GTE Automatic Electric Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 30, 1976

226 N.L.R.B. 1222 (N.L.R.B. 1976)

1222 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
GTE Automatic Electric Incorporated , Employer-Peti-
tioner and Local #336, International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO. Case 13-UC-87
November 30, 1976
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MURPHY AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(b) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Arlander
Keys. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, and by direc-
tion of the Regional Director for Region 13, this pro-
ceeding was transferred to the Board for decision.
Thereafter, the Employer and the Union filed briefs
and the Employer filed a reply brief.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au-
thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rul-
ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free
from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this proceeding, 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 jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to rep-
resent certain employees of the Employer.
3. For many years the Employer and Local 336
have bargained collectively for a group of telephone
equipment installers working within the continental
United States, and have entered into collective-bar-
gaining agreements regarding their wages and work-
ing conditions. The bargaining unit was never certi-
fied by the Board, but the recognition clause of the
contracts provided that it was "subject to and in ac-
cordance with the provisions of the National Labor
Relations Act . . . ." The current bargaining unit
described in the contract is "telephone equipment in-
stallers in the various classifications set forth in
Schedule A hereto in the Installation Division of the
Company, but excluding office and clerical employ-
ees, guards and professional and supervisory employ-
ees, confidential employees, managerial employees,
and all other employees not specifically included in
the Unit set forth herein." The Employer-Petitioner
seeks the clarified unit as follows:
Included: Telephone Equipment Installers em-
ployed in the Installation Division of the
Company in the United States.
Excluded: Telephone Equipment Installers em-
ployed on projects in foreign countries outside
the United States, office and clerical employ-
ees, guards and professional and supervisory
employees, confidential employees, manage-
rial employees and all other employees not
specifically included above.
The Employer-Petitioner desires clarification as a
result of the recent claim under the existing collec-
tive-bargaining agreement by Local 336 that it is en-
titled to bargain on behalf of installers employed by
GTE Iran Incorporated on a project currently being
performed in Iran. The Employer refused to bargain
on the grounds that the installers in Iran are not cov-
ered by the Labor Management Relations Act nor by
the collective-bargaining agreement between the Em-
ployer and Local 336.
GTE Automatic Electric Incorporated and GTE
International Incorporated are independent wholly
owned subsidiaries of General Telephone & Elec-
tronics Corporation. In April 1975, GTE Internation-
al Incorporated concluded an understanding for the
sale and installation of telephone equipment to Tele-
communications Company of Iran, owned by the
government of Iran. Under the arrangement, GTE
Automatic Electric Incorporated is selling telephone
switching equipment and other apparatus to its sister
subsidiary, GTE International Incorporated, which
in turn sells it to Telecommunications Company of
Iran. A subsidiary of GTE International Incorporat-
ed, GTE Iran Incorporated is responsible for the ac-
tual installation of equipment in Iran. GTE Iran In-
corporated currently employs all the installers who
are working in Iran.
The first installers sent to Iran were recruited by
GTE Automatic Electric Incorporated from among
the Local 336 installers and from other available
sources. Supervisory and management personnel
were recruited from GTE Automatic Electric Incor-
porated, sister subsidiaries, and from outside sources.
Only approximately one-third of the total number of
employees involved in the Iran project are from GTE
Automatic Electric Incorporated. None of the em-
ployees who were recruited from GTE Automatic
Electric Incorporated for the Iran project has been
assured of reemployment by GTE Automatic Elec-
tric Incorporated on return to the United States.
When the installation work in Iran began in Octo-
ber 1975, installers recruited from GTE Automatic
Electric Incorporated remained on the payroll of that
226 NLRB No. 197
GTE AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC INC 1223
corporation. Subsequently, GTE Iran Incorporated
was formed as a new subsidiary of GTE Internation-
al Incorporated.
In January 1976, all of the employees in Iran not
already on the payroll of GTE International Incor-
porated were transferred to the payroll of GTE Iran
Incorporated where they have remained. As a result
of the creation of GTE Iran Incorporated and the
transfers , all installers permanently assigned to Iran
are now on the payroll of GTE Iran Incorporated.
They are not, however, the only employees on the
payroll of GTE Iran Incorporated.
There are approximately 850 installers covered by
the local contract in the United States. There are
about 59 installers in Iran.
It is clear that employees in Iran are not within the
jurisdiction of the Act.' Accordingly, we find that
telephone equipment installers employed on projects
in Iran or other foreign countries outside the United
States are not within the unit covered by the parties'
collective-bargaining agreement. We therefore grant
the Employer-Petitioner's motion for unit clarifica-
i RCA OMS, Inc (Greenland), 202 NLRB 228 (1973), Benz v Campania
Naviera Hildago, S A , 353 U S 138 (1957)
tion and exclude from the unit telephone equipment
installers employed on projects in Iran or other for-
eign countries outside the United States.'
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the collective-bargaining
unit of employees of GTE Automatic Electric Incor-
porated, represented by Local #336, International
Brotherhood of Electric Workers, AFL-CIO, be, and
it hereby is, clarified by excluding from the unit tele-
phone equipment installers employed on projects in
foreign countries outside the United States.
2 Member Jenkins agrees that the union cannot bargain for its members
with respect to their wages , hours , and working conditions in foreign coun-
tries He would deny the petition seeking clarification of the bargaining
unit, however , because employees in the unit who are on temporary assign-
ment to work in foreign countries retain many interests in the conditions of
employment in the unit in the United States There was testimony indicating
they are in layoff status while on temporary foreign assignment and, in this
respect , they clearly remain members of the bargaining unit They are enti-
tled to bargaining representation with respect to such matters as the terms
of their transfer to foreign countries , their retention of seniority rights, their
rights to be returned to the United States , and their reemployment rights
The fact that the Employer need not bargain about the terms and conditions
of their employment in Iran hardly relieves it of the duty to bargain about
such other matters as those mentioned for these reasons, Member Jenkins
would not exclude from the unit employees on temporary assignment in
foreign countries and would dismiss the petition