Carboloy Department of General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 30, 1953

104 N.L.R.B. 596 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

596 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
record that the writers of the Burns and Allen show of McCadden
are employed steadily for a series of shows. There is no
evidence that McCadden draws from a general writers' pool.
Accordingly, we will adopt the normal eligibility period for the
employees of McCadden, and all persons will be eligible to
vote who were employed during the payroll period immediately
preceding the date of the direction of elections herein, including
employees who did not work because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
CARBOLOY DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL ELECTRIC COM-
PANY and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTO-
MOBILE, AIRCRAFT, AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT
WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW-CIO), Petitioner and LOCAL
UNION 107, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELEC-
TRICAL WORKERS, AFL, Petitioner. Cases Nos. 7-RC-2009
and 7 -RC-2016. April 30, 1953
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, hearings were held before
Herbert C. Kane and Emil C. Farkas, hearing officers. The
hearing officers' rulings made at the hearings 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 a three-member panel[ Members Houston, Murdock, and
Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. Carboloy is a department of General Electric, a New
York corporation, and is engaged in the manufacture of cemented
1 After the hearing in case No. 7-RC- 2009, the 113E W filed its petition in Case No. 7-RC-
2016 and moved to reopen Case No. 7-RC-2009. The Board then ordered the two cases
consolidated and the proceeding remanded to the Seventh Region for further hearing. The
UAW and the Employer moved to dismiss the IBEW's petition on the grounds that they were
not served with notice of the IBEW 's request to reopen Case No. 7-RC-2009. The record
discloses that none of the parties was in any way prejudiced by the procedure or lacked
opportunity to introduce evidence bearing on all the issues raised herein . Further, it has
been determined by the Board that the IBEW had a representative showing of interest at the
time of the hearing in Case No. 7-RC- 2009. Accordingly , we find without merit the conten-
tion that due process was denied , and shall deny the motion to dismiss . See Pacific Metals
Company, Ltd., 91 NLRB 696; Orkin Termite Company, Inc., et al ., 79 NLRB 935.
104 NLRB No. 75.
CARBOLOY DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 597
tungsten carbide tools and alnico magnets. The IBEW seeks
a maintenance unit of machine repairmen , trades and main-
tenance helpers, electricians, and boiler and hydrogen em-
ployees. If the Board should decide to include janitors and
laborers in such a unit, the IBEW would accept them; the
IBEW would exclude the trades and maintenance helpers if
the Board deems that they are insufficiently skilled to be
included in the unit.
In Case No. 7-RC-2009 the Employer and the UAW-CIO
stipulated to the appropriateness of a production and mainte-
nance unit. However, the Employer moved to dismiss both
petitions alleging that they were prematurely filed as its
operations were expanding. We shall deny the Employer's
motion for reasons stated hereafter.
The unit sought by the IBEW would consist of 2 machine
repairmen , 2 maintenance electricians, 2 trades andmainte-
nance helpers, and 4 boiler and hydrogen operators. This
group plus 6 janitors and 1 laborer are classified as mainte-
nance employees by the Employer and are supervised by the
maintenance foreman. The machine repairmen make minor
repairs to machines located on the production floor, and
may make minor parts, but do no major overhauling of
machinery. The electricians do minor wiring of production
machinery within the production area. They may also wire
small panels. The Employer does not require machine repair-
men or electricians to be journeymen craftsmen. The trades
and maintenance helpers are unskilled employees who perform
no actual operation themselves , but only assist the electricians
and the machine repairmen. The janitors perform the usual
janitorial duties, and the laborer carts refuse and performs
general labor around the plant. The 4 boiler operators and
hydrogen employees tend to the boilers used in heating the
building and providing steam. They also make hydrogen as
atmosphere for use in sintering , heat treatment , and other
operations relating to the production process. All are licensed
boiler operators. They are under the supervision of the mainte-
nance foreman, but there is no interchange between them and
other maintenance employees. There is no interchange between
maintenance employees and production employees.
We are of the opinion that the employees in the maintenance
department possess interests in common, distinct from those
of the production employees which are sufficient to warrant
their original establishment in a separate unit . Thus, in the
absence of bargaining history on a broader basis, we find that
all employees in the maintenance department may constitute
a separate appropriate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining. An overall production and maintenance unit may
also be appropriate . We shall direct elections among the
following groups of employees at the Employer's plant at
Edmore, Michigan:
(a) All production employees excluding office and clerical
employees, professional employees, the maintenance employees
included in voting group (b), guards, and supervisors as de-
fined in the Act.
283230 0 - 54 - 39
598 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(b) All maintenance employees including maintenance elec-
tricians , laborers , janitors , maintenance repairmen , trades
and maintenance helpers, and powerhouse employees, but
excluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in
the Act.
If the employees in either group select a bargaining agent
and their choice is different from the choice made by the
other group, the Board finds they constitute a separate appro-
priate unit. If the employees in both groups select the same
bargaining agent, the Board finds that together they constitute
a single appropriate unit. The Regional Director conducting
the elections directed herein is instructed to issue a certifica-
tion of representatives to the Union or Unions in the unit or units
which may result from the elections. If the employees in either
group select no bargaining agent, the Regional Director shall
issue a certification of results of elections to such effect.
5. The Employer moved to dismiss both petitions on the
ground that the alnico portion of the carboloy division is not
yet in operation. To carry out the alnico operations the Em-
ployer contemplates increasing its employees from 128 to 350
and adding about 45 new job categories. At the time of the
hearing the shell of the building to house the alnico operations
had been completed and some machinery installed. Hirings
were to begin in March 1953 and the Employer expects the
plant to be in actual operation by June 1953, and to reach a
full complement of employees by the end of August 1953. It
appears from these facts that by June 1953 a representative
force will be employed. Therefore we shall deny the Em-
ployer's motion to dismiss the petitions as premature. We
shall provide for elections to be held during the month of June
1953, or on such earlier date to be selected by the Regional
Director as it shall appear that a substantial and representa-
tive number of employees are then employed in both the alnico
magnet and the fabricating products operations, subject to
submission by the parties of an adequate showing of repre-
sentation in such representative group. Eligibility shall be
determined by the payroll period immediately preceding the
issuance of a notice of elections.2
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
2 See Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, 93 NLRB 887.