Kimball Systems, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 2, 1967

164 N.L.R.B. 290 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

290 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Kimball Systems, Inc. and Essex County
Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union
Local31 of the International Printing
Pressmen and Assistants Union of North
America , AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
22-RC-3483.
May 2,1967
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS BROWN
AND JENKINS
On December 23, 1966, the Regional Director for
Region 22 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled proceeding, finding
the setup and operator-setup employees in five
departments of the Employer's operations to be an
appropriate craft unit. Thereafter, the Employer, in
accordance with Section 102.67 of the National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations,
Series 8, as amended, filed a timely request for
review on the ground that the Regional Director
erred in his unit determination. The National Labor
Relations Board, by telegraphic order dated
January 17, 1967, granted the request for review and
stayed the election. Thereafter, the Employer filed a
brief on review, captioned "Request to Vacate
Decision and Direction of Election,"' and a request
for oral argument.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
case with respect to the Regional Director's
determination under reviewz and makes the
following findings:
At its Belleville, New Jersey, plant, the Employer
is engaged in the manufacture of die cut or knife cut,
blank or printed, paper and cloth specialties. There,
it has approximately 150 production and
maintenance employees in 13 departments. There is
no bargaining history for any of these employees.
The Petitioner seeks to represent, on a craft basis,
the approximately 20 setup and 30 operator-setup
employees who work in the luster line, merchandise
tag machine, shipping tag machine, and rotary
departments. The Regional Director found that
employees so classified in these four departments,
plus the string and wire department, exercise the
usual skills of the printing pressmen's craft and
constitute an appropriate craft unit.3 The Employer
contends that: (a) the employees sought do not
exercise the skills of a traditional pressmen's craft;
(b) the printing functions performed by these
employees constitute a minor portion of their work;
(c) the printing functions are so integrated with the
mechanical setup functions performed by them as to
preclude the establishment of a separate unit of
setup and operator-setup employees; and (d) the
Regional Director failed to accord proper weight to
the community of interest between employees
sought and other employees, by reason of the degree
of employee interchange, common supervision,
integration of functions, and common working
conditions and benefits.
The Employer's products feature various
attachments' (i.e., wiring, stringing, hooking), and
special punching, looping, perforation, eyeletting,
and patching. Its products are used for a variety of
operations in shipping, manufacturing, marketing,
sales, and production control. Thirteen departments,
under the overall supervision of a plant manager and
the immediate supervision of seven salaried
supervisors, are involved in the production and
maintenance process.
Initially, all orders are referred to the slitting stock
department where the paper or cloth stock is slit and
cut to size. Then, depending upon specifications, the
order is referred to one of several departments. An
order for shipping or production tags is referred to
the shipping tag machine department; for sales or
marketing tags, to the merchandise tag machine
department; for other specialties such as tea tags, oil
filter bodies, or special die cut shapes, to the rotary
department. If printing is involved, before being
referred to one of the production departments, the
order is first handled by the composing room, where
the type is set and the plate made, and then by the
luster line department where the necessary ink is
obtained. If the order calls for either a quality
printed or miniature label tag, it is referred to the
luster line or micro-label departments, rather than
the shipping tag, merchandise tag, or rotary
departments.
Once in the proper department, the job is set up
by setup or operator-setup employees on "all-in-one
machines." Setting up consists of making the proper
adjustments on the paper guides, feeders, slitters,
cutting attachments, and the printing, punching,
patching, looping, knotting, eyeletting, wiring,
i The Employer also submitted its brief previously filed with
the Regional Director
L As the record and briefs adequately present the issues and
positions of the parties, the request for oral argument is denied
9 The Regional Director included the setup and operator-setup
employees in the string and wire department on the ground that
they are regularly interchanged with the operator-setup
employees working in the requested four departments Although
there were employees in the micro-label department who were
similarly classified, the Regional Director excluded them as they
required no specialized training, and possess little of the skilled
attributes of, and do not interchange with , the employees found to
be craftsmen
' The Employer owns various patents in connection therewith.
164 NLRB No. 33
KIMBALL SYSTEMS, INC.
stringing, and perforating units which are parts of
the machines.5 If any major changes or repairs are
necessary, they are made by machinists and model
makers, with or without the aid of the setup or
operator-setup employees. Minor changes and
repairs are performed by the setup or operator-setup
employees without assistance.
After the machines are set up, samples are run off
and forwarded to the composing room for checking
against specifications. If specifications are met, a
setup man, an operator-setup man, or an operator (or
a combination of these classifications) is assigned to
operate the machinery, which entails picking up the
tags from a conveyor, chute, or hopper, inspecting
and boxing them, marking, labeling, and sealing the
boxes, loading them on to pallets or into cartons, and
maintaining production records in connection
therewith. If additional specifications must be met,
the work is removed by material handlers and taken
to the string and wire department where rerolling,
folding, stripping, and inspecting is done, or where
additional strings, wires, hooks, backing, or other
attachments are put on by hand or machine-all
through the coordinated efforts of a machine
adjuster, operators, and operator-setup employees
assigned thereto. When all specifications have been
met, the work is moved by material handlers to the
shipping and receiving department where it is
prepared for shipping by the shipping clerk.
In the shipping tag and the merchandise tag
departments, the Employer maintains approximately
18 paper converting machines containing in-line
units for punching, diecutting, printing, patching,
eyeletting, stringing , wiring, looping, knoting,
perforating, slitting, folding, and laminating. In the
luster line department, there are nine Miehle
vertical printing machines, one paper sheeting
machine used for proofing, and papercutting,
diecutting, imprinting , and folding machines. The
rotary department has one web press equipped with
printing, cutting, punching, slitting, perforating,
reinforcing, rerolling, and shear cutting units. The
Micro-label department has diecutting machines, a
Davidson offset machine, a camera, and a New Era
letterpress head. With the exception of the Miehle
presses in the luster line department, the machines
containing printing units may be and have been used
for manufacturing or converting blank tags.6 When
used for this purpose, the printing head is either
completely disengaged or converted into a diecutting
or perforating unit.
All of the setup employees are capable of being
interchanged on all but the Miehle presses and the
one rotary gravure press unit . A Miehle setup
5 Many of the functions now performed on the all-in-one
machines were originally performed on individual machines as
separate operations in the string and wire department By
adapting these individual operations and units , the Employer now
combines them into single , coordinated in-line operations
Nevertheless, there are situations where one portion of a job will
be strung in the shipping tag or merchandise tag departments,
291
employee, while not always able to function as a
setup man in some of the other departments, is able
to, and does, function well in those departments as
an operator-setup employee. There is testimony that
this situation presently exists because of the
reduced workload in the luster line department.
The record shows that 60 percent of the average
operator-setup man's time, and 10 percent of the
average setup man's time is devoted purely to above-
described duties performed by the operators. Of the
remainder of the operator-setup man's time, only
about one-third (or 13 percent of his total time) is
devoted to printing setup functions, such as simple
line changes, washing the presses, etc. The balance
(or 27 percent of his total time) is devoted to
mechanical setup functions, such as putting on stock
and rolls of patch, placing glue in the glue box, and
making adjustments of the punching, eyeletting,
stringing, wiring, reinforcing, and other units.
Likewise, only about one-third of the setup work
done by the setup man involves the printing
function; the remainder relates to the mechanical
setup functions previously described, assisting in
training, and aiding in repairs and changes in
connection with the various units.
Setup and operator-setup men do not have
separate supervision. Some (those in the
merchandise tag machine, shipping tag machine,
and rotary departments) are supervised by the first
shift, first floor, production supervisor; those in the
luster line department are supervised by the first
shift, second floor supervisor (who also supervises
the micro-label department); the string and wire
department employees and the composing room
employees share the same supervision; others are
supervised by the second-shift and third-shift
supervisors, respectively. The work on the second
and third shifts is not departmentalized. When
interchanged, employees are subject to supervision
by the supervisor of the department in which they
are working.
The Employer's practice is to move setup and
operator-setup employees, as well as operators, from
department to department, machine to machine, and
supervisor to supervisor depending upon the
workload, in order to adjust to the peaks and valleys
of production needs in each department. For this
reason, employees may find themselves on the same
day in two or three departments (including the string
and wire department which has no printing units),
performing different and varied functions.
In filling vacant positions, the Employer utilizes
various sources: plant bulletin board notices,
commercial and State employment agencies, "off-
while another portion of the same job will be strung later, as a
secondary operation, in the stung and wire department either by
the operators and operator-setup employees in that department or
by employees assigned from the requested departments to assist
in the workload
6 Approximately 20 percent of the Employer's business consists
of these blank tags
298-668 0-69-20
292 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the-street" applicants, and referrals from the Essex
County Vocational School. The Employer never
specifies that a printing background is required.
Usually, it specifies a preference for mechanically
inclined people with practical experience, where
possible, in punch press work or other
manufacturing operations. Only eight or nine of
those presently employed had any prior experience
in the printing field. The Employer's acting plant
manager testified that unless there is an opening in
the luster line department on the Miehle machines,
those with printing background and interested in
printing as a trade do not stay long in its employ.
The setup classification is attained, not through
new hires but via progression from lower
classifications. All employees, including packers,
material handlers, laborers, and helpers, are
encouraged to move up the scale, depending upon
their initiative and ability. The period of progression
is about 4 to 5 years, depending upon the individual's
ability and the availability of openings. There is no
formal apprenticeship program. Training is informal,
on an individual basis, by exposure to different
phases of the total operation. Similarly, any of the
employees may advance not only to setup
classification but to such classifications as
platemaker, inspector-trainer, stockroom clerk,
proofreader, and machinist.
All employees receive the same benefits, such as
insurance, vacations, holidays, stock purchase,
bereavement pay, rest periods, etc. Vacations are
afforded on a sliding scale, depending on length of
T Male operators (due to demand for greater physical strength
in lifting some of the attachments ) start at 5 cents per hour higher
than females The "red circle" rates, earned by approximately 10
employees when the plant was operated by another employer,
apply to specific individuals, not to the job classifications, and, in
any event , it seems none of the employees receiving the "red
circle " rates are in the proposed unit
s See Universal Form Clamp Co, 163 NLRB 184, see also
service. All are insured in the same amount; the
same medical plan is available to everyone. All
employees in the same labor grades are subject to
the same pay scale, with certain minor exceptions.'
Even assuming that the setup men and operator-
setup men spend a part of their time doing the work
of printing pressmen, it is clear from the foregoing
that they are not predominantly engaged in such
function. For this reason, they do not constitute a
craft unit of printing pressmen.8 With respect to the
mechanical functions performed by the setup men
and the operator-setup men, it appears, and we find,
that such functions do not require the possession or
exercise of the skills of any recognized craft.
Furthermore, in view of the close relationship
between them and other employees, by reason of
common supervision, work integration, and
substantial employee interchange, we find that the
setup and operator-setup men involved do not
constitute a distinct and homogeneous group of
employees with a separate community of interest
apart from operators and other production and
maintenance employees. Accordingly, we find that
the requested unit is inappropriate on either a craft
or departmental basis. As the Petitioner does not
seek to represent a broader unit, we shall dismiss
the petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
Employing Printers of Peoria, 130 NLRB 1511, 1514, Printing
Industry of Delaware , 131 NLRB 1100, 1102, Packaging
Corporation of America, 146 NLRB 1620 In determining whether
or not an alleged craft unit is appropriate , the Board applies the
same tests in the absence of bargaining history as it does in cases
where craft severance is sought See E I DuPont de Nemours and
Company, 116 NLRB 286, 288, E I Dupont de Nemours and
Company (May Plant, Camden, South Carolina), 162 NLRB 413