St. Regis Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 22, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 570 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of ST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY (KRArr PULP DivisION),1
EMPLOYER and LODGE No. 297, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OP
MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No.19RC-86.Decided November °22, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Tacoma,
Washington, on July 8, 1948, before Robert E. Tillman, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial 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 and limited to employees
of the Employer doing work generally recognized as journeyman
machinist work, including maintenance machinists, helpers and ap-
prentices, and working foremen or leadmen, but excluding supervisors,
professional, office and clerical employees and guards. At the hearing
the unit was defined by the Petitioner as consisting of day machinists,
I The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
2 The International Brotherhood of Pulp , Sulphite and Paper Mill workers, hereinafter
called Intervenor , was allowed to intervene at the hearing without objection.
•Houston , Reynolds , and Murdock.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 96.
570
ST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY 571
shift machinists, automotive machinists, the machinist helper, the
machinist-welder, the day machinist leadman, and the oilers. The Em-
ployer, while not taking a position for or against the proposed unit,
prefers that the bargaining unit be plant-wide. The Intervenor does
not make formal opposition to the propriety of the craft unit but ob-
jects to the inclusion of oilers in the unit with the machinists.
The machinists are assigned to the maintenance department which
is 1 of 11 departments at the Employer's plant. The maintenance
department has a total of approximately 350 employees including
blacksmiths, welders, carpenters, painters, pipe fitters, electricians and
oilers as well as machinists . These employees are under the over-
all supervision of the master mechanic and his assistant with working
foremen or leadmen providing the immediate supervision of each
group, except as hereinafter noted in the case of the oilers. The day
machinists include both those employees who work entirely in the
machine shop and those who combine work in the shop with repair
work in the plant. The day machinists are regarded as being skilled
journeymen by the Employer. The shift machinists work almost
entirely in the plant inspecting and making adjustments and repairs.
The machinist automotive has a separate shop and works only on auto-
motive equipment. The machinist helper is assigned to the machine
shop where his duties are to help the machinists and run a bolt machine.
Supervision, skills, and working conditions are substantially the same
for all these employees with the exception of the unskilled status of the
machinist helper.
The Intervenor and the Employer have been parties to continuous
collective bargaining contracts since the construction of the Employer's
plant in 1936. At that time, due to objections by the craft unions in
the building trades, the Intervenor, in its initial contract with the
Employer, was granted recognition for the production workers only .3
Such crafts as pipe fitters, blacksmiths, painters, and carpenters, as
well as the machinists, have not been included in the contract coverage,
although craft unions, claiming members within the plant, have orally
agreed with the Employer to abide by the contracts between the Em-
ployer and the Intervenor, and wage raises and other contractual
benefits gained by the Intervenor have been extended to the employees
not represented by the Intervenor. The machinists and other em-
3 The Employer and the Intervenor state that collective bargaining in paper mills in
the Pacific Coast area has been upon an industrial basis, and that the Intervenor is the
exclusive bargaining representative for production and maintenance employees in all such
mills with the exception of the plant here involved . We note, however , that in other areas
craft units have been established in the paper industry . See Matter of Gaylord Container
Corporation, 80 N. L . R. B. 1201 ; Matter of Waldorf Paper Products Company, 76 N. L.
R. B. 127 ; Matter of West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company , 61 N. L . R. B. 438.
572 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees in the unit requested by the Petitioner have been and are now
without formal representation. We have, on previous occasions, de-
termined that machinists are a well defined and skilled craft group and
that they may constitute separate bargaining units 4 We find that a
unit composed of machinists and their helpers is appropriate herein
for the purposes of collective bargaining.
There remain the questions of the inclusion of the day machinist
leadman, the machinist-welder and the oilers in such a unit. The
master mechanic and his assistants are, as previously noted, the over-
all supervisors of the maintenance employees. Each group of mainte-
nance employees, with the exception of the oilers, has a leadman or
working foreman, who takes charge in the absence of the master
mechanic or his assistants. The day machinist leadman is in charge
of the machine shop and the day machinists working there. His
duties consist of laying out the work, designating it and inspecting to
see that it is done properly. Ninety percent of his time is spent in
supervisory duties although he does manual work when necessary.
While possessing no authority as to the hiring of employees or their
lay-off, he does have the right to discharge employees under his direc-
tion subject to a later investigation by the master mechanic and the
general superintendent, and his recommendations as to the transfer of
employees are given serious consideration. He is on an hourly pay
rate as are the other maintenance employees but is given extra com-
pensation. It appears from the record that the day machinist lead-
man responsibly directs the work of subordinates and makes effective
recommendations concerning the discharge and transfer of employees
of the Employer. We find that the day machinist leadman is there-
fore a supervisor within the meaning of the Act, and we shall exclude
him from the unit.5
There are four welders at the Employer's plant, all of whom are
under the supervision of the master mechanic and work in the mainte-
nance department. The Petitioner requests the inclusion of one of
these, the machinist-welder,6 in the unit. This employee is a member
of the Petitioner and spends 75 percent of his time working on equip-
ment brought to the welders' shop from the machine shop. As the Em-
ployer's most highly skilled welder, he is also assigned precision weld-
4 we have permitted the establishment of craft units of machinists even where the
employees involved , unlike those in this proceeding , have been previously included in a
broader unit . See Matter of National Container Corporation , Inc., Southern Container
Division, 75 N. L R B 770 ; Matter of National Traffic Guard Company, 78 N. L. R B. 846.
5 See Matter of Bryant Heater Co ., 77 N. L. R. B 744; Matter of Flour Mills of America,
Inc., d/b/a Valier & Spies Milling Company, 78 N. L . R B. 324.
U While the Employer lists Haywood Little as a "welder" on its pay roll, he was referred
to as a "machinist-welder" throughout the hearing.
ST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY 573
ing work in the plant. All four welders are highly skilled craftsmen.
Besides the machinist-welder, one welder works with the pipe fitters;
another does chiefly fabricating work, and the fourth is a plant welder
working mainly in one of the production departments. It is apparent
that the machinist-welder's work and supervision are closely associ-
ated with the machinists' and that his interests are allied with theirs?
Accordingly, we shall include the machinist-welder in the unit.
The oiling and greasing of equipment in the plant is done by eight
oilers, who are under the supervision of the master mechanic. The
shift oilers oil and grease the shift equipment on a fairly regular
schedule depending upon whether the machines need such attention
on a weekly, bi-weekly basis, or several times a day. The day oilers
grease and oil machinery in a particular production department for
the most part. There is little or no oiling and greasing of machine
shop equipment by the oilers. The Petitioner bases its claim that
these employees should be included in the unit on the ground that
they spend part of their time helping the machinists and the Em-
ployer often assigns men to the position of oiler prior to promotion
to the status of machinist. As a general rule, the two day oilers do
not give any assistance to the machinists except during periodic shut-
downs when the entire production force as well as the oilers are used
to get the plant into condition. The shift oilers are occasionally called
upon to assist the machinists as they make their rounds. The record
shows that such assistance rendered the machinists by the oilers
takes up only a minor portion of the latter's time, and that production
employees are also accustomed to helping the machinists. Oilers
are generally selected by the Employer from the production staff and
men are chosen who display mechanical ability although the position,
itself, requires only all average intelligence and its duties can be learned
in a week's time. A number of the Employer's present force of
machinists were promoted to that position from the job of oiler, while
others became machinists without first being oilers. While the oiler,
though giving occasional assistance to the machinist, may well be-
come familiar with tools and machines, it is clear that he does not
obtain instruction and training which would come under the classi-
fication of an apprenticeship. Further, the oilers are in continual
association with the production employees and are not a segregated
group attached to the machinists. In view of the fact that the oilers
do not satisfy the qualifications of helper or apprentice to the machin-
ists and the fact that there is an evident disparity of skills between
' See Matter of Richfield Oil Corporation , 59 N L . R. B 1534; and Matter of Mtid-
Co'i.ttinent Petroleum Corporation , 65 N. L . It. B. 113 , where welders assigned to pipe
fitter shops were included in craft units of pipe fitters.
574 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the oilers and the machinists, we find that it will be inappropriate
to merge them in the unit with the machinists .8 We shall, therefore,
exclude the oilers from the unit.
We find that a unit composed of all machinists at the Employer's
Kraft pulp plant, Tacoma, Washington, including day, shift, and
automotive machinists, the machinist helper and the machinist-welder,
but excluding the day machinist leadman, oilers, supervisors, and all
other employees, is a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with St. Regis Paper Company
(Kraft Pulp Division), Tacoma, Washington, 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 Nineteenth Region, and sub-
ject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees
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, 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 reinstated prior to
the date of election, and also excluding employees on strike who are
not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be
represented by Lodge No. 297, International Association of Machinists
or by International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill
Workers,9 for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
See Matter of Western Electric Company, Inc., 61 N. L. R. B. 974; Matter of Edison
General Electric Appliance Company, Inc., 50 N. L. R. B. 387.
While the International Brotherhood of Pulp , Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers was
allowed to intervene in this proceeding , it did not indicate clearly whether or not it wished
to be placed on the ballot . The Intervenor may have its name removed from the ballot
upon prompt request to , and approval thereof by, the Regional Director.
M