Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 28, 1960

129 N.L.R.B. 789 (N.L.R.B. 1960)

MINNESOTA MINING & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 789
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company (Irvington Var-
nish and Insulator Company Division ) and District 50, United
Mine Workers of America, Petitioner
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company (Irvington Var-
nish and Insulator Company Division ) and International Union
of Operating Engineers , Local 68, AFL-CIO , Petitioner. Cases
Nos. 2f-RC-710 and P22-RC-721. November 28, 1960
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Alfred J. Hill, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in these cases, 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.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sections
9(c) (1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer, at its Newark, Now Jersey, plant, is engaged in
the manufacture of chemicals and capseals. Between 1941 and 1945,
it bargained with the Painters and the IAM, as joint representatives,
for the production and maintenance employees at its plant. Since
1945, by mutual agreement between the Employer and Intervenors,
the Employer has recognized the Painters as the bargaining agent of
an overall unit excluding, among others, certain of the maintenance
employees, and it has recognized the IAM as the bargaining repre-
sentative of the maintenance employees not represented by the Paint-
ers. More specifically, for example, the last contract between the
Employer and Painters covering all employees excludes from its cov-
erage, among others, tool- and die-makers, machinists, machinists'
millwrights, electricians and their respective apprentices and helpers,
and oilers. The most recent contract between the Employer and IAM,
which runs concurrently with the Painters' contract, and has virtually
identical provisions dealing with terms and conditions of employment,
covers a unit of "all tool and die makers (first and second class),
machinists, machinists' millwrights, electricians, and their respective
apprentices and helpers, and oilers."
i Paint, Varnish and Allied Products , Local Union No. 1310, Brotherhood of Painters,
Decorators and Paperhangers of America , AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as the
Painters, and International Association of Machinists , District 47, AFL-CIO , hereinafter
referred to as the IAM, were permitted to intervene on the basis of their respective con-
tracts with the Employer.
129 NLRB No. 92.
79O DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In this proceeding, the UMW seeks to represent in a single unit all
production and maintenance employees currently represented by the
Painters as well as those maintenance employees currently represented
by the IAM. The Operating Engineers seeks to represent a unit con-
sisting of four firemen and two pipefitters who are presently part of
the unit represented by the Painters, or, alternatively, a unit of the
firemen alone. The IAM and the Painters each claims that the unit
it represents is appropriate. The Employer contends that all produc-
tion and maintenance employees belong in a single unit.
The Employer's plant consists of five buildings, each of which is
partitioned into smaller sections which are primarily used for pro-
duction purposes. The maintenance department is located in a sec-
tion of one of these buildings. At the present time, the maintenance
department consists of 12 employees, namely, 4 firemen, 1 carpenter
class A, 1 painter class A, and 2 pipefitters, who are represented by
the Painters, and 2 machinists class A, 1 electrician, and 1 oiler, who
are represented by the IAM.
All maintenance employees are under the supervision of the main-
tenance supervisor and, except for the firemen and one machinist class
A 2 who are assigned to the capseal division, operate from the main-
' tenance department where they have their maintenance tools and work
benches. The machinists perform such duties as operating lathes,
changing bearings, and repairing and overhauling pumps and all
types of machine tools. The electrician, who does not appear to be
licensed, is responsible for the maintenance of all electrical equipment
throughout the plant. The oiler is actually a machinists' helper. The
carpenter class A works both as a carpenter and a painter, and the
painter class A works as a painter. The pipefitters are engaged in
pipe maintenance. In the- past, they have watched the boilers in in-
frequent emergency situations. All the aforementioned employees
work primarily in the production area.
The firemen, although under the supervision of the maintenance
superintendent, are located in the boilerhouse, which is separated by
firewalls from the rest of the building in which it is located. An out-
side passageway leads from the boilerhouse to the rest of the building.
The firemen are licensed. They have little contact with other em-
ployees. Their duties, which consist of maintaining steam for heating
and production purposes, confine them exclusively to the boilerhouse
where they eat their meals and have their own lockers and washroom
facilities. They do some of their own repair work, such as repairing
minor leaks in the boilers.
Upon the, entire record, we reject the contention of the Intervenors
that the contract units separately represented by them should be
found appropriate., , The units proposed by them cannot be justified
2 This employee is also supervised by the capseal supervisor.
MINNESOTA MINING & MANUFACTURING COMPANY 791
on a craft or departmental basis or by any other criteria employed
by the Board in establishing bargaining units. The bargaining his-
tory in their favor stems from agreements between the Employer
and Intervenors which have divided the maintenance employees into
units along jurisdictional lines and is therefore alone insufficient to
warrant a finding that either of the existing units is appropriate.'
On the other hand, as urged by the Employer and UMW, the in-
tegrated nature of the Employer's operation and the close community
of interest shared by all the employees make it plain that a plantwide
unit composed of the employees who have been represented by both
the Intervenors would be appropriate under the Board's standards of
appropriateness. At the same time, it also appears, and we find, that
the firemen form a homogeneous and functionally distinct powerhouse
group such as the Board has held may constitute a separate appro-
priate unit in the circumstances of this case 4 As it further appears
that the pipefitters are not closely associated with the firemen, we
shall not join them with those employees, but shall include them in
the production and maintenance unit.
Accordingly, we hold that the employees at the Employer's Newark,
New Jersey, plant, in the following voting groups, excluding office
clerical employees, laboratory technicians, professional employees,
guards, executives, and supervisors as defined in the Act, may consti-
tute either a single appropriate unit or separate appropriate units :
(1) all production and maintenance employees, including pipefitters,
but excluding powerhouse employees; (2) all powerhouse employees,
excluding pipefitters. We shall make no final unit determination at
this time but shall first ascertain the desires of the employees them-
selves. Thus, we shall place the names of District 50, United Mine
Workers of America, Paint, Varnish and Allied Products, Local
Union No. 1310, Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper-
hangers of America, AFL-CIO, and International Association of
Machinists, District 47, AFL-CIO, on the ballot in the election in
voting group 1, and the names of District 50, United Mine Workers
of America, Paint, Varnish and Allied Products, Local Union No.
1310, Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers of
America, AFL-CIO, International Association of Machinists, District
47, AFL-CIO, and Operating Engineers, Local 68, AFL-CIO, on
the ballot in the election in voting group 2.5 If a majority of the em-
9 Utility Appliance Corp , 106 NLRB 398.
4 North American Aviation, Inc, 115 NLRB 1090, Hawley & Hoops, Inc., 115 NLRB
1276; New England Confectionery Company, 108 NLRB 728
5 The Painters and the TAM have not taken alternative positions herein Should either
or both of them not wish to participate in the elections directed , they may withdraw their
names from the ballots upon notice to that effect to the Regional Director within 10 days
from the date of issuance of this Decision and Direction of Election Also, they may
appear on the ballots as joint representatives , if they both so agree and . submit satis-
factory evidence to the Regional Director of such agreement , and if they should, win, they
792 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees in voting group 2 selects the Operating Engineers, they will
be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate bar-
gaining unit, and the Regional Director conducting the election is in-
structed to issue a certification of representatives to the Operating
Engineers for such unit, which the Board, under such circumstances,
finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. How-
ever, in the event a majority of the employees in voting group 2 does
not vote for the Operating Engineers, those employees will appro-
priately be included with the employees in voting group 1 and their
votes will be pooled with those in voting group 1.6 The aforesaid
Regional Director is instructed to issue a certification of representa-
tives to the labor organization selected by the majority of the em-
ployees in voting group 1 or in the pooled group, as the case may be,
which the Board, in such circumstances, finds to be a unit appropriate
for purposes of collective bargaining.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
MEMBERS FANNING and KIMBALL took no part in the consideration
of the above Decision and Direction of Elections.
will be certified jointly as the bargaining representative of the employees in the entire,
appropriate unit. The Employer may then insist that they bargain jointly for such
employees as a single unit.
61f the votes are pooled, they are to be tallied in the following manner : The votes
for the labor organization seeking a separate unit in voting group 2 shall be counted as,
valid votes , but neither for nor against the other labor organizations on the ballot All
other votes are to be accorded their face value , whether for representation by the afore-
mentioned unions on the ballot or for no union.
Malden Publications , Inc., Medford Publications , Inc. and Local
32, Newspaper Guild of Greater Boston , American Newspaper
Guild, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 1-RC-5471. November
28, 1960
DECISION AND ORDER CLARIFYING CERTIFICATION
On February 10, 1959, the Regional Director for the First Region
issued a certification of representatives in the above-entitled proceed-
ing, in which the Petitioner was certified as the exclusive bargaining
representative of the employees of the editorial department of the
Employer's two publications located at Malden and Medford, Massa-
chusetts, excluding, inter alia, supervisory employees. Thereafter,
on April 22, 1960, the Petitioner filed a request for clarification of
certification, in which it requested the Board to find that Archie Birt-
well, assistant editor of the Malden News , is not a supervisory em-
ployee, and thus within the certified unit, and on May 23, 1960, the
Employer filed a statement in opposition thereto. Thereafter, on
129 NLRB No. 93.