Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 12, 1942

40 N.L.R.B. 1300 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter Of PENNSYLVANIA SHIPYARDS, INC., and NATIONAL.
COUNCIL OF MARINE DRAFTSMEN
Case No. R-3749.-Decided May 12, 1942
Jurisdiction : shipbuilding and repairing industry
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question. re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition because of prior certihcatnon of rival
union for a unit ostensibly covering employees inNolved; election i ecessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all draftsmen and drafting-room
technicians and clerks, excluding those having the power to hire or discharge,
or the power to recommend hiring or discharging. those employed in a purely
administrative capacity, and stenographers
Mr. R. R. Clark, of Beaumont, Tex., and Mr. Guy A. McFarland,
of Houston, Tex., for the Company.
Mr. Joseph J. Reinhardt, of New York City, Mr. J. H. Meserve,
Mr. J. B. Rawls, Mr. Fred J. Schmidt, Mr. G. S. Tweed, Mr. R. C.
McConnell, and Mr. William New, of Beaumont, Tex., for the
Marine Draftsmen.
Mr. TV. L. Hoist, of Beaumont, Tex., for the Trades Council.
Mr. Robert E. Tillman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by National Council of Marine Drafts-
men, herein called the Marine Draftsmen, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc., Beaumont, Texas, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before H. Carnie Russell,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Beaumont, Texas, on
April 20, 1942. The Company, the Marine Draftsmen, and Beaumont
Metal Trades Council, herein called the Trades Council, appeared,
participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to
examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bear-
ing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings, made at the hearing,
are free from prejudicial errors and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
40 N L R B, No 2.30
1300
PENNSYLVANIA SHIPYARDS, INC.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE C'ON P ANY
1301
Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc., a Delaware corporation, maintains
its offices at Beaumont, Texas, where it is engaged in the business
of repairing and constructing ships used in coastal and trans-oceanic
trade. At the present time the Company is constructing cargo vessels
for the United States Maritime Commis-sion, and minesweepers for
the United States Navy.
11. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOL\El)
National Council of Marine Draftsmen is an unaffiliated labor or-
ganization, admitting to membership drafting-room employees of
the Company.
Beaumont Metal Trades Council comprises 13 craft organizations
.affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, many of which,
if not :ill, admit to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTA'11ON
The Marine Draftsmen, by letter dated December 19, 1941, re-
,quested the Company to recognize it as the bargaining representative
of the Company's draftsmen. The Company refused to do so be-
'cause the Trades Council had been previously certified by the Board
,as the representative of a unit which ostensibly, at least, included
draftsmen. The Field Examiner's statement, introduced in evidence
at the hearing, indicates that the Marine Draftsmen represents a
substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found ap-
propriate.' , '
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
.the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section. 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
1V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Marine Draftsmen's petition, as amended It the hearing, pro-
posed a unit including all draftsmen and drafting-room technicians 2
'The Field Examiner stated that the Marine ' Draftsmen had submitted to him a
petition for representation by the Marine Draftsmen , containing the names of 46
employees listed on the Company ' s pay i oil of March 10, 1942 , which listed 76 employees
in the unit hereinafter found appropriate
2 As defined by the Maiine Draftsmen , "draftsmen and drafting room technicians"
includes such employees as so -called supervisory diaftsmen , squad bosses , charge men,
checkers , leading draftsmen or draftsmen first class, specification writers, estimators,
calculators , writers of material requisitions , technical correspondence , and production
schedules , draftsmen second and third class, and draftsmen fourth class , including junior
draftsmen tracers, apprentices , and blue -print boys
1302 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and clerks, but excluding those having power to hire or discharge,
or power to 'recommend hiring or discharging,3 those employed in a.
purely administrative capacity, and stenographers. The Company
refused to make any statement as to the appropriateness of this pro-
posed unit. The president of the Trades Council stated that if
the Board were to certify the Marine Draftsmen on the record, the
Trades Council would probably have no objection.
In a proceeding in which the Company participated but took
no position as to the appropriate unit, and in which no competing
labor organization was involved, the Trades Council was certified on
the record by the Board on February 3, 1938, as the representative of
a unit of all employees of the Company, -excluding clerical and
supervisory employees and watchmen' At the present time, the
Trades Council has a collective bargaining contract with the Com-
pany, executed March 13, 1942. By its terms the contract applies only
to workers eligible to one of the craft organizations represented by
the Trades Council. There is no such organization which admits
draftsmen. The contract contains a wage scale which does not cover
employees in the unit proposed by the Marine Draftsmen, and the
president of the Trades Council stated that, so far as he knew, the
contract does not include draftsmen and drafting-room clerks and
technicians.
We find that all draftsmen and drafting-room technicians and
clerks employed by the Company, excluding those having power to
hire or discharge, or power to recommend, hiring or discharging, those
employed in a purely administrative capacity, and stenographers,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during
the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction
of Election, subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein'
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National'
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
s The Company 's personnel director listed Rolfe Heisted, W. J Moran, Harry Marlow,
and C . L. Cheatem as supervisors of the departments within the engineering department
(drafting room ) ; the Marine Draftsmen stated that those employees should be excluded
from the unit we shall exclude them. -
• 4Matter of Pennsylvania Shipyards , Inc. and Local Metal Trades Council, 5 N. L. R. B.,
54.
PENNSYLVANIA SHIPYARDS, INC. 1303
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8,.
of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,.
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to
ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Pennsylvania Shipyards, Inc., Beaumont, Texas, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than thirty (30) days from the date of-this Direction of Election,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National
Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said
Rules and Regulations, among all employees of the Company in the
unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including\employees who did not work during
such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or in the act-
ive military service or training of the United States, or temporarily
laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by National Council of Marine Draftsmen for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining.