Wescom, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 25, 1977

230 N.L.R.B. 1159 (N.L.R.B. 1977)

WESCOM, INC.
Wescom, Inc. and District Lodge No. 55, International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers,
AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 38-RC-1988
July 25, 1977
DECISION ON REVIEW AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS
JENKINS AND MURPHY
On January 11, 1977, the Acting Regional Director
for Region 13 issued a Decision and Order in the
above-entitled proceeding in which he found inap-
propriate the requested unit of production, mainte-
nance, and quality assurance employees at the
Employer's Gardner, Illinois, plant. Thereafter, in
accordance with Section 102.67 of the National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series
8, as amended, the Petitioner filed a timely request
for review of the Acting Regional Director's decision
on the grounds, inter alia, that, in finding the
requested single-plant unit inappropriate, he made
erroneous findings as to substantial factual issues
and departed from officially reported precedent.
By telegraphic order dated February 24, 1977, the
Board granted the Petitioner's request for review.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
authority in this proceeding to a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
case with respect to the issue under review and
makes the following findings:
The Employer is an Illinois corporation which is
engaged in the manufacture, assembly, and packag-
ing of printed circuit boards to be used in telecom-
munications systems at various locations in the State
of Illinois. Its main facility, employing some 1,200
employees, is located at Lemont Road in Downers
Grove, Illinois. The Employer also maintains a
facility at Walnut Street in Downers Grove, Illinois,
which employs approximately 125 employees, and a
facility at Gardner, Illinois, which employs approxi-
mately 175 employees. The Gardner facility is
approximately 55 miles from the Downers Grove
facilities.
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit composed
of approximately 175 production, maintenance, and
quality assurance employees at the Employer's
Gardner, Illinois, plant. The Employer contends that
the only appropriate unit would consist of all its
I The Black and Decker Manufacturing Company. 147 NLRB 825., 828
(1964). We note that the two plants in the Black and Decker case were
located 24 miles apart and that. in the instant case. the Gardner plant is
230 NLRB No. 181
production, maintenance, and quality assurance
employees at its three Illinois locations.
In finding that the petitioned-for unit of employees
at the Employer's Gardner plant is inappropriate, the
Acting Regional Director relied largely on his
findings that the Employer's Illinois plants are a
totally integrated production operation which share
administrative services, that labor relations are
centrally controlled and that employees in all three
plants have similar skills and work under similar
conditions.
As noted by the Acting Regional Director, the
Gardner plant comprises two departments of the
Employer's operation. Department 71, located solely
at Gardner, is responsible for the assembly of printed
circuit board modules. Department 84, with employ-
ees at both the Gardner and Lemont Road locations,
is responsible for quality control at all three plants.
In finding that the Employer's three plants are a
totally integrated production operation the Acting
Regional Director relied on the following record
evidence: that the printed circuit boards and compo-
nent parts assembled at the Gardner plant are
shipped from and returned to the Lemont Road
plant; that the final testing and assembly of the
mechanical shells and enclosures built at the Walnut
Street plant and the modules assembled at either the
Gardner plant or the Lemont Road plant is done at
the Lemont Road plant; and that shipment of the
finished telecommunications system to customers is
from the Lemont Road plant.
Although it is apparent that a substantial degree of
product integration exists, we do not find such
integration is so severe as to negate the identity of a
single-plant unit. Thus, it has been long recognized
that "modern manufacturing techniques combined
with the increased speed and ease of transport make
it possible for plants located in different States to
have a high degree of production integration and still
maintain a separate identity for bargaining purpos-
es."
In addition, we note that product integration is not
accompanied by substantial interchange of employ-
ees between the Gardner plant and the Downers
Grove plants. The record shows seven instances of
employee transfer since 1974. It appears that all
transfers were permanent rather than temporary. Of
the seven, three were to positions as group leader or
as supervisor, one involved a rehire after a break in
service, and at least one was specifically for the
convenience of the employee concerned. This limited
number of transfers in a 3-year period does not
located approximately 55 miles from the Employer's two Downers Grove
plants.
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DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
establish a significant impact on the community of
interest of the 175 employees of the Gardner plant.
Nor does the Acting Regional Director's reliance
on centrally controlled labor relations, shared admin-
istrative services, and similarity of skills and condi-
tions of employment require a finding that only an
overall unit is appropriate. Instead, we find consider-
able evidence that the Gardner plant employees have
a separate identity for bargaining purposes. Thus,
although there is only one personnel department, the
record shows that interviewing and hiring is done
separately at the Gardner plant. Further, the supervi-
sors at Gardner are responsible for day-to-day
operations and implementation of personnel policies
at the Gardner plant. In addition, there appears to be
limited contact between nonsupervisory employees
of the Gardner plant and the Downers Grove plants
and the record shows that notices for jobs at the
Downers Grove plants are not posted at the Gardner
plant. Nor is departmental seniority significant here,
inasmuch as Department 71 is located solely at
Gardner and the only other department at Gardner
is the quality control department.
Based on the foregoing and the record as a whole,
we are unable to agree with the Acting Regional
Director that the Employer has rebutted the pre-
2 The Petitioner would exclude from, but the Employer would include in,
the petitioned-for unit the following employees: Linda Ruffati, Tina Spezio,
Debbie Wonnell, and Melinda Scovall. The Acting Regional Director did
sumption that a single-plant unit is appropriate. In so
finding, we rely on the relatively wide geographical
separation of the plants; the substantial degree of
autonomy in the day-to-day supervision of the
Gardner employees; the fact that the Gardner plant
does its own interviewing and hiring; and the lack of
substantial interchange or transfer of employees
between the Gardner plant and the Employer's
Downer Grove plants. In addition, there is an
absence of bargaining history for any of these
employees and no labor organization seeks to
represent the employees on a broader basis.
We therefore find that the following employees of
the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9(b) of the Act: 2
All production, maintenance, and quality
assurance employees of the Employer at its
Gardner, Illinois, plant; excluding office clerical
employees, professional employees, guards, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Direction of Election and Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication.]
not pass on their unit status. Therefore, we shall direct that these four
employees vote subject to challenge.
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