R. G. Le Tourneau, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 4, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 129 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of R. G. LE TOURNEAU, INC., EMPLOYER and INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOILERMAKERS , IRON SHIPBUILDERS AND
HELPERS, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 16-RC-73.-Decided November 4, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 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, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent 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 composed of all production and mainte-
nance employees at the Employer's Longview, Texas, plant, exclud-
ing employees in the aircraft division and the printing department,
and all linotype employees. The UAW and the Employer are in agree-
ment with the Petitioner as to the proposed unit. The IAM contends
'Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
i United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO,
herein called the UAW, and the International Association of Machinists , herein called the
TAM, intervened at the hearing.
80 N. L . R. B., No. 29.
129
130 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
that the employees in the machine shop and tool department, and all
machine maintenance employees, constitute an appropriate unit.'
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of earth-moving
equipment and related heavy machinery at the plant involved herein.
Its plant consists of a single building, 1,000 feet long and 312 feet
wide. Other than for parts, tools, oils, and grease, there are no parti-
tions or divisions in the building. The Employer employs 386 full-
time employees and 471 regular part-time employees, distributed
among 33 production and maintenance departments in and about the
plant. The part-time employees work 5 hours each day at the plant
and attend school at the Le Tourneau Institute of Technology during
the remaining part of each day. They are paid wages, receive vaca-
tion benefits, and are subject to the same working conditions as the
full-time employees. We shall include the part-time employees in the
appropriate unit.
There are machinists and machine operators in the machine shop.$
There are tool and die makers and machine operators in the tool
department. The employees in machine maintenance maintain ma-
chinery in and about the plant, including a fleet of automobiles. The
IAM asserts that the foregoing employees constitute a separate appro-
priate unit. However, the record reveals that there are machine
operators and machine set-up men in the case manufacturing depart-
ment, machinists in the fabrication department, and employees who
perform machining operations in the night manufacturing depart-
ment. The IAM does not seek to include these employees in the unit
which it proposes. In addition, the part-time employees, including
those who are classified as machinists, machine operators, and tool
and die makers, do not spend all of their time performing work per-
taining to their classifications, but are frequently shifted from one
department to another.
It appears that the unit claimed to be appropriate by the IAM is
neither a departmental unit nor a unit embracing all the employees
of the same craft. It is a heterogeneous grouping of certain employees,
some of whom are craftsmen, whose working conditions and interests
are substantially similar to those of other employees, including those
of the same craft, whom the IAM would arbitrarily exclude. Under
these circumstances we find that the unit proposed by the IAM is
inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.-,
2 However , the IAM requested that its name appear on the ballot for any unit the Board
may find to be appropriate
3 The record does not show the functions and duties of the machinists and machine
operators.
4 Matter of Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation , 79 N. L. R. B. 594; Matter of The
Iron Fireman Manufacturing Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 1378.
R. G. LE TOURNEAU, INC. 131
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Employer 's Longview , Texas, plant , excluding employees in the air-
craft division and printing department , linotype , clerical , office and
professional employees , and all supervisors , constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election 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 Region in which this case was heard,
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 unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, 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 said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vaca-
tion 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 excluding em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship-
builders and Helpers, AFL, or by United Automobile, Aircraft and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, or by Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, or by none.
817319-49-vol. 80-10