Wheeler Shipbuilding Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 12, 1944

56 N.L.R.B. 1351 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter Of WHEELER SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION and MARINE
WORKERS METAL TRADES DISTRICT COUNCIL OF THE PORT OF NEW YORK,
A. F. OF L. AND ITS AFFILIATED CRAFT UNIONS
Case No. fd-R-4510.Decided June 12, 1944
Cullen cfi Dykman , by 'M11r. Maximilian Moss, of ' Brooklyn, N. Y.,
and Mr. Eugene M. Wheeler, of Whitestone , N. Y., for the Company.
Messrs. Arthur Olsen and -William J. Rowe, of New-York City,
for the AFL.
• Messrs. William?, McCaffrey and Edmund Spivak , - of New York
- City, for the CIO. _
Miss Frances Lopinsky, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Marine Workers Metal Trades Dis-
trict Council of the Port of New York, A. F. of L., and its affiliated
craft unions,' herein called the AFL, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Wheeler Shipbuilding Corporation, Whitestone, Long Island, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Jerome I. Macht,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at New York City, on April
20, 2^6, and 27, 1944. The'Company, the AFL, and Industrial Union
of Marine & Shipbuilding Workers of America, CIO, herein called the
'CIO ,2 appeared and participated.3 All parties were afforded full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. - The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing, are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
. ' At the hearing , upon motion of the ' AFL, the pleadings were amended to conform with
this, the proper designation of the petitioner.
The CIO intervened only as an"cus curiae and did not request a place on the ballot.
$ Wheeler Employees Independent Union, also served with notice, did not appear.
56 N. L . R. B., No. 241.
1351
1352 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Wheeler Shipbuilding Corporation, a New York corporation, is
engaged in operating•a shipyard at Whitestone, Long Island, wherein
it constructs'vessels for the war program, pursuant to a contract with
the United States Government. The vessels are chiefly mine sweepers,
tugs, PC boats, freight and passenger ships. The principal raw
materials used,in their construction are wood and steel. The total
value of such raw materials' for the year preceding the hearing
exceeded $300,000, and approximately 50 percent thereof came to the
yard from points outside the State of New York. During the same
period the Company constructed ships of a value in excess of $300,000.
A majority of these ships are used in waters outside the State of New
York and in foreign waters.
The Company admits that it` is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Marine , Workers Metal' Trades District Council of the Port of
New York, affiliated With the American Federation of Labor, is a
labor organization admitting to membership through its affiliated
unions, employees of the Company.
Industrial Union of Marine & Shipbuilding Workers of America,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the AFL as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its employees until the AFL
has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the AFL represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting, commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4 The Field Examiner reported that the AFL submitted 776 authorization cards, 613 of
which bore the names of persons listed'on the'Company 's pay roll of April 24 , 1944,,which
contained the names of approximately 1,960 employees in the appropriate unit ; and that
the cards were dated December 1943 through^February 1944.-
WHEELER SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
1353
The unions are in agreement that an appropriate unit for bargain-
ing between the Company and its employees is one composed of all
production and maintenance employees at the Company's Whitestone
Yard including snappers, leadmen, subforemen, and stockroom, store-
room, and toolroom employees, but excluding office and clerical em-
ployees, foremen, supervisors, watchmen, guards, employees of 'the
Electrical Department of the Company,5 dock masters, and porters.
The Company is in agreement that the unit requested is appropriate,
but it would exclude therefrom snappers, leadmen, and subforemen
on the ground that they are supervisory employees, and stockroom,
storeroom,,and toolroom employees on the grounds that they are
clerical employees and representatives of management.
Sub foremen, snappers and leadmen: The' hierarchy of the Com-
pany is substantially as follows : officers, personnel department, pro-
duction manager, foremen, subforemen, leaders and snappers, first-
class mechanics, and other employees. All parties agree that foremen
are supervisory employees. Although subforemen have a lesser degree
of responsibility than foremen, they share all of the authority of fol.e-
men. Accordingly, we find 'that• subforemen are supervisory em-
ployees and shall exclude them from the unit.
Snappers and leadmen 6 are in charge of small groups of employees
ranging in size from 5 to 15 persons. They lay out the work for
these employees, instruct them in its execution, and inspect it from
time to time to see that it is properly, done. Recommendations con-
cerning the change of status of the employees with whom they work
are initiated by them by reports they make to the foremen. The fore-
men, however, make independent investigations on the basis of these
reports and make their own recommendations-to the production man-,
ager or allow the matter to drop. The Company admits that, although
the authority of snappers and leadmen is broad in theory, in practice
it is not exercised. According to a former employee of the Company,
requests for raises in pay, permission to deviate from plans, or adjust-
ment of grievances are in first instance taken to the snapper or lead-
man who invariably refers the men to the foreman or subforeman and
accompanies them when they make the request of the foreman. Snap-
pers work under the same working conditions as the men under them
and are entitled to the same bonuses for overtime and dangerous work.
"Employees of'the Electrical Department are covered by a contract between the Com-
pany and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Marine Local Union No. 277,
herein called the IBEW.
8 Snappers and leadmen have the same authority. They are herein collectively referred
to as snappers.
1354 , DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
When the work being, performed by a snapper's crew has been com-
pleted, the snapper is given the opportunity to remain with the Com-
pany as fa first-class mechanic until such time as another opening for
a, snapper occurs. While working as a snapper, an employee does
not lose the seniority he has earned as a mechanic, but the time he
spends as a snapper is added to the time he has worked for the Com=
pany as a mechanic and is considered in determining his seniority.
The Company maintains a separate seniority list wherein it records
the amount of time each man spends as a snapper and uses this list in
determining which snappers shall be demoted to mechanics and which
mechanics shall be returned to the status of snappers. The contract
of the IBEW, which covers the ,electrical workers of the Company,
includes snappers in the unit which it' represents.
From its seniority policy it is evident that the Company does not
consider these employees a part of its permanent supervisory staff.
The Company's policy of relying solely upon the independent investi-
gations of the foremen negatives the effectiveness of the recommenda-
tions made by the snappers. We find that snappers and leadmen are
production and maintenance employees whose status is not substan-
tially different from that of other production and maintenance em-
ployees and shall include them in the unit.7
Stockroom, storeroom,' and toolroom employees: There are approxi-
mately 40 employees in the stockroom, 10 in the storeroom, and 10 in
the toolroom. Their duties and responsibilities are substantially the
same. Stockroom and storeroom employees open and check mate-
rials, put them 'in proper order,-prepare, furnish and box them for
delivery to the vessels, issue receipts, and keep records. The Company
maintains a toolroom from which workmen may borrow tools which
they need and do not ordinarily own. The toolroom employees issue
and receive these tools, sign receipts, and keep records. The work of
till of these employees is ministerial, involving very little discretion.
The amount of clerical work performed by them is not, in our opinion;
sufficient to warrant classifying them as clerical employees; their re-
sponsibilities are not managerial. We find that they are closely re-
lated to production and maintenance employees, and shall include them
,in the appropriate unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Com-
' pany's W,hitestone Yard, including snappers, leadmen, and stockroom,
storeroom, and toolroom employees, but excluding office, and clerical
employees, foremen, subforemen, -watchmen, guards, employees of the
Electrical Department of the Company, dock masters, porters, and
all "or any other supervisory employees with authority, to hire, pro-
mote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of
employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit ap-
' See Matter of Manning, Maxv,ell d'Moore, 53 N L It. B !).-.]
WHEELER SHIPBUILDING CORPORATION 1355
propriate for'the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were 'employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction 8
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 ( c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby'
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represen-
tatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Wheeler Ship-
building Corporation , Whitestone , Long Island, an election by-secret
-ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty
(30) days from the date of this Direction , under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board; and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section'
IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the, date of this Direction , including employees who
did not work during said payroll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off , and including employees in the
armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person
at the polls , but excluding those employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reiihistated
prior to the date of the election , to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by Marine Workers Metal Trades Council
of the Port of New York, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
8 The AFL requests that the words "and its affiliated craft unions " be included in its
designation on the ballot . Since, in our opinion, such a designation on the ballot , and in a
certification , would be ambiguous , we shall direct that the AFL appear on the ballot as it
is designated in the petition , as amended , with the deletion of the quoted words.