Northwest Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 29, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 1130 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of NORTHWEST PAPER COMPANY , EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 31, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 18-RC-96.-Decided September 29,1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.'
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations named herein claim to represent employ-
ees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following
reasons:
The petitioner seeks a unit composed of all electricians and elec-
tricians' helpers in the construction department at the Employer's Clo-
quet, Minnesota, pulp and paper plant .2 The Employer and the Inter-
venors named below contend that the appropriate unit is the current
single plant-wide unit represented jointly since 1937 by International
Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Local 939, AFL, International
Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers, Local 97,
AFL, and International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, Local 198,
1 The Employer's request for oral argument is hereby denied inasmuch as the record, in
our opinion , adequately presents the issues and positions of the parties.
2 The Petitioner originally sought all electricians and electricians ' helpers employed in
both the construction department and the maintenance department . At the hearing, how-
ever, the Petitioner amended its petition to include in the proposed unit only those
employees above set forth.
79 N. L. It. B., No. 149.
1130
NORTHWEST PAPER COMPANY 1131
AFL.3 The Employer contends further that the, electricians in the
construction department, with two exceptions, are not skilled crafts-
men and cannot, therefore, be severed from an existing plant-wide unit.
The Employer's operations: The Employer manufactures various
types of paper at its pulp and paper plant at Cloquet, Minnesota,
where it employs approximately 1,100 production and maintenance
workers.
The Employer has from time to time in the past, and is now,
enlarging and expanding its plant. For this special purpose, the
Employer sets up a construction department. It hires crews of
employees for the construction w, ork and accomplishes the construc-
tion under its own over-all supervision. At the time of the hearing,
approximately 200 employees in various categories were listed on the
,Employer's construction department pay roll. The present expan-
sion has been under way for about 2 years and is expected to be com-
pleted by the end of 1948 or in the early months of 1949.
As it has done in the past, the Employer will release all crews from
its construction department when the present construction project
is finished. It will retain in its regular employ such, construction
employees as it can absorb into its regular plant operations to fill
current employment needs. There is otherwise no transfer of work
or employees between the construction department and the regular
plant departments.
Electricians in the construction department: There are six elec-
tricians (first-class) employed in the construction department. They
install power . and : electrical equipment, conduit, wiring, cubicles,
breakers, and erect such fixtures as maybe necessary to keep 'the above
in place. Each of these electricians customarily has a helper (first-
class) to work with him, but at the time of the hearing, there were only
five electricians' helpers (first-class).
Construction electricians, as a part of the construction department,
are carried on a separate department pay roll and are subject to de-
partmental working hours, supervision, and other working conditions
which are different from those of the regular plant maintenance and
production employees.
Electricians in the maintenance department: Maintenance elec-
tricians are permanently located in the plant and interchange with
no other plant employees. Other than that they perform all of the
electrical maintenance work in the plant, the record contains no evi-
8 Inasmuch as the production employees were not involved in this proceeding , the Paper
Makers, which represents this group, did not intervene . The other two labor organizations
intervened.
1132 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
dente bearing upon the duties which the maintenance electricians may
perform, nor the degree of skill possessed by them.
Electricians, as such, constitute identifiable and distinct craft
groups, and we have previously held that, as craftsmen, they may be
represented in a separate craft unit if they so desire, despite a past
history of collective bargaining on a broader basis.4 However, we
have customarily found inappropriate for severance units which ar-
bitrarily exclude employees in other departments who possess similar
skills and are engaged in the same or comparable operations.5
In the instant case, the Petitioner amended its original unit of all
electrical employees at the plant and limits the proposed unit to the
electricians in the construction department. No valid reason appears
for excluding from the proposed unit the electricians in the main-
tenance department. Inasmuch as the requested unit comprises only
a segment of a craft group, it is inappropriate 6 and we shall, there-
fore, dismiss the petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of ,the ;entire record in this. case, the ;National, Labor,
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
4 Matter of Waldorf Paper Products Co., 76 N L. R. B. 127.
6 Matter of General Mills, Inc., Mechanical Division, 77 N. L. R. B. 474.
0 Matter of Gulf Oil Corporation, 77 N. L. R. B. 308.