Laboratory for Electronics, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 4, 1966

158 N.L.R.B. 667 (N.L.R.B. 1966)

TRACL+'RLAB 667
Tracerlab, a Division of Laboratory for Electronics , Inc. and
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Work-
ers, AFL-CIO, Local Lodge No. 824, Petitioner . Case No. 20-
RC-6682. May 4,1966
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer
Elizabeth M. Bianchi of the National Labor Relations Board. The
Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. The Employer and Petitioner filed
briefs.
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 McCulloch and Members Fanning and Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in this case, 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 represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Sections 9(c) (1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Employer, a Delaware corporation, is engaged in the develop-
ment and manufacture of instrumentation and in providing services
related to nuclear radiation monitoring at its Tracerlab facility,
located in Richmond, California. This facility is comprised of a two-
story building (wing A) which houses the administrative and sales
offices, the maintenance and service department, and those departments
involved generally in "hardware" development and improvement; and
a one-story structure (wing B), connected to wing A by a breezeway,
which houses those departments involved generally in standard "hard-
ware" manufacture . This proceeding is concerned with 14 of 16
departments which comprise the Richmond operation. With minor
exceptions, each of the 14 departments is under separate immediate
supervision.' There are approximately 67 nonprofessional employees
employed in these 14 departments. All are hourly paid, receive the
1 One individual supervises the activities of both the assembly and the final test depart-
ments, and another supervises the activities of both the systems engineering and the
engineering services departments.
158 NLRB No. 70.
668 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
same fringe benefits, and are subject to a uniform labor policy. There
is no bargaining history.
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance
employees of the Employer at its Richmond, California, location,
including technical employees, who are employed in the following
departments : assembly, final test, fabrication and finishing, material
control, maintenance and service, and quality control. With the
exception of maintenance and service, which is in wing A, all of the
above-mentioned departments are located in wing B of the Employ-
er's facility. Both parties agree that a production and maintenance
unit is an appropriate unit. They disagree, however, as to the com-
position of such a unit. The Employer contends that 38 additional
technical employees should be included in the unit of 29 employees
sought by the Petitioner.2 These additional employees are employed
in the following departments, all located in wing A of the Employ-
er's facility : research and development, mass spectrometry, products
and services, special analysis, radioactivity measurement's, systems
engineering, engineering services, and the Government stockroom.3
The Research and Development Department: This department
develops prototype radioactivity detection units which may later be
produced for commercial use. It also manufactures commercial equip-
ment in small-order lots when the mass-production techniques used
by the assembly department are not deemed suitable for a given pro-
duction run. However, the sheet metal enclosures which house these
units, as-well as those produced in the assembly department, are con-
structed in the fabrication and finishing department which also makes
many of the mechanical parts that are incorporated into the units.
The Employer would include the seven technical aids and the three
engineering aids who are employed in this department. These employ-
ees work under the close supervision of the physicist in charge of this
department. The technical aids assemble the equipment, performing
such operations as stripping, cutting, and soldering wire, attaching
various electrical components to circuit boards, and cross-wiring from
2 The unit sought by the Petitioner consists of: 15 assemblers and technicians employed
'bi the assembly department ; the group leader and 2 technicians in the final test depart-
ment; a group leader, a machinist/model maker , a painter/ sprayer specialist , and 2 sheet
metal mechanics employed in the fabrication and finishing department ; a material analyst,
a utility stockkeeper , and a production coordinator employed in the material control de-
partment ; an electrician and a maintenance worker in the maintenance and service de-
partment ; and a technician in the quality control department.
8 The Employer would add : 7 technical aids and 3, engineering aids employed in the
research and development department ; 2 technical aids in the mass spectrometry depart-
ment ; 1 technical aid in the products and services department ; 10 technical aids in the
special analysis department ; 8 technical aids in the radioactivity measurements depart-
ment; 1";technical aid and 2 engineering aids in the systems engineering department; 3
draftsmen in the engineering services department ; and 1 property administrator employed
in the Government stockroom.
TRACERLAB- 669
circuit boards to switches. These technical aids employ skills compa-
rable to the more highly skilled assembly department employees, and
there is frequently interchange among the employees of both these
departments, on a temporary basis, to assist in meeting the varying
work load.
The engineering aids in research and development are 'involved
essentially in instrument performance monitoring, as opposed to
instrument assembly. These employees operate the units and keep
performance records for analysis by the professionals. Their duties
are similar in kind and scope to the technicians employed in the final
test department, who are themselves frequently assigned on a tem-
porary basis to work in the research and development department .4
The Products and Services Department: This department produces
the check sources which are incorporated into, and become a functional
part of, the instrumentation produced in the assembly department.5
The technical aid who assists in the manufacture of these check sources,
and whom the Employer would also include, is supervised by a chemist.
There are no educational prerequisites for this work. The knowledge
and experience needed by the technical aid is acquired on the job.
The Systems Engineering Department: This department, which
is under the supervision of a mechanical engineer, develops special
custom-built items to suit the particular needs of certain customers.
It also exercises surveillance over the Employer's own proprietary
equipment, updating and innovating the equipment when necessary.
The Employer would include the technical aid and the two engineer
aids employed in this department. These employees perform the
manual tasks involved in the design, assembly, and testing of the items
produced in this department, and also assist in the preparation of
testing specifications and operating manuals for the specially designed
equipment. They possess similar job qualifications and use the same
skills as their counterparts in the assembly, final test, and research
and development departments and are employed at comparable wage
levels. There is also frequent interchange among the employees of
this department and their counterparts in assembly and final test as
a result of the Employer's varying production commitments.
Conclusions
In view of the foregoing, we find that the three departments dis-
cussed above form an integral part of, and are inextricably related
* As previously stated , the final test department is supervised by the foreman of the
assembly department . It is the function of the final test department to run tests on the
instruments built in the assembly department and to insure compliance with given per-
formance specifications.
5 Check sources are composed of radioactive materials encapsuled , in a cylinder. They
are used as an independent means of checking out the electrical circuitry , to calibrate
the instrument , and to determine its detecting accuracy
670 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to, the Employer's production process e Under these circumstances,
and especially in the light of the similar conditions of employment
applicable to all the employees discussed herein, the similarity in their
skills and job functions, and their frequent interchange among the
departments sought by the Petitioner and the others discussed above,
we are unable to conclude that the departments requested by the
Petitioner possess that degree of functional distinctness and autonomy
which would warrant a finding that they have a separate community
of interest.? We find, therefore, that the unit sought is too narrow in
scope to be appropriate.8 The Petitioner does not seek an election
in a broader appropriate unit.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
0Airesearch Manufacturing Company of Arizona, a division of the Garrett Corporation,
137 NLRB 632, 635.
7 See The Sheffield Corporation, 134 NLRB 1101 , 1103-04.
8 In view of our finding that the proposed unit is not appropriate because it does not
include employees in, the three departments discussed above, we find it unnecessary to
decide whether it is also inappropriate because it does not include employees in the mass
spectrometry , special analysis , radioactivity measurements , engineering services , and Gov-
ernment stockroom departments.
Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company and Local 248 of the
United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 3O-UC-
12. May 4, 1966
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition for clarification of unit duly filed on Septem-
ber 28, 1965, under Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act,
as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Michael P.
Miller. All parties appeared and were given full opportunity to
participate at the hearing.' Thereafter, the Employer filed a brief in
support of its position.
The National Labor Relations Board has considered the Hearing
Officer's rulings made at the hearing and finds that no prejudicial error
was committed. The rulings 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 McCulloch and Members Fanning and Jenkins].
1 On the first day of the hearing, January 11, 1966, the Employer moved to dismiss
the petition in advance of the introduction of any evidence on the merits on the ground
that the issue presented was res fudicata in Case No. 13-CA-5615. The Hearing
Officer referred the motion to the Board. In view of our dismissal for the reasons in-
dicated below , we find it unnecessary to pass on this motion.
158 NLRB No. 67.