W. F. Heine Supply Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 4, 1955

112 N.L.R.B. 587 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

W. F. HEINE SUPPLY CO. 587
view of the foregoing, we find that the "barrier guards" are guards
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) (3) of the Act' We shall there-
fore exclude them.
Accordingly, we find that the following employees constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All instructors and skating at-
tendants at the Employer's Rockefeller Center Ice Skating Rink,
New York, New York, including the daytime chief instructor, but
excluding the nighttime chief instructor, checkroom employees,
cashiers, watchmen, "barrier guards," professional employees, all
other employees, and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
5. The record discloses that the ice skating season at the Employer's
rink has, or is about to, come to an end. We shall therefore order that
the Regional Director conduct the election directed herein on a date
to be determined by him when employment for the next skating season
shall have reached its peak, among those employees in the unit hereto-
fore found appropriate who are employed during the payroll period
immediately preceding the date of issuance of notice of election by the
Regional Director.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
MEMBERS RODGERS and LEEDOM took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Direction of Election.
4 Pinkerton 's National Detective Agency, 111 NLRB 504.
W. F. Heine Supply Co . and Local #128, Metal Polishers, Buffers,
Platers and Helpers International Union , AFL, Petitioner.
Case No. 2O-PC-.755. May 4,1955
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Shirley N. Bingham, hear-
ing 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 employees of
the Employer.'
1 Warehouse Union Local #12, International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL, herein called the Intervenor , was permitted
to intervene upon the basis of a card showing of interest.
112 NLRB No. 84.
588 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
3. The Employer, a California corporation, is engaged in the pro-
duction of aluminum moldings which are used principally on counters,
sinks, and edgings, and employs approximately 24 production and
maintenance employees at its plant located in Oakland, California.
The Petitioner seeks an alleged craft unit composed of five employees
who are engaged in polishing and anodizing operations.2 The Em-
ployer contends that the only unit appropriate for purposes of col-
lective bargaining is one embracing all production and maintenance
employees. The Intervenor, who claims to represent all production
and maintenance employees with the exception of those petitioned for
herein, but who does not seek an election among them at the present
time, agrees with the Petitioner that the requested employees con-
stitute a separate appropriate unit. There is no history of collective
bargaining for any of the Employer's employees.
In addition to the polishing and anodizing employees petitioned
for, the Employer's production and maintenance force includes em-
ployees engaged in drilling and bending operations, warehouse and
shipping and receiving employees, truckdrivers, and employees en-
gaged in wrapping the finished product.3 The Employer receives
and stores crates of various sized aluminum strips. As orders for
moldings are to be filled, strips are uncrated and started through the
production process. The bending operation consists of taking a pre-
determined length of aluminum and bending it to the desired shape by
putting four bends in it. The drilling operation consists of drilling
holes for screws in these strips. Manual and semiautomatic machines
are used in both these operations.
The moldings are next sent to the polishing department where they
are placed on 12-foot poles and turned under polishing wheels until
the desired finish is reached. Aluminum is the only metal worked
with, and only one abrasive is used . The plant superintendent of the
Employer testified that moldings which require different types of
finishes are sent to other firms for polishing as the Employer' s facilities
are limited and because the polishers do not possess sufficient skill to
perform the required operations. There is further unrefuted testi-
mony by the plant superintendent that new employees or employees
without prior experience can learn to perform the polishing operation
satisfactorily within a period of 1 or 2 weeks.
2 Starkey and Mello are the two anodizing employees sought by the Petitioner , apparently
on the basis that they qualify for a craft unit as platers . Lopez, Madero, and Poehmer
are the three polishers alleged to possess craft skills The parties disagree as to whether
Starkey is a supervisor within the meaning of the Act. In view of our decision in this
case , we find it unnecessary to pass upon this question
3 The Employer's plant is a building formerly comprising 4 or 5 separate retail stores.
As a result , there are some partitions dividing the anodizing and polishing departments
from the rest of the plant and from each other. In this connection , the plant superin-
tendent testified that, although he would consider it more efficient to have these walls
removed , they are required to support the plant building from a structural point of view.
W. F. HEINE SUPPLY CO. 589
The final production process is the anodizing operation. This is not
a plating process in the sense that one metal is fused upon another,
but rather the artificial oxidation of aluminum which gives the mold-
ing a protective finish that prevents further oxidation. Starkey and
Mello carry the aluminum strips from the polishing department to
the room where the anodizing tanks are located. The strips are hung
from a bus bar and first immersed in tanks containing a solution which
removes grease , dirt, and fingerprints. They are then hung in a tank
containing an acid solution and an electric current is turned on for a
certain length of time. Finally, the acid is washed off and the mold-
ings are hung in a tank of hot water to close the pores of the metal.
The strips of aluminum are hung up until they are dry, and they are
then carried by Starkey and Mello to the part of the plant where they
are to be wrapped. The entire anodizing operation for 1 batch of
aluminum moldings requires approximately 1 hour' After the finished
moldings are wrapped, they are transferred to the shipping depart-
ment and stored until they are shipped to customers. There is testi-
mony that employees without prior experience can perform the
anodizing function after 1 week's training.
The production process of the Employer runs in cycles, and the
need for employees performing different jobs varies as the main work-
load changes from one operation to another. As a result, employees
normally assigned one job are frequently transferred temporarily to
other jobs. Thus, the 3 polishers sought by the Petitioner spend 10
to 15 percent of their time in wrapping, drilling, and warehousing
activities. Employee Todd, not sought by the Petitioner, formerly
spent most of his time polishing, but at the time of the hearing was
engaged solely in warehousing and wrapping work. Similarly, em-
ployees engaged in the bending and drilling operations are frequently
assigned to warehouse or wrapping duties. These employees, includ-
ing the polishers, are sometimes taken to a warehouse approximately
1 mile from the main plant to work. The regular anodizing employees,
Mello and Starkey, are the only employees who are never temporarily
transferred. However, the record shows that at various times during
the past year, the anodizing department has been operated on a multi-
shift basis. As such times, other production employees have been
transferred to the anodizing department by the plant superintendent
in addition to newly hired employees.'
The record shows that the Employer has no apprenticeship or on-the-
job training program for any of these employees, and that it hires new
employees for all its job classifications without regard to prior ex-
4 Approximately 5 percent of the Employer's gross revenue is derived from performing
anodizing operations for other companies . Also, some of the aluminum moldings manu-
factured by the Employer are sent to other firms to be anodized because they are too large
to fit in the Employer's tanks.
6 Within the last year , the anodizing department has operated on a multiple -shift basis
for approximately 5 months.
590 DECISIONS Or NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
perience . It also shows that all production and maintenance em-
ployees are employed by, and are under the direct immediate super-
vision of, the plant superintendent. Further, except when the anodiz-
ing department is run on more than one shift, all employees work the
same hours, punch the same time clock, and are subject to the same
personnel policies such as those relating to vacations and holidays.
The Petitioner contends that the requested employees may constitute.
a craft unit, even though they use only a segment of alleged craft
skills in the performance of their work. The record shows, however,
that these employees are not hired as craftsmen and that they do not
exercise true craft skills in their work. Indeed, they are sometimes
hired without any training, learn their tasks in a very short period,
and perform work of a repetitive nature on one type of metal only.
In addition, moldings requiring certain finishes which a craftsman
could perform are sent to other firms to be polished, and employees
performing the anodizing operation are not engaged in the type of
plating process which requires the exercise of true craft skills. Ac-
cordingly, as employees in the proposed unit are not employed as
craftsmen, we find that they do not constitute an appropriate unit for
purposes of collective bargaining on a craft basis.6
Nor does this group constitute an appropriate unit upon any other
basis. As noted above, the anodizers work separately from the polish-
ers and perform entirely different work. The polishers are frequently
transferred on a temporary basis to other duties, while the anodizers
are never transferred. Further, all employees use the same time clock,
work the same hours, have the same immediate supervision, are cen-
trally hired and discharged, and receive the same benefits.
Accordingly, as the unit petitioned for does not constitute a craft
grouping or a functionally distinct department and is not appropriate
on any other basis, we find that 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. We shall, therefore, dismiss the instant petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
1 Industrial Stomping and Manufacturing Company, Division of Vinco Corporation, 111
NLRB 1038, Metco Plating Company, 110 NLRB 615.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation (Elevator Division ) and As-
sociation of Westinghouse Engineers , Elevator Division, Peti-
tioner. Case No. 2-RC-7257. May 4,1955
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Clement P. Cull,
112 NLRB No 81.