E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 13, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 1301 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of E. I . DuPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY, INC., EM-
PLOYER and UNITED GAS, COKE & CHEMICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA,
C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-184.-Decided September 13, 1919
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in this matter was held before
William Naimark, hearing officer. 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
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner and International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, AFL, herein called the Intervenor, are labor organizations
claiming to represent employees 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 Petitioner generally seeks a unit consisting of production,
maintenance,' and construction employees in the Employer's Belle,
West Virginia, plant. The Intervenor, on the other hand, seeks a unit
of all electricians, their helpers and apprentices, in the plant's main-
tenance and construction departments. The Employer agrees with
the Petitioner's unit contention.
At its plant in Belle, West Virginia, the Employer is engaged in the
manufacture of numerous chemical products, including ammonia,
alcohol, nylon, and zerone. The plant consists of 126 operating build-
ings and structures, and covers 105 acres. The production machinery
utilized in every operation in the plant is driven by means of electric
motors which receive their power from electrical conduits connecting
' The maintenance employees are also referred to in the record as mechanical employees.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 214.
1301
1302 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
all the buildings. The many production processes are highly inte-
grated and interdependent. A break-down in any of the electric
motors or conduits utilized in production affects the Employer's
operations very adversely.
Employed throughout the plant are 1,400 production employees, 250
service and technical employees, 1,200 maintenance employees, and
300 construction employees. Among the maintenance and construc-
tion employees are 111 electricians, their apprentices and helpers, who
comprise the unit sought by the Intervenor. Depending upon the work
groups within the electrical division to which they are assigned,2 elec-
tricians in the maintenance department perform such tasks as routinely
inspecting and checking the electrical equipment throughout the plant
to avoid break-downs during operations, repairing, cleaning, and paint-
ing motors, replacing and varnishing insulation, replacing windings
and coils, replacing and repairing transformers, installing motors and
switches, and replacing and installing new wiring in conduits. Vir-
tually all the electricians in the construction department make wiring
and lighting installations on new construction and major alterations.
In addition, there are 73 instrument men in the maintenance depart-
ment who appear to possess comparable skills and who perform work
like that of some of the electricians. The Intervenor, however, wishes
to exclude the latter group of employees from the proposed unit.
The great majority of the electricians perform all their duties
throughout the plant area, working, singly or in groups, in close asso-
ciation with production employees or other maintenance and con-
struction employees. In addition to their electrical work, many of the
electricians perform tasks which are similar to those performed by such
employees. Thus, their work in operating a mountain hoist, thread-
ing pipes and assisting in the installation of process or steam pipes,
repairing transformer platforms, drilling holes in junction boxes, and
making, assembling, and erecting transformer racks and supports is
similar to that done by certain production operators, pipe fitters, car-
penters, tinsmiths, and riggers and millwrights, respectively.
The area electricians in the group in question receive some instruc-
tions from production department supervisors and from supervisors
of the other craft groups in the maintenance department while they
are engaged in the performance of their duties in the different areas
in the plant. There are no electrician foremen on duty during the
middle and night shifts, and the electricians assigned to those shifts
also receive orders from production department supervisors, or from
the maintenance department night shift supervisor, who supervises
The electrical division in the maintenance department consists of the following work
groups : ( a) motor winders ; ( b) motor cleaners and repair men; (c ) area electricians;
( d) linemen ; ( e) shift electricians ; and (f) field electricians.
E. I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS AND COMPANY, INC. 1303
other maintenance department employees working on those shifts. All
employees are carried on the same pay roll, have similar working con-
ditions, receive identical employee benefits, and use the same plant
facilities.
There is no formal apprentice training program at the Employer's
plant with respect to electricians, such a program having recently been
discontinued because experience demonstrated that a shorter on-the-
job training program would be sufficient to train employees to per-
form the specialized electrical work required by the Employer 3 The
plant has both plant-wide and work group seniority. An employee in
the electrical division who is affected by a reduction in force may there-
fore exercise his plant-wide seniority in the labor gang and still retain
his seniority in the electrical division. There are presently 17 employ-
ees with such seniority in the labor gang whom the Intervenor does not
seek to represent.
Since 1942, the collective bargaining conducted at this plant has been
virtually entirely on a plant-wide basis.4 Indeed, the comprehensive
unit sought by the Petitioner herein is identical with that found ap-
propriate by the Board in a decision issued last year, involving the
same plant.5 Moreover, the Employer's past bargaining history on
an over-all plant basis conforms to the bargaining practice in the
major part of the chemical industry.6
Upon the basis of all of the facts outlined above, including (a) the
integrated and interdependent nature of the Employer's operations,
(b) the exclusion of employees performing similar tasks from the
requested unit, (c) the fact that electricians are at times instructed
by production supervisors and supervisors of other crafts, and that
some of them also perform non-craft functions, (d) the similarity of
working conditions enjoyed by all employees, and (e) the past bar-
gaining history of the Employer and its consistency with the bar-
gaining pattern prevailing in the industry to which the operations of
3 The Employer contemplates establishing a comprehensive on-the-job training program
which will, in 2 years, equip employees with the electrical skill required in the Employer's
operations. When in effect, the apprenticeship program developed full-fledge craftsmen
in a period of 4 years. In this connection, we note that the apprentice electricians in-
volved in this case were receiving training under the apprenticeship program at the time
of its discontinuance, and are being permitted to complete their apprenticeships.
In 1945, a separate bargaining unit was established for the bricklayers. See Matter
of If. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, 61 N. L. R. B. 473. The Employer's bargaining
history prior to 1945 is more fully set forth in that case.
5 Matter of E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 935. It would appear
that the election conducted pursuant thereto did not result in the selection of a bargaining
representative.
The record shows that there has been no change in the duties of the employees involved
since the issuance of the Decision.
6 Thus, as noted in Matter of Sylvania Division, American Viscose Corporation, 84
N. L. R. B. 202, "A study of the collective bargaining contracts in . . . [the chemical
industry] shows that 86.6 percent provide for over-all production and maintenance groups,
with only the standard supervisory, clerical, etc., exclusions."
1304 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the Employer belong, we are of the opinion that the unit sought by the
Intervenor is inappropriate.' ,
Accordingly, we find, in accord with the Petitioner, that all pro-
duction, maintenance, and construction employees in the Employer's
plant at Belle, West Virginia, including storeroom and field shipping
clerks, chauffeurs, and janitors, but excluding bricklayers, the patrol
force, safety and fire inspectors, gardeners, club house and canteen
employees, foremen, assistant foremen, subforemen, persons regularly
scheduled on detail rate as relief for any of the last three mentioned
categories, and all or any other supervisors as defined in the Act, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION"
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with E. I. DuPont de Nemours and
Company, Inc., Belle, West Virginia, 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 supervision of the
Regional Director for the Ninth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61
and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations,
among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph num-
bered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including em-
ployees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were
ill 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 exclud-
ing employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to ' be represented, for purposes of
collective bargaining, by United Gas, Coke & Chemical Workers of
America, C. I. O.
I Matter of Monsanto Chemical Company, 83 N. L. R. B. 106. See also Matter of Sylvania
Division, American Viscose Corporation, supra, and Matter of Celanese Corporation of
America, 84 N. L. It. B. 207.
8 At the hearing , the Intervenor requested that its name not be placed on the ballot in
the event the Board found the unit proposed by the Petitioner to be appropriate. In view
of our findings herein , we shall therefore not include the Intervenor on the ballot.