Ryan Aeronautical Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 8, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 1189 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of RYAN AERONAUTICAL COMPANY, EMPLOYER and IN-
TERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL. B-569,
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER
Case No. 21-RC-851.-Decided September 8,191k9
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Ben Grodsky,
hearing 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Murdock].
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 involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
t.ion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.2
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all maintenance and/or
construction electricians, their helpers and apprentices, classified as
or working in the Employer's electrical maintenance department,'
and their leadmen,4 excluding supervisors.s The Employer and the
, International Union of United Automobile , Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Workers
of America , Local 506 , CIO, herein called the Intervenor , appeared at the bearing and was
permitted to intervene without objection.
2 On July 28 , 1948, the Employer and the Intervenor entered into a contract which was
to remain in force until July 27, 1949, and yearly thereafter, unless terminated by written
notice not more than 60 nor less than 30 days before the end of any yearly period. The
Petitioner notified the Employer of its representation claim on May 24, 1949, and filed the
instant petition on May 26, 1949. As the petition was filed before the automatic renewal
date, the contract does not constitute a bar to a present determination of representatives.
6 The Employer employs electric assemblers and installers . These employees are produc-
tion electricians, whom the Petitioner does not seek to represent.
4 The parties stipulated that leadmen are covered by the contract between the Employer
and the Intervenor , and that they should be included in the bargaining unit . They have no
power to hire or discharge.
6 The unit description is given as amended at the hearing.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 200.
1189
1190 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Intervenor oppose the severance of the maintenance and constructionL
electricians from the existing plant-wide unit.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of aircraft, aircraft
exhaust systems, gaskets, and stainless steel products. Plant mainte-
nance is divided into four departments under the over-all supervision
of the plant engineer. These departments are the woodshop, the
janitor department, the mechanical maintenance department, and the-
electrical maintenance department. Each has its own foreman.
The electrical maintenance department is located in a separate en-
closure containing machinery, a stockroom for electrical supplies, and
the foremans' desk. This shop, and the machinery in it, are reserved
for the exclusive use of the maintenance and construction electricians.
There are 19 employees in the electrical maintenance department-
They are divided into 3 classifications according to skill and experi-
ence: labor grade 2 electrician (highest), labor grade 4 electrician
(intermediate) and electrician helper (lowest). The maintenance
and construction electricians do only electrical work; they do not per-
form mechanical maintenance or production work. Some are engaged
in electrical maintenance, some in electrical construction, and some in
the maintenance and repair of spot welding machines. Electrical
maintenance consists mainly of trouble shooting and replacing or
repairing broken electrical equipment. Electrical construction em-
braces running conduit and pulling wire, handling fixtures, and in-
stalling or moving machinery equipped with electricity. The
maintenance of spot welding machines involves servicing and main-
taining both the electrical circuits and the electronics equipment of the
spot welders. It requires a specialized knowledge of electronics not
possessed by the average electrician.
Ordinarily, electricians assigned to maintenance work do no electri-
cal construction, and those assigned to construction do no electrical
maintenance. When a large installation has to be made, maintenance
and construction electricians and their helpers may work as a team
with other nonelectrical maintenance workers (such as millwrights
and pipe fitters) from the mechanical maintenance department. In
such instances, however, craft lines are adhered to, all electrical work
being done by the electricians.
The Employer maintains no apprenticeship program for its elec-
tricians.° Its job descriptions 7 normally require 6 months' experience
for electrician helper, 2 years' experience for labor grade 4 electrician,
° The Petitioner maintains a formal apprenticeship course requiring 31/2 to 4 years' study
and training before the applicant can be rated as a journeyman electrician.
' These job descriptions were written jointly , by the Employer and the Intervenor, and
were ratified by the construction and maintenance electricians.
RYAN AERONAUTICAL COMPANY 1191
and 4 years' experience for labor grade 2 electrician. The mainte-
nance and construction electricians work with the usual tools of their
craft, some of which they are required to supply themselves.e As it is
occasionally necessary for them to work on energized circuits of a
lethal voltage,9 their hazard problems are distinct from those of other
employees. The Employer therefore requires that anything electri-
cal-even the removal of a fuse-must be performed by electricians,
and supplies them with special safety equipment, such as rubber gloves
mold cambric mats. Moreover, the electrical foreman has written a
set of safety rules applicable to electricians.
Requisitions for new maintenance and construction electricians orig-
inate with the foreman of the electrical maintenance department, and
must be approved by higher executives. Although the actual hiring
is done by the personnel department, the foreman of the electrical
maintenance department often interviews applicants io
In a period of 10 years, there was one instance in which an em-
ployee of the electrical maintenance department was temporarily
transferred to the mechanical maintenance department "for a day
or so" to assist on a rush project. In addition, seven of the main-
tenance and construction electricians were transferred to the electri-
cal maintenance department from some other department in the plant.
An analysis of the work record of these seven employees shows that,
with one exception," they started in the department as electrician
helpers or lower, and worked their way up. Those who had attained
labor grade 2 electrician had an average experience in the department
,of approximately 4?/3 years at the time of the hearing, and those who
had reached labor grade 4 electrician had an average experience in
the department of over 31/3 years.
It is clear that the employees here sought to be represented by the
Petitioner possess skills usually associated with their craft and work
with tools traditionally utilized by electricians. In view of these spe-
cial skills and the predominantly craft characteristics of the mainte-
nance and construction electricians, their physical segregation, and
their separate supervision, we are persuaded that they comprise a
8 These hand tools are worth approximately $150.
A maximum of 480 volts.
1 ° The city of San Diego , in which the Employer's plant is located , requires all journeymen
electricians and helpers to be licensed ; the former must pass a city examination in order to
secure a license. It is not clear from the record whether or not the Employer requires its
•electricians to obtain a city license . The Employer ' s plant engineer testified that he didn't
think that a city license was required. On the other hand the Employer's job description
for labor grade 2 electrician states : "The work requires a basic electrical knowledge suffi-
-cient to pass the city electrician ' s license examination as is required."
11 Forrest Warren, Jr., was transferred from the research laboratory to the electrical
maintenance department because of his knowledge of electronics . He was rated as labor
grade 4 electrician , and assigned to the maintenance and repair of spot welding equipment.
1192 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cohesive and well-defined group clearly distinguishable from the re-
maining production and maintenance employees and that their estab-
lishment as a separate collective bargaining group is feasible.
The Employer and the Intervenor, in arguing against setting up the-
maintenance and construction electricians in a separate unit, point to.
the history of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis. In 1940,12
and again in 1948,13 the Intervenor was certified by the Board as a
representative of the Employer's production and maintenance em-
ployees, including the electricians involved herein 14 The Employer
and the Intervenor have bargained for these employees continuously
since 1942.15 When grievances have arisen involving maintenance and
construction electricians, the Intervenor has processed them. No pre-
vious attempt has been made to sever the maintenance and construction
electricians from the more inclusive unit.
In our opinion, the bargaining history set forth above does not pre-
clude an election among the maintenance and construction electricians
at this time. In the aircraft manufacturing industry, the Board has
frequently granted self-determination elections to groups of main-
tenance and construction electricians.16 The Petitioner is presently
the bargaining representative of separate units of maintenance and
construction electricians at a number of aircraft plants in the geo-
graphical area in which the Employer's plant is located. We there-
fore conclude that, despite the bargaining history on a more compre-
hensive basis, the Employer's maintenance and construction
electricians may, if they so desire, constitute a separate appropriate
unit. However, as the continued inclusion of these employees in the
existing plant-wide unit may also be appropriate, we shall not make
any final determination of the appropriate unit at this time, but shall
first ascertain the desires of the affected employees in the election here-
inafter directed.
We shall direct that an election be held among the maintenance and
construction electricians, their helpers and apprentices, employed in
12 Matter of Ryan Aeronautical Company, 27 N. L. R. B. 19.
13 This certification resulted from an election directed by the Board in Matter of The
Ryan Aeronautical Co., 76 N. L. R. B. 356.
14 In 1939 , the Board had established a separate unit composed of the Employer' s welders.
Matter of Ryan Aeronautical Co., 15 N. L. R. B. 812 and 17 N. L. R. B . 231. 'Consequently,
the welders have a separate contract , and were excluded from the unit established by the
Board, and from the contract between the Employer and the Intervenor.
11 The earlier contracts provided for departmental seniority, but since 1946 this has
been replaced by plant-wide seniority.
16 Matter of Illinois Division , Bendix Aviation Corporation , 61 N. L. R. B. 993 ; Matter
of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Company, 75 N. L. R. B. 1276; Matter of Lockheed Aircraft
Corporation, 77 N. L. R. B. 507 ; Matter of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, 79 N. L. R. B.
1054 ; Matter of Hughes Aircraft Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 867; and Matter of Solar Aircraft
Company, Case No. 21-RC-204, issued July 15, 1948.
RYAN AERONAUTICAL COMPANY 1193
the Employer's electrical maintenance department, including lead-
men, but excluding supervisors, as defined in the Act. If the em-
ployees participating in the election select the Petitioner as their
bargaining representative, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 17
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes 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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which the case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
voting group described 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 vacation or
temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re-
instated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining,
by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, A. F. of L.,.
Local 569,18 or by International Union of United Automobile, Air-
craft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, Local 506,. CIO',,
or by neither.
17 Any participant in the election directed herein may, upon its prompt request to, and,
approval thereof by , the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.
11 The request of the Petitioner to have its name appear on the ballot as above, which
was not opposed by any party , its hereby granted.