Commercial Solvents Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 12, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 277 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of COMMERCIAL SOLVENTS CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-339.-Decided November 12, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :1
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A 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.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all production and mainte-
nance employees at the Employer's Peoria, Illinois, plant, excluding
employees in the powerhouse and engineers in the methanol and dry
ice plants. The Intervenor 2 agrees with the Petitioner as to the
'Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
The Employer filed a motion to consolidate this proceeding with a subsequently filed
decertification petition . As the Regional Director 's dismissal of the decertification petition
has been sustained by the Board, Matter of Commercial Solvents Corporation, 13-RD-22,
we find it unnecessary to consider the Employer 's motion.
' Joint Council of Local Union No. 8, International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL,
and Local Union No. 8 , International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers , AFL, claiming to
represent the employees in the powerhouse and the engineers in the methanol and dry ice
plants, intervened at the hearing for the purpose of opposing the inclusion of these
employees in the proposed unit.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 57.
277
278 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
appropriate unit. The Employer would include the powerhouse
employees and the engineers in the methanol and dry ice plants in the
unit and would exclude therefrom watchmen, laboratory employees,
the meter maintenance man, and the nitroparaffin analyst.
Following a petition filed by the present Intervenor in an earlier
case,3 the Board found that the powerhouse employees and the engineers
in the methanol and dry ice plants constituted a unit appropriate for
purposes of collective bargaining. Shortly thereafter, upon a petition
filed by District 50, United Aline Workers of America,4 the Board
found that the production and maintenance employees, including the
laboratory employees and the meter maintenance man, but excluding
the powerhouse employees and the engineers in the methanol and dry
ice plants, constituted an appropriate unit .5 The last contract between
District 50 and the Employer, covering the production and mainte-
nance employees, expired in October 1947. The last contract between
the Intervenor and the Employer expired April 1, 1948. Negotiations
between the Intervenor and the Employer for a new contract were
interrupted by a strike called by District 50 on April 23, 1948.
Powerhouse employees and engineers in the methanol and dry ice
plants: The Intervenor has bargained for these employees as a separate
unit since its certification by the Board in 1942. There have been no
changes in the operations of the departments since the hearing in the
earlier cases Petitioner does not seek to include these employees in
its proposed unit. Under all the circumstances, we shall exclude
employees in the powerhouse and engineers in the methanol and dry
ice plants from the unit.
Watchmen: These employees watch for sabotage, fires, and theft;
exclude unauthorized persons from the premises; and exclude em-
ployees from sections of the plant where they are not employed. They
perform no other type of work. They carry no arms, and do not wear
uniforms. For the reasons stated in earlier cases,' we shall exclude
the watchmen from the unit.
Laboratory employees: The employees in the laboratory perform
routine tests and checks. Although some of them possess college
training and education in chemistry and related sciences, these em-
3 Matter of Commercial Solvents Corporation, 41 N. L. It. B. 642.
4 District 50 was denied intervention at the hearing herein by the hearing officer as it is
not in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act and does not have a present
contract interest.
5 Matter of Commercial Solvents Corporation, 45 N. L. It. B. 141.
6 Footnote 2, supra.
7 Matter of C. V. HiI g* Co., Inc., 76 N. L. It. B. 158 ; Matter of F. W. Wint Co., 76
N L R. B. 472.
COMMERCIAL SOLVENTS CORPORATION 279
ployees perform duties of a routine natures We shall include the
laboratory employees in the unit.
Meter maintenance man: The record indicates that this employee,
although he is a skilled draftsman and has a desk in the engineers'
office, seldom utilizes his skill as a draftsman. He spends a sub-
stantial part of his time in the plant, checking, repairing, and main-
taining meters. His tools consist of pliers, screw drivers, wrenches,
and other small tools. We shall, as we did in the prior case, include
the meter maintenance man in the unit with the production and
maintenance employees.
Nitro-paraffin analyst: This employee makes chemical tests of ma-
terials used in the nitro-paraffin plant and checks the finished prod-
ucts against customers' specifications. He possesses a college degree
in chemistry and his job calls for considerable knowledge of chem-
istry. However, it does not appear that his duties call for the exercise
of any independent discretion or judgment. Nor does he qualify as
a professional employee within Section 2 (12) of the Act. We per-
ceive no reason why the nitro-paraffin analyst should be excluded, and
we shall include him in the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's Peoria, Illinois, plant, including laboratory employees, meter
maintenance man, and nitro-paraffin analyst, but excluding employees
in the powerhouse, engineers in the methanol and dry ice plants,
watchmen, office and clerical employees, and all supervisors, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among
the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of the Direction of Election, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill
" In the earlier case, the Employer urged that these employees be included in the unit
with production and maintenance employees . No valid reason appears in the record for
excluding these employees now.
280 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
or on vacation or temporarily laid off , but excluding those employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been
rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election , and also ex-
cluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes
of collective bargaining , by International Chemical Workers Union,
AFL.