Simmons Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 10, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 1111 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

SIMMONS COMPANY
ployees at the Employer's Magnolia, Ohio, plant, including the boiler
firemen and all other employees who perform boiler room opera-
tions,- but excluding supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
5. As the substitute boiler fireman (Montgomery) regularly per-
forms boiler room operations for substantial periods, we shall accord
him voting eligibility in the election directed herein.14 We find that
the employee (Barnhouse) who occasionally assists in cleaning boilers
spends only an insubstantial part of his time at boiler room duties and
is, therefore, not eligible to vote.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
'8 We shall include employees Montgomery and Barnhouse in the appropriate unit for
such time as they spend in boiler room operations.
'* Ocala Star Banner, 95 NLRB 569.
SIMMONS CO1VIPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL
WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER . Gases No8.13-RC-2713,13 RC-2711.
13-RC-2715, and 13-RC-93716. September 10, 1952
Decision , Order, and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
I. M. Lieberman, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-mem-
ber panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson].
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 organization involved claims to represent certain
employees 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 Petitioner seeks to sever three groups of employees from
the existing production and maintenance unit at the Employer's plant
1 The Petitioner at the consolidated hearing moved to withdraw its petition in Case No.
13-RC-2713 relating to the fire protection employees . The motion is hereby granted.
100 NLRB No. 160.
1112 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
at Kenosha, Wisconsin, presently represented by Federal Labor Union,
Local 18456, AFL, herein called the Intervenor. The Intervenor con-
tends that the requested units are not appropriate, urging integration
of all plant operations and alleging that employees in the respective
groups are not craftsmen inasmuch as they do not serve regular ap-
prenticeships and do not exercise broad craft skills, and that collective
bargaining has in the past been successfully conducted on a broader
basis.
At its Kenosha, Wisconsin, plant, the Employer is engaged in the
manufacture of mattress box springs, coil springs, dual sleeping equip-
ment, bedroom furniture, and hospital sleeping equipment. There
are approximately 3,751 employees in the production and maintenance
unit, which has been represented since 1934 by the Intervenor. The
most recent contract between the Employer and the Intervenor cov-
ering these employees became effective July 14, 1950, and expired
June 30, 1952.
Pipe fitters and pipe fitters' helpers, There are eight pipefitters and
three pipefitters' helpers employed at the plant. Pipefitters must be
skilled in all types of construction and maintenance work relating to
pipes connected with the machinery or plant premises, including oil,
oxygen, and air lines, sewers, and plumbing. They have the addi-
tional responsibility of trouble-shooting for all breakdowns through-
out the plant. They work from blueprints and own their hand tools,
valued at approximately $100. They work under a pipefitters' fore-
man and do not perform other plant work 2 The record indicates that
a 4-year on-the-job training program is necessary for promotion from
helper to journeyman classification. That such training lacks the
formal designation of an apprenticeship period is not decisive .3
Electricians and electricians' helpers. The 12 journeymen elec-
tricians and their 2 helpers construct, install, and maintain all elec-
trical equipment and wiring at the Employer's plant. They maintain
the power panel, power lines, and switchboard. They work from blue-
prints and are charged with the responsibility of moving all electrical
fixtures and machines. They own their hand tools valued at approxi-
mately $100. They are clearly engaged in the full gamut of plant
electrical work.4
Truck repairmen and truck repairmen's helpers. At the time of the
hearing, there were two employees in this group sought by the
Petitioner.
The Employer set up its truck repair department in 1948 for the
purpose of servicing its own vehicles, including fork trucks, lumber
'The fact that other employees may in their own departments occasionally perform
work which might be done by pipeiitters is inconsequential. Armstrong Cork Company,
97 NLRB 1057.
3 Mrolprint, Incorporated, 97 NLRB 233.
Sanclair Rubber, Inc., 96 NLRB 220.
SIMMONS COMPANY 1113
trucks, electric trucks, and hand trucks. The employee complement
of the department is unstable; the employees in the department exer-
cise no particular craft skills ; and the department is under the general
joint supervision of the maintenance foreman and the millwright
foreman, who supervise the maintenance department and the mill-
wright department, respectively.
We are of the opinion, contrary to the Inventor, that (1) the pipe-
fitters and pipefitters' helpers, and (2) the electricians and electricians'
helpers are craftsmen of the character that we have recognized may
constitute separate craft units if they so desire, in spite of a history
of collective bargaining at the plant of which they are a part and the
normal integration of plant processes. In the absence of an affirma-
tive showing, however, that repair department employees have or
exercise recognizable craft skills, we believe that employees in the
repair department do not constitute a craft or traditional group which
may be severed from the broader unit of which they are a part .5 We
shall therefore dismiss the petition in Case No. 13-RC-2715.
We shall direct separate elections among (1) pipefitters and pipe-
fitters' helpers, and (2) electricians and electricians' helpers at the Em-
ployer's plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, excluding from the voting
groups all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
If a majority of employees in either voting group indicate their
desire to be represented by the Petitioner, those employees will be
taken to have expressed their desire to be represented in a separate
unit, and the Regional Director conducting the elections is instructed
in that event to issue a certification of representatives to the Peti-
tioner for such group, which the Board under these circumstances
finds constitutes an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining. If, however, a majority of employees in either voting
group vote for the Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated
their desire to remain part of the production and maintenance unit,
which the Board so finds to be appropriate, and the Regional Director
shall issue a certification of results of election to that effect.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives filed by the Petitioner in Case No. 13-RC-
2715 be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
6 National Container Corporation of Wisconsin, 97 NLRB 1009; Armour and Company,
84 NLRB 813, 814; and Gulf Oil Corporation, 79 NLRB 1274, 1276.