Bucyrus-Erie Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 12, 1954

110 N.L.R.B. 314 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
BUCYRIIS-ERIE COMPANY and ELECTRICAL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL
No. 494, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS,
AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 13-RC-3983. October 12, 1954
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph Cohen, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees in the electrical main-
tenance department which includes 22 journeymen electricians and
apprentices, an oiler, a benchhand, 2 helpers, and a maintenance
welder. As the Petitioner refused to state whether it was asking for
this severance on a craft or a departmental basis, we shall consider the
question of severance on both a craft and a departmental basis.
The Intervenor, United Steelworkers of America, CIO, hereinafter
called the Steelworkers, contends that the unit sought is inappropriate
for the following reasons : (1) There is a 17-year plantwide bargain-
ing history; (2) the maintenance electricians are integrated with
other maintenance employees; (3) the plant operations are integrated;
(4) the so-called electrical department is not a functionally distinct
department; and (5) the maintenance electricians are only a segment
of the electricians' craft at the plant. The Employer also opposed
the severance and urged that the unit sought is inappropriate.
This proceeding involves the Employer's South Milwaukee plant
only, which has approximately 1,600 employees in the production and
maintenance unit. The Intervenor has been the certified bargaining
representative of the production and maintenance employees since
1937.
The electrical maintenance department is located on the balcony
next to the machine shop and is enclosed by partitions. There are 22
journeymen electricians, A and B, 3 apprentices, 1 benchhand, 1
welder, 1 oiler, and 2 helpers in this department. The benchhand does
mechanical work relative to electrical parts; the oiler oils and cleans
electrical motors; one helper does light electrical benchwork and the
110 NLRB No. 45.
BUCYRUS-ERIE COMPANY 315
other changes bulbs and fuses throughout the plant. The welder does
some welding for the electricians and also performs welding for other
maintenance employees.
The Employer's job description of maintenance electricians states
that their function is to lay out, install, and maintain a wide variety
of complex electrical equipment, such as motors from fractional to
150 horsepower, maintain powerhouse equipment, motor generator
sets, D. C. steam generators, and air compressors, to establish and
maintain substations, to balance loads, to diagnose and remedy any
electrical trouble including work on heat treating and electric furnace
equipment. As can be seen from the above duties, their primary
function is to maintain and -repair the capital equipment located
throughout the plant, and they work from wiring diagrams and
schematic drawings. They spend very little time within the parti-
tioned area referred to as the electrical maintenance department.
There is another group of 15 journeymen electricians, AA, A, and
B, and 4 apprentices at the Employer's plant who are classified as
production electricians. The Employer's job description of their
function shows that they lay out and install large and complex elec-
trical equipment such as amplidyne controls, large panels, and motors.
They work from wiring diagrams on large strippers and draglines,
wire complex control panels and install and connect motors, lay out
and cut cable, run power conduits, and mount transformers and
switches. They deal with electrical equipment carrying up to 4,000
volts. The electricians perform the electrical work on the products
manufactured by the Employer.
Each group of electricians has an apprenticeship program requir-
ing 8,320 hours, or approximately 4 years' apprenticeship training.
It has been regular practice and the Employer's policy to permit
transfers of electricians and apprentices back and forth from elec-
trical maintenance to production electrical. Of the maintenance elec-
tricians, 8 have transferred from production electrical ; of the 15 pro-
duction electricians, 4 have transferred from electrical maintenance.
Each group has its own foreman. The foreman of the maintenance
electricians reports to the plant engineer; the foreman of production
electricians reports to the superintendent of the machine shop. The
maintenance electricians are paid from $2.041/2 to $2.38 per hour; the
production electricians are paid according to a premium system, an
incentive piecework basis with a base pay of from $1.481/2 to $1.671/2
an hour and averaging from 35 to 50 percent per hour in excess of
the base pay.
It appears from these facts that the requested unit of maintenance
electricians comprises only a segment of a craft group possessing the
same craft skills and performing comparable work. We therefore
316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
find a unit confined to maintenance electricians inappropriate for sev-
erance as a craft unit.'
There remains for consideration the possibility of granting the
request of the Petitioner on the basis of a departmental unit. Under
the rule enunciated in the American Potash 2 case the existence of
similar craftsmen outside the departmental unit does not preclude the
severance of such a unit otherwise appropriate.
However, the electrical maintenance department is of necessity only
a part of the entire maintenance department and the maintenance
electricians regularly perform work relating to their crafts in con-
junction with other craft maintenance employees. It is our opinion
that the electrical maintenance department is not a functionally dis-
tinct department containing employees identified with traditional
trades or occupations distinct from that of other employees.
Inasmuch as the unit sought does not meet the requirements estab-
lished by the Board in American Potash for severance of a depart-
mental unit, or a craft unit, we shall dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
i See The Louisville Plant of the Minneapolis-Moline Company, 108 NLRB 1458.
2 American Potash t Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418.
FETZER BROADCASTING COMPANY and NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROAD-
CAST EMPLOYEES AND TECHNICIANS, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 7-
RC-2160. October 10, 1954
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Myron K . Scott, hearing offi-
cer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following
reasons:
The Employer is a Michigan corporation with its principal offices
located at 124 West Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo , Michigan . It owns
and operates a radio and television station , WKZO and WKZO-TV.
110 NLRB No. 46.