The Winter Weiss Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 5, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 159 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of THE WINTER WEISS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LOCAL LODGE No. 47,
PETITIONER
In the Matter of THE WINTER WEISS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOILERMAKERS , IRON SHIP BUILD-
ERS & HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 101, AFL, PETITIONER
Cases Nos . 30-RC-3 and 30-RC-34, respectively.Decided November
5,1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a hearing in the above con-
solidated cases 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 Chairman Herzog and
Members Houston and Gray.'
Upon the entire record in the 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.2
3. For reasons stated hereinafter , no question affecting commerce
exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer,
within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the Act.
i Board Member Houston did not participate in this case.
f The Petitioner, International Association of Machinists , Local Lodge No. 47, is herein-
after referred to as the IAM ; the Petitioner , International Brotherhood of Boilermakers,
Iron Ship Builders & Helpers of America , Local 101 , AFL, is hereinafter referred to as the
Boilermakers . International Union , United Automobile , Aircraft & Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, CIO , withdrew from the case on May 19, 1948, and made no appearance
at the hearing.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 35.
159
160 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The TAM seeks a unit consisting of all employees of the Employer
engaged in maintenance repair, or as mechanics, journeymen machin-
ists, specialists, helpers, and apprentices, all without restriction as to
department or location within the plant, excluding all employees in
the unit proposed by the Boilermakers, all office and clerical employ-
ees, employees of the woodworking department, salesmen, teamsters,
truck drivers, warehousemen, janitors, watchmen, guards, profes-
sional employees, and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
The Boilermakers requests a unit consisting of all employees of the
Employer engaged in welding, burning, setting-up, laying-out, punch-
ing, rolling, breaking, drilling, shearing, assembling, polishing, paint-
ing, scaling, operating hoists, or moving or fabricating any work in
connection with plates, shapes, or forms of steel or other metals,
angles, panels, and H and I beams, all without restriction as to de-
partment or location within the plant, excluding all employees in the
unit sought by the IAM, all office and clerical employees, employees
of the woodworking department, salesmen, teamsters, truck drivers,
warehousemen, janitors, watchmen, guards, professional employees
and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
The Employer takes the position that the only appropriate unit is
a plant-wide unit embracing all production and maintenance em-
ployees, excluding office and clerical employees, salesmen, janitors,
watchmen, guards, professional employees, and all supervisors as
defined in the Act.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and sale of trailers,
truck bodies, sleeper cabs, portadrills, potato chip machines, cattle
spraying machines, and various other types of specialized equipment.
The production operations of the plant are carried on in approxi-
mately 11 departments, viz, the mill, body assembly, general assembly,
paint, chipmaster, shipping and receiving, commercial, maintenance,
and portadrill departments, the plate shop, and the machine shop-
each under the separate supervision of a crew leader or foreman, who
is in turn responsible to the general superintendent of the plant.
The functions and manufacturing activities performed by these de-
partments are highly integrated. The record discloses that working
conditions, hours of employment, and privileges such as vacations
and holidays, are the same for all employees in the plant. The wage
structure is based upon a bracket system, under which the wage
bracket for each job classification is the same throughout the plant
regardless of department. Approximately 80 or 85 percent of the
employees in the Employer's plant are interchangeable and, at vari-
ous times, have been transferred from one job or department to
another.
THE WINTER WEISS COMPANY 161
In the course of its operations, the Employer employs approximately
148 employees. Of this number the IAM seeks to represent approxi-
mately 54 employees and the Boilermakers seek to represent approxi-
mately 64 employees. There is no history of collective bargaining
to bear upon the appropriateness of the unit. It appears from the
record, however, that competitive plants in the same general area as
the Employer's plant are organized on a plant-wide basis.
The Unit Proposed ty the IAM
The IAM desires a unit embracing approximately 54 employees
engaged in maintenance repair, or as mechanics, journeymen machin-
ists, specialists, helpers, and apprentices. As noted above, these
employees are located in various departments throughout the plant,
each of which is separately supervised. They possess skills ranging
from highly skilled craftsmen such as tool and die makers and machin-
ists, to skilled and semiskilled specialists, such as mechanics and
machine operators. The record discloses that during slack periods
these employees are transferred from one job or department in the
plant to another where the work load is heavier. Thus, a mechanic
may become a platemaker in the plate shop, a machinist may become a
shear operator in the portadrill department, or a turret lathe operator
in the machine shop may be transferred to the assembly department.
The record also indicates that the IAM would exclude from its pro-
posed unit skilled and semiskilled mill machine operators in the mill
department whose skills appear to be comparable to those of employees
whom the IAM seeks to represent.
Upon the basis of the foregoing facts and upon the entire record
in the case, we are of the opinion that the grouping sought by the IAM
is neither a pure craft unit nor a department unit, nor does it conform
with any functional division of the plant. The employees in question
lack the homogeneity requisite to a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining. Accordingly, we find that the unit sought by
the IAM is inappropriate and we shall dismiss the petition filed in
Case No. 30-RC-3.
The Unit Proposed by the Boilermakers
The Boilermakers ' unit would include approximately 64 employees
engaged in welding, burning, setting-up, laying-out, punching, rolling,
breaking , drilling, shearing , assembling , polishing, painting , scaling,
operating hoists, or moving or fabricating any work in connection with
plates, shapers , or forms of steel or other metals , angles, panels, or
H and I beams.
162 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
As in the case of the unit sought by the IAM, the employees in the
Boilermakers group are employed in various departments of the plant,
each of which is under separate supervision. They are skilled and
semiskilled workers who, in the course of the Employer's operations,
are transferred from one job or department to another as the occasion
may require. Welders are called upon to do assembly work, fabricate
jigs, or act as helpers on shear machines or punch presses; painters at
times are used in the stock roppn as material handlers or as assemblers;
and in several instances, so-called "three position" employees perform
several functions such as welding, cutting, or assembling.
From the foregoing, and upon the entire record in the case, it is clear
that the unit proposed by the Boilermakers is neither a pure craft unit
nor a departmental unit, nor does it conform with any functional
division of the plant. Like the IAM, the Boilermakers seek to repre-
sent in a separate unit a grouping of employees which lacks the
homogeneity requisite to a unit appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining. Under these circumstances, we find that the
requested unit is inappropriate and we shall, therefore, dismiss the
petition filed in Case No. 30-RC-34.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record, the National Labor Relations
Board hereby orders that the petitions filed in Cases Nos. 30-RC-3
and 30-RC-34, be, and they hereby are, dismissed.