80 N.L.R.B. 831 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

National Carbon Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsNov 24, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 831 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of NATIONAL CARBON COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYER and MECHANICS EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, PETITIONER In the Matter of NATIONAL CARBON COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICUL- TURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA ( CIO), PETITIONER Cases Nos. 8-RC-186 and 8-RC-237, respectively. Decided November 24, 1948 DECISION DIRECTION OF ELECTION AND ORDER Upon separate petitions duly filed, a hearing in the above-consoli- dated cases was held at Fostoria, Ohio, on September 15, 1948, before Charles A. Fleming, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed." Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board Members.* Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 2 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. ' At the hearing , the hearing officer denied a motion to intervene made by the United Electrical , Radio & Machine Workers of America, Local 749, previously certified by the Board as representative of the employees of the Employer in an appropriate unit pursuant to a consent election ( Matter o f National Carbon Company , Inc. 8-R-817). This union has not complied with the filing and affidavit requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h), but sought to intervene on the ground that it had an existing contract with the Employer . The contract expired on April 30, 1948 . The UERMWA claimed, however, that by virtue of Section 8 (d) of the Act the contract was still in full force and effect at the time of the hearing . We find this contention without merit . Matter of Magnolia Petroleum Co, 79 N L. R. B 1027; Matter of Remington Rand, Inc , 78 N. L. R B 181. *Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock 2 At the hearing, UAW-CIO moved to dismiss the petition in Case No . 8-RC-186 on the ground that the unit sought was inappropriate . For the reasons herein stated, this motion is granted. 80 N. L. R. B., No. 131. 831 832 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 2. Mechanics Educational Society of America and International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (CIO) are labor organizations claiming to rep- resent employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The appropriate unit : Mechanics Educational Society of America, Petitioner in Case No. 8-RC-186, herein called MESA, seeks a unit composed of all main- tenance and mechanical employees in the AN and AH departments, excluding brick masons and their helpers, and supervisors as defined by the Act. International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (CIO), Petitioner in Case No. 8-RC-237, herein called UAW-CIO, in its amended petition 3 seeks a unit composed of all production and maintenance employees and those identified with production at the Company's Fostoria Works, excluding foremen, supervisors, watchmen, guards, brick- layers, office and clerical employees, and salaried employees in the laboratory. The Employer agreed with UAW-CIO that only a plant-wide unit of production and maintenance employees Would be appropriate.4 The Employer and UAW-CIO contend that the operations at the Employer's Fostoria plant are integrated and interdependent and that a plant-wide unit is the only appropriate unit. MESA, on the other hand, contends that the maintenance and mechanical employees in the AN and AH departments, excluding brick masons and their helpers, constitute a single appropriate unit, because they include the only skilled workers in the plant, because these workers have pre- viously been inadequately represented in collective bargaining, and because they constitute a functionally separate group. The plant in question produces carbon products used in the electrical and chemical industries. The AN department is composed of all maintenance employees of the Employer. These include machinists, millwrights, pipe fitters, electricians and instrument men, sheet metal workers, painters, welders, carpenters, an oiler, and a janitor. The AH department consists of licensed boiler firemen and hydraulic ma- chine operators. Although many of the tasks performed by employees 3 The petition was amended upon motion at the hearing. All parties agree to the exclusion of bricklayers in the AN department from any unit established in these proceedings , on the ground that these skilled craftsmen have a long continued history of bargaining in a separate craft unit . The bricklayers ' helpers, how- ever, are unskilled workers not included in the bricklayers ' unit UAW-CIO would include them in its proposed unit and MESA would exclude them. NATIONAL CARBON COMPANY, INC. 833 in the AN department require skilled workers, the Employer maintains no apprentice program. Most of the employees in the AN depart- ment began working for the Employer as production employees and were promoted to maintenance jobs when they acquired sufficient seniority. While there is no regular interchange of personnel between the AN and the production departments, the record indicates that when there is a general lay-off, AN employees may go back to produc- tion jobs in order to avoid being laid off. Maintenance employees all clock in at the AN department,5 together with All, Stores and Yard employees, but most of them spend a substantial proportion of their time working outside the AN department. In fact, one group of AN employees, known as departmental mechanics, are regularly assigned to and keep their equipment in the production departments to perform minor repairs on the machinery. The departmental mechanics are un- der the supervision of supervisors in the AN department, but the pro- duction supervisors in the departments to which they are assigned determine the time schedule of their work. AH department employees are housed in a building separate from the AN department. Although there is some interchange of employees between the AN and AH departments, the AH department does not engage in maintenance operations. It is concerned with the produc- tion of heat and power, and its functions are no more related to those performed by the AN department than they are to those performed in the other departments. Under these circumstances the unit sought by MESA is neither a true craft nor a departmental unit, and constitutes instead an artificial group, without sufficient homogeneity and cohesiveness to warrant representation in a separate unit.6 Nor is there merit in MESA's con- tention that the unit it seeks is appropriate because AN and AH employees have not been adequately represented in the plant-wide unit, which has existed at least since 1942. In this connection the record establishes that these employees have actively participated in collective bargaining in the plant-wide unit, and during the last year the former collective bargaining agreement was in effect,' were able to name a majority of members on the plant-wide Negotiating Com- mittee and obtain wage increases which brought their wage rates above those of the production workers at the plant. We find that the unit 5 The AN department is located in the same building as the Stores department, and is separated from it by a wall with a communicating doorway , usually blocked by an iron gate, and a window through which supplies are passed . The Stores department services the entire plant. See Matter of George S Mepham Corporation, 78 N. L R B 1081 ; Matter of Pepsi-Cola Corporation, 78 N. L. R. B. 790. 1 See footnote 1, Supra. 834 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD sought by MESA is inappropriate . We shall therefore dismiss the petition in Case No. 8-RC-186. We find that all production and maintenance employees and those identified with production at the Employer 's Fostoria Works , exclud- ing foremen , supervisors , watchmen , guards, bricklayers ," office and clerical employees , and salaried employees in the laboratory , consti- tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the National Carbon Company, Inc., Fostoria, Ohio, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Di- rector for the Eighth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations- Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the unit found appro- priate herein who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi- ately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstate- ment, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by the International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America (CIO). ORDER IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi- cation of representatives of certain employees of National Carbon Company, Inc., Fostoria, Ohio, filed in Case No. 8-RC-186 by the Mechanics Educational Society of America, be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 8 Bricklayers ' helpers, however, are not excluded. See footnote 4, supra.