Gibbs Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 28, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 1029 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of GIBBS CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and INDEPENDENT
WORKERS UNION OF FLORIDA, PETITIONER
Case No. 10-RC--391 .-Decided February 4, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
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 following labor organizations claim to represent employees
of the Employer : Independent Workers Union of Florida, herein
called the Independent ; I International Association of Machinists,
District Lodge 112, herein called the Machinists; International
Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of
America, A. F. L., herein called the Boilermakers; and Industrial
Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, Local 32,
CIO, herein called the Industrial Union.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
* Houston , Reynolds , and Murdock.
1 At the hearing , the Machinists contended , in effect, that the Petitioner is an employer-
dominated union and therefore not a bona fide labor organization within the meaning of
Section 2 (5) of the Act. The hearing officer properly refused to permit the introduction
of evidence of this character In the absence of special circumstances , not here present,
the Board customarily does not receive evidence of unfair labor practice charges at rep-
resentation hearings See Matter of Dominant , Inc., 74 N. L R. B. 85.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 1.58.
1029
1030 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4. The appropriate units; the determination of representatives:
The Independent, the Employer, and the Industrial Union agree
that all the Employer's production and maintenance employees, ex-
cluding office and clerical employees, time checkers, guards, profes-
sional employees, employees in the shipping and receiving depart-
ments, and supervisors, constitute an appropriate bargaining unit.
The Machinists seeks a separate craft unit consisting of all the inside
and outside machinists in the Employer's repair yard. The Boiler-
makers urges as appropriate, a separate craft unit composed of all
the employees in the steel fabricated shop of the Employer's repair
yard, including shipfitters, welders, chippers, burners, caulkers, steel
fabrication workers, tank testers, punch and shear operators, roll
operators, brake operators, riggers, layer-out workers, mold lofts-
men, boiler makers, their helpers and apprentices.
. The Employer is engaged in Jacksonville, Florida, in the business
of constructing, converting, and repairing ships and in constructing
agricultural, logging, marine, and industrial equipment. Its con-
struction and repair operations are carried on in two yards situated
about 500 feet apart and known as the repair and construction yards
respectively.
For operational purposes, the repair yard is divided into eight de-
partments or shops, corresponding generally to traditional craft lines.
These departments or shops are known as the machine, steel fabricated,
carpenter, sheet metal, electrical, tin, engine, and pipe. Each shop
has its own complement of employees and a foreman to whom they
are answerable. The employees in the machine shop constitute the
group sought by the Machinists while the employees in the steel fab-
ricated shop constitute the group sought by the Boilermakers. Each
of these two groups of employees is basically craft in character and
falls within the traditional craft jurisdiction of the labor organiza-
tion seeking to represent it. The Employer, however, argues that
their recognition as separate bargaining units is unwarranted (1)
because of the frequent employee interchange among the various
shops and (2) because the history of collective bargaining at its plant
has been on a more comprehensive basis.
The employees sought by the Machinists and the Boilermakers, like
the other craft employees in the repair yard, perform their duties
either in the shops to which they are assigned or aboard the vessels
which the Employer undertakes to repair. Vessels under repair may
be berthed either in the repair yard or at docks where they have been
moored to load or discharge cargo. When engaged in duties in their
respective shops, the employees requested by the two craft unions here
involved devote all their time to tasks common to their craft under
GIBBS CORPORATION 1031
the direction of their departmental foreman. However, when they
are aboard a vessel, they are under a supervisor who has charge of
the vessel's repair and all the workmen aboard, irrespective of their
duties. Although craft lines are generally observed in detailing craft
employees to vessels, these lines may be ignored when the job requires
the skills attributable to a particular craft and no member of that
craft is immediately available for the assignment. The record also
shows that the Employer's present complement of craftsmen are suf-
ficiently versatile to undertake numerous tasks outside the scope of
their usual functions. Despite these circumstances, it seems clear, at
least with respect to the employees requested by the Machinists and
the Boilermakers, that they devote the majority of their time to duties
common to their respective trade. Furthermore, their work assign-
ments involving duties not normally associated with the members of
their own craft groups are temporary and do not affect their regular
wage rates. Upon the completion of such assignments, they always
report back to their respective shops and foremen.
The collective bargaining history of the Employer shows that the
only union with which it has had bargaining relations is the Ship
Workers Association. This organization, however, was found by the
Board to have been employer-dominated in an unfair labor practice
proceeding involving the Employer.2 Under these circumstances, the
Employer's history of collective bargaining can have no weight in the
determination of the collective bargaining unit or tin' ItS.3
The foregoing factors indicate that the units proposed by the Ma-
chinists and the Boilermakers each constitutes a homogeneous and
clearly identifiable. craft group such as the Board has frequently found
appropriate.4 There are factors in this case, however, which indicate
the feasibility of including these employees in a plant-wide unit em-
bracing all the Employer's production and maintenance employees
such as is requested by the Petitioner, the Employer and the Industrial
Union. Thus, there is a community of interest between all the Em-
ployer's craft workers arising out of similar working conditions, pay
scales, and their high degree of skills together with the fact that they
may be interchanged. Furthermore, the production and labor poli-
cies in effect at the plant are centralized. Under the circumstances,
we shall, in accordance with Board policy, defer our decision regard-
ing the unit placement of the employees requested by the Machinists
and the Boilermakers pending the ascertainment of their desires as
indicated by the results of elections we shall hereinafter direct.
2 Mattel of Gibbs Corporation, 74 N. L R B. 1182.
a Matter of Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, 80 N. L. R. B 107
4 Matter of Waterman Steamship Corporation , Repair Division , 78 N L R B 20.
1032 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer , the Machinists , and the Boilermakers contend that
no election should be held at this time because the Employer intends
to consolidate the operations of its 2 yards with the result that there
may be a reduction in the employment force and a reshuffling of their
duties. The record shows that the Employer is planning to abandon
its construction yard within the next few months and move all the
operations now located in that yard to the repair yard in order to
reduce its overhead expenses because in recent years its business has
substantially contracted and a large number of employees have been
laid off. There are at the present time approximately 150 employees
on the Employer's pay roll. Except for a change in site for some of
its departments , there is nothing in the record which shows that the
Employer's plans for consolidation contemplate any substantial alter-
ation in its operations . Not only will the Employer continue to func-
tion as it has in the past with the same departments , but there are
no immediate plans for a wholesale reduction of its personnel or a
reassignment of their duties . Under these circumstances , we shall
direct immediate elections.
We shall direct that the question concerning representations which
has arisen be resolved by separate elections among the Employer's
employees within each of the following voting groups , excluding
from each group office and clerical employees , time checkers , guards,
professional employees , employees in the shipping and receiving de-
partments , and all supervisors.
1. All inside and outside machinists employed in the machine
shop of the repair yard ;
2. All employees in the steel fabricated shop in the repair yard,
including shipfitters , welders, chippers , burners, caulkers , steel fabri-
cation workers , tank testers , punch and shear operators, roll opera-
tors, brake operators , riggers, layer-out workers , mold loftsmen , boiler-
makers, their helpers and apprentices;
3. All remaining production and maintenance employees.
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 direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Tenth Region, and
subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations
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
GIBBS CORPORATION 1033
preceding the date of this Direction . 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 1 desire to be repre-
sented by International Association of Machinists , District Lodge 112,
or by Independent Workers Union of Florida , or by Industrial Union
of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, Local 32, CIO, or by
none of these labor organizations;
(2) Whether the employees in voting group 2 desire to be repre-
sented by International Brotherhood of Boilermakers , Iron Ship
Builders and Helpers of America, A. F. L., or by Independent Work-
ers Union of Florida , or by Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuild-
ing Workers of America , Local 32, CIO , or by none of these labor
organizations.
(3) Whether the employees in voting group 3 desire to be repre-
sented by Independent Workers Union of Florida or by Industrial
Union or Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America , Local 32,
CIO, or by neither.