Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 1, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 441 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of OWENS-CORNING FIBERGLAS CORPORATION, EMPLOYER
and LODGE 463, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,
PETITIONER
Case Nos. 8-RC-298, 8-RC-321, and 8-RC-329.-Decided
February 1, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon petitions duly filed,' a consolidated hearing was held before
a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hear-
ing 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,2 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 certain
employees of the Employer.'
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa=
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate units :
The Employer operates plants in several States, including a plant
at Newark, Ohio, which alone is involved in this proceeding, at
1 Pursuant to an Agreement for Consent Election , executed by the Petitioner and the
Employer with respect to the employees designated in the petition, as amended , in Case
No. 8-RC-298, an election was conducted on December 8, 1948, by the Regional Director
for the Eighth Region. The Petitioner received a majority of the valid votes cast at such
election . Accordingly, that case is hereby severed from this proceeding.
'Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
2 As elections are being directed herein, in the units requested by the Petitioner, Its
request for leave to file a reply brief is hereby denied.
3 Although served with Notice of Hearing, International Union of Operating Engineers
(AFL) and International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers did not appear or participate
In this proceeding.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 77.
441
442 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
which it manufactures fibrous glass products. The Petitioner seeks,
in Case No. 8-RC-321, a unit of all tool makers, machinists and their
apprentices, and tool crib employees in the Employer's factory ma-
chine repair department and, in Case No. 8-RC-329, a unit of all
power house employees at the Employer's Newark, Ohio, plant. The
Employer contends that the units sought are inappropriate. There
is no bargaining history applicable to either of the foregoing groups
of employees.4
a. The machinists' unit
The Machine Repair Department occupies a definitely assigned
section of a large room, which room also houses such maintenance
employees as blacksmiths, sheet metal workers, auto mechanics, mill-
wrights, pipe fitters, and welders. The present complement of the
department includes 6 shift foremen,5 47 machinists, first class, 12
machinists, second class, 3 machinists, third class, and 1 clerk. No
trainees or apprentices are presently employed, and there are no em-
ployees classified as either tool makers or tool crib employees.6 The
employees in the department are under the immediate supervision of
the machine repair supervisor, who supervises no other employees.
The other employees in the same room are under the immediate
supervision of the maintenance foreman, who in turn is supervised
by the maintenance and construction supervisor. Both the machine
repair supervisor and the maintenance and construction supervisor
are supervised by the plant engineer.
Most of the present employees in the machine repair department
were recruited from the Employer's production employees. The
Employer has no regular machinists' training or apprenticeship
program. Recruits for the machine repair department are, however,
unless they possess the necessary experience, required to undergo a
period of training before being employed as third class machinist.
The time required for progression from trainee through the lower
machinist classifications to machinist, first class, is not fixed, but
depends upon the ability of the individual employee. Except to re-
flect that the machinists, first class, receive a higher hourly rate of
4 Both groups of employees were part of a residual production and maintenance unit wicu
respect to which two representation elections had previously been conducted . Matter of
Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp ., 57 N. L. R B . 345, 61 N L It . B 546 , Matter of Owens-
Corning Fiberglas Corporation , 70 N. L R B . 1335 In both elections , a majority of
the eligible votes cast were against representation by a labor organization . Accordingly
the prior unit determinations do not preclude the establishment of the units requested
herein . Matter of Sampsel Time Control , Inc., 74 N . L. R B. 611
5 The record does not disclose whether the shift foremen are supervisors as defined in
Section 2 ( 11) of the amended Act If they are not supervisors , they may vote in the
election herein directed . If they are supervisors , they may not vote and will be excluded
from the unit
6 The tool crib attendant is classified as a machinist, third class.
OWENS-CORNING FIBERGLAS CORPORATION 443
pay than the Employer's production employees, the record is silent
as to the comparative rates of pay received by these machinists and
the Employer's other employees.
The function of the machine repair department is to keep the Em-
ployer's production machinery and equipment in operating condition,
including the repair of parts, the replacement of worn parts, the
making of necessary adjustments, and upon occasion the fabricatiQn of
replacement parts. In the performance of their duties, the machinists
use such customary machinists' tools as milling machines, shapers,
planers, lathes, drill presses, and grinders. The machinists may work
either in the area assigned to the machine repair department, or in
the production area of the Employer's plant, depending on the type of
work to be done. They are at all times, however, under the super-
vision of the machine repair supervisor. There are no other em-
ployees at this plant who have duties identical to those of the
machinists here involved.7
There is no interchange of employees between the machine repair
department and other departments in the Employer's plant. In the
case of major repairs, such as machine rebuilds and checker changes,
approximately 20 production employees are assigned to assist the
machinists, are placed under the supervision of the machine repair
supervisor, and are classified as machinists, third class. Such assign-
ment is, however, only for the duration of the particular job, and at
the conclusion thereof such production employees are returned to
their regular jobs, supervision, and pay-roll classifications. There are
approximately 6 or 7 machine rebuilds per year, each of which lasts
approximately 30 days, and 4 or 5 checker changes, each of which lasts
approximately 6 days.
On the basis of the foregoing, and on the entire record, it is evident
that, despite the fact that they spend a substantial portion of their
time working outside their regularly assigned area, and despite the
temporary assignment of other employees to the department, the
machinists here involved constitute a homogeneous group of skilled
employees of the type which the Board has consistently held, particu-.
larly in the absence of contrary bargaining history, to constitute an
appropriate collective bargaining unit.8 Accordingly, we find that
all shift foremen,e machinists, first class, machinists, second class, and
7 The Employer employs two other groups of machinists at this plant, in the laboratory
machine shop and in the fibre forming department in the research laboratory. The former
group constructs new production equipment, both for this plant and for other of the
Employer's plants. The latter makes experimental parts. The former group has been
represented by the Petitioner herein since 1944. Matter of Owens-Cornting Fiberglas Corp.,
57 N. L. R. B. 345, 58 N. L. R. B. 225. The Petitioner was recently selected as the
bargaining representative of the latter group. See footnote 1, supra.
B Matter of International Hat rester Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 1452.
1 If they are not supervisors.
444 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
machinists, third class 10 in the machine repair department at the
Employer's Newark, Ohio, plant, excluding supervisors as defined in
the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act, and we
shall direct that an election be held among them.
b. The powerhouse unit
The Employer's powerhouse, which is located in a building separate
from any of the other buildings at the plant, furnishes all of the steam
power and approximately one-sixth of the electric power used in the
Employer's manufacturing operations. The remainder of the electric
power is furnished by sources outside of the plant. The present
complement of the powerhouse includes four air compressor attend-
ants, nine boiler operators (firemen), two coal unloaders, five station-
ary engineers, one handyman, eight boiler operator helpers, two
maintenance men, and two meter repairmen. All are under the super-
vision of the boiler room supervisor, who has no other employees under
his supervision, and who is supervised by the plant engineer. With
the exception of the air compressor attendants and the meter repair-
men, all of such employees perform the duties associated with their
titles in or about the powerhouse. The engineers are required to be
licensed, and all but one of the firemen and some of the other employees
are also licensed. All of the positions require some degree of training
or experience.
The air compressor attendants are charged with the mechanical
maintenance of the air compressors, which are located throughout the
plant. The meter repairmen are charged with the maintenance of the
power meters, except electric meters, which are also located through-
out the plant. Although they spend most of their time outside the
powerhouse, their duties pertain solely to the maintenance of power
equipment, and they are at all times under the supervision of the boiler
room supervisor.
There is no interchange of employees between the powerhouse and
the Employer's other operations, although occasionally other em-
ployees are called into the powerhouse for maintenance work or major
repairs. Such employees do not, however, come under the supervi-
sion of the boiler room supervisor.
On the basis of the foregoing, and on the entire record, it is evident
that these powerhouse employees constitute an identifiable, function-
ally.cohesive, and homogeneous group such as the Board has consist-
ently held may constitute an appropriate bargaining unit." Accord-
10 Including the tool crib attendant , who also has machinist's duties, but excluding any
employees temporarily so classified for the duration only of a particular job
n This is so , even in the face of a bargaining history. Matter of Kalamazoo Vegetable
Parchment Company, 76 N. L. R. B. 1015.
OWENS-CORNING FIBERGLAS CORPORATION 445
ingly, we find that all powerhouse employees at the Employer's
Newark, Ohio, plant , excluding supervisors as defined in the Act, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 ( b) of the Act, and we shall direct
that an election be held among them.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions 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 Director 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 em-
ployees in the units found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction of Elections , 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 exclud-
ing employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement , to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented , for purposes of
collective bargaining , by Lodge 463 , International Association of
Machinists.