Allen-Bradley Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 31, 1967

168 N.L.R.B. 15 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

ALLEN-BRADLEY COMPANY
Allen-Bradley Company and Local 663 , Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
AFL-CIO , Petitioner. Case 30-RC-568
October 31, 1967
DECISION AND ORDER
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
BROWN AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Wallace Taine, Hearing Of-
ficer. Following the hearing and pursuant to Section
102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations and Statements of
Procedure, Series 8, as amended, and by direction
of the Regional Director for Region 30, this case
was transferred to the National Labor Relations
Board for decision. Briefs have been timely filed by
the Employer, the Petitioner, and the Intervenor.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby af-
firmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, and with spe-
cial consideration of the criteria as set forth in the
Millinckrodt decision,2 the Board finds:
1. The parties stipulated, and we find, that the
Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act, and that it will effectuate the pur-
poses of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of certain employees of
the Employer within the meaning of Section 2(6)
and (7) of the Act for the following reasons:
The Employer's Operations
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of
electric motor controls and electronic components
in its multibuilding complex at Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin. Its principal products are devices to interrupt
electrical current for the purpose of starting and
United Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE),
Local 1 I l 1, herein referred to as Intervenor , was permitted to intervene
at the hearing on the basis of its current contract covering the Employer's
production and maintenance employees.
' MalhnckrodtChemical Works, Uranium Division, 162 NLRB 387.
Department 452 has been included in the Intervenor's unit from its in-
ception in 1937, but department 447 which was created in 1962 was
merged into the unit shortly thereafter on the basis of a card check.
15
stopping electric motors. The Employer manufac-
tures four types of electronic components: fixed
composition resistors, variable resistors or poten-
tiometers, ferrite components, and ceramic capaci-
tors.
Of the approximately 5,690 union workers em-
ployed in the three-shift operation, 110 are tool-
room employees represented by District No. 10,
International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, 9 are employed in
two boilerrooms and are represented by the Inter-
national Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers,
AFL-CIO, Local 125, and the remaining em-
ployees are included in the production and main-
tenance unit represented by the Intervenor.
The production and maintenance unit was
established in 1937; the boilerroom and toolroom
units were carved out of the production and main-
tenance unit pursuant to Board certifications in
1953 and 1954, respectively.
The Petitioner now seeks to sever a unit consist-
ing of maintenance electricians in department 452
and electronic instrument repair and maintenance
men in department 447 from their current inclusion
in the Intervenor's production and maintenance
unit.3 The Petitioner alternatively requests
representation of both departments in one unit or of
either in separate units.
Department 452
There are 70 maintenance electricians4 assigned
to department 452, whose central shop is located on
the second floor of the Employer's main plant build-
ing. Their work duties range from changing light
bulbs to installing new electrical equipment, wiring
control mechanisms on production machinery, and
repairing and maintaining electrical equipment at
the Employer's entire facility, including the eight-
floor main plant and the adjoining plant buildings.
Essentially, they are under the supervision of de-
partment 452, but because the Employer's basic
products are electrical devices, they are often
directed in their work by production supervisors.
Most of the maintenance electricians report directly
to the department's central shop. They either work
in the shop from which they are often dispatched to
perform specific work in production areas, or are
assigned to duty stations throughout the plant for
unspecified periods of time. The duty stations con-
sist of workbenches in production areas which are
equipped with tools, instruments, spare parts, and
' In addition, five apprentices employed pursuant to a State of Wiscon-
sin administered apprenticeship program are assigned to department 452,
However, they have been specifically excluded from the coverage of the
collective-bargaining agreement between the Employer and the Inter-
venor.
168 NLRB No. 4
16 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
reference materials. In addition, a group of main-
tenance electricians regularly report directly to and
work out of a duty station in the Employer's ferrite
production department which is located in a build-
ing separate from the central shop. Thus, although
these electricians are assigned for administrative
purposes to department 452, their work contacts
are almost exclusively limited to ferrite department
personnel.
The maintenance electricians are divided into the
following classifications: electrical crib clerk, elec-
trical maintenance man, electrician junior, electri-
cian senior, electrical technician, and electrical spe-
cialist. Each classification has three wage levels.
The most skilled, electrical specialist A, has an
hourly rate of $4 which is as high as any rate
received by the highest skilled production and
maintenance employees.
Department 447
Department 447 comprises 26 instrument
mechanics, all of whom work out of the depart-
ment's central shop on the second floor of the main
plant building. They are responsible for maintaining
approximately 700 pieces of electronic equipment
situated throughout the Employer's premises, in-
cluding electronic recorders, indicators, and dielec-
tric heaters, oscilloscopes, and heat controls. Mal-
functioning instruments are either repaired while at-
tached to production machinery on the production
floor, or removed to the central shop area. The
more highly skilled instrument mechanics alternate
between troubleshooting assignments in production
departments and benchwork in the central shop.
Department 447 employees normally progress
from the lowest classification of instrument main-
tenance-learner to instrument maintenance man, in-
strument service man, and instrument technician.
As in the case of the maintenance electricians, each
of the above classifications has three wage levels.
The highest classification, that of instrument techni-
cian A, also receives the top hourly rate of $4
among production and maintenance unit em-
ployees.
Craftsmen Status
It is generally conceded that the employees in de-
partments 452 and 447 for the most part possess
and exercise a high degree of skill in their work. The
Intervenor, however, contends that certain em-
ployees within both departments, such as crib atten-
dants, are not true craftsmen, and that still others in
the lower classifications need not be journeymen to
perform repetitive and unskilled jobs such as chang-
ing light bulbs. However, in view of the fact that the
greater number of employees in both departments
are in the higher job classifications, and that a 4-
year apprenticeship program for maintenance elec-
tricians is currently in existence, it is evident that
they are in fact journeymen who possess the tradi-
tional skills of their respective crafts. Accordingly,
we find that the maintenance electricians and in-
strument maintenance men are craftsmen.
Petitioner's Qualifications as Representative
Local 663, the petitioning Union herein, was
specifically chartered in 1936 to represent main-
tenance electricians as opposed to electricians in
the building trades industry in the Milwaukee area.
However, over the course of years and on the basis
of its experience in the industry, the Petitioner has
come to represent a substantial number of electri-
cians and instrument maintenance men whose basic
electrical or electronic skills and knowledge parallel
to a substantial extent that of electricians in general.
Thus, the Petitioner now represents maintenance
electricians and instrument maintenance men al-
most exclusively. It is evident that the Petitioner
qualifies as a traditional representative of the types
of employees sought herein.
Coordination in the Production Process
The Petitioner contends that the employees
sought have not been integrated into the Em-
ployer's production process, as they perform
separate functions, have no direct contact with the
finished products, have separate supervision and
work locations, and share no community of interest
with the production and maintenance employees.
However, the record demonstrates that production
is heavily dependent upon electricians and instru-
ment men. Thus, the proper functioning of produc-
tion equipment, dependent as it is upon the proper
functioning of a large number of electrical and elec-
tronic devices over which these employees have
primary responsibility, is critical to the Employer's
continued production. The record further reveals
that while employees in both departments work
under their own departmental supervision, the bulk
of their work orders and directions, such as job pri-
orities, come from production department super-
visors. Moreover, the nature of their work duties
requires that a substantial number of the employees
in question be assigned to production areas regu-
larly, and to spend most of their working time in
close contact with production employees.
Bargaining History
As indicated above, the Intervenor has been the
bargaining representative of the Employer's
production and maintenance employees , including
the maintenance electricians and other skilled
groups, such as maintenance painters, model
makers, and air-conditioning mechanics, since
1937. The instrument maintenance men in depart-
ALLEN-BRADLEY COMPANY 17
ment 447 became a part of the production and main-
tenance unit in 1962 when the department was
established and 12 of the 15 instrument men then in
the department sought membership in the unit by
executing authorization cards for the Intervenor.
Apart from this addition of the instrument men, and
the severance of boilerroom employees and tool-
room employees' in 1953 and 1954, respectively,
the production and maintenance unit has remained
substantially the same since 1937.
The Petitioner contends that the Intervenor has
not provided adequate representation for the spe-
cial interests of the craftsmen in question and has
neglected the interests of five apprentices in depart-
ment 452 by excluding them from the coverage of
its contract. Furthermore, it claims that the Inter-
venor has not utilized fully the contractual machin-
ery with respect to complaints lodged by main-
tenance electricians, and that employees in both de-
partments have been denied any opportunity to par-
ticipate in the Intervenor's internal affairs or to
voice their interests in negotiations concerning their
job classifications and wages, with the result that
glaring inequities exist between their wages and
other conditions of employment as compared with
those of similarly skilled workers who are
represented by craft unions in other plants.
The record evidence clearly demonstrates that
union stewards are selected from all departments to
process employee grievances, that the contractual
grievance procedures are available to all employees
on an equal basis, and that representatives from de-
partment 447 served on the union committee which
negotiated job classifications for that department.
Further, although apprentices are excluded from
the current contract during the period of their ap-
prenticeship/ it is clear that the terms of the in-
dentured apprenticeship agreement between the
Employer and the State Industrial Commission
covers virtually every aspect of the employment
relationship so as to render further contract
coverage unnecessary and ineffectual.
The evidence also shows the extent of participa-
tion by the skilled employees in the Intervenor's in-
ternal affairs. Thus, the record indicates that em-
ployees in departments 447 and 452 were active
participants in union affairs prior to the current at-
tempt for severance. For example, an instrument
maintenance man served on the Intervenor's elec-
tion committee, some maintenance electricians
were candidates for union offices, and skilled em-
ployees from other departments were elected to
high union positions. In addition, the record shows
that in 1966, a skilled trades committee composed
of representatives of only skilled departments was
formed by Intervenor for the purpose of focusing
special attention on the needs of skilled employees
within the production and maintenance unit.
Moreover, in negotiations with the Employer, the
Intervenor regularly obtains special wage increases
for the purpose of correcting any existing wage in-
equities which it, with the approval of the general
membership, customarily allocates to departments
447, 452, and the other skilled departments within
the unit.
From the foregoing, it is apparent that the main-
tenance electricians, instrument maintenance men,
as well as other skilled employees, have ample op-
portunity to participate and have participated in
union affiars, and their special interests are
adequately represented under the existing pattern
of representation. Accordingly, we find that the
Petitioner's contrary contentions in these respects
are not supported by the record.
Industry and Area Bargaining
The Petitioner adduced evidence showing that in
six plants, which are engaged in the manufacture of
electrical or electronic products in Milwaukee and
other parts of Wisconsin, it represents units of
maintenance electricians and/or instrument main-
tenance men which enjoy stable bargaining relation-
ships and higher wages than the employees in de-
partments 447 and 452. Other record evidence in-
dicates that maintenance electricians are
represented as part of production and maintenance
units in five other plants in the same industry and
geographical area. A Department of Labor survey
of wages received by all maintenance electricians in
the area shows that the average rate of pay of the
Employer's electricians compares favorably with
the average rate of pay of maintenance electricians
in the area.
The Employer and the Intervenor take the posi-
tion that severance here would seriously impair ex-
isting labor relations stability. In support of their
contention, they cite the long and stable bargaining
relationship concerning the production and main-
tenance unit as contrasted with, as an example, the
strike and unstable bargaining relationship which
followed severance of the toolroom employees from
the production and maintenance unit in 1954, and
the purported ineffectiveness of their separate
representation since that time.
In our view, the evidence with respect to collec-
tive bargaining in the industry and area does not
favor severance herein. Rather, here, as we found
in the recent Mallinckrodt case,' the benefits
achieved by almost 30 years of uninterrupted sta-
5 With respect to the toolroom unit, the evidence shows that approxi-
mately 1 year following the certification of that unit, upon the expiration
of a collective -bargaining agreement , a lengthy strike ensued , and that
subsequent collective-bargaining efforts have failed to produce a written
agreement covering the toolroom employees from that time to the present
6 The current collective-bargaining agreement does provide for
coverage of the apprentices upon completion of their 4-year apprentice-
ship
Malhnckrodt Chemical Works, supra
18 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL
bility in labor relations in the existing bargaining
unit of approximately 5,500 production and main-
tenance employees outweigh the interests to be
served by affording the 96 maintenance electricians
and instrument maintenance men an opportunity to
change their mode of representation . In other cir-
cumstances , the employees in question may con-
stitute an identifiable group of skilled journeymen
entitled to separate representation . Here , however,
it is clear that the separate community of interests
which these employees enjoy by reason of their
skills and training have been largely submerged in
the broader community of interests which they
share with production and maintenance employees
as a result of their long association in the existing
LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
bargaining unit , and their integration and intimate
connection of work with the Employer 's production
processes . And, taking into consideration that sta-
bility in labor relations will not be served by grant-
ing severance and separate representation , we con-
clude , for all of the foregoing reasons and on the
evidence on the record as a whole , that the units
sought by the Petitioner are inappropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining . We shall , there-
fore, dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition filed
herein be , and it hereby is, dismissed.