Western Electric Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 4, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 563 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of WESTERN ELECTRIC COMP ANY, INCORPORATED, EM-
PLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS,
LOCAL No. 1290, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. 18-RC-398.-Decided August 1, 1919
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Max Roten-
berg, 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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Murdock].
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 certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. The question concerning representation :
On July 2, 1947, the Employer and one of the three intervenors
herein,' United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America,
Local 1117, C. I. 0., herein called the UE, entered into a contract
covering the employees involved in this proceeding, effective until July
2, 1949, and thereafter from month to month unless terminated by
either party upon 60 days' written notice. On August 23, 1948, the
parties to the contract executed a supplementary agreement extending
the contract to January 2, 1951. The UE urges its contract as a bar
to this proceeding. The Petitioner and two of the intervenors, the
1 The Petitioner objected at the hearing to the intervention of two of the three inter-
venors herein , the UE and Communications Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called
CWA, on the ground that these organizations had not complied with the filing require-
ments of Section 9 (f), (g), and ( h) of the Act . A labor organization ' s compliance with
these provisions of the Act is a matter for administrative determination by the Board and
not subject to attack by the parties . Furthermore , the CWA has effected such compliance.
Matter of Procter & Gamble Manufacturing Companp, 78 N. L. R. B . 1043 . The UE was
permitted to intervene on the basis of its contractual interest . Matter of Baldwin Loco-
motive Works, 76 N. L. R. B. 922.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 100.
857829-50-vol. 85-37
563
564 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CWA and District 77 of International Association of Machinists,
herein called the I. A. M., assert that the supplementary agreement was
a premature extension of the 1947 contract and that there is therefore
no bar to a present determination of representatives. Although the
Employer declined to recognize the Petitioner on the ground of its
contract with the UE, it took no position on this issue at the hearing.
The extension on August 23, 1948, of the contract which had provided
for termination on July 2, 1949, was a premature one 2 We have
recently held that a prematurely extended contract may operate as
a bar only during the term of the original contract.3 The petition
herein, filed on April 27, 1949, was therefore timely. Accordingly, we
find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
.2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit; the determination of representatives :
The Petitioner, the CWA, and the UE seek a unit consisting of all
hourly rated employees of the Employer's St. Paul, Minnesota, plant,,
excluding maintenance electricians and their helpers, clerical and
office employees, and supervisors. The TAM seeks a unit of all the
employees engaged in the installation, repair, and maintenance of
tools, machinery, and equipment, including tool makers, machinists,
lathe operators, jig borers, tool and gauge inspectors, grinding ma-
chine operators, milling machine operators, heat treaters, detail mak-
ers, and welders, but excluding utility men, toolkeepers, oilers, belt
rmen, clerk typists, technical investigators, electricians, all other pro-
duction employees, office apd professional employees, guards, all
group, section, and department chiefs, and all other supervisors. The
Petitioner, the. CWA, the UE, and . the Employer contend that the
unit sought by the IAM is inappropriate because of the plant-wide
collective bargaining history and the integration of the Employer's
operations.
At its St. Paul plant, comprising three buildings, the Employer
is engaged in the manufacture of telephone equipment. The Employ-
er's production departments, but not its toolroomn, are operated on, a
conveyor belt system, with subsidiary operations feeding into- a
major assembly line. The employees sought by the TAM are all
assigned to the toolroom, and are engaged in the installation, repair,
maintenance, and construction of tools, machinery, and equipment
used in the production process. All the toolroom employees are under
the supervision of the same department chief, who supervises no pro-
duction employees. Although the toolroom employees perform much
2 Matter of Geo. Knight & Co., 74 N. L. R. B. 561.
3 Matter of Republic Steel Corporation, 84 N. L. R. B., No. 60.
WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED 565,
of their work throughout the plant, they have separate headquarters,
and they do no production work other than that which may be in-
cidental to their maintenance duties. When performing their duties
in production departments, their work remains under toolroom super-
vision, although they are subject to discipline by the production
department supervisor.
On May 5, 1945, the Board issued a Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion in a proceeding involving the same plant and substantially the
same unit now sought by the IAM,' in which it found the unit sought
by the IAM appropriate.' The employees thereafter selected the
UE as their bargaining representative. On July 26, 1945, in a Decision
and Certification of Representatives,' the Board found appropriate
a unit of production and maintenance employees, excluding those
found to constitute an appropriate unit in its Decision of May 5, 1945,
and certified the UE as their bargaining representative. The em-
ployees in both units have since been bargained for jointly by the UE
and have been covered by the same collective bargaining contract. The
record does not reveal any substantial change in the operations of the
Employer since the issuance of the earlier Decisions.
We find that the employees sought by the TAM constitute a homo-
geneous, skilled, toolroom group, such as we traditionally establish
in a separate unit.' The fact that they have previously designated an
organization later also selected by the production and maintenance
employees is no reason to deny them an opportunity at this time to
express their desire for separate representation or inclusion in a
plant-wide unit. Accordingly, we shall make no final unit deterniina-
t.ion at this time, but shall be guided in part by the desires of tlie:e
employees as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed.
Guards: The Petitioner would exclude guards from the plant-wide
unit; the UE would include them, and the CWA would include them
if they are not "guards" within the meaning of Section 9 (b) (3)
of the Act.
There are 22 guards in the plant who patrol the plant area, princi-
pally during nonworking hours, reporting through an. ADT clock
system. Although they are not armed or deputized, they perform the
usual duties of plant protection employees, enforcing company rules
designed for the protection of company property. Minor infractions
Employees formerly classified as junior mechanics and cotter grinders are no longer
employed in the machinist group, and employees in the following categories have been
added to the group : heat treaters, welders, utility operator, detail makers, jig bore oper-
ator, and milling machine operators.
5 61 N. L. R. 13. 974. No petition was filed in that proceeding for. a plant-wide unit.
'Case No. I8-R-1312.
P Matter of Sunbeam Corporation, 74 N. L. R. B. 976 ; Matter of Republic Flow Meters
Company, 72 N. L. H. B. 296; Matter of Russell Electric Company, 72 N. L. R. B. 278.
566 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of factory rules by employees are reported by the guards to a super-
visor, who takes appropriate disciplinary action.. These -employees
are guards within the meaning of Section 9 (b) (3) of the Act, and we
shall therefore exclude them .8
Accordingly, we shall direct that separate elections by secret ballot
be held among the employees. of the Employer's St. Paul, Minnesota,
plant, in the following voting groups : ' -
(1) All employees engaged in the installation, repair, and main-
tenance of tools, machinery, and equipment, including tool makers,
machinists, lathe operators, jig borers, tool and gauge inspectors,
grinding machine operators, milling machine operators, heat treaters,
detail makers, and welders, but excluding utility men, toolkeepers,
oilers, belt men," clerk typists, technical investigators, electricians,
all other production employees, office and professional employees,
guards, all group, section, and department chiefs, and all other
supervisors.
(2) All hourly rated employees, excluding all employees included
in voting group (1) above, electricians and their helpers, all clerical
and office employees, guards, professional employees, and supervisors.
If the employees in voting group (1) select the IAM, they will be
taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargain-
ing unit 10
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 11
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
supervision 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 Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the voting groups described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not
B Matter of C. V. Hill d Company, Inc., 76 N. L. It. B. 158.
6 The utility men, toolkeepers, beltmen, and oilers are excluded as the record shows that
they require only a relatively brief training period and do not perform work requiring any
particular degree of skill . We are of the opinion that their interests are more closely allied
to those of the production and maintenance employees than to those of the employees in
the group which the IAM seeks to represent.
10 We shall not place the name of the UE on the ballot in either voting group as it has
not complied with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act. - As the IAM indicated at the
hearing that it did not desire to represent the employees in a plant-wide unit, we shall not
place its name on the ballot in voting group (2).
"Any participant in the election herein may. upon its prompt •request-to, and approval
thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.
WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED 567
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the elections, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether :
(1) The employees in voting group (1), above, desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by District 77 of Inter-
national Association of Machinists; by International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, Local No. 1290, A. F. of L.; by Communications
Workers of America, C. I. 0.; or by none of these labor organizations;
(2) The employees in voting group (2), above, desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Broth-
erhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 1290, A. F. of L.; or by
Communications Workers of America, C. I. 0.; or by neither of these
labor organizations.,