Sunbeam Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 4, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 132 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter Of SUNBEAM CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and DISTRICT
No. 8, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-1015.-Decided April 4, 1950
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Edward T.
Maslanka, 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Styles].
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 employees
of the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner and the Employer agree that machine tool setup
men at the Employer's three electrical appliance, furnace, and equip-
ment plants in Chicago, Illinois, constitute an appropriate unit.
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, and its
Local 1150, herein collectively called the UE, the Intervenor herein,
contend that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate.
At its 3 Chicago plants, the Employer employs, in several machine
departments, approximately 1800 machine operators and 66 machine
tool setup men and, in 4 assembly departments, separate from the
machine departments, 1000 assembly department employees.
89 NLRB No. 22.
132
SUNBEAM CORPORATION 133
Machine tool setup men, working throughout the three plants, set
up for operation many types of machines,' the function of which is
to produce tools for the use of assembly department employees in the
manufacture of the Employer's product. Machine tool setup men
select jigs and fixtures from the Employer's central tool crib and set
then' up on the machines; on occasion they use clamps or other tem-
porary-devices when dies are unavailable. When the machines are
ready to operate, they make three or four runs for the approval of the
floor inspector and the foreman and, following the foreman's instruc-
tions, assign operators to the machines and spend 3 to 15 minutes in-
structing machine operators ill,-the operation thereof. They check
with the toolroom employees and tolerances of the parts produced by
these machines and, if necessary, adjust machine setups to accord
with these tolerances.
Machine tool setup men and machine operators report to the
same department foreman. In the latter's absence machine tool setup
men, usually the one with the longest seniority, may grant temporary
absences and down pay 2 to machine operators and assign them to other
machines when their machines are not in operation. Machine tool
setup men are not required to serve an apprenticeship. They are
hired on the basis of their experience as production machinists. Ma-
chine tool setup men are paid at an hourly rate and receive merit
increases based on the recommendation of the foreman; machine oper-
ators are paid on a piecework basis.
Since 1943, the UE has continuously represented the production
and maintenance employees at the Employer's three Chicago plants;
its latest contract, bearing an expiration date of May 31, 1949, spe-
cifically includes machine tool setup men and machine operators in
the production and maintenance unit. Since March 2, 1948, when
it was certified by the' Board following a'Decision' and Direction of
Election,' the Petitioner has continuously represented the pattern
makers and the toolroom and experimental toolroom employees at
these plants in two separate craft units. In a Decision and Direction
of Election dated November 18, 1949, following a hearing in which
the Employer and the Petitioner participated, the Board found ap-
propriate a unit of production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's three plants, excluding, among other employees, machine
tool setup men, in accordance with the stipulation of the parties
'These machines ' include drill presses, milling machines , automatic screw machines,
turret lathes, engine lathes , broaching machines , high frequency machines , arbor presses,
drill presses, grinders, automatic and threading machines.
2 Down pay is `iiay granted"to machine operators during periods when their machines are
idle through no fault of their own.
3 74 NLRB 976.
134 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to that proceeding.4 The agreed exclusion of machine tool setup men
was based upon current grievance difficulties arising between machine
tool setup men and machine operators, and not upon craft lines.
Machine tool setup men work in else entact with, and are under
the direction of, the same foreman as machine operators, who ad-
mittedly are production employees. On the other hand, they also
regularly confer with toolroon employees in the course of their job.
Although machine tool setup meit are more experienced than machine
operators, it nowhere appears that they possess a high degree of skill,
comparable to that of well-recognized craft, groups. Machine tool
setup men serve no apprenticeship and have no interests clearly
distinguishable from those of production and maintenance employees,
with whom they bargained from 1943 until May 1949. They clearly
do not constitute a separate department under separate supervision.
Under the circumstances, we find that the machine tool setup men at
the Employer's three Chicago plants do not possess the skills of a
traditional craft group. They are therefore, on the present record,
not entitled to separate representation, on a craft or other hasis.5 We
shall therefore dismiss the petition e
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition in the above - entitled case be,
and the same hereby is, dismissed.
4 87 NLRB 123. Although UE was present at the hearing in that case, its motion to
intervene was denied because of its failure to comply with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h)
of the Act. The Board, in addition to finding appropriate the agreed production and
maintenance unit, further found, in accordance with the agreement of the parties, that
tool crib attendants might appropriately be added to the toolroom unit, then represented
by the Petitioner.
5 Gabriel Steel Company, 80 NLRB 1361; Geneva Forge, Inc., 76 NLRB 497; Norris
Manufacturer, Inc., 73 NLRB 838; John Deere Dubuque Tractor Company, 72 NLRB 658.
6 In view of our decision in this case, we find it unnecessary to consider the other issues
raised by the parties during and after the hearing.