Telling Belle Vernon Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 15, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 694 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of TELLING BELLE VERNON COMPANY, E1rPLOYER and
UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES .OF THE
PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES AND
CANADA, LOCAL UNION No. 120 (AFL), PETITIONER -
Case No. 8-KC-100.-Decided September 15, 19.48
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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-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 involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer. ' _ ' ' ' ' ' '
3. No question of representation 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 rea-
sons: '
The Petitioner seeks a unit, for purposes of collective bargaining,
composed of all the employees of the Employer engaged in the instal-
lation and servicing of refrigeration units at the plant or at stores
selling the Employer's products. The International Association of
Machinists, herein called the Intervenor, and the Employer contend
that the proposed unit is inappropriate, and that the employees sought
by the Petitioner should not be severed from the group which the Inter-
venor represents. The Intervenor's motion to dismiss, made at the
*Houston , Murdock , and Gray.
79 N. L. R. B, No. 89.
694
TELLING BELLE VERNON COMPANY 695
hearing and referred by the hearing officer to the Board, is hereby
granted for the reasons set forth below.
In the Employer's garage, there are approximately 40 employees
described as auto mechanics, cabinet servicemen, sheet metal workers,
woodworkers, blacksmiths, electricians, painters, porters, tire repair-
men, and washers, who work in the cabinet shop, garage, paint shop,
or body shop.
Since 1946, these employees have been covered by a single contract
executed by the Employer with the Intervenor, International Brother-
hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of Amer-
ica, Gas Station, Garage and Parking Lot Union No. 964, herein
called the Teamsters, and International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths,
Drop Forgers and Helpers, Local No. 307, herein called the Black-
smiths.,
There are six cabinet servicemen, who install and service the ice
cream cabinets which the Employer places in its customers' stores,
whom the Petitioner seeks to represent. The installation of these
units is for the most part a platter of hauling the unit, unloading it,
and plugging the cord into a socket. These men can make minor re-
pairs, such as replacing a fan belt, adding gas, or repairing switches
or wiring, in the customer's store. For major repairs the unit must
be returned to the Employer's garage or, in some instances, sent back
to the factory. In the Employer's shop, these cabinet servicemen
replace insulation, repair, paint and clean cabinets, and replace and
repair parts of the motors or compressors. Such repairs may include
grinding valves, setting valves, or replacing piston rings. They do a
very small amount of pipe work. Approximately half of the repair
work is electrical and the remainder is primarily mechanical. In the
cabinet shop, for use in making these repairs, is such machinery as a
lathe, drill press, armature undercutter, grinder, and buffer. When
the cabinet servicemen have a heavy work load, as usually occurs in
the summer, other employees in the garage, such as auto mechanics,
painters, or metal workers, do some work on the cabinets. Similarly,
when the work of the cabinet servicemen slacks off, they sometimes
help the auto mechanics, the body men, or the painters. Such inter-
change is not frequent nor of long duration.
The Petitioner offered its "Apprentice Standards for the Steann-
fitting Industry" as proof that pipe fitting is an apprenticeable craft.
However, the cabinet servicemen have served no such apprenticeship,
five of the six have gained all of their refrigeration experience with
the Employer, and they know little or nothing about air-conditioning
I It appears from the record that although the Teamsters and the Blacksmiths are parties
to the contract, the active negotiations have been by the Intervenor.
696 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
units, meat-display cases, or other refrigeration equipment. The
foreman stated that a man with some mechanical aptitude could learn
most of the work in a few months . They do no work on the ref rigera-
tion equipment in the Employer 's ice cream manufacturing plant or,
dairy. The auto mechanics in the garage do most of the work on the
Employer's refrigeration trucks; their mechanical and electrical work
is very similar to that of the cabinet servicemen ; and the piping they
instalLin trucks is identical with that in the refrigeration units. All
,employees in the garage, including the cabinet servicemen , have the
same hours and working conditions and have use of the same facilities;
and, with the exception of washers, porters, and tire repairmen, all
are classified for pay-roll purposes as "mechanics " or "helpers."
It is clear from the foregoing facts that the unit requested by
the Petitioner is not a craft group . There is intermingling of work by
the various groups of employees who have heretofore been covered by
one contract ; and there is similarity of work performed as between
employees within and without the proposed unit. We therefore find
that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate for purposes of
collective bargaining.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board' hereby' orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.