Todd Shipyards Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 18, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 382 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION , EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, A. F. L., LOCAL
No. 3, PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-368.-Decided November 18, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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 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 Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance
electricians, improvers and helpers, including permanent and tem-
porary snappers, at the Employer's Brooklyn Yard. The Employer
and Intervenor object to the severance of this group from the produc-
1 At the hearing , the Employer and Local No. 39, Industrial Union of Marine and Ship.
building Workers of America, CIO, herein called the Intervenor , moved to dismiss the peti-
tion on the ground that the unit sought is inappropriate . The Intervenor also moved to
dismiss the petition on the further ground that the employees in the proposed unit are not
members of the petitioning union. For the reasons set forth in Section 4 below, the motion
to dismiss based on the first ground is denied . The motion based on the second ground is
also denied , because, in fact, it relates to the adequacy of the Petitioner 's showing of interest
which is an administrative matter not open to collateral attack. See Matter of 0. D. Jen-
nings & Company, 68 N. L . R. B. 516.
* Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
80 N. L . R. B., No. 84.
382
TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION 383
tion and maintenance unit which has been the bargaining unit repre-
sented by the Intervenor in this plant since 1941.2
The Employer is engaged in the business of ship repair and conver-
sion . It operates plants or shipyards in Brooklyn, New York; Ho-
boken, New Jersey; New Orleans, Louisiana; Galveston, Texas;
Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington; and Charleston, South
Carolina. At its Brooklyn Yard the Employer employs approximately
4,000 production and maintenance employees, including unskilled
laborers, skilled trades such as machinists, welders, sheet metal work-
ers, carpenters, and electricians. The electricians work in 3 depart-
ments known as Electrical Maintenance Department, General Light
Department, and Temporary Light Department, each department hav-
ing separate supervision.
The Electrical Maintenance Department is responsible for the in-
stallation and maintenance of all electrical conduits, cable, wiring,
and equipment which is located ashore in the Brooklyn Yard. It is
also responsible for the maintenance of the electric energy which
operates the pumps that fill and empty the drydocks, and for the en-
ergy that drives the cranes at the dock site which load and unload
machinery and materials used in the repair of ships in the yard. There
are approximately 7 electricians and 2 electrical snappers in the Elec-
trical Maintenance Department. The General Light Department is
responsible for the installation and repair of all electrical equipment,
including lighting, necessary for the operation of a ship. This is the
largest of the 3 electrical departments and at the time of the hearing
employed approximately 200 electricians. The Temporary Light De-
partment is responsible for installing temporary lighting during the
course of repair of ships. At the time of the hearing this department
contained approximately 45 electricians. The number of electricians
in the General Light Department and in the Temporary Light Depart-
ment depends upon the volume of work being done in the Brooklyn
Yard.
The Employer's electrical employees are classified as electrician
snappers, first-class mechanics or journeymen electricians, 1st, 2nd, 3rd
class electrician improvers, and electricians' helpers.3 An employee
hired as electrician's helper normally requires 3 months of working
without tools and under the observation of journeymen electricians
and snappers before he can be classified as a 3rd class improver. When
the helper attains the status of improver, he is assigned to work with
3 Matter of Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company, 33 N. L. R. B. 15 (Decision and Di-
rection of Election ), 34 N. L. R. B. 864 ( Certification of Representatives ). Robins Dry
Dock and Repair Company was the predecessor to the Employer herein.
8 At the time of the hearing there were approximately 25 electrician helpers, 3 electrician
improvers , 1st class , 23 snappers , and 246 journeymen electricians.
384 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a journeyman electrician and is permitted to use electrician's tools.
An electrician improver progresses through the three grades in 2 to 4
years, and his training and progression correspond generally to the
usual apprentice training for electricians' apprentices. The work of
this Employer's electricians and improvers is highly skilled and en-
compasses all the work traditionally performed by journeymen elec-
tricians and their apprentices. In general, the electrician's work is
performed only by electricians, and electricians are not assigned to
the work of other crafts except to the following limited extent.
Pursuant to the terms of the Employer's contract with the Inter-
venor, the Employer pursues a policy calculated to reduce standby
time of all mechanics and helpers. The procedure implementing
this policy is known as "shaping," and operates to give mechanics in
one department an opportunity to work in other departments when-
ever there is insufficient work in their own department. The record
reveals that from. December 1, 1947, to August 2, 1948, there were
4,147 instances in which employees of one department performed a
full day's work in departments other than their own. Included in
this total were 35 occasions on which mechanics in electrical depart-
ments were transferred to perform a day's work in one of the non-
electrical departments, and 3 occasions on which the mechanics from
non-electrical departments performed a day's work in one of the electri-
cal departments. In the latter group, the record indicated that of
the 3 mechanics transferred to electrical work, 1 had had some elec-
trical experience, and the other 2 were transferred to do helper's
work which does not require the use of electrician's tools.
Approximately 15 percent of the electricians' time is spent on jobs
which are exclusively electrical in nature. Otherwise, the electricians
work on jobs which also require the services of other trades such as
machinists, tinsmith, sheet metal workers, welders, joiners, burners,
grillers, chippers, caulkers, and riggers. On rare occasions an elec-
trician may, in the course of his electrical duties, perform some task
normally assigned to another trade, such as removing pans, which
is usually done by a tinsmith. Where electricians are engaged in
work on electrical motors they may work alongside machinists who
are responsible for the proper mechanical performance of the motor.
The snapper in charge of a gang that includes electricians on a job
not exclusively electrical, may be an electrician snapper or may be a
snapper belonging to another trade. Supervision of how an electri-
cal job shall be done, however, rests with the electrical foreman or
the head of the electrical department out of which the electrician
works.
TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION 385
The pattern of collective bargaining in the Employer's shipyards
throughout the country varies. In some of the yards the employees
are represented by the Metal Trades Department of the American
Federation of Labor, each of the various trades, including the elec-
tricians, being a signatory to the over-all contract. In some yards
the employees are represented by the Intervenor herein in a produc-
tion and maintenance unit. In the Hoboken Yard the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents the electricians in a
separate craft unit and the Intervenor herein represents the remain-
ing production and maintenance employees. The ship repair indus-
try generally reflects these same variations in bargaining patterns.4
The Employer and the Intervenor contend that because of the
highly integrated nature of the Employer's operations, the electri-
cal employees should not be severed from the existing contract of
production and maintenance employees. They also rely on the in-
dustrial bargaining pattern which has prevailed in this yard since
1941. As the record reveals that the electrical employees sought
herein exercise traditional craft skills despite some commingling
with other craft employees, we are of the opinion that the electrical
employees may appropriately constitute a separate bargaining unit
if they so desire,5 notwithstanding their previous inclusion in a broader
unit.6 However, we shall make no unit determination pending the
outcome of the election hereinafter directed.
The Petitioner would include and the Employer would exclude
electrician snappers. The Employer contends that electrician snap-
pers are supervisors and therefore should be excluded from the unit
of electricians in the event the Board finds such a unit appropriate.
The Intervenor and Petitioner both contend that snappers are not
supervisors within the meaning of the amended Act.
The record reveals that an electrician snapper at the Employer's
Brooklyn Yard is an experienced journeyman electrician who has
been placed in charge of a gang of from 5 to 50 journeymen electri-
cians, other skilled mechanics, improvers, and helpers. The snapper
receives plans and instructions relating to a certain operation to be
performed in the electrical phase of the repair of the ship. He then
takes 2 or 3 journeymen electricians aboard the ship, investigates
the situation, and plans the work. He informs the foreman how many
men he will require, including electricians and whatever service trades
may be necessary. If the time allotted for completion of the job
Matter of Waterman Steamship Corporation , 78 N. L. R. B. 20 , severance granted ( 1948) ;
Matter of Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, 57 N. L. R. B. 1053; Matter
of Alabama Drydock and Shipbuilding Company, 39 N. L. R. B. 954.
5 Matter of Waterman Steamship Corporation , supra.
6 Matter of United States Gypsum Company, 79 N. L . R. B. 1282.
386 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
is, in the judgment of the snapper, insufficient , he calls this fact to
the attention of the proper authorities and the time will usually be
adjusted. In the performance of the job the snapper instructs each
man what to do and sees to it that the work is done. He is responsible
for the time of all men in his gang and for the performance of the
work. He possesses no authority in connection with hiring, which is
done through the Personnel Department. He makes no recommenda-
tion in connection with the hiring of a new electrical employee but
is frequently consulted in connection with the rehiring of one. He
is not empowered to actually discharge an employee, the authority
to discharge being in the Personnel Department. The Employer
has a code of regulations covering the conduct of employees in the
yard and providing for certain penalties for infractions of these
regulations. Snappers are supplied with pink slips on which they are
expected to report violations of the various rules. Whenever such
a violation is reported to the Personnel Department, the employee
in question is called to the personnel office and the snapper is called
to give his account of what happened. The testimony was conflicting
as to whether or not snappers were asked by the Personnel Department
for a recommendation as to whether the employee in question should
be retained or discharged, and also whether or not such recommenda-
tions when given are usually followed. It was undisputed, however,
that the reporting of the violation and the testimony of the snapper
frequently resulted in the discharge, suspension, or discipline of an
employee. The snappers are expected to keep informed regarding the
progress of the electrician improvers and to make recommendations
to the electrician foreman with respect to the advisability of promoting
improvers to the next higher grade. In the performance of a job,
the electrician snappers are directly in charge of the various mechan-
ics, improvers, and helpers in their gangs. They are not required
to work with tools although infrequently some snappers may do so,
usually for the purpose of instructing members of the gang. Some
snappers prefer to do their own testing with ammeters and other
electrical testing equipment.
The snappers are paid on an hourly basis but at a rate in excess of
the journeymen's rate. Foremen and assistant foremen receive week-
ly salaries. A snapper will lose a day's pay in case of absence due to
illness, whereas a foreman or assistant foreman will be paid for such
absence. There have been occasions on which permanent snappers
have reverted to first-class mechanic's status but only in the event of
an extraordinary decline of the work load.
In urging that we hold the electrician snappers to be non-super-
visory employees, the Petitioner and the Intervenor rely on Board
TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION 387
decisions issued before the amendment to the Act, and particularly
on our 1941 decision in Matter of Robins Dry Dock & Repair Com-
pany 7 involving this same Employer, the Intervenor herein, Local 277
of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, predecessor
to the Petitioner herein, and Marine Workers Metal Trades Council,
A. F. L. The Board there found appropriate a unit of production and
maintenance employees, including all snappers, who the Employer
contended were supervisors. The Board's decision to include snap-
pers in the production and maintenance unit was based upon the fol-
lowing findings of fact :
These employees handle gangs of workmen in the various de-
partments and are under the supervision of foremen and assistant
foremen. Some of them are empowered to hire and discharge.
For the most part they do not work with tools and are hourly
paid like other production employees.
In view of the definition of the term "supervisor" contained in the
amended Act,8 we are compelled to hold such snappers supervisors,
absent a showing that their authority was routine or clerical in nature.
Therefore, we cannot agree that the prior decision is controlling. In
addition, the record in the instant case contains the additional facts
outlined above relative to the supervisory authority of the snappers,
which facts, in our opinion, constitute substantial evidence that the
snappers use independent judgment in exercising such authority.9 We
accordingly find that the permanent electrician snappers employed by
the Employer herein are supervisors, and we shall exclude them.
The Employer also employs temporary snappers. These em-
ployees carry the permanent classification of journeyman electrician
or electrician mechanic, and are promoted from time to time to the
position of snapper to take charge of a particular job. Upon the
completion of the job, the employee immediately reverts to his jour-
neyman status. Such employees shape along with other mechanics
and improvers, and receive a slightly higher rate of pay only while
actually serving as temporary snappers. As these employees exercise
supervisory authority only sporadically, we find that they are not
supervisors, and we shall include them in the unit .10
°33 N. L.R.B 15.
° Sec. 2 (11).
s In Matter of Todd Galveston Dry Docks, Inc., 74 N. L. R. B 1059, we excluded as super-
visors snappers whose duties and authority were substantially like those of the snappers
in the instant case.
io Matter of Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company , 77 N. L R B 1153 ; Matter of Ameri-
can Window G lass Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 1030; Matter of Fred H. Cole d/b/a Cole In-
strument Company, 75 N. L. R. B. 348.
817319-49-vol. 80-26
388 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We shall direct that an election be held among all production and
maintenance electricians, electrician improvers, electrician's helpers,"'
and temporary electrician snappers at the Employer's plant, exclud-
ing permanent electrician snappers and all other employees and su-
pervisors as defined in the Act. If, in this election, a majority of the
employees voting select the Petitioner, they will be taken to have
indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit. If,
however, a majority of such employees select the Intervener, they
will be taken to have indicated their desire to continue to be repre-
sented by the Intervener as part of the contract unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer , 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 Second Region, and subject
to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees
in the voting group described 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 these employees who have since quit or been discharged for
cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of
the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not
entitled to reinstatement , to determine whether they desire to be rep-
resented , for purposes of collective bargaining , by Local 3, Inter-
national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, A. F. L., or Local No. 39,
Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America,
CIO, or by neither.
11 The record indicates that these helpers are not part of a general helper pool assignable
to any craft, but that they work only with electricians as long as there is electrical work
available , and, on proof of ability, are promoted to improver , 3rd class.