General Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 29, 1949

84 N.L.R.B. 831 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of GENERAL MILLS, INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF FIREMEN AND OILERS, POwERHousE EMPLOYEES,
OPERATORS, MAINTENANCE MEN AND HELPERS, AFL, LOCAL 296,
KANKAKEE , ILLINOIS,' PETITIONER
In the Matter of GENERAL MILLS, INC., EMPLOYER and UNITED GAS,
COKE AND CHEMICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
-Cases Nos. 13-RC-594 and- 13-RC-622, respectively .Decided
June-,09,1949
DECISION
ORDER
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held before
-Philip Licari, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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
Houston and Murdock].
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. International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Powerhouse
Employees, Operators, Maintenance Men and Helpers, AFL, Local
296, Kankakee, Illinois, hereinafter called the Firemen; United Gas,
Coke and Chemical Workers of America, CIO, hereinafter called the
Chemical Workers; and Association of Journeymen and Apprentices
of Plumbing K, Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada,
'Local 383, A. F. L., herein called the Plumbers, are labor organizations
claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
I The name of this Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing.
84 N. L. R. B, No. 93.
• 831
832 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Firemen seeks to represent the boiler room employees, the
Plumbers seeks the maintenance employees, and the Chemical Workers
seeks a plant-wide unit of all the production and maintenance employ-
ees, including the boiler room and maintenance employees, at the Em-
ployer's Kankakee, Illinois, plant. The Employer contends that the
plant-wide unit sought by the Chemical Workers is the only appro=
priate one, and accordingly moved to dismiss'the petitions of the Fire-
men and Plumbers. For the reasons set forth below, the Employer's
motion to dismiss is granted as to the Firemen and is denied as to the
Plumbers.
The boiler room employees.-At the time of the hearing, the Kan-
kakee plant, at which the Employer processes grain, oil, and fatty sub-
stances into fatty acids, had been in operation for only 6 months.
When the plant was opened, the Employer hired four individuals with
varying degrees of boiler experience to operate the boilers. At the
time of the hearing the same four employees were still operating the
boilers. They are the employees whom the Firemen seeks to represent.
They work in a separate boiler room where a large part of the steam
needed for the operation of the plant is produced. This steam is used
not only to heat the plant and run a large part of its machinery and
instruments, but also to provide the heat necessary to the various
chemical reactions of the production process, and in some instances
the steam- itself enters into those reactions to become part of the
product.
The boiler room employees are not separately supervised, but, during
the day, are under the direct supervision of the plant engineer, who
also supervises the maintenance unit, the hydrogen unit, and part of
the waste disposal unit. During the middle and night shifts, the boiler
room operators work directly under the shift foremen, who are in
charge of the entire plant during those shifts.
The boiler operators are not required to be licensed. The testimony
as to how long it takes to train a competent boiler operator was in con-
flict, the estimates of the witnesses varying from 3 weeks to 6 months.
They do not repair boiler room equipment.
Since the opening of the plant, one of the boiler room operators has
been temporarily transferred to the production department, and the
hydrogen operators have been trained in the boiler room to operate
the boiler in accordance with the Employer's plan to have all its em-
ployees skilled in as many processes as possible. The hydrogen oper-
GENERAL MILLS, INC. 833
ators, whom the'Firemen does not seek to'represent, also operate a small
boiler located outside the boiler room. When the hydrogen unit is
temporarily shut down, the hydrogen. operators work in the boiler
room . Should the need arise, the Employer would expect the hydrogen
operators to operate the boilers in the boiler room 'if the boiler oper-
ators are absent or unavailable. , The Employer ,also .expects to fill
vacancies in the boiler room by the transfer of utility or production
employees. The boiler operators are paid the samewages and belong
to the same seniority classification as the production employees. They
work the same hours on a 24-hour shift basis, and receive the same
pension, hospitalization, and vacation benefits, and bonus, as do all
the other employees. _
As the boiler room employees possess no special skill, are not sepa-
rately supervised, share the working conditions of the production
employees, and as the steam produced by the boilers enters into the
Employer's final product, we find that the unit sought by' the Firemen
is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.2 Accord-
ingly,,we shall dismiss the petition of the Firemen.
The maintenance employees.-The Employer classifies a new em-
ployee as utility operator C. He may be promoted to utility operator
B, and eventually to utility operator A, from which category he is
eligible for promotion to either production helper or maintenance
helper. Once an employee has chosen either category, he is eligible
for promotion to operator C, B, and A, in his chosen category. Em-
ployees are not transferred between the production and maintenance
departments, and only in emergencies is any maintenance work per-
formed by production employees. Seniority is not transferable be-
tween the production and maintenance departments.
The maintenance employees make all repairs necessary to keep the
equipment of the plant in operation. In doing so, they exercise a
variety of skills, including carpentry, pipe fitting, and- machining.
Depending upon the degree and number of different skills he is capable
of exercising, a maintenance employee is classified, as a helper or op-
erator C, B, or A. A maintenance operator can be trained in approxi-
mately 7 months to perform all the maintenance operations.
Although the work of the maintenance employees takes them all
through the plant, they operate from a separate machine shop, where
they are separately supervised by a maintenance foreman. Mainte-
nance employees are slightly higher paid than production employees,3
$ Matter of Monsanto Chemical Company, 80 N. L. it. B. 1675.
$ This is true of the various grades of operators ,- but not of the helpers , whose pay is
the same in both classifications.
834 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR' RELATIONS BOARD
but receive the same vacation, hospitalization and pension benefits, and
the same bonus, as do the production employees.
There are -several factors in the instant case which would militate
against severing the maintenance employees from an established plant-
wide bargaining unit if there were one. In, the absence of such an
established unit, however, we find, as we did in the Armstrong case'.
under similar circumstances, that the maintenance employees in the
instant case have a sufficient community of interest; separate from that
of the production, workers, to warrant permitting them to bargain as
a separate unit if they so desire. • On the other hand, they may ap-
propriately be included in the plant-wide unit. In the absence of any
history of collective bargaining, we shall make no final unit determi-
nation at this time, but shall direct elections among the following
groups of employees at the Employer's Kankakee, Illinois, plant :
(a) All maintenance employees of the maintenance department
who, at the time of the election directed herein, shall have been in the
employ of the Employer for 60 days or more 5 excluding temporary
employees engaged in completing construction of the plant,6 profes-
sional employees, guards; the maintenance foreman,7 and all other
supervisors. -
(b) All production employees 8 at the Employer's Kankakee, Illi-
nois, plant, who, at the'time of the election directed herein, shall have
been in the employ of the Employer for 60 days or more, including
boiler room employees, but excluding office and clerical employees;
laboratory employees, professional employees, guards, and all other
supervisors. - -
If a majority of the- employees in voting group (a) select the Plumb-
ers, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a
separate bargaining unit. If, however, they select the Chemical Work-
ers, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be included
in the plant-wide unit.
4 Matter of Armstrong , Cork Company, 80 N.. L. R B 1328
5 All the parties stipulated at the hearing that employees employed for less than 6&
days are probationary employees who should not be entitled to vote.
8 At the hearing, all the parties agreed that employees engaged in construction of the
Employer 's plant should be excluded from the unit as they had no expectation of employ-
ment when construction was completed.
7 The Plumbers wish to include the maintenance foreman in the unit , whereas the
Employer and the Chemical workeis wish - to exclude ' him on the ground that he Is- &
supervisor To obtain employment in the maintenance department an individual must
first be approved by the maintenance foreman , and no promotions are made in that depart-
ment without his approval . In' view of these facts , w'e find that the maintenance foreman'
is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act, and we have therefore excluded - him from`
the unit.
8 The Chemical workers asked for a unit .of "all hourly rated production and maintenance
employees ," but made no showing nhy salaried production and maintenance employees;
if any , should be excluded from the unit . We have therefore amended the description of
the units to include all production and maintenance employees.
GENERAL MILLS, INC.
ORDER
835
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and cer-
tification of representatives of employees of General Mills, Inc., Kan-
kakee, Illinois, filed herein by International Brotherhood of; Fire=
men and Oilers,. Powerhouse Employees, Operators, Maintenance Men
and Helpers, AFL, Local 296, Kankakee, Illinois,' be, and' it hereby
is, dismissed. _
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer , separate elec-
tions by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible , but not
later than 30 days from the date of this Direction , under the direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional ' Director for the Thirteenth Re-
gion, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, , as amended , among the
employees in the voting groups described in paragraph numbered- 4,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction- of Elections , 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 reinstated prior to the date of election, and- also-excluding
employees on strike who are not entitled , to reinstatement , to determine :
(1) Whether the employees in voting group ( a) desire to be rep-
resented, for purposes of collective bargaining , by Association of
Journeymen and Apprentices 'of Plumbing & Pipefitting Industry
of the United States and Canada, Local 383, A. F. L., or by United
Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers of America, CIO, or by neither.
(2) Whether or-not the employees in- voting group ( b) desire to
be represented , for purposes of- collective bargaining , by United Gas,
Coke and Chemical- Workers of America, CIO. '
I