Kennecott Refining Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 31, 1960

126 N.L.R.B. 1422 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

1422 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
with the clerical employees in the main office. From the foregoing it
is clear that the shipping and receiving employees are the type of
plant clerical employee who, according to well-established Board
policy, are properly included in a production and maintenance unit
in the absence of a contrary agreement,6 and they are therefore in-
cluded in the certified unit herein.'
[The Board clarified the certification by specifically including the
classifications of receiving clerk, posting clerk, stock and shipping
clerk, stock clerk, mail clerk, and stores clerk, and specifically ex-
cluding the classification of multilith operator.]
Harvey Lumber & Supply Co, 118 NLRB 737, p. 740.
This is not to be construed as a recertification.
Kennecott Refining Corporation and Local 99-99A-99C, Inter-
national Union of Operating Engineers , AFL-CIO, Petitioner
Kennecott Refining Corporation and District 8, United Steel-
workers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner
Kennecott Refining Corporation and Local 28, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner.
Cases Nos. 5-RC-2951, 5-RC-2968, and 5-RC-2994. March 31,
1960
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon petitions 1 duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before M. Louise
Felton, hearing officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Bean and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer within the meaning of the Act 2
'The Petitioners herein are called the Operating Engineers , the Steelworkers, and
IBEW, respectively.
2 At the hearing , Construction, Building Materials , Drivers, Warehousemen & Helpers,
Local 311-, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers
of America, herein called Teamsters , and International Union of Mine Mill & Smelter
Workers, herein called Mine Mill, intervened in all three cases on the basis of a
caid-showing. ,
126 NLRB No. 169.
KENNECOTT REFINING CORPORATION 1423
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Steelworkers seeks to represent a unit of production and
maintenance employees at the Employer's Anne Arundel County,
Maryland, plant; the Operating Engineers seeks a unit limited to
certain waste heat boiler operators; IBEW seeks a unit limited to
electricians, their helpers, and instrumentmen.
The Employer and the Steelworkers contend that only a plantwide
unit, including the employees sought to be represented separately by
the Operating Engineers and IBEW, is appropriate. The Teamsters
and Mine Mill take no position with respect to the appropriateness of
the units sought by any of the Petitioners but ask to be placed on the
ballot in any election directed by the Board. There is no history of
bargaining for any of the employees of the Employer at this plant.
The Employer is engaged in refining copper and manufacturing
copper wire. The plant here involved commenced operation in August
1959. At the time of the hearing, it had approximately 200 produc-
tion and maintenance employees. When it achieves full production,
approximately 550 employees will be employed, but all job classifica-
tions that the Employer intends to have are now manned. At the
hearing, the Employer, the Steelworkers, the Teamsters, and Mine
Mill stipulated that the appropriate unit would comprise all produc-
tion and maintenance employee, including quality control employees,
but excluding salaried plant-clerical employees,' office clerical em-
ployees, professional and technical employees, guards, and supervisors.
The Operating Engineers seeks to represent five waste heat boiler
operators who are employed in the anode casting department, a pro-
duction department, which is located in the Employer's Anode Build-
ing. As part of the refining process, impure copper is placed in a
reverberatory furnace where it is melted. When it has reached the
molten stage, copper is converted to the proper chemical content,
removed from the furnace, and processed into wire. The Employer
uses two reverberatory furnaces in the Anode Building. Directly
above each reverberatory furnace, and connected to it by means of a
reverberatory stack, is a waiste heat boiler. This boiler receives heat
directly from the furnace. The boiler utilizes the heat to produce
steam which is used in the production process and to heat the plant.
The boilers do not produce any power, all power being purchased by
the Employer from local gas and electric utility companies. The
Employer does not have a powerhouse of any kind. The waste heat
furnaces are located 127.5 feet above the first floor of the Anode
8 So far as appears , there are no plant clericals other than salaried plant clericals.
1424 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Building and are serviced by the five waste heat boiler operators who
work on the mezzanine floor of the Anode Building.
The waste heat boiler operators work under the supervision of the
anode department foreman. They are not required by the Employer
to serve an apprenticeship or tohave special training to perform their
job. After about 2 or 3 weeks of training, with proper supervision, a
boiler operator would be able to perform adequately the functions
required of him by the Employer. The Employer does not require
that waste heat boiler operators possess a license, but, as the State of
Maryland imposes such a requirement, the five employees here in-
volved are licensed. The waste heat boiler operators are not inter-
changed with anode department production employees. However,
they share a lockerroom and enjoy substantially the same employee
benefits as other anode department employees.
Although in certain circumstances,' the Board will establish a sep-
arate unit of boiler operators, such a unit is inappropriate where, as
here, they are not craftsmen, they work, not in a separate powerhouse
or boilerroom producing power but in a production department as
part of the production process under the supervision of a production
department foreman; and they do not have interests separate and dis-
tinct from production employees.-' We shall, therefore, dismiss the
Operating Engineers' petition herein and, in accord with the Employ-
er and the Steelworkers, include the waste heat boiler operators in the
production and maintenance unit.
The IBEW seeks to represent separately all employees performing
electrician duties in the Employer's maintenance department. The
maintenance department is composed of approximately 56 employees,
classified as refinery mechanic, mechanic helper, or utility man. The
IBEW seeks to represent 11 refinery mechanics, 1 helper, and 1 utility
man, who, it asserts, have a background of electrical work and com-
prise a distinct, homogeneous group entitled to separate representa-
tion. The Employer contends that such a separate unit is inappro-
priate because it constitutes neither a craft nor a department. The
Employer designates all its maintenance department employees as
refinery mechanic I, mechanic helper, or utility man. In hiring
employees for positions in the maintenance department, the Employer
selected, among others, employees possessing skills in the electrical
craft, but did not require employees to have journeymen status, or to
have served an apprenticeship. The Employer has no apprenticeship
program in effect in the plant. At the time of hiring, each prospective
maintenance department employee, including those whom IBEW
seeks to represent, was notified that, although he would work primarily
in the field in which he was most proficient, he would also be required
* Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation , Olin Works , 117 NLRB 1441.
O Arrowhead and Puritas Water , Inc., 116 NLRB 1431.
KENNECOTT REFINING CORPORATION 1425
to perform maintenance work in fields which did not correspond to
his craft background.
Of the employees sought to be separately represented by IBEW,
11, classified as refinery mechanic I, have experience in the electrical
field ranging from 2 to 20 years, and 4 of these have served apprentice-
ships. The mechanic helper has 2 years' experience and the utility
man has no electrical experience. These 13 employees are housed in
an electrical shop in the maintenance department. On the first shift,
they are supervised by an electrician foreman. However, on the sec-
ond and third shifts, the employees sought by IBEW work under the
supervision of production foremen. They are furnished with the
customary electricians' tools and primarily perform electrical pre-
ventive maintenance and emergency repair work, consisting of re-
placing electrical fuses, checking electrical contacts, and lubricating
electrical motors. In emergencies, they repair electrical instruments.
These employees perform no major repair of motors or equipment,
this work being performed by independent contractor shops. It fur-
ther appears that, when plant operations are organized on a permanent
basis, the amount of electrical maintenance work will be reduced and,
in the future, refinery mechanics with electrical skill will be required
to spend a greater portion of their time performing nonelectrical
maintenance. In addition, there is no evidence that the employees
sought by IBEW possess and exercise all the skills characteristic of
the electricians' craft. They are not hired as journeymen electricians;
they are not required to have served an apprenticeship, and the Em-
ployer has no apprenticeship program for them. They receive the
same employee benefits as other refinery mechanics not sought to
be represented by the IBEW.
Based on the foregoing, we are unable to find that the skills and
duties of the 11 refinery mechanics, the mechanic helper, and the
utility man, justify a conclusion that they constitute a distinct homo-
geneous group of skilled journeymen craftsmen, working as such.
Finally, these 13 employees are part of the maintenance department
and do not by themselves constitute a department. Accordingly, we
find that the unit sought by the IBEW does not constitute a separate
appropriate unit and that the 13 employees are properly a part of
the production and maintenance unit herein found appropriate.e Ac-
cordingly we shall dismiss the petition of IBEW.
Upon the entire record, we find the following employees at the
Employer's Ann Arundel County, Maryland, plant constitute an
appropriate unit for the purpose of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
"Ke ,nae Nuclem Fuels Co,p, 123 NLRB 462, and cases cited therein.
1426 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
All production and maintenance employees, including quality con-
trol employees, waste heat boiler operators, refinery mechanics, me-
chanic helpers and utility men, but excluding plant clerical employees,
office clerical employees, professional and technical employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.'
[The Board dismissed the petitions in Cases Nos. 5-RC-2951 and
5-RC-2994.]
[Text of Direction of Election 8 omitted from publication.]
7 In view of our unit determination , we do not reach and hence do not pass upon the
Employer 's contention that a plantwide unit is the only appropriate unit.
8 As the Operating Engineers and IBEW have made a showing of interest in the unit
found appropriate , we shall place their names on the ballot in the election directed
herein. In the event that they do not desire to participate in the election , their names
may be removed from the ballot on application to the Regional Director within 10 days
from the date of issuance of this Decision , Order, and Direction of Election.
O