Parsons Corp.Download PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsAug 24, 195195 N.L.R.B. 1336 (N.L.R.B. 1951) Copy Citation 1336 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD carried out by stage electricians or engineers, do not bring into play advanced electronic knowledge or skills acquired through higher learn- ing or special training and experience .6 Having reconsidered the record on which the decision in this case was based, we are convinced that this work can be and is effectively being accomplished by the traditional stage electrician of the stage and amusement world. When an engineer ceases to perform such work as a mere incident to his all-around engineering functions, but regularly takes on these duties as his main operation, he thereby foresakes his special field and assumes the character of a stage electrician. Without modifying the above-stated unit description, we find, there- fore, that engineers or any other NBC employees, irrespective of their job designations, who regularly spend more than 50 percent of their time handling and placing television lights in the manner set forth in the unit for which IATSE has been certified as exclusive bar- gaining representative. CHAIRMAN HERZOG and MEMBER STYLES took no part in the consid- eration of the above Supplemental Decision Clarifying Certification. PARSONS CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTO- MOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMER- ICA, CIO, PETITIONER . Case No. 7-RC-1336. August 21, 1951 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 Joseph Kulkis, hear- ing 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Murdock]. track down lighting failures , repair circuits , and do wiring . They also operate, maintain, and repair dimmer boards and switch boxes." The decision also indicates that "television lighting equipment in almost all respects is identical to lighting equipment used in motion picture and photography studios and on the theatrical stage. The same methods for rigging , fastening , and manipulating lights are used. Special lighting such as a flickering fireplace or moonbeams likewise are obtained through the use of standard theatrical equipment or by improvisation , just as it is done on the stage or in motion pictures." 8 NBC requires that its engineering department employees have a theoretical or practical knowledge of electronics and prefers to hire college graduates with degrees in electrical engineering or related technical fields. These employees receive formal instruction in New York City in several television engineering jobs, including lighting. 95 NLRB No. 173. PARSONS CORPORATION .1337 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 organization involved claims to represent certain em- .ployees 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 Petitioner requests a unit of production and maintenance ,employees at the Employer's two plants in Traverse City, Michigan. Early in the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that only a separate unit for each plant is appropriate,' which motion was referred to the Board for ruling. At the close of the hearing the Petitioner moved' to- amend its petition to provide for a separate unit for each plant should the Board find inappropriate the single unit it had requested. This motion was granted 'y the bearing officer. The Employer's main plant and office are in Detroit, Michigan. In addition it has two plants at Traverse City, the plants here involved. One of these is the Bay Street or Helicopter Plant, consisting of two buildings with 48,000 square feet of floor area, principally devoted to the manufacture of helicopter rotor blades from wood and metal. The Traverse City office of the Employer is located at the Bay Street Plant, the payroll for all Traverse City employees is there made up, .new employees for both plants are hired there, and maintenance for both plants is directed from there. The other Traverse City plant is known as the Airport or Stamping .Plant. It is a demountable steel structure with approximately 4,800 square feet of floor space, located about 3 miles from Bay Street Plant. It is devoted principally to the manufacture of rockets under Government contract and the stamping of metal automotive parts. ,In addition it stamps the metal retention plates for the helicopter blades. Because of a space shortage at the Airport Plant, approxi- mately 1,200 square feet of the Bay Street Plant are used for spot- welding' automotive parts. The record contains references to numerous instances of interchange of employees between the two plants. Although this interchange has been limited to the work in connection with rockets and automotive parts, the Employer testified that employees from the Airport Plant are given opportunities to apply for and be trained to do permanently the more difficult work of helicopter blade manufacture at the Bay I The Employer also urged , as a ground for its motion to dismiss, the untimeliness of the petition because "radical changes of operation and employment are now pending." For reasons fully detailed in this decision , the motion is denied. 1338 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Street Plant. The latter plant had approximately 138 employees at the time of the hearing and the Airport Plant 49. The record does not show comparative wage scales of these employees. At the time of the hearing in this case, the ground upon which the Bay Street Plant stood had been condemned for municipal purposes. The Employer proposed however to continue the Bay Street, opera- tions at a new plant immediately adjacent to the Airport Plant. At the new plant, scheduled for completion about August 1, 1951, the Employer expects to do only helicopter work. Upon these facts we find that although employees at the Employer's two plants perform different duties and have separate supervision, a single unit for the two Traverse City plants is appropriate for the following reasons : (a) The two plants, which have been located within 3 miles of each other, will after August 1 of this year be lo- cated within 100 feet of each other, thus further facilitating contact among the employees; (b) interchange of personnel between the plants occurs and advancement is open for employment in the helicopter plant from the stamping plant; (c) the office administration and plant maintenance of the Employer's Traverse City operations are com- pletely integrated; and (d) there is no history of separate representa- tion at these plants.2 We find that all employees of the Employer's helicopter plant and of its stamping plant in Traverse City, Michigan, excluding office and clerical employees, foremen , the laboratory technician at the heli- copterplant, guards, and supervisory employees as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for purpose of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.. 5. As indicated above the Employer contends that no election should be conducted at this time because of proposed changes in its opera- tions. Thus the Employer urges that its helicopter work, scheduled for transfer to a new plant site, will: be increased. Instead of the 48,000 square feet of floor area which the helicopter plant now has, the new plant will have less than 20,000. In spite of the decreased plant size , however, the Employer alleges that it expects to increase its production of helicopter rotor blades and employ additional per- sonnel , apparently by making the second shift more nearly equal to the first. No decision as to a third shift had been reached at the time of ' Pine Hall Brick cf Pipe Company, 93 NLRB 362; compare : William R. Whittaker Co., Ltd., 93 NLRB 520. See also Parsons Corporation , 86 NLRB 74, where, in September 1949, the Board dismissed a petition by the petitioner herein for a unit at the so-called 12th Street Plant of the Employer in Traverse City, which plant was then in the process of being dismantled for sale: Some of the presses from that plant were not included in the sale and several i months later constituted the machinery nucleus for establishment of the Employer 's'Airport' or stamping plant involved herein . The Board did not pass upon the appropriateness of a 2-plant unit in its earlier decision. HOLLAND FURNACE COMPANY 1339 the hearing. In the 6-week period prior to the hearing the Employer had employed about 50 additional employees for the'rotor blade work. It estimated at the hearing that it would hire 15 to 20 more before completion of the new plant, but stated that it was possible that no hirings would occur during August because of the move into the new plant. The record contains no further information as to the number of prospective employees. The Employer also alleged that while it considers its helicopter blade manufacture a permanent endeavor, it may discontinue opera- tions at the stamping plant. because they have not been profitable. So far as the record indicates, however, plans for discontinuance are indefinite. On this record we are not persuaded that the proposed expansion of the helicopter plant operation or the possible discontinuance of the stamping plant operation constitute sufficient reason for denying the employees an election at this time. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] HOLLAND FURNACE COMPANY and LOCAL 585, INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO1 PETITIONER . Case, No. 4-RC-1134. August 24, 1951 Decision and Direction of Elections Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harold X. Summers, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. At the hearing, the-Em- ployer moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the branches of its operations involved in this proceeding are not engaged in com- merce within the meaning of the Act, and that the unit sought is inappropriate. The Intervenor, Sheet Metal Workers' International Association, Local 19, A. F. L., also moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that an existing contrict is a bar. Finally, the Petitioner moved to dismiss the Intervenor's intervention because of an alleged insufficient showing of interest. For reasons given hereinafter, all these motions are hereby denied. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman.Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 95 NLRB No. 180. Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation