Westinghouse Electric Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 16, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 744 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION, CLEVELAND
LIGHTING DIVISION,' EMPLOYER wnd CLEVELAND ASSOCIATION OF
WESTINGHOUSE SALARIED EMPLOYEES. PETITIONER
Case No. 8-RC-110.-Decided September 16, 1P48
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Clete-
land, Ohio,'on May 18 and 25, 1948, before Philip Fusco, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man
panel consisting of the undersigned Board Members." -
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 Petitioner and United Electrical; Radio and Machine Work-
ers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, herein called the Intervenor, are labor organizations claiming to
represent employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (0) and (7) of the Act, for the following
1
reasons:
This proceeding is concerned with the Employer's Cleveland Light-
ing Division. The operations at this plant are roughly divided into,
factory operations and foundry operations.
Since 1940, the Petitioner and its nominal predecessors have repre-
sented a unit which includes all clerical, salaried employees of the
Employer. Since 1944, the Intervenor has represented a unit of all
production and maintenance employees, excluding salaried clerical.
employees.
' The name of the employer appears as amended at the hearing
*Chan man Herzog and Members Mum dock and Gray
-79 N L R B, No. 99.
744
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION 745
Within the factory is a Factory Quality Control Department which
is under the ultimate supervision of the manager of Quality Control.
The employees of this department are salaried and, as the name of
the department implies, do inspection work of varying complexity.
The Petitioner and its predecessors have always represented the em=
ployees of this department.
In the past, considerably less complicated inspection work has been
performed in the foundry by employees called casting-checkers. These
employees were hourly paid and had the same hours and working con-
ditions as production employees. They were under the ultimate super-
vision of the manufacturing manager. Since 1944 they have been
represented by the Intervenor.
As a result of losses incurred in the foundry, and in the interest of
greater efficiency and economy, a Foundry Quality Control Section
was set up by the ,Employer in the early part of 1948. On May 14,
1948, there were 19 employees in this section, 10 of whom were trans-
ferred to it either from the old Casting Checking Section or from
manufacturing jobs. The remainder are new employees hired spe-
cifically for the new section. All employees in the new Foundry Qual-
ity Control Section are salaried and work under the supervision 6f the
manager of Quality Control. Job descriptions in the Foundry Quality
Control Section are similar to those in the Factory Quality Control
:Section. Although some of the employees in the new section are still
doing the same work they did as casting-checkers, this is-a temporary
:situation. - The Employer plans development of the new section into
an organization parallel to the Factory Quality Control Section.
For the most part, the two sections are already much the same. The
employees in both sections use measuring instruments, iiiake counts
for incentive pay purposes, ascertain defects in materials and parts,
determine the cause and assign responsibility for defects, inspect'
:against drawings and specifications, and follow changes in manu-
facturing methods and materials. Inspectors in both sections may
affect the earnings of production employees who work on an incen-
tive pay basis. Further, both sections are now supervised by the man-
ager of Quality Control, and both are on the Quality Control pay roll.
To date there- has been little interchange of employees between the
sections, but it is expected that there will be much of it in the future.
By virtue of a change in their work and working conditions, in-
spectors in the Foundry Quality Control Section have achieved, or are
in the process of achieving, a status substantially identical to that of
the inspectors in the Factory Quality Control Section, who have long
been included in the unit now represented by the Petitioner. For pur-
poses of unit determination, the inspectors in the new Foundry Control
746 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Section are in the same position as newly hired employees in an ex-
panding unit. Just as the latter would automatically be included in
the existing unit without a new election, so the inspectors in the new
Foundry Control Section are automatically included in the clerical
unit already represented by the Petitioner.2 We so find. As there is
no question concerning representation and an election is unnecessary,
we shall dismiss the petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and the entire record
in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that
the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of the,
employees of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Cleveland Lighting
Division, Cleveland, Ohio, filed by Cleveland Association of Westing-
house Salaried Employees be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
2 See Matter of Sargent & Company, 78 N. L R. B 918.