Glass Fibers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 9, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 1289 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

GLASS FIBERS, INC. 1289
The Board has held that despite a history of participation by an
employer in group bargaining, should he at an appropriate time
manifest an unequivocal intent to pursue an individual course in his
labor relations, a unit limited to his employees alone would again be
appropriate 4 The record in this case reveals that there is no contract
now in effect, and that four of the Employers have terminated Mr. Cal-
lister's authority to represent them in joint negotiations. Under these
circumstances, we find that the over-all unit of the employees of all
eight Employers sought by the, Petitioner is no longer appropriate.
As all parties are in agreement with Petitioner's alternative request
for single-employer units, we find appropriate for purposes of col-
lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act
separate units composed of the following employees of each of the
eight Employers named below ; excluding, in the case of each Em-
ployer, parts men, office and clerical employees, service station em-
ployees, salesmen, janitors, lube and grease men, utility men, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
All journeymen auto mechanics, machinists, electricians, painters,
trimmers, body and fender men, radio men, and welders, their helpers
and apprentices employed by P. E. Ashton Company; Central Utah
Motor Company; A. L. Duckett Sales and Service Inc; Burton J.
Frampton, d/b/a Frampton Motor Company; Ralph P. Naylor,
Lawrence G. Naylor, W. M. Richmond, and A. N. Thomas, d/b/a Nay-
lor Auto Company; Telluride Motor Company; Clarence H. Harmon
and A. J. Harmon, d/b/a United Sales and Service; and Wasden
Motor Sales Company.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
* RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., 90 NLRB No. 58 , and cases cited therein.
GLASS FIBERS, INC. and LOCAL 4, MECHANICS EDUCATIONAL SOCIETY
OF AMER10A, PETITIONER 1
GLASS FIBERS, INC. and GLASS BOTTLE, BLOWERS ASSOCIATION OF THE
UNITED STATES AND CANADA, AFL , AND ITS LOCAL 54, PETITIONER.a
Cases Nos. 8-RC-1020 and 8-RC-1031. April 9, 1951
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, consolidated hearings were held on Octo-
1 Herein called MESA.
= The name of this Petitioner , herein called GBBA, appears as used at the hearing.
93 NLRB No. 214.
1290 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ber 11, 1950, and February 6, 1951,3 before Bernard Ness, 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 these cases to a three-
member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim 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.
4. GBBA seeks a single unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Waterville and Defiance, Ohio, plants,'
excluding office employees, technical engineers, technicians, watch-
men, guards, and supervisors as defined under the Act. MESA desires
a maintenance unit confined to the Waterville plant consisting of
machinists, maintenance mechanics, and,electricians, or alternatively,
separate units for each of these classifications, or any combination
thereof .5 However, MESA does not object to the inclusion of main-
tenance employees at the Defiance plant in the event of a finding
requiring units to be on a two-plant basis. The Employer favors
a production and maintenance unit and does not oppose having it on a
two-plant basis.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and sale of glass fiber
products. In order to provide for its excess work, the Employer began
to operate in the latter part of October 1950, its new overflow plant in
Defiance, Ohio, about 50 miles from its plant in Waterville, Ohio. At
that time, a number of employees were transferred to the new plant.
Some employees in turn have been transferred to Waterville. Articles
produced in the Defiance plant are in many instances returned to
Waterville for further processing. The types of machinery as well as
job classifications are similar in both plants. Supplies and materials
are purchased at Waterville, where production schedules for both
plants are set. All employees are subject to the same labor and per-
sonnel policy, which is administered by a personnel manager, who is
stationed at Waterville and regularly visits the new plant. Employees
3 The Board ordered the February hearing to adduce evidence concerning the unit issues
raised by GBBA's request of November 20, 1950, to amend its petition for the Employer's
Waterville , Ohio, plant , to include the Employer's new plant at Defiance, Ohio.
See footnote 3, supra
At the first hearing MESA amended its petition to exclude carpenters , a classification
not used by the Employer.
GLASS FIBERS, INC. 1291
in both plants enjoy uniform wage rates, grievance procedures, and
company-wide seniority , and participate in the same bonus, pension,
and insurance benefits . Since September 1946 , GBBA and its prede-
cessor 6 have represented the production and maintenance employees at
Waterville . And in recent months GBBA has also represented the
Defiance plant at grievance meetings and negotiations for a pension
plan.
In view of the integration of the two plants and the unified control
of management policies and labor relations , the Board finds that all
units found appropriate herein should embrace both plants?
There remains for consideration the maintenance unit proposals of
MESA. The maintenance department , which is under the general
charge of the plant engineer , includes machinists , maintenance me-
chanics, electricians, and maintenance laborers ." The machinists are
responsible for. keeping the plant in operation . Some machinists work
under the direct supervision of the foreman in the machine shop which
contains lathes, drill presses, and a band saw . Other machinists are
detailed to various production departments under the supervision of
the heads thereof in order more conveniently to perform their duties as
machinists . The machinists along with the other maintenance em-
ployees have departmental as well as company-wide seniority. Al-
though the Employer has no apprenticeship program for any of its
maintenance workers, it does require its machinists to have extensive
experience in machine shop operations.
The maintenance mechanics , whose headquarters is a maintenance
shop , are under the direct supervision of the plant engineer. They
circulate from department to department doing oiling , carpentry,
painting , and miscellaneous maintenance work. The Employer re-
gards it as desirable that maintenance workers have some general
mechanical experience . However, they are not hired as such but are
moved up from the ranks of the laborers , whom MESA does not wish
to represent because they are unskilled and function as a sweeping and
sanitation gang under the jurisdiction of their own supervisor.
The electricians , who also have their headquarters in the mainte-
nance shop , have the responsibility of ,maintaining and repairing the
large amount of electrical equipment throughout the plant. The chief
9 Federal Labor Union No. 24081, AFL , which affiliated with GBBA on July 7, 1950.
7 Emerson Television Service Corporation, 88 NLRB 55 ; American Shuffleboard Company,
at al., 85 NLRB 51.
Because the Defiance plant has been in operation only since October 1950, the Board
believes that the bargaining history prior to that date at Waterville alone does not
constitute a persuasive reason against our multiplant finding. The North Electric
Manu facturing Company, 89 NLRB 260. Moreover , GBBA is at present bargaining for
employees in both plants.
"As the record is more complete with regard to Waterville 's maintenance employees,
the account herein is specifically descriptive of that plant. However , it is also generally
applicable to the Defiance plant which, as has been noted, has like classifications.
1292 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
electrician 9 sees to it that assignments made by the plant engineer are
properly carried out.
It is clear that-the maintenance unit sought by MESA is a multicraft
unit, which includes employees who are not highly skilled.10 While
the Board has directed elections for similar units in the absence of a
prior collective bargaining history," it has been the Board's policy to
-refuse to establish multicraft units, where, as here, there is a substantial
history of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis 1' Moreover,
such a unit would not include all related craft groups engaged in main-
tenance work in the plants, as it appears from the record that there are
also welders working in the machine shop.13 We find therefore that
the multicraft unit proposed by MESA is inappropriate. Accord-
ingly, we shall consider the appropriateness of the separate units alter-
natively proposed by MESA.
The Board is satisfied on the basis of the foregoing that the ma-
chinists exercise the high degree of skill normally found in the ma-
chinist's craft. The record also shows that the electricians perform
the traditional duties connected with the electrician's craft. We find
therefore that, in accordance with well-established Board policy,'' the
machinists and electricians may properly constitute separate bargain-
ing units despite a history of collective bargaining on a broader basis.
As they do skilled work within the confines of their own craft, the
fact that they may work alongside of, or in close association with,
other employees does not derogate from their right to constitute sep-
arate bargaining units." However, we perceive no basis for granting
the maintenance mechanics a self-determination election. They pos-
sess no high degree of skill and are therefore not craftsmen. Nor is
their work particularly distinctive so as to otherwise stamp them with
a special community of interests sufficient to support a separate unit
finding."'
We shall at this time make no final determination with respect to
the unit or units appropriate for employees at the Employer's plants,
deferring such conclusions until separate elections shall have been
held among the following voting groups, excluding watchmen, guards,
and supervisors as defined under the Act :
B There is no contention or evidence that this individual has any supervisory authority.
10 See finding , infra, as to maintenance mechanics.
11 Armstrong Cork Company, 80 NLRB 128
' General Mills, Inc., Sperry Division, 91 NLRB 984 ; United States Time Corporation,
86 NLRB 724
13 Owens -Corning Fiberqlas Corporation, 84 NLRB 298.
is Danly Machine Specialties , Inc, 90 NLRB No 14, West Virginia Pulp & Paper
Company, 89 NLRB 815; National Biscuit Company , 88 NLRB 313.
la Danly Machine Specialties , Inc, supra.
In view of the Board's unit findings , GBBA's motion to dismiss MESA's petition on
the ground that the unit requests therein are inappropriate , is hereby denied.
11 National Biscuit Company, supra.
B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY STORES 1293
1. All machinists at the Employer's Waterville and Defiance, Ohio,
plants.
2. All electricians at the Employer's Waterville and Defiance, Ohio,
plants.
3. All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
Waterville and Defiance, Ohio, plants, but excluding the employees in
groups 1 and 2, office employees, technical engineers, and technicians.
MESA desires to participate only in the elections involving em-
ployees in the first two voting groups. GBBA desires to participate
in all elections. If a majority of employees in voting groups 1 and 2
cast ballots for the labor organization seeking to represent such em-
ployees in separate bargaining units, they will be taken to have indi-
cated their desire to constitute separate units for bargaining purposes.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.] -
B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY STORES and LOCAL UNION No. 299, INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSE-
MEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL,1 PETITIONER
B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY WAREHOUSE and LOCAL UNION No. 299, IN-
TERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE-
HOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER
B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY RECAPPING PLANT and LOCAL UNION No.
299, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS,
WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER.
Cases Nos. 7-RC-1176,7-RC-1177, and 7-RC-1178. April 9, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
W. A. Reinke, 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 these cases to a three-
member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire record in these cases 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.
1 Herein called the Teamsters.
93 NLRB No. 232.