Factory Mutual Engineering Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 29, 1967

166 N.L.R.B. 224 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

224 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Factory Mutual Engineering Corporation and
American Federation of Technical Engineers,
AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 13-RC-1 1068
June 29, 1967
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELEC-
TION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Charles
F. Ortique. The Hearing Officer's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. Briefs have been filed by the Em-
ployer and the Petitioner.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel.
Upon the entire record in this case, the National
Labor Relations Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the pur-
poses of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Em-
ployer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and
2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all
boiler and machinery inspectors and "combined
men" employed in the Employer's midwest region.
There is no dispute as to the geographic scope of
the unit. However, as to the composition of the unit,
the Employer contends that the requested unit is
not appropriate because it fails to include fire en-
gineers and adjusters, and it moved to dismiss the
petition on this ground.' There is no bargaining his-
tory.
The Employer is owned by seven insurance com-
panies and their affiliates which together constitute
the Factory Mutual System. The Employer is en-
gaged, for its insurance company owners, in the in-
spection of, and gathering and evaluating informa-
tion relative to, the construction, remodeling, and
occupancy of industrial property, as well as the
manufacturing processes and equipment utilized in
connection therewith, and the operations of
safeguards on such property. Information so
gathered is used by the insurance companies in the
writing of policies and also in the prevention and ad-
justment of losses.
Prior to 1963 the Employer's operations were
limited to the performance of such services for fire
insurance companies, but in that year it expanded
operations to include boiler and machinery in-
surance services; and as a result of a merger in
March 1966 it became the Employer of many of the
boiler and machinery inspectors here involved, who
had previously been employed by Mutual Boiler In-
surance Company.
The Employer's midwest region, one of six
throughout the United States, encompasses, under
its Chicago regional office, three district offices
located at Chicago, St. Louis, and Milwaukee, and
two branch offices located at Minneapolis and
Houston.' The Employer employs in its midwest
region approximately 50 boiler and machinery in-
spectors, 75 fire engineers, and 5 adjusters. A re-
gional manager is in charge of the midwest region.
Each of the three district offices is supervised by a
district manager. Under the district manager in each
of the three districts are three assistant managers,
one of whom supervises the boiler and machinery
inspectors, another the fire engineers, and a third
the adjusters.
The key functions of the boiler and machinery in-
spectors are to inspect insured and potentially in-
surable plants, power equipment, and mechanical
and electrical equipment in accordance with Amer-
ican Society of Mechanical Engineers standard
practices, and State and local regulations. They
determine maximum foreseeable direct loss from
property damage, as well as indirect damage from
contamination and business interruptions; they
evaluate possible production losses and percentage
of total plant or departmental operations that could
be affected in event of equipment failure; they
gather and evaluate data for special reports on in-
surance coverage applicants and for surveys and
studies; and they work with the adjusters to deter-
mine necessary repairs and to assist in expediting
such repairs. All information thus gathered is set
forth and evaluated by inspectors in written reports
which are transmitted to their district offices. The
inspectors use such tools as nonspark copper
berylium hammers for testing metals, filler gauges,
gauges for measuring pressure, hand pumps for test-
ing gauges, 500-volt hand-operated meggers, amme-
ters for checking loads on electrical cables, and
stethescopes. Most of the inspectors' work is per-
formed on the premises, and in and around the
equipment, of the industrial property insured by the
Factory Mutual System.
Although the Employer has no specific educa-
tional requirements for inspectors, two of them are
I In view of our determination here, the motion to dismiss is denied
2 Other than the fact that each of the branch offices is supervised by a
branch manager, whom the parties stipulated to be supervisors within the
meaning of the Act, the record contains no evidence as to the branch of-
fices The parties also stipulated that the regional manager and the district
managers and assistant managers are supervisors within the meaning of
the Act.
166 NLRB No. 49
FACTORY MUTUAL ENGINEERING CORP. 225
college graduates, eight have high school educa-
tions, and the rest have received trade or technical
school training. When hired, they receive training
in the district offices and on the job, for several
months or years, depending on individual capabili-
ty. Some, but not all, States and cities have
licensing requirements for boiler and machinery in-
spectors. Such requirements vary considerably,
particularly as to the type of equipment for which
the inspector is required to be licensed.
The main functions of the fire engineers are
similar to those of the boiler and machinery inspec-
tors outlined above, except that they are chiefly
concerned with losses from fire and are prohibited
from performing work for which a boiler and
machinery inspector license is required. Areas in
which the- work assignments of these two groups
overlap include the inspection of pressure vessels;
black liquor recovery boilers, which are used in the
pulp and paper industry in recovering the residue
from processes so that the chemicals may be used
over again; electrical equipment; nuclear energy
facilities; and dow therm boilers, which consume a
special organic material giving high temperatures at
low pressures and which are used in food
processing or chemical plants. Fire engineers also
use many of the same tools and, like boiler and
machinery inspectors, work chiefly on the premises
of insured plants and equipment. Although educa-
tion at the college level is not a prerequisite to em-
ployment as a fire engineer, all but four are college
graduates. Most of them have degrees in a technical
or engineering field, and the others in such fields as
psychology, geology, mining, and education. Fire
engineers receive a 5-week training course when
hired and, in addition, training on the job of in-
definite duration.
There are four "combined men," who are boiler
and machinery inspectors who have taken the 5-
week fire engineers' training course and the addi-
tional training in the district offices given to the fire
engineers. These employees now perform all the
functions of both classifications. Two other boiler
and machinery inspectors are about to undergo
such fire engineer training, and three fire engineers
have started training on boiler and machinery in-
spection work.
The adjusters are concerned chiefly with adjust-
ing losses. In determining the extent of repairs
necessary and expediting them, they frequently
work with boiler and machinery inspectors, as
stated above, and also with fire engineers. Em-
ployees become adjusters through normal job
progression from positions as boiler and machinery
inspectors.
The facts set forth above establish that the work
of the boiler and machinery inspectors is of a
technical nature, involves the use of independent
judgment, and requires the exercise of specialized
training acquired in college or technical school. We
therefore find, in agreement with the parties, that
they are technical employees.3 The Employer has
no specific advanced degree requirements for fire
engineers and adjusters, the degrees possessed by
the fire engineers cover a variety of unrelated fields,
and the work of these two classifications involves
the physical inspection of premises and equipment
and the evaluation of such data in accordance with
established standards. We find, therefore, contrary
to the Petitioner's contention, that fire engineers
and adjusters are not professional employees within
the meaning of Section 2(12) of the Act.4 As the
work of the fire engineers, combined men, and ad-
justers, like that of boiler and machinery inspectors,
is technical in nature, involves use of independent
judgment, and requires the exercise of skills
acquired from specialized training, we find that they
are also technical employees.
The boiler and machinery inspectors are under
separate immediate supervision as to technical mat-
ters and job assignments by the assistant district
managers. However, the district managers super-
vise all these classifications of technical employees
in administrative and other matters. Moreover, all
assignments to loss investigations are made in con-
ferences attended by the three assistant district
managers, often to boiler and machinery inspectors,
fire engineers, and/or adjusters on the basis of
availability. Employees of all these technical clas-
sifications work a 36-1/4 hour week and have the
same vacation, pension, hospitalization insurance,
and advanced education assistance plan. They are
all salaried employees with closely comparable pay
scales.
In all the circumstances, including the fact that
boiler and machinery inspectors, fire engineers,
combined men, and adjusters are all technical em-
ployees, the similarity of their functions, skills, and
training, the overlap of their duties, the integration
of loss-investigation assignments, and-the common
overall supervision, we find that a unit limited to the
boiler and machinery inspectors is inappropriate.
However, we find that a unit of boiler and machin-
ery inspectors, fire engineers, combined men, and
adjusters is appropriate, and we shall direct an elec-
tion in such unit.
The Employer also contends that four in-
dividuals, Brooker. Brown, Tittle, and Allen,
should be included in the unit. The Petitioner would
exclude them on the ground that they are superviso-
ry or professional employees.
Brooker, Brown, and Tittle are classified as re-
gional engineers and work most of their time in the
regional office reviewing reports of inspectors and
i Litton Industries of Maryland , Incorporated, 125 NLRB 722; The
Sheffield Corporation , 134 N LRB 1 101
The Budd Company, 154 NLRB 421, Western Electric Company,
126 NLRB 1346
226 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
engineers. They prepare these reports for issuance
to the insurance companies of the Factory Mutual
System. In addition, they also lend technical advice
to the inspectors and engineers in the field, particu-
larly those of less experience, on problems of
unusual difficulty. Occasionally they go into the
field themselves to assist with such problems. If
they find errors in the reports, they may return them
for correction and request a new inspection if
necessary. Allen is employed as a combined boiler
and machinery inspector and adjuster and works in
the Milwaukee district office. His duties are similar
to those of the regional engineers. He also works at
times in the field making loss-adjustment analyses,
as well as regular and special loss investigations.
The education and training of these four individuals
is comparable to that of the employees in the unit.
and they occupy their positions because of their
greater experience. They share the same employ-
ment benefits as other employees in the unit and
work the same hours, and their pay is in the upper
range of the pay scale for inspectors and adjusters.
The only function they perform of a supervisory na-
ture is the scheduling of work assignments for em-
ployees in-the field when assistant managers are on
vacations. In view of the sporadic nature of this
function, we find that they are not supervisors.
Furthermore, in view of their educational
background and the nature of their duties which is
similar to those of others found above to be techni-
cal employees, as well as the close functional rela-
tionship to, and common interests with, unit em-
ployees, we find that they are not professional em-
ployees. We shall therefore include them in the unit.
Accordingly, we find that the following em-
ployees in the Employer' s midwest region con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b)
of the Act:
All boiler and machinery inspectors, fire en-
gineers, "combined men," adjusters, and regional
engineers , excluding office clerical employees,
professional employees , guards, regional manager,
district managers , and assistant managers , branch
managers , and all other supervisors as defined in
the Act.5
[Text of Direction of Election6 omitted from
publication.]
The Regional Director is instructed not to proceed with the election
in the unit found appropriate until he shall have first determined that the
Petitioner has made an adequate showing of interest among the employees
in this unit . As the unit is substantially different from that petitioned for,
the Petitioner, American Federation of'rechnical Engineers , AFL-CIO,
is permitted, should it so desire , to withdraw its petition without prejudice
upon written notice to the Regional Director within 10 days from the date
of this Decision and Direction of Election
6 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 13 within 7 days after the date of this Decision and
Direction of 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
Inc_, 156 NLRB 1236