Vickers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 19, 1958

122 N.L.R.B. 155 (N.L.R.B. 1958)

VICKERS, INCORPORATED 155
Vickers, Incorporated and International Society of Electrical
Craftsmen , affiliated with the I .S.S.T.,' Petitioner. Case No.
7-RC-3834. November 19, 1958
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relatioils Act, a hearing was held before Marvin J. Schmitt, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain 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 to sever a craft unit of electricians and elec-
trician leaders from the production and maintenance unit presently
represented by the Intervenor, Vickers Local No. 945, International
Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-CIO. Both
the Employer and the Union oppose the requested severance.
The electricians sought by the Petitioner are employed in industrial
and construction electrical work at the Employer's several plants
in the Greater Detroit area. The parties agree and the record estab-
lishes that they are craftsmen. The scope of the proposed unit is
coextensive with the multiplant production and maintenance unit
established by Board certification in 1946 and currently represented
by the Intervenor. Accordingly, we find that the electricians may be
severed from the existing production and maintenance unit, if they
so desire,2 provided that the Petitioner is a traditional craft representa-
tive within the meaning of the American Potash doctrine 3
The Employer and the Intervenor moved to dismiss the petition on
the grounds that the Petitioner is not a traditional craft representative,
and that it is fronting for the ISST, a multicraft union also ineligible
to represent a severed unit of craftsmen. The Petitioner admittedly
is a newly organized labor organization. That does not, however, bar
it from the right of craft severance. In the Friden case,4 the Board
3I.S.S.T. is the abbreviation of International Society of Skilled Trades , referred to
herein as the ISST.
a Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, 115 NLRB 730.
s American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418.
* Friden Calculating Machine Co., Inc., 110 NLRB 1618
122 NLRB No. 15.
156 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
held that "A union newly organized for the sole and exclusive purpose
of representing members of [a given] craft" may be as much a craft
union as one which has been long established and has the same right
as an older organization to seek to sever a craft from a larger unit.
The question therefore is whether the Petitioner meets the test of the
Friden case.
The Petitioner is one of several recently organized craft interna-
tional unions affiliated with the ISST. The Petitioner's predecessor,
International Association of Electrical Craftsmen, was organized at a
convention in June 1957, which was attended by two delegates from
each of four electricians' unions located in Michigan. The delegates
adopted a constitution and nominated officers, who were subsequently
elected by local referendum as provided by the constitution. The
delegates adopted a proposal calling for the affiliation of the Associa-
tion with the ISST, a federation of international craft unions. This
proposal was approved by the locals and affiliation was consummated
at the Association's second convention in January 1958. It was at this
convention that the Association merged with International Society of
Electrical Craftsmen to form the Petitioner.
Article III, section 1 of the Petitioner's constitution declares that
its purpose is to "protect, maintain and advance the interest of men
engaged in apprenticeable electrical trades and crafts." Section 2 of
article III states its second purpose as follows :
To organize all persons working in that part of electrical trades
and crafts that are apprenticeable.
To date, the Petitioner has chartered five local unions each of which
limits its membership to electricians. It has its own constitution and
bylaws, its own officers, and its own bank account. It receives part of
the dues and initiation fees paid by local members. In turn the Peti-
tioner pays a monthly per capita tax to the ISST.
Because of lack of funds, there is a certain sharing of facilities with,
and the receipt of aid from, the ISST. However, its autonomy and
character have not been changed thereby. We find that the Petitioner
has been organized solely for the purposes of representing members of
the electrician craft and therefore is qualified under the Friden case to
seek severance of a unit of electricians from a broader unit.' Accord-
ingly, the Employer's and the Intervenor's motions are denied.
We shall, therefore, direct that an election be conducted in the fol-
lowing voting group of employees at the Employer's Greater Detroit,
Michigan, plants : 6
5 Cf. Fort Die Casting Corporation, 115 NLRB 1749.
9 The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the long history of
the existing certified production and maintenance unit precludes severance of a craft
unit. In view of the foregoing , the motion is denied.
sPO T FALLS, ,LUMBER COMPANY 157
All electricians and electrician leaders, excluding office clerical em-
ployees, all other employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in
the Act.
If a majority of the employees in the voting group vote for the Peti-
tioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute
a: separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the
election directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of repre-
sentatives to the Petitioner for such unit, which the Board, under the,
circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bar-
gaining. In the event a majority do not vote for the Petitioner, these
employees shall remain a part of the existing unit and the Regional.
Director will issue a certification of.results of election to such effect..
5. The Employer asserts, and the Petitioner denies, that 16 em-
ployees have been permanently laid off and thus are ineligible to vote.
The Intervenor takes no position. Between September 6, 1957, and
May 9, 1958, the Employer laid off 16 electricians. due to, a permanent
change from volume production to research and development, and
prototype production. In addition, the Employer contemplates fur-
ther reduction in force. The collective-bargaining agreement between
the Employer and the Intervenor provides that laid-off employees
retain their seniority for a. period equal to the period of their employ-
ment. However, there appears to be no reasonable expectancy of
their recall in the near future. Accordingly, we find that the 16 laid-
off employees are not eligible to vote in the election.'
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
"+Higgin8, Inc , 111 NLRB 70f,
H. C. Schumacher d/b/a Post Falls Lumber Company and North
Idaho ' and , Eastern Washington District Councils of Lumber
and Sawmill Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner and International
Woodworkers of America, AFL-CIO, Local 10-119. Case No.
19-RC-2196. November 19, 1958
DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF, REPRESENTATIVES
Pursuant to a: stipulation foar certification upon consent, election-,
executed by the parties on July 21, 1958, an election by secret ballot
was- conducted on July 29, 1958, under the direction and. supervision
of the-Regional Director..for the Nineteenth Region among the em-
ployees in the unit described in the stipulation.. At the. conclusion
ofAhe election, the ;parties: were. furnished a tally of. ballots which
showed that of approximately 33 names on the eligibility list, 17 were
122 -NII RB No. 24.