Todd Shipyards Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 15, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 627 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and IN-
DUSTRIAL UNION OF MARINE AND SHIPBUILDING W ORKERS OF AMERICA,
CIO, LOCAL No. 39, PETITIONER
Case No. O-RC-1312.Decided December 15, 1949
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before I. L. Broadwin,
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-Inember panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
'Houston and Gray].
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 organization named herein claims to represent em-
ployees 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 At for the following reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit of production and maintenance snappers,
excluding electrician snappers, employed at the Employer's Brooklyn,
New York, shipyard. The Employer contends that all snappers em-
ployed by it at this shipyard are supervisors within the, meaning of
the amended Act and that the petition should, therefore, be dismissed.
The Petitioner has bargained for all production and maintenance
employees, including snappers, at the Employer's Brooklyn shipyard
1 The Employer moved , at the hearing, to dismiss the petition on the grounds that (a)
prior dismissals of the Employer's petitions by the Regional Director is determinative of
the issue presented herein, and (b) the Petitioner is barred, by the provisions of its con-
tract with the Employer , from maintaining the present petition . These motions were re-
ferred to the Board by the hearing officer. Inasmuch as we are dismissing the petition
for other reasons hereinafter set forth , we find it unnecessary to pass upon the contentions
raised by the above motions.
87 NLRB No. 103.
877359-50-vol. 87=41 627
628 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
since its certification by the Board in 1941.2 ' Pursuant to a petition
filed in 1948, the Board severed production and maintenance elec-
tricians from the existing unit and established a separate bargaining
unit for them.3 The Board, in that proceeding, found that electrician
snappers were supervisors within the meaning of the Act, as amended,
and excluded them from the unit therein established. Subsequent peti-
tions filed by the Employer seeking a determination of representatives
for certain other snappers,4 were dismissed by the Regional Director
for the Second Region on the ground that the snappers involved were
supervisors within the meaning of the Amended Act. No appeals
from these rulings were filed by proper parties to the proceedings.
The present petition, filed in May 1949, was dismissed by the Regional
Director for the Second Region for the same reason that the Employer's
petitions were dismissed. The petitioner appealed from the Regional
Director's ruling, and the Board, on August 31, 1948, reversed the
Regional Director and directed that the issue be resolved upon rec-
ord testimony.
The Employer repairs, overhauls, and converts ships at its Brook-
lyn shipyard. For this purpose it employs electricians, tinsmiths,
carpenters, pipe fitters, iron workers, painters, machinists, and other
less skilled employees. These employees are employed on a daily
basis the total number fluctuating with the size and number of repair
jobs which the Employer may have at a given time. They are paid
an hourly wage and are selected for work each day by a "shape-up"
procedure. Under this procedure, not all of the employees reporting
for work each day are employed for that day.
Each trade craft is under the direction of a foreman and/or assist-
ant foreman. However, each craft, in turn, is subdivided into smaller
groups ranging from 5 to 30 mechanics in number. Each of these
groups is under the immediate direction and guidance of a person
designated as a "snapper." It is the snappers whole the Petitioner
seeks to include in the proposed unit and who the Employer con-
tends are supervisors.'
The Employer, upon receipt of a repair or overhaul job, breaks
the job down and assigns the work to the various trade crafts which
that particular job calls for. The breakdowns for each trade, includ-
2 Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company, 33 NLRB 15; 34 NLRB 864. The Board in-
cluded snappers in the unit found appropriate in that proceeding without passing upon
their supervisory status.
3 Todd Shipyards Corporation , 80 NLRB 382.
4 2-RM-83; 2-MM-84.
S As hereinabove noted, snappers were included in the original bargaining unit estab-
lished in 1941. In negotiating the 1.948 contract, however, the Employer refused to
bargain relative to the snappers, contending that they are supervisors. Accordingly, the
present contract contains a clause providing for the deletion therefrom of all references
to snappers in the event of a determination by the Board that snappers are supervisors.
TODD SHIPYARDS CORPORATION 629
ing plans and specifications, are given to the foremen of the respec-
tive trades. The foremen, in turn, assign the work to snappers. Each
snapper makes a survey, estimates the number of man-hours that will
be required to do the job , and requests as many men as are necessary
to complete the job in the allotted time. The estimate and the number
of men requested are reviewed by the snapper 's foreman . The latter
either approves or revises the estimate and request . The snapper is
then assigned the number of mechanics requested ( if approved), de-
cides upon and selects the necessary tools and materials for the job,
and proceeds to direct the mechanics in performing the work. De-
cisions as to how the job is to be done, within the limits of the plans
and specifications , are made by the snapper . Although the foreman
or superintendent has the authority to change the method selected by
the snapper , the record indicates that, as a practical matter, the
snapper's decision usually prevails . Each snapper keeps the time of
the mechanics working under him, assigns the work to the several
mechanics in his group, and is responsible for the conduct of the men
in his group . A mechanic must obtain the permission of the snapper
before he may leave the job.
Snappers do not hire employees, nor do they have authority to dis-
charge employees . However, the Employer has established a set of
regulations providing for specified disciplinary action in the event of
violation by the employees . It is the duty of each snapper to report any
violations of regulations by the employees in his group. For this pur-
pose, the snapper is furnished a pad of forms called "pink slips," which
lie fills out in triplicate for each violation. One copy is given to the
employee involved, the other two are turned in to the personnel depart-
ment through the snapper 's foreman. In the event of a dispute as to
any violation, the personnel department, in its investigation, talks
with the snapper and with the foreman. Although two snappers testi-
fied that they had never issued any pink slips, the record is clear that
in the past few years a large number of pink slips have been issued to,
employees by snappers, resulting in discharges and other disciplinary
action being taken against the employees . Snappers are consulted by
their foremen as to the work progress of the mechanics, and the record
indicates that the opinions and recommendations of the snapper are
given weight in effecting promotions . If a snapper tells his foreman
that a mechanic in his group is incapable of doing his job, the mechanic
is removed from that snapper's group.
Snappers are subject to the same shape-up procedure as the pro-
duction and maintenance employees. They are paid on an hourly
basis. The hourly wage of each snapper is from 10 to 18 cents per hour
above that of the highest paid mechanic under him. ' The snapper
630 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
does no work with tools other than , occasionally , to show a mechanic
how to do a certain task . Foremen and assistant foremen, however,
are salaried employees and are not subject to shaping. Each foreman
usually has several groups and , correspondingly , several snappers, un-
der his supervision . Foremen are not normally present on the night
shift, and their duties are then assumed by the snappers:
We find that snappers employed at the Employer 's Brooklyn ship-
yard responsibly direct employees under them, and are, therefore,
supervisors within the meaning of the Act.6 As the unit proposed by
the Petitioner does not embrace employees within the meaning of the
amended Act, we shall dismiss the instant petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in the case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
6 The authority and duty of the snappers involved herein are substantially the same as
those of the electrician snappers whom the Board found, in an earlier case, to be super-
visors . Todd Shipyards Corporation, 80 NLRB 382.