed in production depart-
ments performing routine and repetitive operations under production
supervisors . On the contrary , the record clearly shows that they
frequently work at various locations performing maintenance and
construction as well as production duties. All these duties are per-
formed under their own departmental foreman despite some com-
mingling with other craft employees. Accordingly , we reject the
Employer's 'contention.
We find that the employees in the proposed unit constitute a homo-
geneous, identifiable craft group that may appropriately be repre-
sented in a separate unit notwithstanding the bargaining history in
which they were part of a broader unit 12 However , as the continued
inclusion of these employees in the existing IAM unit may also be
appropriate , we shall not make any final determination at this time
of the appropriate unit, but shall first ascertain the desires of these
employees in the election hereinafter directed.
There remains for consideration the inclusion or exclusion of the
stockman in the electrical department . None of the parties hereto
takes any position 'regarding this employee . The stockman works in
the electric shop office and is in charge of the electrical stockroom.
He orders supplies, obtains tools and materials for the electrical em-
"This occurred in 1941 when one of the electricians transferred from the carpenter shop
to the electrical department as a helper.
11 Cf: Dodge San Leandro Plant, 80 NLRB 1031 ; General Motors Corporation, Fisher
Body Division-Van Nuys Plant, 79 NLRB 341 ; Ford Motor Company ( Maywood Plant),
78 NLRB 887.
12 Todd Shipyards Corporation , Repair Division , 80 NLRB 382 ; Waterman Steamship
Corporation, 78 NLRB 20 ; The Turbine Engineering Company, 73 NLRB 163; Cf . Indiana
Limestone Company, Inc., 83 NLRB 1124.
AMERICAN HOIST & DERRICK COMPANY 223
ployees, and keeps records and inventories. He does not perform any
electrical duties. As the duties and skills of this employee differ
substantially from those of the electrical employees, we shall exclude
him.
We shall direct that an election by secret ballot be held among all
electricians, helpers, and apprentices, in the electrical department at
the Employer's St. Paul, Minnesota, plant, excluding the stockman,
the foreman, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act. If, in
this election, these employees select the Petitioner, they will be taken
to have indicated a desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 13
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the.
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by-
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the voting
group described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed
during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior
to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who
are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire
to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Local
B-110, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, A. F. L.
13 The Intervenor 's compliance with Section 9 (b) of the Act having lapsed since the hear-
ing in this matter, the Regional Director is herewith instructed to delete the Intervenor's%
name from the ballot in the election directed herein if the Intervenor has not, within 2
weeks from this date , renewed its compliance . No election shall be scheduled within the-
2-week period allowed until and unless compliance has been determined.
[By Order dated January 26, 1950 , the Board has granted the Intervenor permission to,
withdraw its name from the ballot.]