Philco Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 30, 1954

110 N.L.R.B. 184 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

184 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
PHILCO CORPORATION and AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TECIINICAL EN-
GINEERS, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 4-RC-1976. September-30,
1954
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Herbert B. Mintz, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.1
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 organizations involved claim to represent employees of
the Employer.'
3. 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 Act, for the following reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit comprising all employees
in the following classifications at the Employer's Philadelphia and
Croydon, Pennsylvania, plants: (1) Troubleshooting, electronics; (2)
maintenance (production test equipment) ; and (3) calibration and
laboratory measurements. The Petitioner asserts that these employees
are highly skilled electronic technicians, and is willing to represent
any unit composed of such employees, either broader or narrower in
scope, as the Board might deem appropriate. The Intervenors and
Employer assert that these classifications may not appropriately be
severed from the broad production and maintenance units in which
they have been represented by the Intervenors for a substantial number
of years.
Operations at the Employer's Philadelphia plants are conducted
through 2 operating divisions, 1 of which manufactures television and
radio and the other various types of electronics equipment such as
radar for the Government and for industrial concerns. In both divi-
sions the production process is carried on mainly by means of long
conveyor belts, or lines, of which the first and greater portions are
devoted to various wiring and assembly operations. The latter por-
tions, referred to as the "back end" operations, include some assembly,
but consist mainly of testing operations together with provisions for
the repair of defective parts or sets. The classifications sought by the
Petitioner perform their functions in connection with these back end
operations.
1 Motions of the Employer and Intervenors to dismiss the petition are granted for seasons
hereinafter appearing.
3 Locals 101 and 102, International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers,
CIO, were permitted to intervene on the basis of a contractual interest.
110 NLRB No. 20.
PHILCO CORPORATION 185
Most of the troubleshooters sought by the Petitioner,' of whom
there are 353,4 are stationed close up against one or another of the
various test conveyor lines. Some, however, are stationed in trouble
bays 6 to 10 feet from the line. In general, they check the units or
sets rejected by test operators stationed on the lines, and endeavor to
clear minor troubles by tube changes, simple adjustments, or other
methods. In case of major troubles, it is their function to locate the
source of trouble, after which they may send the defective units to be
repaired by repairmen working in repair bays. Like the test operators
and other production classifications working on the line, the trouble-
shooters are under the supervision of the plant's production supervisors.
The maintenance (production test equipment) men, of whom there
are 64, maintain the various test instruments, such as voltmeters, ohm-
meters, oscilloscopes, analyzers, oscillators, attenuators, etc., used by
the test operators and by the troubleshooters working on the various
test conveyor lines. They are located at positions usually near the end
of a conveyor belt, where they may remain awaiting notification of
some sort of breakdown along the line, or they may walk along the line
to check on it. They spend part of their time repairing or building
jigs and fixtures for use in applying tests, and they build the trouble-
shooters' stations and install the instruments on them. Unlike the
troubleshooters and other classifications working on the line, they are
under separate supervisors responsible to the factory engineering
division.
Of the 37 measurement and calibration men, 6 are located in 2 sig-
nal cages in the television and radio division plants, where they
maintain the equipment for generating and distributing the various
types of signals 5 applied to the sets in the test conveyor lines for use
in the testing operations. Fifteen measurement and calibration men
work in plant 11 checking out production test equipment which the
Employer builds in that plant for its own use, and repairing certain
equipment sent to them from the signal cages and the production floor.
The remainder in this category are divided among several locations in
both the television and radio and the Government and industrial divi-
sions. The employees in this classification are also under the separate
supervision of the factory engineering division.
The record indicates that some background of training or experi-
ence is desirable in order to qualify for these positions, and that vari-
s The Petitioner would include both the classification of troubleshooters , electronics, in
the television and radio division and its counterpart , the classification of troubleshooters,
radar , in the Government and industrial division . It does not seek to represent the
troubleshooters ( continuity ) who work on that portion of the test lines which precedes
the insertion of tubes and application of alternating current to the assembled unit.
' There are approximately 9,000 production and maintenance employees in the Employer's
Philadelphia plants.
5 In the words of one of the measurement and calibration men, "a signal is a voltage in
the form in which a television or radio receiver sees it."
186 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ous individuals have acquired this background through such methods
as home study of texts and periodicals, practical experience in radio
shops or in amateur radio, correspondence courses, and part-time or
full-time attendance at technical schools. The Employer has recog-
nized the desirability of some degree of ability and experience by pre-
scribing tests which must be passed for entrance to these positions.
Thus in 1950 the Employer established four progressive grades in the
troubleshooter, electronics, classification, and began a program of
examinations for these positions. At necessary intervals, the Em-
ployer gives a written screening examination open to all employees in
the plants. Those passing it are placed in a pool of availability and
applicants are selected from the pool, in order of seniority, to take a
further oral examination to fill the lowest grade of the troubleshooting
classification 6 Thereafter, at quarterly intervals, the troubleshooters
are given further written examinations which, together with a per-
formance rating, enable them to progress to the three higher grades
at increases in pay. The maintenance (production test equipment)
and measurement and calibration employees are likewise qualified for
their jobs by written examinations , but advancement to the higher
grades and pay scales within these classifications, though based upon
merit, is not determined by further examinations. The 3 classifica-
tions here involved are paid at a higher hourly rate than most of the
production and maintenance employees, but there are 7 classifications
that receive as much or more than they do.7
It is apparent from the foregoing facts that the classifications
sought by the Petitioner must possess a higher degree of skill and
ability than most of the other production and maintenance employees.
However, it is likewise clear that there is no established course of
training, comparable to an apprenticeship, either provided for or
required of them. Nor does their progression within classification
appear to be comparable to the advancement from apprentice to
journeyman that is characteristic of a craft. For this reason, as well
as the nature of their duties and abilities, we are not convinced that
they constitute a craft. Nor do we believe that they are technicians
within the sense in which the Board has used that term.' The trouble-
shooters, who constitute the greater part of the group sought by the
G In February 1953 the Employer announced an examination for qualification to take
a basic course in troubleshooting About 1,400 applications were received and about 300
persons actually took the examination Of these, the 42 having the highest grades were
selected to take the course ; scheduled to occupy 2 evenings a week for 12 weeks, on the
employees ' own time. Those completing the course were still required , however, to take
the written and oral screening examinations for the lowest troubleshooting grade, as
openings in that position might occur.
7 These are the meter repairmen , fixture makers , steeplejacks , project group leaders,
heat treaters , toolroom machinists , and tool, die , and gauge makers.
s See, for example , Gerber Plastic Company, 108 NLRB 403, where the Board excluded
technical employees from a unit of production and maintenance employees upon objection
being raised to their inclusion.
LUMBER FABRICATORS, INC. 187
Petitioner, work on or in close connection with the several testing
conveyor lines, or "back end" operations, which constitute a substan-
tial part of the Employer's production assembly line procedure. The
function performed by the troubleshooters is patently an essential
and integral part of that procedure. The functions of the other cate-
gories sought consist essentially of the provision and maintenance of
the testing line equipment. Upon the entire record, we find that the
categories here sought to be represented as a separate group are essen-
tially no more than highly skilled production and maintenance em-
ployees, and as such are not entitled to severance from the existing
production and maintenance units.9 Therefore we shall dismiss the
petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
MEMBERS MURDOCK and RODGERS took no part in the consideration
of the above Decision and Order.
9 Cf. Heintz Manufacturing Co., 100 NLRB 1521 at 1526 ; American Potash & Chemical
Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418.
LUMBER FABRICATORS , INC. and UNITED ELECTRICAL , RADIO AND
MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA ( UE), PETITIONER . Case No.
9-RC-2288. September 30, 1954
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 Orville E. Andrews, hearing
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 within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim 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 appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Clarksville, Ohio, plant. The Employer
and the Intervenor contend as to scope, that only a multiplant unit,
including the employees of the Employer's main plant at Fort Payne,
Alabama, is appropriate.
3 United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, AFL, was permitted to inter-
vene at the hearing on the basis of a sufficient showing of Interest.
110 NLRB No. 21.