National Carbide Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 3, 1948

77 N.L.R.B. 454 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

III the Matter of NATIONAL CARBIDE CORPORATION , EMPLOYER and ELEC-
TRICAL WORKERS UNION , LOCAL No. 369 , INTERNATIONAL BROTHER-
HOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS , AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 9-R-2678.-Decided May 3, 194.8
Cllr. Tom E. Clarke, of New York City, for the Employer.
Mr. James E. Noe, of Louisville , Ky., for the Petitioner.
Mr. C. W. Anderson , of Louisville , Ky., for the Intervenor.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Louis-
ville, Kentucky, on August 6, 1947, before Allen Sinsheimer, Jr., hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed' At the hearing the
Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the unit
sought is inappropriate. The hearing officer referred the motion to
the Board for ruling thereon. For reasons appearing hereinafter the
motion is hereby granted.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
National Carbide Corporation, a Delaware corporation, operates a
number of plants throughout the United States, including one located
at Louisville, Kentucky, which plant is alone involved in this proceed-
ing. At its Louisville plant the Employer is engaged in the manufac-
ture of calcium carbide, acetylene, nitrogen and oxygen. The Em-
ployer purchases annually raw materials consisting of coke and lime,
valued in excess of $2,000,000, of which 70 percent is obtained from
sources outside the State of Kentucky. The Employer manufactures
and sells annually finished products valued at more than $4,000,000,
77 N. L R. B, No. 76.
454
NATIONAL CARBIDE CORPORATION 455
of which about 5 percent is shipped to points outside the State of
Kentucky.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization, affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Local No. 320,
herein called the Intervenor, is.a labor organization affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees
of the Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all electrical maintenance journey-
men and apprentices employed in the electrical maintenance depart-
ment of the Employer.' The Intervenor, currently the bargaining
representative for a plant-wide unit of the Employer's production and
maintenance employees, including those requested herein by the Peti-
tioner, agrees that the unit sought is appropriate. The Employer
opposes the severance of the employees in its electrical maintenance
department from the plant-wide unit.
The Employer's operations at its Louisville plant 2 are divided into
4 main divisions, referred to as coke drying and raw materials, furnace,
crushing and packing, and maintenance. The maintenance division,
which has approximately 60 employees, is under the general super-
vision of the plant superintendent, and consists of the mechanical
and electrical departments which have 50 and 10 employees, respec-
tively. Of the 10 employees in the electrical maintenance depart-
ment, 7 are first-class maintenance men, 1 is a second-class maintenance
man and 2 are helpers. Each of the 2 maintenance departments is
under separate immediate supervision.
The electrical maintenance department employees do general main-
tenance and repair work on electrical machinery located throughout
the plant. The Employer makes no extensive electrical repairs at its
plant because these employees are not qualified to do this work. It
appears that the electrical employees devote about 50 percent of their
time to the performance of routine electrical duties which include cor-
1 The Employer asserts that it has no classification of journeymen or apprentices in its
electrical maintenance department and, apparently , no training program to enable its
employees to attain this status
2 The Employer has about 325 production and maintenance employees at this plant.
456 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
recting the cause of trouble in electric circuits, checking 1 iring in
electric motors and unchoking electric elevator conveyors. The re-
mainder of their time is spent doing numerous odd jobs that are not
electrical in character, viz., painting, cutting weeds, taking care of
the control valves on air compressors, and operating gasoline and
electric pumps. The record reveals that the supervisor of the elec-
trical maintenance department, who is an electrical engineer, is the
only employee in that department qualified to handle all types of
electrical operations. It also appears that there are employees in
the mechanical maintenance department who can perform most of the
electrical maintenance operations which are carried on by the elec-
trical employees.
In view of the fact that the electrical maintenance employees spend
about 50 percent of their working time in the performance of elec-
trical duties which are routine and do not require the exercise of the
skills generally attributable to the electrical craft, we believe that
they are not a craft group of the type which we have customarily found
might constitute a separate appropriate bargaining unit. We per-
ceive, therefore, no justification in the present record for severing this
group of employees from the existing plant-wide unit.3 Accordingly,
we find the proposed unit inappropriate and we shall order that the
petition be dismissed.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record
in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the
petition for investigation and certification of representatives of em-
ployees of National Carbide Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky, filed
herein by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.
MEMBERS REYNOLDS and GRAY took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Order.
3 See Matter of Hardy Plastties & Chemical Corporation, 76 N. L . R. B. 463 ; Matter
of General Motors , 76 N. L. R B 879 ; Matter of Charles Eneu Johnson and Company, 77
N L. R B. 41 ; cf . Matter of Waldorf Paper Products Company, 76 N. L. R. B. 127.