Mesta Machine Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 17, 1967

167 N.L.R.B. 99 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

MESTA MACHINE COMPANY 99
Mesta Machine Company and International Union
of Operating Engineers , Local 95, AFL-CIO, Peti-
tioner and United Steelworkers of America,
AFL-CIO, Intervenor .' Case 6-RC-4376
August 17, 1967
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELEC-
TION
BY MEMBERS BROWN, JENKINS, AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Joseph E.
Moore of the National Labor Relations Board. Peti-
tioner and Employer have filed briefs, which have
been duly considered.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connec-
tion with this case to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby af-
firmed.
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 pol-
icies of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Em-
ployer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and
2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit: the Petitioner seeks a
unit of powerhouse and boilerhouse employees
designated as operators A and B, engineers A and
B, and utility employees who work as operators B
or engineers B at the Employer's West Homestead,
Pennsylvania, facility, excluding all other em-
ployees, office clerical employees and guards,
professional employees, and supervisors as defined
in the Act. The Employer contends that only an
overall unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees is appropriate because of the highly in-
tegrated nature of the operations and because the
unit sought does not consist of a craft or a func-
tionally distinct departmental group composed of
workers who have common interests. The Inter-
venor takes the position that it has no objection to
the appropriateness of the unit sought and that if the
Board directs an election in this particular unit it
wants to appear on the ballot. None of the em-
ployees sought by the Petitioner has ever been
represented by a labor organization for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining.
' The United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO, was permitted to
intervene on the basis of a showing of interest
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and
sale of steel mills, mill equipment, rolls, equipment
for nuclear reactors, and other products. It owns
and operates plants at West Homestead and New
Castle, Pennsylvania. It is the West Homestead
plant that is involved in the present proceeding. The
employees sought are employed in the powerhouse
and boilerhouse, which is part of an administrative
division designated as the power, light, and heat de-
partment. The latter department employs in excess
of 400 employees including, in addition to the
powerhouse and boilerhouse employees, carpen-
ters, electricians, pipefitters, painters, cranemen,
millwrights, riggers, and the labor pool.
There are 18 employees employed in the power-
house and boilerhouse who are classified as opera-
tors A and B, engineers A and B, and utility em-
ployees who work as operators B or engineers B.
The function of the powerhouse is to supply com-
pressed air and electricity for use throughout the
plant, and the function of the boilerhouse is to
produce steam power and heat for the plant. All of
the men involved herein work exclusively in the
powerhouse and boilerhouse and are responsible
for the operation and regulation of the various types
of equipment needed to produce power and heat.
They work in an area which is separate and apart
from the other employees. They perform minor
repair work which is in the nature of preventive
maintenance. Major repair work is performed by
other crafts in the power, light and heat department
and, whenever such work is required, the power-
house and boilerhouse employees do not assist the
craft employees. The powerhouse and the boiler-
house employees are separately supervised and, ex-
cept for times when major repair work is performed
by the crafts as indicated above, they have no con-
tact with other employees. Unlike the great majori-
ty of other operations in the plant which operate on
a 3 shift, 5 day a week basis, the powerhouse and
boilerhouse is in operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, including Sundays and holidays. Employees
in the powerhouse and the boilerhouse may exer-
cise their plant seniority to hold jobs in other parts
of the overall operations. However, in case of a
reduction in force, employees in other operations
may have bumping rights in the powerhouse and the
boilerhouse provided that they have had previous
employment therein.
We find no merit in the Employer's contention
that only an overall unit including the powerhouse
and the boilerhouse employees is required under
the integration theory, or that these employees do
not constitute a functionally distinct departmental
group with common interests. Thus, the employees
sought herein work exclusively in a separate area,
under separate supervision, and have no in-
terchange and only rare contact with employees
from other operations in the plant; their work is
scheduled over a 7-day week, rather than a 5-day
167 NLRB No. 10
310-5410-70-8
100 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL
week as is the others; they supply various kinds of
power for the operations but do not work directly in
the production process; and in case of a reduction
in force they have bumping rights in other parts of
the overall operations whereas the reverse is not
true unless the other employees had previously
worked in the powerhouse or boilerhouse. Finally,
no other labor organization seeks to represent the
employees on a broader basis, and there is no histo-
ry of bargaining. The powerhouse and boilerhouse
employees herein therefore constitute a unit enti-
tled to separate representation.2 Accordingly, we
find that the following employees of the Employer
z Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, 117 NLRB 1441, E / Du-
Pont de Nemours and Company, 162 N LRB 413
3 An election eligibility list, containing the names and addresses of all
the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer with the Regional
Director for Region 6 within 7 days after the date of this Decision and
Direction of Election The Regional Director shall make the list available
LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act: All powerhouse and boilerhouse
employees designated as operators A and B, en-
gineers A and B, and utility employees who work as
operators B or engineers B at the Employer's West
Homestead, Pennsylvania, facility, excluding all
other employees, office clerical employees, guards,
professional employees, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
[Direction of Election3 omitted from publica-
tion.]
to all parties to the election No extension of time to file this list shall be
granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances.
Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside
the election whenever proper objections are filed Excelsior Underwear
Inc, 156NLRB 1236