E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 7, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 941 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of E. I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY, EMPLOYER
and ORANGE METAL TRADES COUNCIL AND INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIA-
TION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT LODGE 31,1 PETITIONER
In the Matter of E. I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY, EMPLOYER
and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO, PETITIONER
Cases Nos . 39-RC-125 and 39-RC-11.1.Decided March 7,1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon petitions duly filed, a hearing was held before James P. Wolf,
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
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
these cases to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
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 appropriate units :
Orange Metal Trades Council and International Association of
Machinists, District Lodge 31, herein collectively called the Joint Pe-
titioners, seek to represent a unit composed of all employees in the
mechanical department of the Employer's Orange, Texas, plant, ex-
cluding employees in the power division and supervisors. Oil Workers
International Union, CIO, herein called the Oil Workers, agrees that
the unit sought by the Joint Petitioners is appropriate; it desires to
represent a unit composed of all employees in the production de-
z The name of the Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing.
88 NLRB No. 167.
941
942 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
partment and in the power division of the mechanical department of
this plant, excluding office and clerical employees, guards, profes-
sional employees, and supervisors. The Employer contends that the
proposed units are inappropriate, asserting that only a plant-wide
unit embracing the hourly rated employees in all the various depart-
ments of the plant is appropriate.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of organic and plastic
chemicals at its Orange plant. The plant has five departments, desig-
nated as the production, mechanical, works control, service, and
laboratory departments, each of which is headed by a superintendent
who is directly responsible to the assistant plant manager. The pro-
duction, or operating, department comprises five divisions known as
adipic acid, hydrogen, nylon, methanol, and polythene, each of which
is supervised by a division superintendent who reports to the produc-
tion superintendent. The mechanical department consists of three
maintenance divisions designated as electrical, instrument, and main-
tenance, and one operating division known as the power division, each
of which is likewise headed by a division superintendent, who is re-
sponsible to the mechanical superintendent. There is no history of
collective bargaining at this plant, which commenced operations in
1946.
The 556 hourly rated employees sought by the Oil Workers are
employed in the 5 divisions of the production department and in the
power division of the mechanical department. The employees in all
these divisions are classified as senior operators, operators, and opera-
tor helpers. The employees in the production divisions are prin-
cipally engaged in operating machinery and equipment used in the
Employer's varied manufacturing processes . The employees in the
power division are engaged in operating machinery that generates
electricity, produces steam , and supplies water to the production di-
visions. Apart from the lubricating of equipment, and the occasional
tightening of a flange , none of the operators performs any mainte-
nance duties. As a result of the Employer's training program, they
ordinarily advance from the helper classification to that of the senior
operator . within 18 months to 2 years.
The 596 employees in the mechanical department sought by the Joint
Petitioners are essentially a multicraft group of highly skilled main-
tenance employees. They are employed in the electrical, instrument,
and maintenance divisions of this department, and are classified as
electricians and mechanics, first, second, and third class, helpers, and
trainees . Maintenance employees perform all the Employer's plant
maintenance and repair work. Some are stationed in the plant's com-
bined shops where they perform skilled duties such as welding and
E,. I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY 943
machine shop work. Others are located in the operating areas where
they do maintenance and repair work on machinery and equipment.
None performs any operating duties. Frequently, in the case of equip-
ment break-downs, maintenance employees are instructed by operating
personnel as to the cause of such break-downs. They also obtain
`'clearance" from the operating personnel before starting work on a
repair job in order not to interrupt the continuity of production proc-
esses. However, they are responsible only to mechanical department
supervisors for the manner in which their work is done. Although
the Employer has no formal apprenticeship program, it maintains a
training program under which an average employee may advance from
trainee to first-class mechanic or electrician within a period of about 3
years. There is no appreciable interchange between maintenance em-
ployees and operators.2
In view of the foregoing, and particularly the fact that there is no
bargaining history at the Orange plant, we believe that the operating
employees and the maintenance employees constitute identifiable,
homogeneous groups with skills and interests distinct from each other,
and from the hourly rated employees in the control, service, and labora-
tory departments,3 such as to warrant their establishment in separate.
bargaining units.4 Furthermore, we do not believe that the work of
the maintenance employees is so integrated with the Employer's manu-
facturing processes as to require a denial of the requests for separate
representation of these two groups.'
We find that the following employees of the Employer's Orange;
Texas, plant, constitute units appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
(a) All employees in the mechanical department, excluding all em-
ployees in the power division and supervisors as defined in the Act;
From November 1947 to December 1949, there were only 32 such transfers . During
this period , 1,090 job vacancies were filled.
' The approximately 70 hourly rated employees in the control , service, and laboratory
departments are principally unskilled workers performing various functions such as jani-
torial and cafeteria duties, handling materials in storage and in the salvage yard, and
gardening. It is clear that their interests differ substantially from those of the skilled
and semiskilled employees in the production department and the highly skilled employees
in the mechanical department. See Lion Oil Company, Chemical Division, 73 NLRB 982;
Lion Chemical Corporation, 54 NLRB 1124.
4 See Jefferson Chemical Company, 81 NLRB 1393 , and cases cited therein . Cf. Swift if
Campnay, 86 NLRB 1329.
3 See Calumet and Hecla Consolidated Copper Company ( Wolverine Tube Division), 86
NLRB 126, and cases cited therein.
As noted above , the record indicates that the classifications and the duties of employees
in the power division are similar to those of employees in the several divisions of the pro-
duction department. Power division employees are grouped with the production employees
for purposes of seniority. For these reasons, and in the absence of any opposition to the
Oil Workers ' request for their inclusion , we shall include the power division employees in
the production department unit.
944 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(b) All employees in the production department and in the power
division of the mechanical department, excluding office and clerical
employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions 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 Region in which this
case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the units found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not
work during said payroll 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 re-
instated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, in unit (a) by Orange Metal Trades Council and International
Association of Machinists, District Lodge 31, and in unit (b) by Oil
Workers International Union, CIO.