Combustion Engineering Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 11, 1938

7 N.L.R.B. 123 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of COMBUSTION ENGINEERING COMPANY, INC. and STEEL
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, FOR AND IN BEHALF OF AMAL-
GAMATED ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS OF NORTH
AMERICA
Case No. B-242
ORDER DISMISSING PETITIONS
May 11, 1938
On February 16, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Election 1 which
provided, inter alia, that three elections be held among the employees
of the Hedges-Walsh-Weidner division of Combustion Engineering
Company, Inc., except those employed in the foundry.
In its Decision the Board made no final determination as to the
appropriate units for the purposes of collective bargaining, except
that the foundry employees constitute an appropriate unit for such
purposes. The International Association of Machinists, Lodge No.
56, herein called the I. A. M., contended that the following classified
employees, herein called the Machinists, constitute. an appropriate
unit : All machinists, machinists' helpers and apprentices, header-mill
specialists, drill-press operators and helpers, milling-machine oper-
ators, drill-machine operators, bolt-machine operators, handy men,
engineers, crane operators employed in the machine shops, planer
operators, repairmen, maintenance men, and toolroom helpers, exclu-
sive of those employed in the foundry. International Brotherhood of
Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders & Helpers, Subordinate Lodge No.
656, herein called the Brotherhood, contended that the following
classified employees, herein called the Boilermakers, constitute an
appropriate unit : All boilermakers and helpers, welders and welding-
machine operators, welders' helpers and apprentices, galvanizers,
form-press operators, form-machine operators, fit-up men (except
those working on cast iron boiler castings), layers-out and helpers,
chippers, grinders, burners, furnace operators, riveters and rivet-
machine operators, rivet heaters, reamers, rod-room men, testers, test-
pit helpers, boilermakers' mechanics, tube men, inspectors and helpers,
punch-shear operators, X-ray helpers, subforemen, flange workers, and
tapping-machine operators and helpers, exclusive of those employed
15 N. L. R. B. 344; see also Amendment to Direction of Elections, issued March 7, 1938
(5 N. L. R. B. 356).
123
124 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
in the foundry. Steel Workers' Organizing Committee, herein called
the S. W. O. C., contended that all of the above-designated employees,
together with other production and maintenance employees, exeept
supervisory employees, clerical employees, and foundry employees
constitute an appropriate unit. The Board stated that since any of
the contentions could be sustained it would direct that separate elec-
tions be held among the Machinists; the Boilermakers, and all'other
production and maintenance employees, except supervisory employees,
clerical employees, and foundry employees, and would decide the issue
on the basis of the preferences indicated by the employees in the elec-
tion. It therefore directed that elections by secret ballot be held
(a) among the"-Machinists to- determine: whether. they desire to be
represented by the I. A. M. or the S. W. O. C., for the purposes of
collective bargaining, or by neither; \(b)' among the Boilermakers to
determine whether they desire to be represented by the Brotherhood
or .the S. W. O. C., for the purpdses.-of collective bargaining, or by
neither; and (e) 'an1ong'all,other production and maintenance em-
ployees, except supervisory employees, clerical employees, and foun-
dry employees, to determine whether they desire to be represented by
the S. W. O. C., for the purposes of collective bargaining. Upon
the 'results of the elections would depend the determination of the
appropriate unit or units. Such of the groups not choosing the S. W.
O- C.,., appearing herein on behalf of Amalgamated Association 'of
Iron, Steel acid ,Tin Workers 'of North America, would constitute
separate and distinct' appropriate units and such of the groups
choosing the S. W. O. C. would together constitute a "single appro-
priate unit. - '
Pursuant to the Direction of Elections, secret ballots were conducted
on March 21, 1938: A majority of the employees who participated
in the election conducted among the Boilermakers, and a majority of
the employees who' participated in the election conducted among the
employees, constituting' the third unit described above, cast their
ballots for the S. W. O. C. . - ' .
In accordance with'the desire of the 'employees as indicated in the
elections, the Board'issued its. Supplemental Decision and Certifica-
tion of Representatives on April 7, 1938,2 in which, inter ilia, it. cer-
tified the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers
of North America as the exclusive representative of the Boilermakers
arid=all other production and maintenance employees,'exclusive of
foundry employees, supervisory employees, clerical employees, and
Machinists, for the purposes of collective bargaining. - . '
' ' Thereafter the Company, the Brotherhood, and a group of ap-
proximately 220 employees of the power boiler and sheet metal shops,
2 6 N. L. R. B. 488.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 125
filed petitions requesting the Board to reconsider its Certification of
Representatives described above and protesting against the inclusion
in one unit of the Boilermakers employed in the power boiler, range
boiler and sheet metal shops. In substance each petition alleges that
those employees classified as Boilermakers should not have voted as
a group to determine whether they desire to be represented by the
Brotherhood or by the S. W. 0. C.; they urge that these employees
should have been separated into three appropriate units, namely :
employees in the two power boiler shops, employees in the sheet metal
shop, and employees in the range boiler shop. The petition, of the
Company alleges that the employees of the power boiler shops and
the sheet metal shop went out on strike on April 13, 1938, in protest
against the Board's findings with respect to the appropriate units.
The determination of the appropriate unit herein unquestionably
followed the desires of the Brotherhood as indicated in the record
of this proceeding. The Brotherhood's petition protesting this de-
termination represents a change of position clearly without merit.
This proceeding was initiated following a petition filed by the
S. W. 0. C. requesting an investigation and certification of representa-
tives and alleging that the unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining was an industrial unit consisting of all production
and maintenance employees, except supervisory employees, throughout
the entire plant. The Brotherhood, in its motion to intervene in the
proceedings, alleged :
Boilermakers, welders, apprentices and helpers and other em-
ployees performing such work as is generally recognized as com-
ing within the jurisdiction of our organization, employed at this
plant, constitute an appropriate unit for collective bargaining and
should not be included in any more inclusive units
It thus contended that a craft unit consisting of all employees classi-
fied as Boilermakers constituted an appropriate unit. At the open-
ing of the hearing, the Brotherhood reaffirmed its position :
Trial Examiner PARADISE . I take it that the (Brotherhood) is
contending here, as stated in its motion of intervention that the
Boiler Makers, Welders, Apprentices and Helpers and other em-
ployees perform (ing) such work as is generally recognized as
coming within the jurisdiction of that organization which are
employed at both of the plants in Chattanooga constitute an
appropriate unit for collective bargaining?
Mr. WALTER ( counsel for the Brotherhood). That is right.
During the course of the hearing, the Brotherhood departed from its
original contention, and through its counsel, asserted that the Boiler-
Both the petition of the S. W. 0 . C. and the Brotherhood 's motion to intervene were
amended at the hearing to exclude all foundry employees.
126 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
makers should constitute three separate units : -Boilermakers em-
ployed in the power boiler shops, Boilermakers employed in the range
boiler shop, and Boilermakers employed in the sheet metal shop,,pre-
sumably leaving the unskilled employees in these shops to constitute
still another.unit. This change of position was not seriously pressed
nor was any convincing testimony elicited to sustain it. The Brother-
hood claimed to represent a majority of the Boilermakers in each of
these shops and soon reverted to its original contention that all Boiler-
makers constitute a single appropriate unit :
Trial Examiner PARADISE. You don't want the skilled and semi-
skilled men and apprentices and helpers in all of those three de-
partments to be represented by the boilermakers as one unit, do
you?
Mr. WALTER. If the Board so decides, yes. (Italics ours.)
Thereafter, for the most part, the hearing, following out the lan-
guage of the Brotherhood's petition, was devoted to the determina-
tion of the jurisdiction of the Brotherhood as it applied to the em=
ployees throughout the plant. A summary of the respondent's pay
roll for all the shops in this plant, after an analysis by Brotherhood
witnesses and representatives, showed that this organization claimed
jurisdiction over 521 employees working throughout the various shops
of the plant. Indeed, the Brotherhood claimed jurisdiction over six
Boilermakers employed in the machine shops, as coming within the
appropriate unit.
The -majority of this 'Board recognized the Brotherhood's conten-
tion that all Boilermakers constitute an appropriate unit to the extent
of permitting these employees to decide for themselves whether they
desired to be represented by the Brotherhood. Upon such basis the
election herein was ordered.
The Brotherhood made no formal protest to the Decision and Direc-
tion -of Elections herein issued on February 16, 1938, and it is clear
that the Direction of Election conformed to its desire. The Brother-
hood's refusal now to abide by the expressed desires of the majority
of employees of its own craft as indicated by the results of this elec-
tion constitutes a reversal of its position urged upon the Board at
the hearing, and an attempt to split its own craft into small units
in order to win an election in one or some of those units.
For the foregoing reasons, we see no merit in the petitions now
before us. Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions of the Combustion Engineer-
ing Company, Inc., International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, Iron
Ship Builders, Welders and Helpers of America, and the employees
of the power boiler and sheet metal shops be, and they hereby are,
dismissed.