Western Condensing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 29, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 981 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of WESTERN CONDENSING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL No. 504,
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER
In the Matter Of WESTERN CONDENSING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS , CHAUFJEORS, WARE-
HOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, LOCAL No. 619,
PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 13-RC-684 and 13-RC-725, respectively. Decided August
09, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, an order of the Regional Di-
rector consolidating the above cases was filed on June 3, 1949. A
hearing on the consolidated cases was held before Irving M. Fried-
man, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing 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-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, 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 organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The International Union of Engineers, hereinafter referred to
as the Engineers, seeks a unit of boiler room employees. In the al-
ternative the Engineers would accept the plant-wide unit, including
the boiler room employees, proposed by the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehqusemen and Helpers of America,
85 N. L . R. B., No. 174.
981
982 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
AFL, hereinafter referred to as the Teamsters. The Teamsters and
the Employer contend the long history of collective bargaining by
the Employer,' the similar pattern of collective bargaining in the
industry, and the integration of the work of the boiler room em-
ployees with that of other employees in the plant, require that only
a plant-wide unit be found appropriate.
The Employer, a California corporation, with its principal office
in San Francisco, is engaged in the processing and manufacture of
whey powder and other milk products. It operates seven plants in
the State of Wisconsin and additional plants in other States. Only
the Kiel, Wisconsin, plant is involved in this proceeding. This plant,
consisting of a single structure divided by a brick wall and door into
a boiler room and an evaporating room, has been in operation about a
year.' The Employer is engaged at this plant in condensing raw
whey by an evaporation process which uses steam furnished by the
boiler room.
The entire plant operates on the basis of three 8-hour shifts. Of
a total of nine employees in the plant, four are employed as firemen
in the boiler room, four as operators in the evaporating room, and
a fifth as a clean-up man who devotes most of his time to the oper-
ations in the evaporating room. In each division, on each shift,
only one employee is in attendance. A fourth employee in each
group serves in a relief capacity. The duties of the employees in the
boiler room are the customary duties of the fireman, that is, they fire
boilers, look after the automatic stokers, maintain required steam
pressures, make minor repairs to the equipment in the boiler room,
and periodically prepare the boilers for inspection by the Employer's
insurers. Although all the employees are under the common super-
vision of the plant manager, this fact has not led to any appreciable
interchange between the two groups of employees.
In support of their contention that all activities in the plant are
integrated, the Employer and the Teamsters urge not only the fact
that the operation of the boiler room is part of an integrated pro-
duction process, but also the fact that the plant-wide system of
seniority tends to fuse the separate identities of the two groups of
the employees 3 Apart from the fact that the interests of the boiler
' There is no history of collective bargaining at the Kiel plant. The Employer , however,
has bargained collectively with one or more locals of the Teamsters since 1939 at its other
plants.
S The record shows that the boiler room at the Kiel plant was constructed about July
1948 and placed in operation before the balance of the plant was completed . Its sole func-
tion at the time was to furnish steam for the use of an independent dairy cooperative,
which now supplies the raw whey for the Employer 's operations.
The seniority provisions are set forth in the joint agreement ' between the . Employer
and four Teamster locals representing the other six Wisconsin plants of the Employer.
WESTERN CONDENSING COMPANY 983
room employees are distinguishable from those of the other employees
by the obligation of the Employer to furnish steam to the independent
dairy cooperative, we have held that the mere fact that a substantial
amount of steam is consumed in the production process does not estab-
lish the degree of integration between the boiler room operations and
the production process which would warrant denying separate repre-
sentation to a group of boiler room employees.' As to the effect of the
plant-wide system of seniority, the record shows that such seniority
rights are dependent, not only on the length of service, but also on
such service in the particular classification, and is further affected by
an employee's qualification for the job in question. We find that the
transfers based upon the workings of the seniority system have had no
appreciable effect in destroying the identity of the separate employee
groups. Nor is the issue of separate representation determined by the
history of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis,5 or the pattern
of collective bargaining in the industry, where, as here, we are dealing
with a functional group which has traditionally been accorded sep-
arate representation.6
Upon the basis of the foregoing facts and upon the entire record
in this case, we find that the boiler room employees may, if they so
desire, constitute a separate unit. However, we shall make no final
determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of these
employees as expressed in the election herein directed.
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
exists be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among the
employees at the Kiel, Wisconsin, plant of the Employer within the
voting groups described below : '
1. All employees employed by the Employer in its boiler room, ex-
cluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act;
2. All remaining employees employed by the Employer, excluding
non-working engineers, laboratory technicians, fieldmen, clerical
workers, non-working foremen, and all other supervisors as defined in
the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 7
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections 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-
4 Matter of Aluminum Ore Company, 85 N. L. R. B. 121, and cases cited therein.
6 Matter of Aluminum Ore Company, supra.
6 Matter of Baugh and Sons Company, 82 N. L. R. B. 1399.
° Any participant in the election in the first voting group , may upon its prompt request
to, and approval thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.
984 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Re-
lations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
voting groups indicated below, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election,
including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but ox-,
eluding those 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 :
1. Whether the employees in the first voting group described in
paragraph numbered 4, above, desire to be represented, for purposes
of collective bargaining, by International Union of Operating Engi-
neers, Local No. 504, American Federation of Labor, or by Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America, AFL, Local No. 619, or by neither;
2. Whether or not the employees in the second voting group de-
scribed in paragraph numbered 4, above, desire to be represented for
purposes of collective bargaining, by International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL,
Local No. 619.