General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 26, 1960

127 N.L.R.B. 919 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., PINELLAS PENINSULA PLANT 919
1959 contract cannot be sufficient for bar purposes because of a patent
ambiguity concerning its duration. The literal effect of such an ap-
proach is to incorporate a terminal date, March 31, 1959, which is a
date preceding the date on which the petition was filed-August 27,
1959. To say, moreover, that the incorporation definitely results in
a new 2-year term is to fly in the face of other possible constructions :
that the parties concluded an agreement for at least a year; that the
parties concluded an agreement for the term of 1 year with annual
automatic renewal ; or that the parties concluded an agreement of
indefinite duration.
In short, our colleagues' decision here is labored and unrealistic; it
is also inconsistent with controlling Board precedent.
Accordingly, we would entertain the petition and direct an election
herein.
General Electric Company , Pinellas Peninsula Plant and Inter-
national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Peti-
tioner. Case No. 12-RC-736. May 26, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Richard H. Frahm, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Bean and Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations i 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 parties agree to the establishment of a production and
maintenance unit and to the inclusion in such unit of plant clerical
employees. However, the Petitioner and Employer would exclude,
while the Intervenor would include, technical employees. Further,
while the parties have stipulated, and the record indicates, that
IInternational Union of Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-CIO , was per-
mitted to intervene on the basis of an adequate showing of interest.
127 NLRB No. 115.
920 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees in certain classifications are technical employees ,' and that
others are plant clerical employees,3 they disagree whether employees
in the job classifications described below are either technical , super=
visory, managerial , or office clerical employees.
Production expediter ( 9402 ); quality control expediter ( 9313);
test equipment expediter ( 9312 ); and production man, machine shop
(9405) : The Employer contends that these employees are either tech-
nical, managerial , or supervisory employees . The record fails to
reveal that they have any special training to qualify them as technical
employees . Although each has considerable authority in the per-
formance of duties involving, variously , the routing of necessary
supplies at each stage of development in the departments to which
each is assigned , the securing or dispatching of stock parts , and the
cordination of activities between various plant areas , the record does
not establish that such authority is of such a character as would
warrant their exclusion from the unit as either managerial or super-
visory employees . It indicates , rather, that their powers and func-
tions are generally those exercised by expediters in industrial enter-
prises and that they work in the plant area under plant supervision.
We note, as to the production expediter , that there is testimony that
he acts, in effect, as an assistant foreman and "may make recommenda-
tions on which the foreman may act." However, there is no evidence
that his recommendations are effective , or that he otherwise exercises
supervisory authority over the employees with whom he works. We
note also, as to the test equipment expediter , the record evidence that
he has some authority to place orders with outside vendors. How-
ever, this is limited to submission of orders to the purchasing depart-
ment up to about $50 to $100 in value and only to those occasions
when items desired are unavailable anywhere in the plant. While
we have found the authority to pledge an employer's credit to be
indicative of managerial status, we have not done so in cases where,
as here, such authority is strictly limited and is not regularly exer-
cised., We find, accordingly , that production expediter ( 9402),
quality control expediter ( 9313 ), test equipment expediter ( 9312),
and production man, machine shop ( 9405 ) perform duties which are
essentially those of plant clerical or production employees , and they
are neither technical , managerial , nor supervisory employees. We
shall therefore include them in the unit.5
2 Health physics inspector (9210 ), health physics technician ( 9211 ), health physics lab.
assistant ( 9212 ), Q C. engineering technician (9305 ), test equipment design technician
(9307), Q.C incoming material specialist (9314), and special material technician (9412).
3 QCR material control specialist (9309), QCR material control clerk (9310), test data
review (9316), and tube test data clerk (9317).
4 See American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, 120
NLRB 969, 974, and cases there cited
" See Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company, 127 NLRB 64.
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., PINELLAS PENINSULA PLANT 921
The Employer apparently contends that the employees in the time-
keeper (9503) classification are office clerical employees. They check
attendance of production and other plant employees, review labor
vouchers, check timeclock cards and perform other duties normally
associated with this job classification. Although they are part of the
Employer's financial organization, they perform all of their work in
the plant area. As their work is basically that of plant clerical em-
ployees, we shall include them in the unit 6
The Employer alleges that the chemical engineering technician
(9613), the electronic material technician (9614), and electronic en-
gineering technicians (9619) are technical employees and should be
excluded from the unit. We do not agree. The record does not
establish that any of these employees is required to have the kind of
special educational training or to do the kind of work contemplated
by the standards set forth in the Litton Industries case? Thus, ac-
cording to the Employer's job descriptions, chemical engineering
technicians (9613) perform "routine encapsulation of a variety of
experimental subassemblies under the direction of an engineer or
higher graded technician" and are required to have only a high school
diploma, with 3 to 6 months' experience in the "encapsulation area."
Electronic engineering technicians (9619) are engaged in the "routine
repair, calibration, and verification of all electronic test equipment
used throughout the plant," and work under the direction of higher
graded technicians. While they must have 1 year of technical school
training and 2 years' experience to qualify for their classification,
and undoubtedly are skilled employees, there is no showing that they
are required to use any independent judgment or discretion in the
performance of duties which are essentially of maintenance nature.
Electronic material technicians (9614) are engaged in duties involving
the acquisition of uncatalogued materials and supplies in the Engi-
neering Laboratories. At the request of engineers and technicians
they give counsel on materials and supplies in respect to cost,
availability, and quality, and may be called upon to provide the
manager-engineering administration and labs with detailed reports of
all material and supplies purchased by the engineering section, their
distribution, and cost. They need not have any technical or special
educational training beyond high school. While they are required
to have "four years' applicable experience" and to amass a vast store
of information regarding materials and supplies, we do not regard
this to be "technical" experience within the meaning of the Litton
standards. We find, accordingly, that chemical engineering techni-
cians (9613), electronic material technicians (9614), and electronic
9 Controls Company of America, Schiller Park Plant, 118 NLRB 170 , 173; Murray
Ohio Manufacturing Co , Lawrenceburg , Tennessee Division, 118 NLRB 1027, 1028.
7 Litton Industries of Maryland, Incorporated, 125 NLRB 722
922 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
engineering technicians (9619) are not technical employees.' As their
interests and skills are closely allied to those of production, mainte-
nance, and plant clerical employees in the unit, we shall include them
in the unit.
We agree with the Employer, however, that the following categories
of employees whose status is also in dispute are technical employees:
electronic engineering technicians (9607), (9608), and (9618) ;
vacuum tube engineering technicians (9609) and (9610) ; metallurgi-
cal engineering technicians (9611) ; QC engineering technicians
(9304) ; QC appraisal technicians (9306), and electronic computing
system technicians (9308). The record establishes that employees in
these categories perform work in the various laboratories of the
Employer with or under the direction of professional employees,
which requires both extensive technical training and knowledge, and
the exercise of independent judgment. To qualify for employment
in any of the foregoing positions, the applicant must be a graduate
of a 2-year technical or technological institute, and must have addi-
tional qualifying experience in the electronics field. In most instances,
2 years' special experience is required and in the remainder, 3 to 4
years' special experience. Electronic engineering technicians (9618)
and (9607) do work involving some independent scientific analyses
and, in addition to other duties, instruct and guide lower rated tech-
nicians. Electronic engineering technicians (9608) and vacuum tube
engineering technicians (9609) and (9610) perform specialized tech-
nical work on engineering prototypes, vacuum tubes, and vacuum
equipment involving limited analyses, and also operate such highly
specialized scientific and engineering equipment as pulse generators,
oscilloscopes, variable time interval generators, frequency counters,
impedance measuring devices, and Q-meters. Some of these tech-
nicians contribute a considerable amount of individual design changes
to the equipment used. Metallurgical engineering technicians (9611)
work with and under the direction of professional employees engaged
in performing physical, chemical, or electrical analyses on all incom-
ing material. Their duties include use of micro-photography equip-
ment,.X-ray procedures, analyses in various phases of metallurgy, and
the operation-of specialized engineering equipment such as balphot
metallograph, Rockwell hardness testers, durometers, and sample
polishing apparatus. The QC engineering technicians (9304) per-
form voltage variation tests, unit capabilities tests and controlled
product evaluation experiments, while the QC appraisal technicians
(9306) plan specialized electronic systems tests for quality appraisal,
8 Ldton Industries of Maryland, Incorporated, supra; Minneapolis -Honeywell Regulator
Co, 125 NLRB 1283.
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., PINELLAS PENINSULA PLANT 923
investigate deviations from normal operations to determine whether
test equipment or product is at fault, plan specialized circuits, acces-
sories, and cables, and evaluate and keep test data. The electronics
computing system technicians (9308) do work involving a large com-
puting device which could not be described for reasons of national
security but which was conceded to be extremely complex in nature.
They have effected re-designs in that device in order to correct faults
which made it frequently inoperative, including some 12 major re-
designs within the last half year.
We find, accordingly, that electronics engineering technicians
(9607) (9608) and (9618), vacuum tube engineering technicians
(9609) and (9610), metallurgical engineering technicians (9611),
QC engineering technicians (9304), QC appraisal technicians (9306),
and electronics computing system technicians (9308) are technical
employees. As it is contrary to Board policy to include technical
employees in a production and maintenance unit where any party
objects to their inclusion,9 we shall exclude these employees and all
other technical employees from the unit.
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance and plant clerical employees of
General Electric Company at its Pinellas Peninsula, Florida, plant,
including QCR material control specialist (9309), QCR material
control clerk (9310), test data review (9316), tube test data clerk
(9317), production expediters (9402), quality control expediters
(9313), test equipment expediters (9312), production men, machine
shop (9405), timekeepers (9503), chemical engineering technicians
(9613), electronic material technician (9614), and electronic engineer-
ing technician (9619), but excluding health physics inspector (9210),
health physics technician (9211), health physics lab. assistant (9212),
QC engineering technician (9305), test equipment design technician
(9307), QC incoming material specialist (9314), special material
technician (9412), QC engineering technicians (9304), QC appraisal
technicians (9306), electronic computing technicians (9308), electronic
engineering technicians (9607), electronic engineering technicians
(9608), vacuum tube engineering technicians (9609), vacuum tube
engineering technicians (9610), metallurgical engineering technicians
(9611), electronic engineering technicians (9618), and all other tech-
nical employees, all office clericals, guards, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
9 Litton Industries of Maryland, Incorporated, supra.