Mohawk Data Sciences Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 30, 1969

179 N.L.R.B. 445 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

SOROBAN INCORPORATED 445
Soroban Incorporated , a subsidiary of Mohawk Data
Sciences Corporation and United Electrical, Radio
and Machine Workers of America (UE),
Petitioner. Case 12-RC-3291
October 30, 1969
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
JENKINS AND ZAGORIA
On June 6, 1969, the Regional Director for
Region 12 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled proceeding.'
Thereafter, in accordance with the National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, the
Employer filed a timely request for review of the
Regional Director's Decision on the grounds, inter
alia, that in reaching his unit finding he made
findings of fact which are clearly erroneous on the
record. The Petitioner filed opposition thereto.
On June 27, 1969, the National Labor Relations
Board by telegraphic Order granted the request for
review and stayed the election pending decision on
review. Thereafter, the Petitioner and the Employer
filed briefs on review
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
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 issues under review,
including the briefs on review, and makes the
following findings:
The Petitioner requested a unit of all machine
shop production and maintenance employees and
toolroom employees at the Employer's Palm Bay,
Florida, plant. It indicated that it would be willing
to proceed to an election if certain quality control
inspectors and inventory control dispatchers
assigned to the machine shop area were included in
the unit but disclaimed interest in any broader unit.
Intervenor International Association of Machinists
& Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, agreed with the
Petitioner's unit position and was willing to
participate in any election directed. The Regional
Director found that the unit primarily sought is not
a craft unit. However, he found that the machine
shop and toolroom employees, together with the
quality control and inventory control employees
assigned to the machine shop area, are a
functionally homogeneous group and constitute an
appropriate unit. In its request for review, the
Employer asserts that its machine shop employees
are engaged in repetitive production operations and
have a close community of interest with other
'On June 25 , the Acting Regional Director issued an Order granting the
request of Intervenor International Union of Electrical , Radio and
Machine Workers, AFL-CIO-CLC, to withdraw its intervention and to
remove its name from the ballot
production employees assigned to assembly areas of
the plant. It contends, therefore, that there is no
basis for finding a traditional machine shop
departmental unit herein and that the requested unit
must be broadened to encompass all production and
maintenance employees.
At its Palm Bay plant the Employer is engaged in
the manufacture of peripheral computer equipment,
such as card punches, card readers, tape punches,
and tape readers. The plant is in a single building
comprising three wings to the rear and four in the
front, connected by a corridor. Production and
maintenance operations are under a director of
manufacturing. Reporting directly to him are a shop
superintendent who is over the machine shop, a
superintendent of assembly who is over component
assembly and systems assembly, and a director of
material who is over quality control and inventory
control.
The toolroom has 9 employees (toolmakers and
tool and model-makers) under the immediate
supervision of a supervisor of tooling and methods.'
There are about 101 employees (5 sheet metal
mechanics, 14 metal finishers, an unspecified
number of machinists of various classes, a crib
attendant, a storage keeper, and 2 inventory control
dispatchers) assigned to the machine shop which is
subdivided into four departments; namely, grinding,
mills, lathes, and metal finishing.' The shop is
supervised by a general foreman with the assistance
of four other foremen. Assigned to component
assembly are 35 assemblers classed as trainee, B, A,
or lead, and an inventory control dispatcher. Systems
assembly has 47 employees: assemblers classed as
trainee, B, A, or lead, wirers classed as B or A, and
an inventory control dispatcher. Quality control,
under a manager, has 25 employees, 10 of whom are
mechanical inspectors assigned to the machine shop
under separate immediate supervision. Inventory
control, under a separate supervision, has 16
production planners in addition to the 4 dispatchers
who, as above indicated, are assigned to the
production areas which they service.
Raw materials in the form of bar stock, castings,
or piece parts are processed through inventory
control and stored in the machine shop area. As
work orders are received and production programs
prepared by production planners, the dispatchers
move the required materials to the appropriate
departments for machining operations. The
machinists, after making the necessary set up of
their machine tools, repeat the same operations on
the required number of parts.4 After the machining
of the parts is completed - and while it is in
progress - the work is inspected by the mechanical
'It is not clear from the record whether this supervisor reports to the
shop superintendent or directly to the director of manufacturing
'This department does deburring , drill press work , and sheet metal work
and is also called the bench area
'A machinist may work on as many as 10 to IS work orders a day and
the quantity of parts required by each work order may vary widely
179 NLRB No. 74
446 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
inspectors stationed in the machine shop area After
inspection, the parts are moved into storage or to
the assembly areas (to component assembly for
mechanical assembly and to systems assembly foi
marriage of electronic controls to the component
products). The product is then given final inspection
and is packed for shipment.
The machinists in the machine shop, although
skilled in the operation of the machine tools in the
department to which they are assigned, are not
required by the Employer to develop the skills
needed to operate all the machine tools in the shop.
There is no formal apprenticeship program. An
employee progresses at his own rate. However, on
the average, a trainee or 3d class machinist may
acquire the skills needed for a machinist 1st class in
about 4 years. The Employer pays its machinist
specialists (higher rated than machinists 1st class)
and its assemblers the same wage scale, and it
considers their skill levels to be comparable.
The machine shop contains the kinds of machine
tools usually found in such shops. Also, the
machinists have personal tools ranging in value from
$200 to $2,000-to-$3,000 and they work to close
tolerances. We note, however, that the mechanical
assemblers also work to close tolerances and have
occasion to use a drill press and a small lathe
located in their work area
Upon the foregoing and the entire record in this
case, we are unable to conclude that the machinists
herein are required by the Employer to possess and
exercise machinist craft skills. It appears, rather,
because of the repetitive production machining they
do on the machine tools to which they are assigned,
that they are production specialists, not craftsmen
Furthermore, although the toolroom employees, the
machine shop employees, the inventory control and
quality control personnel assigned to the machine
shop, perform functionally related work in a
separate area of the plant, we note that each of
these four groups of employees is in a separate
administrative division of the Employer's operation,
under separate immediate supervision. In the
circumstances, we conclude, contrary to the
Regional Director, that these employees lack
cohesiveness and do not have the substantial nucleus
of craftsmen required for a traditional departmental
unit, and they do not therefore constitute an
appropriate unit for purposes of collective
bargaining.'
Accordingly, as the Petitioner indicated that it did
not seek an election in a unit broader than that
found appropriate by the Regional Director, we
shall dismiss its petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
'See Hyster Company , 106 NLRB 347 The cases of St Louis Car
Company, 108 NLRB 1388, and General Refractories Company. 117
NLRB 81, relied on by the Regional Director , are, factually
distinguishable