Inland Empire Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 23, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 749 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of INLAND EMPIRE PAPER COMPANY, EMPLOYER at1d
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LODGE 86, PETITIONER
Case No. 19-RC-116.-Decided November 23, 194.8
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing in the above case 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 organizations named below claim to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. No 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 for the following reasons
hereinafter stated.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of machinists, specialists, welders,
blacksmiths, helpers and apprentices, employed in the Employer's
pulp and paper plant. The above unit sought would include, under
the Employer's classifications, all mechanics, blacksmiths, one roll
grinder, one knife grinder and saw filer, and four welders. The Em-
ployer and the Intervenors 1 oppose the unit sought by the Petitioner
upon the ground that the existing production and maintenance unit,
based upon a history of collective bargaining, is the only appropriate
unit.
* Reynolds , Murdock , and Gray.
i International Brotherhood of Paper Makers and International Brotherhood of Pulp,
Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers and its Local 218.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 112.
749
750 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The employees in the unit sought by the Petitioner form a part of
the Employer's mechanical crew, which comprises all of the mainte-
nance employees under the master mechanic. The machinists work in
and out of the machine shop, and are skilled craftsmen. Likewise, the
blacksmiths, who are quartered in a separate shop, possess skills which
are characteristic of their craft. Inasmuch as the proposed unit ap-
pears to be essentially a multi-craft group of employees with different
skills, we believe that these employees lack the homogeneity and co-
hesion requisite for the severance of a craft group for the purposes of
collective bargaining.2 We find, therefore, that the unit sought is in-
appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. Accordingly, we
shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
2 Matter of Shell Chemical Corporation ( Shell Point Plant), 79 N. L. R. B. 35 ; Matter
of George S. Mepham Corporation, 78 N. L . R. B. 1081.