Goodyear Synthetic Rubber Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 20, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 1264 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of GOODYEAR SYNTHETIC RUBBER CORPORATION, EM-
PLOYER and LOCAL UNION 716, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
ELECTRICAL WORKERS, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-77.Decided August 20, 1948
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 labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees 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 units; the determination of representatives:
The Petitioner requests a unit ' of all electricians and instrument
repairmen at the Employer 's LaPorte Road plant in Houston , Texas.
The Employer contends that a 4-year bargaining history on a plant-
wide basis, excluding machinists, makes the proposed craft unit
inappropriate.l
The Employer employs 10 electricians and 8 instrument repairmen.
Under separate supervision , each group is stationed in a separate shop
* Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
1 From 1944 to the present , the Employer has bargained with Houston Labor and Trades
Council , A. F L., and its successor, Houston Metal Trades Council , A. F. L., for the
larger unit. The Metal Tiades Council has not objected to the unit requested by
Petitioner.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 179.
1264
GOODYEAR SYNTHETIC RUBBER CORPORATION 1265
in a building occupied exclusively by the Engineering and Maintenance
Division. The electricians, all journeymen, exercise the traditional
skill of their craft. The instrument repairmen are also craft journey-
men, each having met the Employer's requirement of 4 years' experi-
ence in electrical instrumentation before being hired. The electricians
repair and maintain all power and light equipment throughout the
plant, such as motors, switches, batteries, wiring and light fixtures.
The instrument repairmen repair temperature control instruments, air
operated instruments, mechanical recorders, pressure instruments, and
electrical instruments.
As we have previously held, the fact that employees exercising dis-
tinctive craft skills, as do the electricians and instrument repairmen
involved herein, have been included in broader bargaining units in the
past, is insufficient reason for- denying them a present opportunity of
deciding whether they wish to be separately represented as craft
groups.2 We do not agree, however, with the Petitioner's contention
that electricians and instrument repairmen should be joined in a single
craft unit, because there is a basic difference in the craft work per-
formed by each group.3 We believe that the employees in each group
may, if they so desire, constitute a separate bargaining unit .4 We
shall, therefore, make no final determination with respect to the appro-
priate unit or units pending the outcome of the elections directed
hereinafter.
In accordance with the foregoing, we shall direct separate elections
among the following groups of employees at the Employer's LaPorte
Road plant in Houston, Texas, excluding all supervisors as defined
in the Act :
(a) all electricians;
(b) all instrument repairmen.
If, in these elections, a majority of the employees in either of the
voting groups select the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indi-
cated their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elections 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 Sixteenth Region, and subject
2 Matter of Westinghouse Electric Corp., 75 N. L. R. B. 638.
3 Matter of Tin Processing Corporation , 78 N. L. it. B. 96, and Matter of Mathiesos
Alkali Works (Inc ), 67 N. L R. B. 716.
4 See Matter of B. F. Goodrich Company, 67 N. L. it. B. 358.
1266 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules:
and Regulations-Series 5, 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 the
elections , and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled
to reinstatement , to determine whether or not, in each group, they
desire to be represented , for the purposes of collective bargaining, by
Local Union 716, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
A. F. L.