R. L. Stott Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 22, 1970

183 N.L.R.B. 884 (N.L.R.B. 1970)

884 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
R. L. Stott Company and R . L. Stott Heating and
Air Conditioning Company' and Steamfitters
Local 420 , United Association of Journeymen and
Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting
Industry of the United States and Canada,
Petitioner . Case 4-RC-8272
June 22, 1970
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
By MEMBERS FANNING, MCCULLOCH, AND
JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Hearing Officer Morris
Mogerman. Following the hearing, this case trans-
ferred to the National Labor Relations Board in
Washington, D.C., pursuant to Section 102.67 of
the Board's Rules and Regulations and Statements
of Procedure, Series 8, as amended. Thereafter,
briefs were filed by the Employer and the
Petitioner.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connec-
tion with this case to a three-member panel.
The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby af-
firmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of certain employees of the
Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1)
and 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer is engaged in the sale and dis-
tribution of petroleum products and the sale, instal-
lation, and servicing of oil burners, air-conditioners,
and related accessories. The Petitioner seeks to
represent a unit of "all oil burner and air condition-
ing servicemen and installation employees" at the
Employer's Fox Chase, Pennsylvania, plant, exclud-
ing specifically all truckdrivers, office clerical em-
ployees, dispatchers, salesmen, guards, and super-
visors within the meaning of the Act. The Employer
contends that the only appropriate unit consists of
all employees except the office clericals, guards,
and supervisors. There is no history of collective
bargaining.
' On the basis of the record, the Petitioner's motion to amend the peti-
tion to name "R L Stott Heating and Air Conditioning Company" as the
There are approximately 52 employees at the
Fox Chase, Pennsylvania, plant, which is the Em-
ployer's only facility. There are no areas in the
plant which are set aside exclusively for certain em-
ployees.
Installation area employees sought by the Peti-
tioner include installation technicians, who are
most highly skilled and are capable of installing a
complete air-conditioning or heating system
without help; installation technicians second class,
who perform the same job as the installation techni-
cians but lack the degree of skill possessed by the
latter; installation helper, who is an installation em-
ployee learning by assisting on the job; and installa-
tion driver-helper, who delivers materials to the
jobsite where installation personnel are installing
equipment and may help the service or installation
employees on the job. In addition, there are sheet
metal mechanics who prefabricate in the shop or
install on the job all of the sheet metal in the heat-
ing, air-conditioning, or ventilation system being in-
stalled. All of the aforementioned employees are
supervised by Installation Manager Warren.
The Petitioner would exclude the sheet metal
mechanics because "they are engaged in the Em-
ployer's shop in the traditional duties of a sheet
metal worker ... [and] ... do not perform the
customary and traditional functions associated with
the pipefitting craft ...... The record established
that the sheet metal mechanics fabricate and install
the ducts that carry air from the heating or air-con-
ditioning units. One of them generally stays in the
shop where he fabricates the ducts and the others
generally work at the site; at times, however, the
former also works at the jobsite. It is apparent that
the sheet metal workers are skilled employees who
perform a job that is closely integrated with that of
the other installation employees; in addition, the
Petitioner's primary unit request is not limited to
pipefitter craftsmen. In these circumstances, includ-
ing their common supervision by the installation
manager, we find that the sheet metal mechanics
are appropriately part of a unit which includes in-
stallation employees.
Service area employees sought by the Petitioner
include air-conditioning and burner service techni-
cians, who service air-conditioning units and acces-
sories, such as humidifiers and air cleaners; burner
service technicians, who perform the same func-
tions as the aforementioned employees except that
they do not service air-conditioning units; burner
service technicians second class, who perform
burner service jobs and are not as highly skilled as,
the aforementioned employees; and burner service
sole Employer herein is denied, and the caption is amended to reflect that
the Employer consists of both named corporate entities
183 NLRB No. 87
R. L. STOTT COMPANY
apprentice, who is learning to be a serviceman on
the job. In addition, there are service technicians
who do cleanout and tuneup work on burners. All
of these service area employees are supervised by
Service Manager Kolla.
The Petitioner asserts that service technicians Al-
bers and Meyer should be excluded from the unit
because they are independent contractors. The
record established that, unlike the other employees,
they are paid on a "per call" rather than an hourly
basis; they do not receive the fringe benefits pro-
vided for other employees; and social security and
unemployment compensation deductions are not
made from their pay. On the other hand, they work
regularly for the Employer on a daily basis; they are
under the direct supervision of the Employer's su-
pervisors; and it is abundantly clear from the record
that the Employer determines not only the desired
end result of their work, but also the means by
which that result is to be accomplished. On the
record, therefore, we find that these service techni-
cians are employees within the meaning of the Act,
and we shall include them in the unit with the other
service employees. Local No. 2265, Carpenters, 170
NLRB 633.
As there is no contention that the installation and
service employees ought not to be in the same unit,
the remaining issues concern whether employees in
other classification are appropriately to be included
in the unit with the installation and service em-
ployees. These are the receiving and inventory
clerk, who orders and dispenses all materials to the
service and installation area employees, drivers,
who transport fuel oil and gasoline from the ter-
minal to the plant and from the plant to the
customer's home, vehicle mechanics, who are
responsible for the repair and maintenance of the
vehicles owned by the Employer; salesmen, who
sell fuel oil, motor oil, and gasoline, as well as air-
conditioning and heating equipment; plant main-
tenance man, who performs janitorial functions at
the plant; and dispatchers, who dispatch service
personnel and drivers from the plant by radio. All
of these employees are under different immediate
supervision from the installation and service em-
ployees, except that the receiving and inventory
clerk is supervised by the service manager, and the
dispatcher is supervised by the service manager to
the extent that his dispatching duties relate to the
service employees.
The record establishes that all employees are
covered by the same group insurance, sick benefit,
pension, or profit-sharing plans and all (except the
salesmen and the two service technicians) are
2 Although, as set forth above, the dispatchers are supervised in part by
the service manager, the record fails to establish that they otherwise share a
885
hourly paid and receive time and one-half for over-
time . The record also shows, however, that incen-
tive pay is calculated differently for the different
employee classifications, and only truckdrivers
receive premium pay for weekend work. In addi-
tion , there is some temporary interchange between
jobs, in that servicemen may serve as truckdrivers
during winter periods when the demand for fuel is
high, and drivers may aid service or installation
men during the summer, when the demand for fuel
is low. The extent of such interchange is not, how-
ever, established by the record.
The record further shows that the work per-
formed by the service and installation employees
requires a degree of skill different from and greater
than that required of other employees. As was
established at the hearing, while there is no fixed
apprenticeship period, it generally takes about 3
years of on-the-job training to progress from the
lowest to the highest rated service or installation
job. Although not clearly established in the record,
it would appear that the other classifications
require less training.
In all the circumstances, we find that a unit
limited to service and installation employees is ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
These employees share a level of skill and working
conditions which renders them distinct from the
other employees; they are separately supervised;
and such interchange as exists is not shown to be so
substantial as to destroy their separate indentity as
an appropriate unit . We shall, however, include the
receiving and inventory clerk in the unit, as it was
established at the hearing that he orders and
dispenses parts to the service and installation men;
he is a specialist in oil burners; he had conducted
classes to update the men's knowledge; he some-
times goes out on the job; and he is supervised by
Service Manager Kolla, who also supervises the ser-
vicemen. On these facts we find that he has a suffi-
ciently close community of interest with the other
servicemen to require that he be included in the
unit with them.'
Accordingly, we find that the following em-
ployees constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9(b) of the Act:
All service and installation employees, includ-
ing installation technicians, installation techni-
cians second class, installation helpers, installa-
tion driver-helpers, sheet metal mechanics, air-
conditioning and burner service technicians,
burner service technicians, burner service
technicians second class, burner service ap-
substantial community of interest with the unit employees , we shall there-
fore exclude them from the unit
886 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
prentices, service technicians and the receiving
and inventory clerk, at the Employer's Fox
Chase, Pennsylvania, plant, excluding all
drivers , vehicle mechanics , salesmen, plant
maintenance men, dispatchers, office clerical
employees , guards, and supervisors as defined
in the Act.
[Direction of Election3 omitted from publica-
tion. ]
J In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to be the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 4 within 7 days of the
informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all date of this Decision and Direction of Election The Regional Director shall
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their ad- make the list available to all parties to the election No extension of time to
dresses which may be used to communicate with them Excelsior Un- file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordina-
dera ear Inc, 156 NLRB 1236, N L R B v Wi nian-Cordon Co, 394 U S ry circumstances Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds
759 Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list, con- for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed
taining the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by