Dundee Cement Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 18, 1968

170 N.L.R.B. 422 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

422 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Dundee Cement Company and Laborers Interna-
tional Union of North America , AFL-CIO, Local
Union No. 613, Petitioner and Carpenters District
Council of St. Louis and Vicinity , affiliated with
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of
America , AFL-CIO, Petitioner and United Ce-
ment, Lime & Gypsum Workers International
Union , AFL-CIO, Petitioner and International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union
350, AFL-CIO, Petitioner.' Cases 14-RC-5655,
14-RC-5657, 14-RC-5659, and 14-RC-5704
March 18, 1968
DECISION ON REVIEW, ORDER, AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH, AND MEMBERS BROWN,
FANNING, AND JENKINS
On June 6, 1967, the Regional Director for Re-
gion 14 issued a Decision and Direction of Election
in the above-entitled proceedings,- in which he
directed elections in separate voting groups of (A )
electrical maintenance employees, (B) mechanical
maintenance employees, and (C) all production
employees, including quarry employees, laboratory
technicians, controlroom technicians, and-time and
material coordinators, employed at the Employer's
Clarksville, Missouri, plant. Thereafter, the Em-
ployer and the Cement Workers filed timely
requests for review of the Regional Director's deci-
sion in which they both assert that he erred in find-
ing that the employees in voting groups A and B
may constitute separate appropriate units, and the
Employer contends that he erred in including the
laboratory technicians, controlroom technicians,
and time and material coordinators in voting group
C. The Carpenters and the IBEW filed opposition
to the requests for review as they relate to their
respective requests for separate units of mechani-
cal maintenance employees and electrical mainte-
nance employees.
On August 30, 1967, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board by telegraphic order granted the
requests for review and stayed the elections pend-
ing decision on review. Thereafter, the Carpenters
and the IBEW filed, as their briefs on review, the
briefs which they previously filed with the Regional
Director.
The Board has considered the entire record- in
this case with respect to the issues under review, in-
' The above-named Petitioners are referred to herein as the Laborers,
the Carpenters, the Cement Workers, and the IBEW, respectively
2 General Drivers, Warehousemen and Helpers Local Union No. 21, af-
filiated with International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
eluding the requests for review,- the oppositions,
and the briefs on review, and makes the following
findings: I -
The Employer, which is engaged in the manufac-
ture and sale of cement, operates one plant in Dun-
dee, Michigan, and, at the time of the hearing in
April and May 1967, had nearly completed con-
struction of a new plant in Clarksville, Missouri,
which alone is involved in these proceedings. There
is no history of collective bargaining for any of the
employees at the Clarksville plant,
The Carpenters petitioned fora unit of mechani-
cal maintenance employees, and, in the alternative,
sought- a unit of all maintenance employees; the
IBEW petitioned for a separate unit of electrical
maintenance employees; the Cement Workers and
the Laborers each petitioned for a unit of produc-
tion and maintenance employees and, together with
the Employer and the Intervenors ,2 -opposed the
narrower unit requests. -
When fully operational, the Clarksville plant, ac-
cording to-the testimony, will be the most highly
automated bulk cement manufacturing plant in the
world. All aspects of the operations from the ex-
traction of the two basic raw materials, limestone
and shale, at the quarry, to the shipment of bulk ce-
ment are geared to continuous flow production 24,
hours a day, 7 days a week. Each day approximate-
ly 4,000 tons of limestone and 2,000 tons of shale
are transported from the quarry to the plant and
discharged into,a primary crusher. From this-point
on the production process is instrumentally con-
trolled by electrical, mechanical, thermostatic, and
pneumatic devices directed by an electronic com-
puter system. After going through the primary
crusher the stone and shale are separately, conveyed
to' a secondary crusher. The two basic materials are
then mixed in a proportion and ground in a ball mill
where water and iron or aluminum bearing materi-
als are added. The resultant mixture, called, slurry,
is- pumped to a slurry basin where it is homogenized
and stored for further processing. The slurry is then
pumped to a rotating. kiln, over 700 feet in length
and 25 feet in diameter, where the moisture con-
tent is reduced by the application of heat to
produce "clinker." The clinker is then conveyed to
a stockpile or directly to the cement mills. Gypsum
is added at the cement mills and the materials are
ground to specified standards to produce cement.
The cement is then pumped by pneumatic pressure
to storage silos for shipping. At the time of the
hearing, clinker was being stockpied as the cement
mills were not yet in operation.
Warehousemen & Helpers of America, and International Union of Operat-
ing Engineers, AFL-CIO, Local No 2, referred to herein as the Teamsters
and the Operating Engineers , respectively , intervened in the proceedings
170 NLRB No. 66
DUNDEE CEMENT COMPANY 423
The Employer has less than 100 employees at its
Clarksville plant. At the quarry there are 38 to 40
employees engaged in extracting and transporting
the limestone and shale with the use of drills, com-
pressors, power shovels, loaders, heavy trucks, etc.
At the plant, approximately 2 miles from the quar-
ry, there are 5 controlroom technicians, 5 laborato-
ry technicians, and 5 to 7 material and time coor-
dinators, all of whom are salaried; and there are 15
to 19 laborers, 14 to 16 mechanical maintenance
employees, and, 8 electrical maintenance em-
ployees, who are hourly paid. A plant manager is
assisted by a plant engineer who is responsible for
engineering and maintenance for both the plant and
quarry operations. Under the plant engineer is a su-
perintendent for mechanical maintenance, a su-
perintendent for electrical maintenance, and a
maintenance planning engineer. The maintenance
planning engineer is over the stores supervisor and
the material and time coordinators. The superinten-
dent of electrical maintenance has under him two
day-shift supervisors who give immediate supervi-
sion to five electrical maintenance employees. Also
assisting the plant manager are a production
manager and a production superintendent. The
latter has under him four operations supervisors,
one in charge of each shift, who give directions and
work assignments to laborers and maintenance em-
ployees. Quarry employees have their own im-
mediate supervisor and a quarry superintendent.
The controlroom technicians, one of whom is on
controlroom duty each shift, direct and monitor the
continuous flow production process by means of
the IBM computer. When adjustments or changes
are required, or when trouble develops, the control-
room technician communicates such matters to
quarry supervisors or the operations supervisor. In
the case of plant trouble the operations supervisor
assigns laborers, mechanical maintenance men, or
electrical maintenance -men, either singly or in
teams, depending upon the nature of the difficulty,
to make' the necessary repairs or corrections. Trou-
bles which can be rectified by manual labor, such
as spillage or blockage in the flow of materials, are
handled by laborers alone. If the source of the
breakdown is mechanical, the repairs are made by
mechanical maintenance employees. If the trouble
is electrical or electronic, the work is done by elec-
trical maintenance men. Sometimes a team made
up of two or all three-of these classifications of em-
ployees i,is assigned to determine whether the source
of trouble is mechanical, electrical, or electronic. If
major repairs are required, the defective motor or
instrument, is replaced and sent out to a contract
shop for repair. In addition to troubleshooting as-
signments,, the operations supervisors also make
regular assignments of work, such as preventive
maintenance of all types, instrument maintenance,
and janitorial duties.
About three-quarters of the time of maintenance
employees is spent in troubleshooting assignments
at the plant and quarry; the rest is spent in preven-
tive maintenance work. At the present time,
because the plant machinery and equipment was
recently installed and requires little maintenance,
most of the troubleshooting involves mobile
machinery in use at the quarry. However, it is an-
ticipated that during future normal plant operations
most of it will involve plant machinery and equip-
ment. Although the mechanical and electrical
maintenance men each have their, own workshop
area where tools and equipment needed in their
work are kept, the record does not indicate how
much of their time is spent working in those areas.
In hiring employees for the mechanical main-
tenance classification the Employer requires appli-
cants to take a mechanical aptitude test. Although
not requiring journeyman status,_ it has sought men
with the experience of welders, millwrights,
machinists, and automotive mechanics, respective-
ly. In the course of time, the Employer expects that
all of its mechanical maintenance employees will
develop- a combination of skills from these four
craft areas, in addition to other craft areas, such as
pipefitting and bricklaying, in order that they may
be assigned interchangeably to handle its mechani-
cal maintenance tasks. At present, it utilizes classes
A, B, and C of mechanical maintenance employees,
and all incumbents were hired as class B. In the fu-
ture it plans to add a class D for those hired with
little or no experience.
The Employer gives applicants for its electrical
maintenance jobs three specially devised tests, two
in electricity, and one in electronics. The Employer
has no apprentice or on-the-job training program
for progression to journeymen -electricians or in-
strument repairmen. The Employer classes its elec-
trical maintenance men as A, B, and C. Two of
those employed are classified as A, three as B, and
three as C. Shortly after hire one was promoted to
class A upon passing an additional qualifying test.
Most of the eight incumbents had previous ex-
perience doing electrical work in industry or in the
military service; at least two had experience in elec-
tronic or instrument repair. The Employer plans to
develop the skills of its electrical maintenance em-
ployees so that they may be assigned in-
terchangeably to both electrical and electronic
troubleshooting duties. The electrical maintenance
employees have their own personal tools and have
access to test equipment and other tools needed in
their work. They are called upon to analyze electri-
424 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cal-circuit failures, to replace defective motors, to
repair burned out brushes and wires, to do rewiring,
to pull conduit, to make minor repairs- on switch
gear, generators , alternators , and transformers, and
to splice electric -cable. However", as above in-
dicated, major electrical repairs are performed by
job contractors because the Employer's electrical
maintenance men have neither the training nor the
equipment necessary to do such work. Instrumenta-
tion service is likewise contracted out.
The Employer's mechanical and electrical main-
tenance employees '-and the laborers punch the
same timeclock, are all subject to the directions of
the operations supervisors, share the same locker
room and lunchroom,- and, together with quarry
employees, enjoy the same fringe benefits. On the
second and third shifts, the operations supervisor is
the only, supervisor present in the plant. However,
maintenance problems beyond his ability to solve
are referred to off duty-maintenance supervisors.
The Regional Director found that the Employer's
mechanical maintenance employees are not a true
craft group, as they exercise- skills related to many
different, crafts and do not exercise the gamut of
craft skills of millwrights. No request for review was
made as to this finding: As to the requested electri-
cal maintenance employees, without making a
specific finding as to whether they were a true craft
group, the ' Regional Director found that, as they
were not interchanged with other employees and
"are separately supervised and are the only group
which exercises' electrical and electronic skills,"
they 'can constitute a separate appropriate unit
Also, in accord with the Carpenters alternative
request, he concluded that both the mechanical and
electrical maintenance employees, in the absence
of a bargaining history on a broader basis, can con-
stitute an appropriate - maintenance department
unit. Consistent with these findings he directed' self-
determination elections for voting groups A and B.
We are -unable to conclude from the record that
the electrical maintenance employees here involved
constitute -a true craft group of electricians. `It -is
clear that, like the mechanical maintenance em-
ployees, in order 'to perform the functions required
of them for the maintenance of the Employer's au-
tomated production process, none - of them is
required to be a journeyman in a particular craft,
and they-do -not in fact exercise the gamut skills of
any craft. Nor do we agree with the Regional
Director that they can constitute a separate ap-
propriate unit by reason of separate supervision and
their specialized functions. Most of their work is
troubleshooting -in nature, involving application of
certain basic principles of electricity or electronics;
they are supervised in part by operations super-
visors; and they frequently work in close conjunc-
tion with mechanical maintenance employees and
laborers in production areas, both in the plant and
the quarry.
Finally, we do not find record support for the Re-
gional Director's conclusion that the -mechanical
and electrical maintenance employees can con-
stitute a separate appropriate maintenance depart-
ment unit under the principles set forth in American
Cyanamid Company, 131 NLRB 909. In view of the
high degree to which the troubleshooting main-
tenance functions performed-by these maintenance
employees are integrated with the Employer's auto-
mated cement manufacturing process, the extent to
which they receive supervision from operations su-
pervisors, and the substantial amount of plant main-
tenance work done by the laborers, we find that the
mechanical and electrical maintenance employees
do not constitute a readily identifiable group of
maintenance employees with a distinct community
of interest apart from other employees. -
Accordingly, as we have found the unit requests
of the IBEW and the Carpenters to be inap-
propriate, we shall dismiss their petitions. And we
find the overall production and maintenance unit
sought by the Cement Workers and the Laborers to
be appropriate. -
Turning to the -unit placement issues under
review, the Regional Director included in the
requested overall unit the controlroom technicians
and the laboratory technicians on the bases that,
although technical employees within the Board's
definition, their duties are primarily concerned with
the production process; and that, contrary to the
Employer's contention, the controlroom techni-
cians were not supervisors as defined in the"Act. He
also' included in such unit - the time and material
coordinators on the basis of his finding that they
are plant clerical employees. The Employer con-
tends that the facts require findings that the con-
trolroom technicians are supervisors and that the
employees in all three classifications do not share a
substantial community of interest with production
and maintenance employees. ' -
The controlroom technicians are high school grad-
uates who have passed-verbal comprehension and
mechanical aptitude tests and have received on-the-
job -training for about 1 year at the Employer's
Dundee plant. They have been given a 10-day train-
ing course by IBM to prepare them for their work
on the unique computer utilized at the Clarksville
plant and will continue their training on the job for
at least a year before they are considered as
qualified. There is one controlroom technician on
controlroom duty each shift. The Employer
testified that- for continuous operations its ex-
DUNDEE CEMENT COMPANY 425
perience has shown that approximately 4-1/2 men
are needed to fill a position. Thus, it anticipates
that, in part to supplement its staff of four opera-
tions supervisors and in part to enhance their train-
ing, one of the five controlroom technicians, on a
rotational basis, will be assigned part of his time to
work as an operations supervisor.
The laboratory technicians are also high school
graduates who had received 8 months of on-the-job
training at the Employer's Dundee plant. Around
the clock, on an hourly or 2-hourly basis, they
make X-ray spectrographic tests to determine the
quality of product being produced and, by use of a
formula, ascertain what additions, if any, are neces-
sary to maintain quality specifications. The infor-
mation thus derived is relayed to the controlroom.
There are also two day-shift laboratory technicians
who perform physical tests on the product. They
are being trained so that they may, on occasion, act
as substitutes for controlroom technicians and may
progress to that classification.
Both classifications of technicians in the course
of their normal duties have little contact with the
laborers, maintenance men, or quarry employees.
However, in view of the close direct relationship of
their functions with, production, we find, in agree-
ment with the Regional Director, that they have a
community of interest with production and main-
tenance employees sufficient to warrant their inclu-
sion in the same unit.'
As to the time and material coordinators, the
record amply demonstrates that, as found by the
Regional Director, they are plant clerical em-
ployees. They are therefore properly included in
the requested overall unit in accord with the
Board's established practice of including this type
of employee in production and maintenance units
in cases where their unit placement is in dispute.
Accordingly, we find that the following em-
ployees constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9(b)'of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees of
the'Employer at its Clarksville, Missouri, plant,
including quarry employees, laboratory techni-
cians, controlroom technicians, and time and
material coordinators, but excluding office
clerical employees, professional employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petitions filed in
Cases 14-RC-5657 and 14-RC-5704 be, and they
hereby are, dismissed.
[Direction of Election' omitted from publica-
tion.]
Member Fanning , dissenting:
This is initial organization ; severance is not in-
volved. There has been no bargaining for em-
ployees at this vast, new, automated cement manu-
facturing facility. In fact, at the time of hearing the
electrical construction contractor was still complet-
ing its work, apparently employing 50 journeymen.
Representation for groups of electrical main-
tenance, mechanical maintenance, and production
and maintenance employees is being sought, and
the Regional Director directed elections in separate
voting groups of electrical maintenance employees,
mechanical maintenance employees, and produc-
tion employees. At the quarry, some distance from
the plant, the ` employee complement is a produc-
tion group. At the plant, however, where the main-
tenance employees work almost entirely, the com-
puter is the production force.' Except for laborers,
there are only maintenance employees at the plant,
plus 10 salaried technicals and 7 salaried plant cler-
icals. These salaried technicals and clericals share
plant facilities with the supervisory staff and have
similar fringe benefits.
In this context my colleagues say that the Re-
gional Director was incorrect in his conclusion that
the electrical maintenance employees are entitled
to a self-determination election based on their
distinct electrical and electronic skills and their
separate supervision, and that the Regional
Director also erred in finding that the remaining
maintenance employees , or the maintenance de-
partment as a whole should the electrical group not
select their craft petitioner, are entitled on initial
organization to be represented separately. Separate
from the computer they shall not be!
I cannot agree. It is unrealistic to conclude that
these eight maintenance electricians, who receive
the highest hourly pay at this facility, who were
' We are not persuaded, from the record as a whole, that controlroom
technicians regularly and substantially work as operations supervisors.
Furthermore, the directions which the controlroom technicians give to
operations or quarry supervisors are dictated by the control mechanisms
and do not, in .our opinion, constitute responsible direction of employees.
We therefore affirm the Regional Director's finding, on the record before
us, that their exercise of supervisory authority is sporadic and that they are
not supervisors as defined in the Act
' An election eligibility list , containing the names and addresses of all the
eligible voters , must be filed by the Employer with the Regional Director
for Region 14 within 7 days after the date of this Decision and Directionof
Election The Regional Director shall make the list available to all parties
to the election No extension of time to file this list shall be granted by the
Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances. Failure to
comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the election
whenever proper objections are filed Excelsior Underwear In( , 156
NLRB 1236
5 The computer was so characterized by the vice president who designed
the facility and is in charge of labor relations and personnel
426 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
given written examinations and then carefully
screened for electrical and/or electronic experience
before being hired,' and who do only electrical
work under their own three supervisors,' do not ex-
ercise craft skills recognizable on the contemporary
scene. The "major repairs" which they are said not
to do are obviously not feasible with so small an
employee complement.8 The troubleshooting they
will do, which my colleagues seem to dismiss as
run-of-the-mill despite the admitted involvement of
"basic, principles of electricity or electronics," is
described by the plant's chief electrical engineer in
terms reflecting the involvement of skills.' Finally,
we have in this group of electrical maintenance em-
ployees no hapless interloper whose skills are
questionable because he was previously a fisher-
man.10
Nor can I agree that the maintenance group as a
whole is less than "readily indentifiable." Their
distinct skills and supervision are well within those
contemplated in American Cyanamid and Crown
Simpson.tt The computer being inanimate, it is ab-
surd to conjure for them integration with- the auto-
mated "process." The shop in which they work and
the equipment it includes are designed for the seri-
ous business of maintaining the machinery at this
complex plant.12 And the "operation supervisors"-
one per shift-who are said by my colleagues to
destroy the ingredient of sep-rate supervision for
mechanical maintenance employees are in fact
known by the mechnical maintenance employees
themselves as "'maintenance supervisors,"13 and are
directed by the plant engineer. Like the 8 electrical
maintenance employees, the 14 mechanical main-
tenance employees were hired for specific craft
skills sought by the plant engineer.l4 Again, no
fisherman. An apprenticeship system, not men-
tioned by my colleagues, is planned for those hired
in the future. Such a system, requiring-a period of
4-1/2 years to complete, exists at the Dundee,
Michigan, plant. Finally, the pay scale of these
mechanical maintenance employees is only slightly
below that - of the electrical maintenance em-
ployees.
Thus the computerization of production at this
plant has resulted in a mainten, nce force complete-
ly distinctive, even apart from their gay, identitying
hats: green for mechanical maintenance, and
orange for electrical maintenance. To 'deny these
electrical maintenance employees and these
mechanical maintenance employees, each with
distinctive-plant functions and minimal contact with
other employees, the opportunity at the outset to
select a representative of their own choosing, in my
view, is not apt to contribute to industrial stability.
The assumption that an overall bargaining unit so
established will insure stability, whereas -two or
three bargaining units will not, has not been
demonstrated here.
One may ask how this case differs from DuPont,
162 NLRB 413, where the electricians spent 90
c The employment applications in evidence show that all but one had at
least 4 years experience in electricity or electronics , frequently in the
Armed Forces , and on high voltage equipment according to the chief elec-
trical engineer The experience of three of these ranged from 10 to 15 to 18
years The one who had only 2 years of electrical work got this experience
with the construction contractor at the facility's office building , and had-
also had a semester of college training in mechanical drafting and a course
in radio and television repair.
' The superintendent of electrical maintenance and two electrical super-
visors work the day shift , when five of the eight maintenance electricians
are on duty Seven of the eight constantly rotate shifts Although the Em-
ployer plans no apprenticeship program as such for electricians , training on
the job and a time schedule for progression from "C" to "A" is contem-
plated, perhaps along the lines of that in effect at the Dundee , Michigan,
facility , that is, 6 years
"The planned use of outside contractors for major repair work is admit-
tedly affected by lack of " that much manpower " and lack of facilities for
jobs like rewinding motors, repairing fans of more than 1000 hp , or repair-
ing the possible destruction of an entire bank of cable
s This engineer , who designed the Clarksville facility from the standpoint
of electrical control and instrumentation , described the electrical and elec-
tronic skills required as follows
the ability to troubleshoot , the ability to find the missing link, so to
speak, in a circuit that will not work, and diagnose why a circuit won't
work , to test electronic components, and isolate that one which is not
functioning and replace it, to read a schematic diagram, to read an
electronic drawing , to isolate problems , the use of test equipment,
oscilloscopes , voltmeter, megger
See Timber Products Company, Division of Cypress Mines Corporation,
164 NLRB 1060, fn 8 and fn 19
" American Cyanamid, 131 NLRB 909 , where the Board reversed a prior
Board decision in 130 NLRB I, and found that the maintenance group had
not lost its identity as a function separate from production because of the
integrated character of the employer 's operation Surely my colleagues
cannot seriously contend in this case that the degree of automation evident
in this computer operation (which has really accentuated the separate
identity of maintenance employees) has caused the maintenance personnel
to lose identity That would be too cruel an interpretation of the caveat
concerning industrial advancement which appears at the end of the Amer-
ican Cyanamid decision Crown Simpson Pulp Company, 163 NLRB 796,
also relied on by the Regional Director, was a panel decision-in which
Members Jenkins and Zagoria joined me This case seems to have been
misunderstood by the employer In it the Board simply said that the main-
tenance department unit at that plant was also appropriate if the electrical
craft petitioner preferred to go to election in that unit
"The plant engineer, who approves the hiring of all maintenance per-
sonnel and administers the department, described the maintenance shop as
a room 120 feet by 250 feet, with three bays, two with overhead cranes
One bay has "heavy sheet metal equipment , rolling mill, iron worker,
shaper, shears, hydraulic press, cct " Mechanical maintenance employees
will be required to operate all this equipment Another bay is for overhaul-
ing mobile equipment and pumps The third bay is for the personal work
benches of the men One end of the maintenance shop is fenced off as a
shop for the electrical maintenance people
"Two mechanical maintenance employees so testified In addition to
the plant engineer, there is a mechanical superintendent on the day shift
when 6 to 10 of the mechanical maintenance employees are on duty Two
mechanical maintenance employees cover the afternoon , and two the night
shift All rotate
11 The plant engineer testified that although he did not hire on the basis
of a journeyman card, he did try, out of 14 to be hired, to get "4 men
primarily as welders, 4 good millwrights, 4 good machinists, experienced,
and 4 good mechanics, primarily an auto mechanic, heavy equipment",
also that these men "will have to carry out every function of maintenance
which is in pipefitting , boilermaker work, welder work, millwright work,
carpentry work, anything that comes along," including a hole in the roof or
the bricking of the kiln
DUNDEE CEMENT COMPANY 427
percent of their time doing preventive maintenance
in production areas-a condition which required
that they synchronize their work with production
employees-and acquired their skills through on-
the-job training . That, too, v•as a highly integrated
manufacturing process ; in addition , there were ac-
tually production employees with whom the main-
tenance employees had frequent contact. Of
course , no overall unit , was being sought in that
case-a beneficial posture which looms more and
more important in this shrunken area of separate
units for distinct skills.
One may ask how this case differs from Georgia
Pacific, 156 NLRB 946, where all employees were
being sought on initial organization and where elec-
tricians hired on the basis of ability and doing only
electrical work even when working alongside other
maintenance employees were accorded self-deter-
mination elections ; or how it differs from Union
Carbide Corporation , Chemicals ;Division , 156 NLRB
634, where two voting groups of skilled employees
(instrument repairmen; plumber-pipefitters-wel-
ders ), each with 18 months on-the-job training,
were given self-determination before inclusion in a
production and maintenance unit ; or, for that
matter , how it differs from Bonwit Teller , Inc., 159
NLRB 759, ' where the request for a department
store nonselling unit, `,`complicated " by the petition
for a storewide unit, was nonetheless granted and
the nonselling employees given self-determination
because of "sufficient differences" between their
work and that of selling employees.
I am unable to distinguish this case from those
cited above. I strongly urge the retention of the
self-determination principle in the highly important
area of initial organization so that collective bar-
gaining can proceed from a base that reflects em-
ployee desires expressed democratically through
the election process. I think this is more likely to
produce a stable bargaining relationship and con-
tribute to industrial peace than will the imposition
of a unit which this Board finds attractive but which
many of the employees-particularly those with
distinct skills-obviously do not.
Section 9(b) still requires the Board to decide:
... in each case whether, in order to assure to
employees the fullest freedom in exercising the
rights guaranteed by this Act, the unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining shall be the employer unit, craft unit,
plant unit, or subdivision thereof.
If this guideline for Board creation of units is now
to be ignored on initial organization, there is ample
precedent to suggest it is even less likely to be ad-
hered to by this Board in the disposition of sub-
sequent representation issues.15
I would affirm the Regional Director. Ac-
cordingly, I dissent from my colleagues' decision in
this case.
"Cf Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, Uranium Division, 162 NLRB 387,
Holmberg, Inc., 162 NLRB 407, Universal Form Clanip, Co, 163 NLRB
184, Pervel Industries, Inc, 163 NLRB 1037, Timber Products, 164 NLRB
1060, Alton Box Board Company, 164 NLRB 918, Allied Chemical Corpora-
tion, National Aniline Division , 165 NLRB 235, Allen-Bradley company,
I68 NLRB 15, Mobil Oil Corporation, 169 NLRB 259, Trico Products,
169 NLRB 287