Kenworth Motor Truck Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 25, 1952

98 N.L.R.B. 277 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

KENWORTH MOTOR TRUCK CORPORATION 277
KEENWORTH MOTOR TRUCK CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL BROTHER-
„HO,OD - OF BOILERMAKERS , IRON SHIPBUILDERS , WELDERS AND HELPERS
OF AMERICA , WELDERS LOCAL No. 541, AFL, PETITIONER. Case
No. 19-R'C-743. February 25,1952
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Kenneth McClaskey, 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 [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles].
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 employees
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: 2
As finally amended at the hearing, the petition herein requests that
the Board find appropriate 'a unit of all are welders in the sheet
metal shop and bus assembly department of the Employer's Seattle,
Washington, plant, excluding all welders in the maintenance, frame,
and axle department and the truck production line, all other employ-
ees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the
Act. At the close of the hearing the Petitioner indicated that, in
the alternative, it would accept a broader unit including all acetylene
gas welders, or a unit including all arc welders in the plant. The
Employer and the Sheet Metal Workers contend that the units sought
by the Petitioner are inappropriate. The Machinists contends that
I At the hearing , Auto -Sheet Metal Workers Local 387, Sheet Metal Workers International
Association , AFL, herein called the Sheet Metal Workers, and Automotive Machinists
Lodge No. 289 and Hope Lodge No. 79, International Association of Machinists, AFL,
herein called the Machinists , were granted intervention on a showing of a contractual
interest in the employees sought by the Petitioner . The United Association of Journeymen
and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada,
Local Union No. 32, AFL, was denied intervention by the hearing officer and appealed
this ruling to the Board . In view of the fact that we are hereby dismissing the instant
petition-a result sought by this union-the hearing officer ' s ruling was , in any event,
without prejudice and we need not, therefore , determine whether it was correct.
s In view of our finding as to the appropriateness of the unit requested by the Petitioner,
we do not find it necessary to rule upon the contract bar questions raised by the parties
at the hearing, and in their briefs, and in motion to dismiss.
98 NLRB No. 37.
998666-vol . 98-53-19
278 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS('BOARD
a unit including welders in the maintenance, frame, and axle dep ith-
ment and the truck-production line with =_welders in-the, sheet metal
shop and bus assembly department is inappropriate.,
The Employer is engaged in the production of trucks and busses
and employs approximately 605 hourly paid production employees at
the plant involved in this petition. Plant operations are divided into
five main departmental groups consisting of (1) production control
department; (2) the sheet metal department; (3) the bus body assem-
bly department; (4) the vehicle assembly department; and (5) main-
tenance, tools, and jigs department. The Employer's hourly paid
employees are represented in a number of units by various unions.
Employees in the sheet metal shop and the bus body department, in-
cluding the welders in those groups who are the subject of the instant
petition, have been represented for the last 13 years by the Sheet Metal
Workers. The Machinists represents three other units in the plant
including workers in the Employer's vehicle assembly department
and maintenance departments.3
The sheet metal department is concerned with metal work includ-
ing fabricating and subassembly while the bus body department is
engaged essentially in assembly operations. There are approximately
200 employees in these departments including 20 electric are welders.
The remainder of the employees are classified respectively as journey-
men sheet metal workers, production workers, and helpers 4 The arc
welders work at various locations in these departments and perform
no duties other than electric are welding. There is no welder fore-
man or leadman, although a sheet metal journeyman expedites mate-
rials and work concerning the welders, and welders are subject to
general departmental supervision. On some jobs the welders set up
their own work while on more difficult jobs they are assisted by pro-
duction workers and helpers. Acetylene gas welding, silver soldering,
and brazing, and spot welding is also done in the department by sheet
metal journeymen and production workers. The arc welders are paid
the same rate as journeymen sheet metal workers. The record shows
that these welders are highly skilled employees who, work in close
conjunction with the sheet metal journeymen and other employees
in the sheet metal and bus body departments and share with them
the same general hours, pay scale, and other conditions of employment.
Other employees do welding work in the plant other than in the
sheet metal and bus body departments. Four employees classified as
The Employer also has contracts covering units of garage employees, painters, building
service employees, and stationary engineers.
* There are also approximately 10 painters and painter helpers in the departments who
are not covered by the Sheet Metal workers contract unit and are not concerned in the
instant case.
KENWORTH MOTOR TRUCK CORPORATION 279
automotive machinists welders perform electric arc and gas welding
in connection with assembly work in a unit of machinists represented
by the Machinists Lodge.2$9. In the maintenance and tooling de-
partment, represented by Machinists Lodge 79, electric arc and gas
welding is done in connection' with the welding of jigs and fixtures
and other maintenance operations. One employee is assigned full
time to this work. Other employees throughout the plant perform
gas welding and spot welding as a part of their regular work. With
one or two minor exceptions,, the record shows that-all welders in the
plant are regularly assigned to a particular department and that there
is no interchange among employees doing welding work.
The Petitioner requests that the Board sever are welders from the
existing sheet metal unit covering the sheet metal and bus body de-
partments, or, in the alternative, delineate a unit of all or any electric
arc and gas welders in the entire plant: The Board has recently set
forth the circumstances under which collective bargaining groups of
welding employees would be established.5 The Board at that time
stated that where all welders in the plant concerned were regularly
assigned to work with particular crafts, rather than working through-
out the plant with whatever group needed their services, the Board
would include the welders in the craft groups to which they were as-
signed. The record shows that the electric are welders whose repre-
sentation is sought by the Petitioner are regularly and permanently
assigned to the sheet metal and bus body departments and work closely
with sheet metal journeymen. Other are welders in the plant are
likewise regularly assigned to other departments where they work with
craftsmen such as the machinists. Under these circumstances, we find
that arc welders in the sheet metal and bus body departments do not
constitute an appropriate bargaining unit and we shall dismiss the
petition requesting severance of these employees from the established
sheet metal group. As the same general conditions militating against
severance 'of are welders would also exist if the unit were enlarged to
include all are welders or all are and gas welders in the plant, we find
the Petitioner's alternative unit requests equally without merit.
Order
IT Is ' HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
6 See International Paper Company ( Southern Kraft Division ), 96 NLRB 295.