Combustion Engineering Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 13, 1948

77 N.L.R.B. 72 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of COMBUSTION ENGINEERING COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYER
and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , DISTRICT No. 9,
PETITIONER
Case No. 1,1,-R-1603.-Decided April 13, 1948
Mr. Walter L. Roos, of St . Louis, Mo., for the Employer.
Mr. W. C. Riley, of St. Louis, Mo., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Arthur P. Smith, of Kansas City, Mo., and Mr. George W. Lock-
wood, of St . Louis, Mo., for the Intervenor.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at St. Louis,
Missouri, on October 27,1947, before Harry G. Carlson, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial 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 consisting of the undersigned.'
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Combustion Engineering Company, Inc., a Delaware corporation,
is engaged in the manufacture of power boilers in its plant at St.
Louis, Missouri, known as the Heine Boiler Division. During the year
1946, the Employer purchased for use at this plant materials consist-
ing chiefly of steel plate, of which approximately $400,000 in value
represented shipments from points outside the State of Missouri.
During the same period, the Employer sold finished products valued
in excess of $800,000, of which approximately 75 percent represented
shipments to points outside the State of Missouri.
* Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
77 N, L. R. B., No. 11.
72
COMBUSTION ENGINEERING COMPANY, INC. 73
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is an unaffiliated labor organization claiming to
represent employees of the Employer.
Local 595, International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship
Builders, Welders and Helpers of America, here called the Inter-
venor, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all tool and die makers,
machinists and their helpers, apprentices, and specialists in the ma-
chine-shop department of the Employer's Heine Division. Since
1937, the Intervenor has represented these employees as part of a
plant-wide unit.' The Employer and the Intervenor contend that only
the existing plant-wide unit is appropriate.
The Employer's operations are carried on in four departments-
the boiler shop, sheet-iron shop, machine shop, and loading depart-
ment-each under the separate supervision of a foreman. The fore-
man of the boiler shop, in addition, exercises general supervision over
the other foremen and, in turn, is responsible to the plant superin-
tendent. The Employer's plant occupies a single building with no
physical separation of departments except that the machine shop is
enclosed by a partition. There are 21 employees in the machine-shop
department,2 classified progressively as machine operator (common),
machine operator (general), and machinist-all-around.3 Men in the
first-named category are generally recruited from workers in the plant.
Employees in the higher classifications are usually obtained by pro-
motion of those who have had experience for periods varying from
a few months to a year in the lower classifications. It appears that
only 10 of the employees in the machine shop, the machinists-all-
around,4 possess skills that may be equivalent to those of ordinary
journeymen machinists.
Although the Petitioner seeks to represent only the employees of
the machine-shop department, there are in the boiler shop and sheet-
' The Intervenor 's current contract with the Employer expires April 1, 1948. None of
the parties contends that this contract is a bar to the present proceeding
3 There were approximately 265 employees in the eutue plant at the time of the hearing.
' The record does not disclose the existence of any category specifically classified as tool
and die makers.
An issue was raised at the hearing as to whether of not three of the men in this classi-
fication are supervisors as defined in the Act In view of our decision herein, we find it
unnecessary to determine this question.
74 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
iron shop approximately 26 other employees classified as machine op-
erator (common) and machine operator (general), who possess com-
parable skills and operate machines similar to those operated by
employees of these classifications in the machine shop. Machinists
in the same classification having similar seniority receive the same
hourly pay, whether working in the machine shop or in the other
departments. As the same types of machines are found both within
and without the machine-shop department, employees from the ma-
chine shop sometimes work in the boiler and sheet-iron shops, either
in maintaining plant equipment or in actual production work along-
side machinists of these departments.'
In view of the lack of a clear line of demarcation between the work,
training, experience, and skill of the machine-shop employees and
that of employees in other departments, we perceive no j astification
for severing the machine-shop employees from the existing plant-wide
unit.5 Accordingly, we find that the unit sought by the Petitioner
is inappropriate, and shall therefore dismiss the petition.
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATIO\-
As the bargaining unit sought to be established by the Petitioner
is inappropriate, Ave find that no question exists concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Employer in an appropriate unit, within
the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) of the Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record
in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that
the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of
employees of Combustion Engineering Company, Inc., St. Louis,
Missouri, filed herein by International Association of Machinists,
District No. 9, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
, The Employer ' s plant superintendent testified credibly that, in the case of the maohin-
ists-all-around , this occurred approximately 25 percent of the time
e Matter of St. Louis Public Service Company, 75 N. L. R. B . 693; see also Matter of
Carson Pirie Scott & Company , 75 N L R. B 1244.