Electrospace Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 2, 1971

189 N.L.R.B. 572 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

572 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Electrospace Corporation of Puerto Rico and Union
Internacional de Automoviles, Aerospacio e Imple-
mentos Agricolas, UAW, Petitioner. Case
24-RC-4194
April 2, 1971
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS BROWN
AND KENNEDY
On November 3, 1970, the Regional Director for
Region 24 issued a decision in the above-entitled
proceeding in which he found that the contract
between the Intervenor) and the Employer is not a
bar to the petition and, accordingly, directed an
election. Thereafter, the Intervenor, in accordance
with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended,
filed with the National Labor Relations Board a
timely Request for Review of the Regional Director's
Decision, contending that his contract-bar finding
was erroneous.
The Board by telegraphic order dated January 6,
1971, granted the Request for Review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case
to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
case with respect to the issues under review and makes
the following findings:
The Petitioner seeks a unit of production and
maintenance employees at the Employer's plant at
Humacao, Puerto Rico, which began operations in
June 1969. The Intervenor contends that the Employ-
er's Humacao operation is an accretion to the existing
unit at its plant at Naguabo, Puerto Rico, and,
therefore, that the instant petition is barred by its
current contract.2 The Regional Director, however, in
agreement with the Petitioner, concluded that the
Humacao plant is a separate appropriate unit and that
the contract is not a bar. We disagree.
The facts are for the most part not in dispute. In
1961, the Employer opened its first plant at Naguabo,
Puerto Rico, and began production of electronic
communications equipment for military and civilian
use. Sometime thereafter, the Company recognized
the Intervenor as the collective-bargaining represent-
ative of its production and maintenance employees3
and the current contract, entered into in September
1968, is effective until September 1971. That contract
1 Sindicato Amalgamado de Puerto Rico was permitted to intervene at
the hearing on the basis of its current contract with the Employer
2 The Employer has taken no position
3 The record does not indicate when the Intervenor was first recognized
contains a recognition clause , a union-security clause,
and a provision recognizing the Intervenor as repre-
sentative of all employees at new plants or locations
"until such time as another organization is certified as
the bargaining representative" of those employees.
In June 1969, because of the need for additional
space to accommodate a growth in operations, the
Employer opened a new plant at Humacao, just 6.5
miles from the Naguabo plant. The operations at the
latter plant relating to the production of electronic
communications equipment for civilian use-along
with 50 to 60 employees working on this line-were
transferred to Humacao.4 From the beginning of
operations at Humacao up until the time of the
hearing, a period of approximately 16 months, the
Intervenor's contract with the Employer was applied
to Humacao employees and the Intervenor acted as
the collective-bargaining representative of production
and maintenance employees at both Naguabo and
Humacao.
For the most part, Humacao is operated as a
separate plant. It has its own plant manager who
interviews, hires, and discharges employees, and there
is no interchange of supervisory personnel between
the two plants.
However, the Humacao plant is dependent to a
substantial degree on the Naguabo plant. With
respect to administrative matters, the Company has
only one general manager, one quality control
manager, and one materials control manager. Person-
nel records for both plants are kept at Naguabo and
the Naguabo office issues all checks and pays all bills.
Further, all official correspondence is carried on
through the Naguabo office and Naguabo does all of
the bookkeeping, although a separate account is
maintained for each plant.
Similarly, Humacao is dependent upon Naguabo
for certain operational services which are performed
by Naguabo employees for both plants. Specifically,
all tool making, heavy machinery maintenance, and
mechanical stacking is done by Naguabo employees
and the cost of these services is then charged to
Humacao's account. In addition, unit employees are,
on occasion, temporarily transferred between the two
plants as their skills may be needed. Such temporary
transfers are, however, kept to a minimum.
During the entire 16-month period of operations at
Humacao, the working conditions of Humacao
employees have been identical to those of Naguabo
employees. Employees at both plants work the same
hours and receive the same wages and benefits.
Seniority is accumulated on a two-plant basis for
as representative of the Naguabo employees
4 The record indicates that at the time of the hearing, the Humacao
plant employed approximately 100 workers and Naguabo employed
approximately 300
189 NLRB No. 73
ELECTROSPACE CORPORATION 573
employees transferring to new locations. The same
skills are required at both plants and about 90% of the
job classifications are the same; the difference being
that the Naguabo plant has some additional classifi-
cations.
As noted by the Regional Director, at the time of
the hearing Naguabo's products were destined prima-
rily for military use, while the Humacao plant
serviced only the civilian market. It appears, however,
that this product distinction will be short-lived since
the Employer testified at the hearing that it was in the
process of planning a transfer of a portion of
Naguabo's military operation to Humacao. This
move is to be accomplished on a gradual basis within
the next few months and, in conjunction with the
move, 20 Naguabo employees currently working on
the military production lines which are to be moved to
Hunnacao will be permanently transferred to Huma-
cao to continue this work.
Contrary to the Regional Director, we are con-
vinced by the foregoing facts that the Humacao plant
constitutes a relocation and expansion of a portion of
the fvaguabo facilities and, accordingly, is an accre-
tion to the Naguabo plant.
As stated in General Extrusion, 121 NLRB 1165, at
pages 1167-68:
a mere relocation of operations accompa-
nied by a transfer of a considerable proportion of
the employees to another plant, without an
accompanying change in the character of thejobs
and the functions of employees in the contract
unit, does not remove a contract as a bar.
In the instant case, the Employer simply moved the
portion of its operation producing civilian goods to
another nearby building together with 50 to 60 of the
employees who had been performing this work. The
latter were transferred without any changes in their
jobs and without any changes in wages, benefits,
seniority, or any other conditions of employment.
These transferred employees also produced the same
products and utilized the same skills as they had at the
old location.
Further, based on the testimony of the Employer at
the time of the hearing, a similar transfer of a portion
of the Naguabo operation to Humacao is currently in
the planning stages and this move will involve the
transfer of an additional 20 Naguabo employees to
Humacao under exactly the same circumstances as
the original transfer in 1969 of 50 to 60 Naguabo
employees. Finally, we note that the Humacao plant
is still dependent upon the Naguabo plant for certain
administrative and operational services and that,
although not extensive, there is some employee
interchange.
Accordingly, we conclude that, since the Humacao
plant constitutes an accretion to the Naguabo
operation, the Intervenor's 1968 contract with the
Employer is a bar to the instant petition which will,
accordingly, be dismissed.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition be, and it
hereby is, dismissed.