Pacific Moulded Products

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 8, 1955

111 N.L.R.B. 882 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

882 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cards information relating to a particular item and prepare reports
based on such information.
No college education is required for employment as a cost engineer.
The previous employment background of the cost engineers has been
mainly in the fields of accounting, payroll, timekeeping, and other
clerical fields.
The Employer contends that the units requested by the Petitioner
are inappropriate because the cost engineers are neither professional
nor technical employees. We agree that the cost engineers are not pro-
fessional or technical employees. Their training and their functions
are essentially that of clerical employees. However, it appears that
the Employers' office clerical employees are represented in separate cer-
tified units by a union which did not intervene in this proceeding.'
In the proceedings which resulted in certification of separate office cler-
ical units for each Employer, the cost engineers were excluded from
the units by stipulation. Moreover, there does not appear to be any
other residual group of unrepresented employees with whom the cost
engineers could be grouped. Under these circumstances, we find that
the cost engineers of the respective Employers constitute appropriate
units for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act. Accordingly we shall direct elections to
be held in the following appropriate units :
All cost engineers employed by Peter Kiewit Sons' Company at its
Pike County Atomic Energy Project, Portsmouth, Ohio, excluding
supervisors as defined in the Act and all other employees.
All cost engineers employed by Grinnell Corporation, at its Pike
County Atomic Energy Project, Portsmouth, Ohio, excluding super-
visors as defined in the Act and all other employees.
All cost engineers employed by Reynolds-Newberry, Joint Venture,
at its Pike County Atomic Energy Project, Portsmouth, Ohio, exclud-
ing supervisors as defined in the Act and all other employees.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
I Peter Kiewit Sons' Co., 106 NLRB 194; Reynolds-Newberryy, Joint Venture, 9-RC-2078,
and Grinnell Corporation, 9-RC-2051, not reported in printed volume of Board Decisions
and Orders.
PACIFIC MOULDED PRODUCTS and UNITED RUBBER , CORK, LINOLEUM AND
PLASTIC WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER . Case No. 21-RC-
3783. March 8,1955
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Martin Zimring, hearing
111 NLRB No. 142.
PACIFIC MOULDED PRODUCTS 883
officer. 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 w ithin the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of production and main-
tenance employees at the Employer's Los Angeles, California, plant.
The parties agree to include the truckdriver, compounders, mainte-
nance, mould maintenance, and extrusion employees in the proposed
unit. The Employer contends that a production and maintenance unit
is appropriate only if the following employees are included : Sched-
uling, shipping and receiving, tumbler and sand blasting, stock prep-
aration employees, trimmers and pressmen, millmen, back-order clerk,
purchasing agent, production control laboratory employees, inspec-
tors, and janitors. No other union is seeking to represent any of the
aforementioned employees.
It is apparent from the record that the mill, stock preparation, tum-
bler and sand blasting, and trimming and pressing operations are
integral parts of the production process, constituting various steps
necessary in the manufacture of the finished product. Accordingly,
we include the employees who perform such operations in the unit.
The scheduling clerks write up factory orders, notify the laboratory
of the specifications of each order, and apprise the purchasing agent
of any materials needed. They spend a large portion of their time on
the work floor checking tooling and the progress of production in the
mill and press and trimming rooms. We include them in the unit.'
The back-order clerk works closely with the shipping and scheduling
departments checking on shipments and the filling of orders. We find
him to be a plant clerical and, as such, we include him in the proposed
unit.2
The shipping and receiving department serves the function its name
implies. We believe that the employees of this department have in-
terests in common with the production and maintenance men and are
properly a part of the unit sought.'
1 Bristol Laboratories, Inc, 107 NLRB No. 271 at 3 (not reported in printed volumes of
Board Decisions and Orders).
2 General Electric Company, 106 NLRB 364 at 368.
8 Beneke Corporation, 109 NLRB 1191.
344056-55-vol. 111-57
884 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Since the Board has held that responsibility for the rejection of
defective work is not sufficient reason for excluding inspectors from a
production and maintenance unit, we hereby include them.4
The work performed by the janitors allies them closely with the
production and maintenance employees. Accordingly, we include
them in the unit.'
The production control laboratory employees set up' formulas and
conduct tests of a technical nature at various stages of the production
process. They have college training in chemistry. Upon the basis of
the entire record, we find that they are technical employees. In accord
with Board practice, they may not be added to the production and
maintenance unit, as one of the parties to this proceeding opposes their
inclusion.'
The purchasing agent orders tooling and changes in tooling as well
as the raw materials and chemicals needed in the Employer's opera-
tions. He maintains records of the quantity of supplies on hand. We
find that he does not have a sufficient community of interest with the
production and maintenance employees to warrant including him in
the proposed unit.'
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Los
Angeles, California, plant, including the truckdriver, compounders,
trimmers and pressmen, millmen, and maintenance, mould mainte-
nance, scheduling, extrusion, stock preparation, shipping and receiv-
ing, and tumbler and sand blasting employees, janitors, inspectors,
leadmen and leadwomen, and back-order clerk, but excluding produc-
tion control laboratory employees, purchasing agent, office clericals,
guards, and supervisors' as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
4 Bell An craft Corporation, 96 NLRB 1211 at 1212.
5 Palmer Manufacturing Company, 103 NLRB 336 at 339.
BPhcltip Carey Mfg. Company, 107 NLRB No. 26 at 3 (not reported in printed volumes of
Board Decisions and Orders).
7 Heintz Manufacturing Company, 100 NLRB 1521 at 1523.
8 On the basis of the record, we find that foremen are supervisors within the meaning
of the Act
THE TRANSPORT COMPANY OF TEXAS AND TRANSPORT COMPANY, INC.
and TRUCK DRIVERS LOCAL UNION No. 657, 968, 577, 941, 568, 47 &
969, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 39-RC--856. March 8, 1955
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John F. Burst, hearing officer.
111 NLRB No. 147.