O. G. Kelley Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 19, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 1166 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of OLIVER G. KELLLEY, D/B/A O. G. KELLEY Co., EM-
PLOYER and LOCAL No. 651 , INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOIL-
ERMAKERS, IRON SHIPBUILDERS AND HELPERS OF AMERICA , A. F. L.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 1-R"23.Decided August 19, 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.
- 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 :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
• 2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. The alleged question concerning representation ; the alleged
appropriate unit :
. The Petitioner requests a unit limited to the employees in the steel
shop of the Employer's plant. The Employer is neutral.
-The Employer fabricates metal tanks. It has 3 departments, the
steel shop, the machine shop, and the lead department. Work begins
in the steel shop, where employees, such as welders and fitters, do the
basic construction. The tanks then go to the machine shop, located in
the same building, but separated from the steel shop by a partition,
where machinists and other employees remove flanges, drill precision
bolt holes, and do tapping and reaming, and whatever else may be re-
quired to remove roughness from the tanks. In the course of this
* Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 162.
1166
0. G. KELLEY CO. 1167
construction process, many of the tanks are sent to the lead shop, which
is located in a separate building 500 or 600 feet distant where lead
burners line the tanks with lead and do any other lead work necessary.
'There are 34 employees in the steel shop, 20 in the machine shop, and
20 in the lead shop. All are hourly paid and have similar working
,conditions.
For several years, the employees in the lead shop have been repre-
sented by a labor organization which is not a party to this proceeding.
The Petitioner contends that a unit limited to the steel shop is appro-
priate primarily because (a) the machine shop employees allegedly
are not subject to.the jurisdiction of its international, and (b) its
organizational activities have been limited to the employees in the
steel shop.
It does not appear that the employees in the steel shop constitute
.a craft group. Neither the Petitioner's alleged jurisdictional limita-
tions nor the extent of its organizational activities are, standing alone,
proper determinants of a bargaining unit.' Under the circumstances,
we find that a unit limited to the employees in the steel shop is now
inappropriate for bargaining purposes. Accordingly, we also find
that no 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 National Labor Relations
Act. We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire
'record in this proceeding, the National Labor Relations Board hereby
,orders that the petition for investigation and certification of repre-
sentatives of employees of Oliver G. Kelley, d/b/a O. G. Kelley
Co., Boston, Massachusetts, filed herein by Local 651, International
-Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Shipbuilders and Helpers of
America, A. F. L., be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
1 Matter of Delaware Knitting Company, Inc , 75 N L R B 205.