Detroit Controls Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 30, 1956

116 N.L.R.B. 1011 (N.L.R.B. 1956)

DETROIT CONTROLS CORPORATION 1011
ization for a unit of the employees in both voting groups, which the
Board in such circumstances finds to be an appropriate unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
Detroit Controls Corporation and International Union , United
Automobile , Aircraft , Agricultural Implement Workers of
America (UAW) AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 1-RC-4559.
August 30,1956
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Frank L. Irvin, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees 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.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of electronic equip-
ment, at various locations throughout the United States. Only its
operations in Norwood, Massachusetts, are involved in this proceeding,
where the Employer employs approximately 448 employees. The
Employer's activities in Norwood are separated into two divisions,
namely, the Controls Engineering Division (herein called Engineer-
ing Division) and the Norwood Controls Division (herein called Nor-
wood Division). The Engineering Division's central plant is located
at 560 Providence Highway; it also occupies a section of another
building at 934 Washington Street. This division is engaged in the
production of high precision gyroscopic instruments and control sys-
tems, and works exclusively upon Government prime contracts and
subcontracts. The Engineering Division is the larger of the 2 divi-
sions, and employs approximately 5 times as many employees as the
Norwood Division. .
The Norwood Division is housed in the remainder of the building at
934 Washington Street, and is engaged in producing precision instru-
ments and controls for commercial application and for use by the Gov-
ernment. Its products are of a lesser degree of precision than those
116 NLRB No. 119.
1012 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of- the Engineering Division. - Until recently the Norwood Division
has been primarily engaged in -research and in the development of a
line of proprietary items. Currently it is anticipating change to full-
scale production of these items. However, at the present time the
major portion of its production is devoted to producing oxygen valves
for Air Force masks.
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all production and mainte-
nance employees, including timekeepers, at both the Engineering and
Norwood Divisions. Alternatively, the Petitioner will accept any
unit found appropriate by the Board. The Employer would exclude
from the requested unit 2 maintenance mechanic-electricians at the
Norwood Division, all other employees of the Norwood Division, and
2 maintenance mechanic-electricians at the Engineering Division. In
support of its position the Employer asserts that the operations at the
Engineering Division are different from, and require more highly
skilled employees than, those at the Norwood Division; and that an
election among the employees of the Norwood Division at the present
time would be premature, in view of the proposed changes in this
,operation. -The Employer would also exclude -from any unit found
appropriate the 4 maintenance mechanic-electricians, on the ground
that they are responsible, for maintaining high precision machinery
and generating equipment used in Government high priority work.
- There is no history of collective bargaining at the Employer's
operations in Norwood, Massachusetts.
The Employer's operations at Norwood, Massachusetts, are under
the overall supervision of a resident vice president. Each division has
its own manager, chief engineer, head of production, and sales and
purchasing departments. The Employer has a central personnel of-
fice with a personnel director and a central payroll division, located at
the Providence Highway plant, which service both divisions. All in-
dustrial relations policies for both divisions, affecting such matters as
holidays, vacations, insurance, and hospital benefits, are formulated in
"a policy-making group" working "on a top policy-making level."
Wages and working hours are set on the division level, by representa-
tives of each division in conjunction with the personnel director, sub-
ject to approval by the corporate home office in Detroit, Michigan.
All labor policies are uniform as to all employees and all employees
enjoy the same benefits and working conditions.
Employees of both divisions at the Washington Street plant are in
close contact during such period's as lunch time and coffee breaks; both
divisions at this plant are serviced by the same maintenance me-
chanic-electricians. Employees of both divisions belong to the same
employee social organization. Employees of the Engineering Divi-
sion are sometimes transferred to the Norwood Division, on the aver-
age of one transfer per month. These transfers are the result of lack
DETROIT CONTROLS CORPORATION -1013
of work in the Engineering Division, or' the need of employees in
specified categories in the Norwood Division. Transfers are made at
either the same or a higher rate of pay. There is "a fairly free in-
terchange of employees" of -the Engineering Division between the
Providence 'Highway plant and the Washington Street plant. The
Norwood Division subcontracts portions of its work to the Engineer-
ing Division.
The specific classifications of production employees at the Norwood
Division that would be involved in the exclusion suggested by the
Employer are assembly and test -employees, production machine op-
erators, electrical assemblers, mechanical assemblers, wiremen, tool-
makers, inspectors; and winders. The 'record contains no information
on the specific job descriptions or classifications of the employees of
the Engineering Division. Nor is, there other evidence in the record
to support the Employer's allegation that the latter employees possess
higher skills and perform different functions. On the contrary, as
there is a transfer of employees from the Engineering Division to the
Norwood Division, and as the production employees of both divisions
are engaged in the manufacture of similar products, it would appear
that there is a similarity between the functions of both divisions.
In support of its contention that an election among the employees
of the Norwood Division would be premature at this time, the Em-
ployer introduced testimony that in the next year or two, the em-
ployees of this division will increase from the present 70 to over 200
to 250 employees; that within the next 30 to 60 days after the hearing
herein an additional 6 to 8 employees will be hired. According to the
Employer, the increase in the operations of the Norwood Division
will require employees of different but unspecified skills, and different;
and again unspecified, machines. The record also reflects that the
buildings now housing the Employer's employees are "bulging at the
seams" ; that a new plant will be constructed to house the Norwood
Division; and that there is a strong possibility that this new plant
will not be located in Norwood, Massachusetts.
As it appears that the buildings now housing the Employer's opera-
tions must be expanded in order to accommodate the additional em-
ployees the Employer expected to hire, as the Employer has not de-
cided on a new plant site and as the expected increase in employment,
in any event, will not be completed for at least 2 years, we find that
the expansion of the Norwood Division is not imminent and is highly
speculative. In the absence of specific evidence to the contrary, we
also find that the present working force at the Norwood Division is a
substantial and representative segment of the employees to be em-
ployed for a reasonable time in the future.'
i See Packard -BeZZ Company, 102 NLRB 1399, 1400.
1014 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In view of the foregoing, we find without merit the Employer's
assertion that the employees of the Norwood Division should be ex-
cluded from the requested unit. We further find, particularly in view
of the central management and control, central personnel and payroll
offices, industrial relations policies common to all employees, similar
benefits and similar working conditions as to all employees, the inter-
change of employees, and the fact that the Employer's contemplated
expansion of the Norwood Division is speculative and uncertain, that
the production and maintenance employees of both divisions have a
community of interest and together constitute an appropriate unit.2
., The maintenance mechanic-electricians of both the Engineering and
Norwood Divisions perform a combination of duties, consisting of
general maintenance work and electrical machine repair. Specifi-
cally, their duties are the upkeep of high precision machines, elec-
trical equipment, air compressors, and air conditioners; and the usual
maintenance functions of repair work, construction wiring, stringing
conduits and wires, and the performance of normal internal electrical
repair. In the event of a breakdown involving the high precision
machines or the generating equipment, these employees are subject
to call at all times. They receive the same benefits as all other em-
ployees, are paid by the hour, and have substantially the same work-
ing hours and conditions, use the same facilities, and are subject to
the labor policies, rules, and regulations as are other employees. No
labor union is seeking to represent them in a separate unit.
Inasmuch as the working conditions and interests of the mainte-
nance mechanic-electricians are similar to those of all other employees,
and as no labor union is seeking to represent them separately, we
shall, in accord with our well-established practice, include these
employees in the production and maintenance unit herein found
appropriate.3
Accordingly, we find that the following employees constitute a unit
appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All production and maintenance em-
ployees, including timekeepers and maintenance mechanic-electricians,
in both the Engineering Division and in the Norwood Division of
the Employer's operations at Norwood, Massachusetts, but exclud-
ing executives, office-clerical employees, professional employees,
guards, and a]1 supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
MEMBER MURDOCK took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
S See Curtiss Candy Company, 115 NLRB 533; Dea;dale Hosiery Mills, 115 NLRB 228.
a See Gerber Plastic Company, 108 NLRB 403, 406 (maintenance employees) ; Whiting
Corporation, 107 NLRB 493 , 495 (electricians).