Columbia Packing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 9, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 211 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of L. R. CLARK AND WILLIAM ELLIS D/B/A COLUMBIA
PACKING COMPANY,1 EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL 843, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-RC-59.-Decided November 9, 1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-Iran panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds that no
question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation 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 :2
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all engineers, firemen, and mechanical
maintenance men, excluding all other employees, guards, professional
employees and supervisors. The Employer and the Intervenor con-
tend that the proposed unit is inappropriate, and that the employees
' Name as corrected at the hearing.
Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
' Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America, Local 151, AFL,
herein called the Intervenor, contends that a contract currently in effect between the
Employer and the Intervenor covering the employees involved herein, constitutes a bar
to this proceeding In view of our dismissal of the petition on the ground that the unit
sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate, we find it unnecessary to resolve the contract
bar issue.
80 N. L. R. B, No. 43.
211
817319-49-vol 80-15
212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
sought by the Petitioner should not be severed from the production
and maintenance unit which the Intervenor represents 3
There are two employees classified as maintenance mechanics in
the Petitioner's proposed unit, one of whom works on the day shift,
and the other on the swing shift.4 These employees are part of the
Employer's maintenance department, but work under the separate
supervision of the chief engineer. They have their headquarters in
a shop in the boiler room, which is in a separate building from the
main plant. The other maintenance employees have their quarters
in another shop of the boiler room building.
The primary duty of these employees is to maintain the boilers
in the boiler room and to keep the refrigeration equipment throughout
the plant in continuous operation. This work, however, usually
occupies only about 1 or 2 hours of the day. The remainder of their
time is spent in repair and installation of machinery and equipment
throughout the plant. In the performance of this work they may
employ the skills of plumbers, steamfitters, electricians, and welders.
The record, however, contains no evidence as to the precise degree of
skill required of these employees. The employee on the swing shift
also works as a watchman, but this work is incidental to his regular
duties.
We do not believe on the basis of these facts that these employees
constitute a true craft group so as to warrant their severance from
the broader unit in which they have heretofore been represented .5
We find that the proposed unit is inappropriate, and we shall order
that the petition be dismissed.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
S The Employer has bargained with the Intervenor since 1927 on a plant-wide basis.
Under the contracts resulting from this bargaining, the employees sought by the Peti-
tioner work under the same working conditions and receive the same benefits as do the
other employees in the plant.
The production employees work only on the day shift.
6Matter of Pittsburgh Railways Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 750; Matter of George
S. Mepham Corporation, 78 N. L. R. B. 1081; Matter of Celanese Corporation of America,
78 N. L. R. B. 1047.