General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 7, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 476 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY , PLASTICS DIVISION OF
THE CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT , EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL Asso-
CIATION OF MACHINISTS , LocAL LODGE 1437 , PETITIONER
Case No. 8-RC-121.-Decided February 7, 1919
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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-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, an unaffiliated labor organization, and Interna-
tional Chemical Workers Union, Local 283, affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, herein called the Intervenor, are labor or-
ganizations claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.'
* Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray.
1 At the hearing and in its brief , the Employer moved to dismiss these proceedings on
the ground that the petition was unseasonably filed under Section 103 of the Labor Man-
agement Relations Act. The Employer contends that under Section 103 the Intervenor's
certification Is valid until the end of the contract period as automatically renewed (May 1,
1949 ) or until 1 year after the effective date of the amended Act ( August 22, 1948 ), which-
ever occurs sooner , and that therefore the petition herein was filed unsea sonably on
March 26, 1948. Assuming that Section 103 Is applicable hereto, we believe that the
petition was filed seasonably , as Section 103 does not deprive the Board of power to con-
duct a hearing under Section 9 (c) before the end of the period specified in Section 103.
Matter of Bush Woolen Mills Inc., 76 N. L. R. B. 618 . Moreover , the purpose of Section 103
is to forestall the Invalidation of certain contract provisions under the amended Act ; it
does not affect the applicability of contract -bar principles . Matter of General Electr e
Company, 77 N. L. R. B 192. The motion to dismiss Is denied.
The Employer also moved to dismiss on the ground that the Intervenor 's contract to a
bar to these proceedings . The original contract ran for 1 year from February 20, 1947,
81 N. L. R. B., No. 87.
476
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 477
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting of the employees
in Department 79, also known as the toolroom, together with two
machine repairmen in Department 82, also known as the maintenance
department, at the Employer's Coshocton, Ohio, plant. The Employer
and Intervenor contend that such a unit is inappropriate and should
not be severed from the existing production and maintenance unit
presently represented by the Intervenor.
Pursuant to a consent election, the Intervenor was certified on Ja-n-
uary 22, 1947, as collective bargaining representative for substantially
all the production and maintenance employees, including the employ-
ees sought by the Petitioner, at the Employer's Coshocton, Ohio, plant.
On February 20, 1947, the Employer and the Intervenor executed a
1-year contract covering such employees. By a second contract,2 the
effective date was changed to May 1, 1947; this contract was automati-
cally renewed for another year, until May 1, 1949.
The Coshocton plant was newly built in 1946 and went into produc-
tion shortly before the consent election in January 1947. At that
time there were approximately 200 employees; there are now almost
500 employees. At this plant, the Employer fabricates and sells lam-
inated and allied products such as plastics. Its operations are divided
into 7 departments or sections, each of which is headed by a depart-
mental foreman who, in turn, is under the supervision of 1 of 4 assist-
ant general foremen.3 A general foreman is in charge of the entire
plant. Department 79, the toolroom, and Department 82, the main-
tenance department, are under the supervision of different depart-
mental and assistant general foremen. Generally, tool maintenance,
such as maintenance of parts and dies used in production machines, is
performed by Department 79; while capital or plant maintenance, such
as the repair of production machinery, is performed by the machine
repairmen of Department 82.4
and contained a 30-day automatic renewal clause . The second contract was identical with
the original contract, except that it was dated May 1 , 1947 . The petition herein was
flied on March 26 , 1948 , after the automatic renewal date of the February 20 contract but
before the automatic renewal date of the May 1 contract . The record reveals considerable
uncertainty as to which of the contracts the parties were operating under . However, as
both contracts provided for maintenance of membership without authorization under
Section 9 (e) of the Act, neither of these contracts as renewed can operate as a bar.
Matter of C. Hager A Sons Hinge Manufacturing Company, 80 N. L . It. B. 163 ; Matter
of General Electric Company, 80 N. L . It. B. 169 . Accordingly , we also deny the motion
to dismiss on the ground of contract bar.
n See footnote 1, aupra.
6 Two assistant general foremen work on the day shift and one each on the two night
shifts.
4 There are 70 employees in Department 82 performing maintenance work , of whom 8 are
classified as machine repairmen . The Petitioner proposes to include in its unit only 2
of these 8 machine repairmen.
478 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In Department 79, the toolroom, the Petitioner would include all
the employees except the tool crib attendant. Of the 19 employees re-
quested by the Petitioner, 7 are classified as tool makers, 12 as machine
repairmen. There are no apprentices. These employees spend 75 to
90 percent of their time in the toolroom and operate the lathes, shapers,
mills, grinders, and drill presses located therein. The balance of their
time is spent performing similar or related work throughout the plant.
There is little interchange of personnel between the toolroom and the
rest of the plant. When originally hired, toolroom employees, like the
machine repairmen in the maintenance department, are not required to
have any particular training or apprenticeship, the sole requisite
being mechanical aptitude, although most applicants appear to have
had tool and die or machine experience. The tool makers who build,
repair, and set dies are skilled craftsmen.5 The machine repairmen,
whether in Department 79 or 82, are less skilled than the tool makers
and do not appear to have served the usual apprenticeship.
The Employer and Intervenor argue, inter alia, that the unit is in-
appropriate because not all the toolroom employees are skilled crafts-
men and because the Petitioner proposes to exclude six of the eight
maintenance machine repairmen. To support their position, they as-
sert that all the toolroom and maintenance machine repairmen, as well
as some production employees,6 possess similar skills, perform com-
parable work, receive the same rate of pay, have the same seniority,
pensions, and vacations, and therefore have interests in common; that
Department 79 employees spend 10 to 25 percent of their time outside
the toolroom working throughout the plant; that there is some inter-
change of personnel ; and that the Petitioner proposes to split the
separately supervised group of maintenance machine repairmen of
Department 82 by including only two of them. The Employer and
Intervenor further contend that the highly integrated nature of the
Employer's operations, as well as collective bargaining on an industrial
basis in this plant and in the plastics industry in general, precludes
severance of the proposed unit from the more comprehensive produc-
tion and maintenance unit.
We have, however, in the past, found units of tool makers, ma-
chinists, and other employees engaged in the fabrication and repair of
tools, dies and machines to be appropriate, even though not all such
toolroom employees possessed definite craft skills.7 Furthermore, we
have also found to be appropriate a toolroom unit containing a nucleus
5 The only tool maker who testified stated that he performs tool and die work ; that he
had served an apprenticeship ; and that the other tool makers had equivalent skills. This
testimony was uncontroverted.
6 The record indicates that production employees, particularly in Department 78, the
fabricating section, operate machines such as lathes , mills, grinders , and presses.
7 Matter of Robertshaw -Fulton Controls Company (American Thermometer Company),
77 N. L . R. B. 316; Matter of National Container Corporation , Inc., 75 N. L. R. B. 770.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 479
of skilled craftsmen together with less skilled, but related, categories,
even though there were other employees in the plant possessing skills
and performing work comparable to the less skilled employees in the
toolroom 8 In the present case, we believe that Department 79 con-
stitutes such a toolroom group. It is separately supervised and lo-
cated, and contains a nucleus of highly skilled tool makers, whose skills
do not appear to be matched by those of related categories elsewhere
in the plant. Accordingly, we believe that such toolroom employees
may, if they so desire, constitute a separate unit, and properly may be
severed from the existing industrial unit notwithstanding a history of
collective bargaining on a more comprehensive basis.9
As indicated above, the Petitioner seeks to include in its unit the
two maintenance machine repairmen who spend more time in the tool-
room than the remaining six maintenance repairmen who are excluded.
However, these two maintenance machine repairmen are a part of the
separately supervised Department 82, or maintenance department, and
spend most of their time in their own department rather than in the
toolroom. It appears that these two maintenance department repair-
men have interests more in common with the maintenance machine
repairmen and other categories of employees in the maintenance de-
partment than with the toolroom employees. Accordingly, we shall
exclude them from the toolroom voting group.
We shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall first
ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed in the election
hereinafter directed. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will
be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate ap-
propriate unit.
We shall, accordingly, direct an election among all employees in
the toolroom, Department 79, at the Employer's Coshocton, Ohio,
plant, including tool makers io and machine repairmen, but excluding
the tool crib attendant," the maintenance machine repairmen in De-
partment 82 and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
8 Matter of International Harvester Company, 79 N. L R B 1452 ; Cf. Matter of
Ethyl Corporation (Sodium and Tetraethyl Lead Areas), 80 N L. It B 9
9 Matter of Robertshaw -Fulton Controls Company ( American Thermometer Company),
supra. Cf Matter of International Harvester Company, supra Moreover, as noted aboie,
the Employer started production at its Coshocton plant in January 1947 and, on February
20, 1947, first executed a collective bargaining contract with the Intervenor Thus, at
the time of the filing of the petition herein on March 26, 1948, there had been only a rela-
tively short history of bargaining on a production and maintenance basis
10 The working or group leader is a tool maker whose duty it is to lay out and distribute
the work. He has no authority to discipline or effectively to recommend the hire or dis-
charge of employees or increases in their pav. We believe he is not a supervisor v^rthrii
the meaning of the Act and we shall include him
11 The tool crib is separate and apart from the toolroom. It serves as a general tool crib
for the entire plant rather than for the toolroom alone In these circumstances, we shall
giant the Petitioner's request which was not opposed by the other parties, and exclude
the tool crib attendant
480 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR IMATIONS BOARD
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 22
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election 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 su-
pervision of the Regional Director for the Eighth Region, and subject
to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees de-
scribed in paragraph numbered 4, above, 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
of, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged 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 whether they desire to be
represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Association of Machinists, Local Lodge 1437, or by International
Chemical Workers Union, Local 283, AFL, or by neither.
" At the time of the Decision and Direction of Election herein , the Intervenor was not
in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act. On February 24, 1949, the
Regional Director advised the Board that the Intervenor had complied with the provisions
of Section 9 (f), (g), and ( h) of the Act, and requested that its name appear on the
ballot for the directed election herein . The Board , therefore , ordered on March 3, 1949,
that this Decision and Direction of Election be amended by according the Intervenor a
place on the ballot.