General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 13, 1964

148 N.L.R.B. 1660 (N.L.R.B. 1964)

1660 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
[The Board set aside the election conducted herein on April 28,
1964.]
[Text of Direction of Second Election omitted from publication.]
General Electric Company and International Union of Electri-
cal, Radio & Machine Workers , AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
No. 1-RC-7875. October 13, 1964
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon the petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer A.
Gene Niro. 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 [Members Fanning, Brown, 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 and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert juris-
diction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.'
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Sections 9(c) (1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Fitchburg plant (designated as the Fitchburg department by
the Employer) is engaged in the manufacture of small steam turbine
engines. The department, headed by a general manager, maintains
five sections-finance, employee relations , marketing, engineering,
and manufacturing. Each section is under the supervision of a
manager and is further divided into subsections under the supervi-
sion of subsection managers. The subsections are further broken
down into units which are also headed by unit managers.
The manufacturing section in which the Petitioner seeks an elec-
tion, has seven subsections which are as follows : manufacturing
engineering , quality control, materials, manager of shop operations
(small machinery), manager of shop operations (heavy machining),
manager of shop operations (erection and shipping), and manager
of shop operations (buckets and rotors). The manufacturing sub-
1 The American Federation of Technical Engineers , AFT -CIO, was permitted to inter-
vene at the hearing Its subsequent request to withdraw is hereby granted
148 NLRB No. 162.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 1661
section is divided into four units, namely advance engineering, plant
service, time standards, and tool unit. The quality control subsection
is divided into four units, specifically, quality control, laboratory,
testing, and inspection. The materials subsection is divided into five
units, namely, load control, renewal parts, traffic, receiving and
stores, and purchasing.
The Petitioner seeks to represent all the employees in the manu-
facturing section including professional, technical, and plant clerical
employees, but excluding office clerical employees, guards, supervi-
sors, buyers, and production and maintenance employees. However,
the Petitioner has indicated its willingness to proceed to an election
in any lesser unit in the manufacturing section which the Board finds
appropriate.
The Employer contends that the unit requested by the Petitioner
is inappropriate on the grounds that (1) it seeks to combine into one
unit professional, technical, and clerical employees who have no com-
munity of interest; (2) it seeks to carve out and combine into one
unit certain skilled professional employees who are but an arbitrary
grouping of some of the professional employees at the plant; (3) it
seeks to carve out and combine into one unit certain skilled technical
employees who are but an arbitrary grouping of some of the technical
employees at the plant; and (4) it seeks to combine into this unit a
fringe group (dispatchers) who should have a self-determination
election.
The unit petitioned for is comprised of 25 individuals who were
stipulated to be professional' employees, 10 individuals who were
stipulated to be technical employees, and 31 employees whose eligibil-
ity for inclusion in the unit is in dispute. In addition to the pro-
fessionals and technicals in manufacturing, there are approximately
40 engineers and approximately 21 technical employees in the engi-
neering section.' There are also three technical employees in the
finance section.3 There is no history of bargaining for any of the
employees sought to be represented.
Although the technical, professional, and clerical employees in the
manufacturing section have considerable contact with each other in
the performance of their duties, they also come in contact with em-
ployees in the marketing, finance, and engineering sections. It is
estimated that the professional and technical employees in manu-
facturing spend between 15 and 20 percent of their time in contact
with the professionals (engineers) and technicians in the engineering
section. There is a lesser degree of contact with employees in the
marketing and finance sections. -
2 The technicians in the engineering section are in addition to the draftsmen and de-
signers dealt with in a recent Board decision . General Electric Company , 147 NLRB 558.
3 Although not established by the record, the Company asserts in its brief that there are
a number of professional employees in the marketing section.
1662 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The offices of the subsections and units of the manufacturing sec-
tion are in various locations in three of the Fitchburg department's
-seven buildings. Offices of other sections are also located in the same
three buildings of the plant, as well as other buildings. In some
instances , manufacturing section offices are located next to or across
the hall from offices in the engineering or marketing sections. Apart
from the fact that the Employer has made the manufacturing sec-
tion an administrative entity, the employees therein are not physi-
cally separated so as to constitute a distinct, homogeneous grouping
of employees.
In view of the fairly substantial contacts that the professional and
technical employees of the manufacturing section have with em-
ployees of similar skills in the engineering section and to a lesser
degree, with other sections of the plant, the geographical or physical
integration of the manufacturing section with other sections of the
plant, the fact that the Board in the past has rejected arbitrary
piecemeal representation of professional or technical employees,4 and
that in :the present case, there are technical and professional em-
ployees in other sections who are neither represented nor sought to
be included herein, we find that the unit petitioned for is not an
appropriate departmental unit .5 Although the Petitioner has indi-
cated its willingness to go to an election in any lesser unit within the
manufacturing section, the record does not establish that any lesser
unit is appropriate. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.6
[The Board dismissed the petition filed herein.]
' General Electric Company, 120 NLRB 199; Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Naval
Reactors Facility), 137 NLRB 332; Aerojet General Corporation, 131 NLRB 1094.
B Business Supplies Corporation of America, Data Processing Supplies Division, 147
NLRB 121; Continental Can Company , Inc., 128 NLRB 762.
0In view of the dismissal of the petition, we do not reach, nor resolve, the job classifi-
cations of certain employees which were in dispute.
Aluminum Extrusions, Inc. and International Union , United
Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers
of America (UAW), AFL-CIO i and Melvin Perkins and
Employees Committee of Aluminum Extrusions , Inc. Cases
Nos. 7-CA-4398, 7-CA-4448(2), and 7-CA-4448. October 14,
1964
DECISION AND ORDER
On dune 19, 1964, Trial Examiner Wellington A. Gillis issued his
Decision in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the Respond-
1 Herein referred to as "UAW."
148 NLRB No. 1-67.