Firestone Tire and Rubber Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 4, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 559 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY , EMPLOYER
and LODGE No. 1317 , INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,
PETITIONER
Case No. 15-RC-231.-Decided August 4, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in this matter was held before
William P. Alexander, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirlned.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
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 labor organizations named below claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question of representation affecting commerce exists concern-
ing certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.'
4. The appropriate unit; the determination of representatives :
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit composed of all machinists
and maintenance mechanics, and their helpers and apprentices, in
the Employer's Lake Charles, Louisiana, plant, excluding all office
and clerical employees, professional employees, technical employees,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.2 The Employer and the Inter-
' The Lake Charles Metal Trades Council , A. F. L., herein called the Intervenor, con-
tends, in effect, that this case presents no representation question because the Petitioner
has not notified the Intervenor of its intent or desire to disaffiliate. In Matter of Mathieson
'Chemical Corporation, Lake Charles Operation, 81 N. L . R. B. 1355 , a recent case in which
both the Petitioner and the Intervenor were parties , the Board considered substantially
the same issue as that raised herein by the Intervenor . For the reasons stated in that case.
we find no merit in the Intervenor 's contention.
' In the alternative, the Petitioner is willing to represent the machinists and mainte-
nance mechanics , respectively , in two separate units. Although it does not seek to repre-
sent the oilers , the tool checker, and the dispatcher , the Petitioner also is willing to
represent these employees if the Board deems that they should be included in any unit
found appropriate.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 99.
559
J
560 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
venor oppose the severance of these employees, asserting that only
the existing plant-wide unit currently represented by the Intervenor
is appropriate.
The employees sought by the Petitioner are employed in the mainte-
nance department of the Employer's Lake Charles plant, where they
work under the general supervision of the master mechanic, who is
in charge of the maintenance of plant buildings and equipment. In
addition to the employees in the proposed unit, the master mechanic
has over-all supervision over electricians, pipe fitters, boilermakers,
oilers, painters, welders, carpenters, sheet metal workers, and instru-
ment men. The 3 machinists and 17 maintenance mechanics sought
herein,3 together with 4 oilers, 4 sheet metal workers, and 2 laborers,
work under the immediate supervision of the maintenance supervisor.
At the time of the hearing, the Employer employed no helpers or
apprentices in either 'the machinist or maintenance mechanic
categories.
The machinists: All the machinists work in the machine shop,
where they make replacement parts for plant machines. They use
lathes, shapers, milling machines, drill presses, grinders, hydraulic
presses, as well as the customary machinists precision hand tools.
These machinists work to the very close tolerances usually required
of members of their trade. Before machinists are initially employed,
they must demonstrate that they have obtained a substantial number
of years experience in the performance of traditional machinists' work.
The maintenance mechanics: All the Employer's maintenance me-
chanics are engaged in repairing various kinds of plant machines, such
as steam pumps,. reactors, pelletizers, compressors, and balers. Al-
though their headquarters are in the machine shop, their work usually
takes them throughout the plant. Some of their work, such as the
disassembly and assembly of heavy machines in connection with gen-
eral overhaul jobs, is done in the machine shop. Maintenance meclian-
ics have the same hourly rate of pay as machinists and do not ordi-
uarily interchange functions with employees in other classifications.
They spend about 50 percent of their working time doing "precision"
repair work.
With the notable exception of oilers, the proposed unit is the' same
as that sought by the Petitioner in an earlier proceeding involving the
same plant of the Employer.4 In that proceeding, the Board dismissed
the petition because the craft characteristics of the machinists, mainte-
3 Approximately four maintenance mechanics on the second shift work under that shift's
maintenance foreman, along with maintenance employees in other categories. The one
maintenance man assigned to the third shift and to Sunday and holiday work is supervised
by production foremen.
4 Matter of Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, 80 N. L. R. B. 208.
FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER COMPANY 561
Hance mechanics, and oilers were not established by that record; the
employees sought therein did not appear to constitute a separate de-
partment or shop grouping traditionally regarded as appropriate for
separate bargaining; and it did not appear that the requested em-
ployees had interests clearly severable from those of other maintenance
department employees. The record in this case shows that the Em-
ployer's operations at its Lake Charles synthetic rubber plant and the
organizational arrangement of this plant are virtually unchanged
since our decision in the 1948 proceeding. However, the craft charac-
teristics of the machinists and maintenance mechanics are clearly
established by this record, as they were not before.
Because the machinists and maintenance mechanics sought by the
Petitioner have skills and functions similar to those of other employees
whom we have held to constitute identifiable, homogeneous craft
groups, we believe that they may, if they so desire, constitute a sepa-
rate ullit.5 - They may also continue as part of the production and
maintenance unit in which they have been included for 5 years. We
shall therefore direct an election in the following voting group :
All machinists and maintenance mechanics employed in the Em-
ployer's plant at Lake Charles, Louisiana, excluding all office and
clerical employees, professional employees, technical employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time,,
but shall first ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed
in the election herein directed. If a majority of them vote for the:
Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to consti-
tute a separate appropriate unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION e
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, 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 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 described in the voting group, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this.
5 Matter of Reynolds Metals Company, 85 N. L. R. B. No. 17 ; Matter of Anaconda Wire
and Cable Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 1235: and Matter of International Harvester Company,
McCormick Twine Mills, 80 N. L. R. B. 1279.
Any participant in the election herein may , upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.
-562 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tempo-
rarily 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 excluding employees on strike
who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they
desire to be represented , for purposes of collective bargaining, by
Lodge No. 1317, International Association of Machinists , or by Lake
Charles Metal Trades Council , A. F. L., or by neither.