General Aniline & Film Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 4, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 547 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of GENERAL ANILINE & FILM CORPORATION, ANSCO DIVI-
SION, EMPLOYER and UNITED ASSOCIATION Or THE PLUMBING & PIPE
FITTING INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, LOCAL No.
112, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 3-RC-257.-Decided August 4, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Richard Lip-
sitz, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The Inter-
venor 1 moved to dismiss the petition upon the ground that the unit
sought is inappropriate. This motion will be considered hereinafter.
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 [Members Reynolds, Murdock, 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 Petitioner and the Intervenor are labor organizations claim-
ing 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 unit; the determination of representatives:
The Petitioner seeks to sever from the production and maintenance
unit, which has been bargained for by the Intervenor since 1941, a
group composed of pipe fitters and helpers at the Employer's Ansco
Division, located in Binghamton, New York. The Employer takes.
no position with regard to the appropriateness of the unit sought, but.
the Intervenor contends that it is inappropriate.
I International Chemical Workers' Union , Local No. 306, AFL, herein called the Inter-
venor , was permitted to intervene on the basis of its contract with the Employer.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 96.
547
857829--50-vol. S5--36
548 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of cameras, photo-
graphic film, and accessories. Its Ansco Division consists of a Charles
Street plant, camera plant, paper plant, and power plant. There are
approximately 19 employees in the requested unit, who are classified
as pipe fitters, pipe fitters' helpers, and pipe-fitter group leader.2
The duties of pipe fitters are to lay out and perform all operations nec-
essary to install, maintain, and repair all types of high and low pres-
sure pipe lines, valves, fittings, gauges, sanitary systems, .and heating
systems. Their rate of pay is higher than that of ordinary production
and maintenance employees. Pipe fitters' helpers assist in the per-
formance of the foregoing duties. Both the pipe fitters and their
helpers are under the supervision of a pipe-fitter foreman.3 It is
customary for helpers to be promoted to pipe fitters.4 Although there
is a pipe fitters' shop located in the Charles Street plant, pipe fitters
and helpers spend the greater portion of their time working through-
out 'the Ansco Division.
The Intervenor, in its motion to dismiss, contends that the claimed
employees constitute an integral part of the production department,
that they are not a true craft, and that employees other than those
sought herein perform pipe-fitting work.' The Board has frequently
found that pipe fitters and helpers are a skilled craft group which may
constitute a separate appropriate units Since the employees in ques-
tion exercise the customary skills of their craft and we perceive no
special conditions 7 which would make their severance inappropriate,
we find that, if they so desire, they may be severed from the existing
production and maintenance unit, despite a history of collective bar-
gaining on a plant-wide basis." Accordingly, the Intervenor's motion
to dismiss is denied.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time,
but shall direct that an election by secret ballot be held among the
employees in the following voting group :
2 The parties stipulated that this group leader is not a supervisor within the meaning
of the Act.
3 The pipe-fitter foreman also supervises painters , yard maintenance men, carpenters,
and welders. It was agreed that lie is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act.
4 Although there is no formal apprentice training program, the employees have neverthe-
less received the necessary training equipping them for their performance of journeyman
pipe fitters' duties.
' The record discloses that employees from the dope-mixing department connect pipes
and hose from railroad tank cars to the Employer's storage tanks, that some machinists
occasionally cut pipes, and that in an emergency, powerhouse employees have repaired
pipes. The Employer stated that the above-mentioned chores are incidental to the regular
duties of these employees, and that such employees spend the majority of their worktime
in the performance of production work.
6 Matter of United States Potash Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 947, and cases citefl therein.
' Matter of Monsanto Chemical Company, 78 N. L. R. B. 1249, relied upon by the Inter-
venor, is distinguishable in that the unit requested therein constituted only a segment of
a craft.
8 Matter of Southland Paper Mills, Inc., 81 N. L. R. B. 330.
GENERAL ANILINE & FILM CORPORATION 549
All pipe fitters and helpers at the Employer's Ansco Division, ex-
eluding clerical employees, laboratory employees, production and
maintenance employees,9 professional employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined in the Act.
If a majority of the employees voting select the Petitioner, they will
be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargain-
ing unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 10
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 super-
vision 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
voting group described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees 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 rein-
stated 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
United Association of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the
United States and Canada, Local No. 112, AFL, or by International
Chemical Workers' Union, Local No. 306, AFL, or by neither.
9 Excluded as production and maintenance employees are those mentioned in footnote 5,
supra.
10 Either participant in the election directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by , the 'Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.