Monsanto Chemical Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 20, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 1249 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of MONSANTO CHEMICAL COMPANY, EMPLOYER a'lid
UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES OF THE
PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES AND
CANADA, LOCAL UNION 649, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No.14-RC 31.-Decided August 20,1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
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. On June 15, 1948, the Board heard oral argument, in which
all parties participated: On July 13, 1948, after oral argument, and
pursuant to leave granted by the Board, the Building and Trades
Department of the AFL filed a brief as amicus curiae, and on July 22
and 26, respectively, the Employer and Intervenor filed briefs in reply
thereto. A motion to dismiss, made at the hearing by International
Chemical Workers Union, Local 12, AFL, herein called the Intervenor,
is granted for the reasons stated herein.
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 labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of
the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following reasons :
The Petitioner seeks to sever from the plant-wide unit of employees
presently represented by the intervenor, a unit of pipe fitters, helpers,
and apprentices, and instrument men with pipe-fitter seniority, in the
mechanical or maintenance department of the Employer's Monsanto,
Illinois, plant.' The Employer and the Intervenor contend that this
unit is inappropriate and that only the plant-wide production and
maintenance unit is appropriate herein.
I There are approximately 78 or 80 employees in the requested unit : 37 or 38 pipe fitters,
30 helpers , 8 or 9 apprentices , and 3 instrument men with pipe-fitter seniority.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 174.
1249
1250 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Employer's Operations
The Employer is engaged at its Monsanto, Illinois, plant in the
manufacture of chemicals, such as sulphuric acid, chlorine, caustic
soda, and phenol, out of raw materials such as salt, sulphur, and
benzol. The plant consists of more than 100 buildings covering
about 111 acres . There are approximately 1,550 hourly paid produc-
tion and maintenance workers employed in the 45 departments of the
plant. Different departments are connected with one another through
a highly complicated system of pipes and pumps, like arteries and
veins, through which the raw materials, basic chemical products, and
byproducts, steam, water, and compressed air, are carried from the
beginning to the end of the chemical processes . The manufacturing
operations are highly integrated and interdependent and require con-
tinuous operation of the plant 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
The work of the 80 pipe fitters involved herein is essential to the
continuity of such operations.
History of Bargaining
The Intervenor 2 has been recognized as the bargaining representa-
tive of all hourly paid employees on a plant-'wide basis since 1933;
since 1937, this relationship has been formalized by a contract with
the Employer.
In April 1945, the Petitioner, the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, Local B-309, AFL, and the United Brotherhood
of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 169, AFL, filed a single
petition requesting three separate craft units. The Regional Direc-
tor dismissed the petition. In August 1945, after settlement of a
strike for recognition, the three unions were permitted to participate
in wage negotiations and grievances within the framework of the
Intervenor's contract.3 Thereafter the three unions, and also the
International Association of Machinists, District No. 9, filed separate
petitions for craft units. On April 17, 1946, the Board dismissed the
consolidated petitions because, on the basis of the history of the col-
lective bargaining and of acquiescence in the plant-wide unit, the
units sought by the unions were inappropriate, and directed an elec-
tion in a plant-wide unit of hourly paid employees 4 The election
2 And its predecessor, Chemical Workers, Local 20032, AFL, a Federal Labor Union.
8 Representatives of each union were permitted to assist the Intervenoi's committee in
negotiations with the Employer.
4 Matter of Monsanto Chemical Company, 67 N. L. R B. 476. Under Section 9 (b) (2)
of the Act as amended, that decision is not, in and of itself, authority for our conclusion
herein. All the facts, including bargaining history, have been considered by the Board
.de novo.
MONSANTO CHEMICAL COMPANY 1251
held on May 14, 1946, was won by the Intervenor, which was certified
as the bargaining representative of the plant-wide-unit of -hourly
paid employees and presently holds a contract with the Employer
signed on November 11, 1947.$
Alleged Appropriate Unit
There has been no substantial change in the status of the pipe fitters
or in their relationship with the Employer and other employees in the
plant. since February 1946, the date of hearing in the earlier case.
The pipe fitters, as part of the maintenance force in the plant," perform
all the major installations and repairs throughout the plant. They
are under the supervision of a foreman and assistant foremen, who
also supervise the insulators. The Intervenor's contract provides
that before an employee can become a journeyman pipe fitter he is
expected to serve 2 years as a helper and 3 years as an apprentice,
and must pass examinations set up by his craft committee. The record
indicates, however, that many of the employees whom the Petitioner
seeks to represent became pipe fitters without having served a full
5 years. It thus appears that such employees may not be pure crafts-
men as the term is generally used and as the Petitioner contends.
The Employer and the Intervenor also contend that the unit re-
quested is not homogeneous because it does not include department re-
pairmen, night shift mechanics, and various other craft classifications,'
but does include instrument men with pipe-fitter seniority. There are
approximately 41 or 42 department repairmen who make daily run-
ning repairs, such as the repair and replacement of pipes, the packing
of pumps, and other minor operations necessary to keep the plant run-
ning. Their work is limited to minor repairs on 2-inch pipe 8 in the
specific production departments to which they are assigned. Unlike
pipe fitters, who are under the supervision of a maintenance foreman
and perform only maintenance work, department repairmen are super-
vised by the foreman of the production department to which they are
assigned and spend 25 percent or more of their time in production.
Both department repairmen and pipe fitters receive the same rate
of pay and use many of the same tools. Although department repair-
men unlike pipe fitters are not required to serve an apprenticeship,
8 The parties do not contend that this contract is a bar to the present proceeding.
6 Such as machinists , ironworkers , welders, leadburners , blacksmiths , pipe fitters, car-
penters, scalemen , oilers , insulators , and instrument men.
4 Also excluded are approximately 75 to 100 employees who have "pipe fitter seniority,"
having been first employed in the pipe-fitter group. However, the record does not indicate
the skill , supervision , or present duties of these employees
8 The majority of the pipe at the Employer 's plant is 2-inch , although there is larger
pipe, some as large as 6-inch, upon which the pipe fitters alone generally work.
1252 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL- LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the pipe work which they perform is similar to much of that per,
formed by the pipe fitters.
Four night -shift mechanics, whom the Petitioner would also exclude,
are, like the pipe fitters, employed in "the' maintenance department.
They work at night and during the week ends under the supervision
of the night superintendent or engineer - in charge, performing any
emergency maintenance work that may be assigned. Much of this
emergency work is the same as that performed by the 'pipe fitters,
although the duties of these mechanics are much broader and are not
necessarily limited to pipe fitter work. They 'use the same tools as
pipe fitters and receive the same, or a slightly higher, rate of pay.
There are also 15 other craft groups in the maintenance depart'meiit,
some Of whom do pipe work that 'the Petitioner would normally claim
as falling within its jurisdiction over all maintenance pipe work.9
A majority of these craftsmen, including the pipe fitters, receive the
same rate of pay and use the same facilities and time clocks, and
operate from the same shop.
In view of the Petitioner's proposed exclusion of the department
repairmen, night shift mechanics, and other crafts doing considerable
pipe work, the unit sought by the Petitioner does not appear to be a
homogeneous,10 identifiable craft group, there being no clear line
of demarcation in work, experience, and skill between the pipe fitters
and the excluded employees. At best, the pipe fitters sought by the Pe-
titioner may be considered as constituting only a segment of a craft,
and therefore inappropriate as a craft unit 11
We find no functional basis for severing the pipe-fitter group from
the other employees performing similar work. Furthermore we be-
lieve that the highly integrated and interdependent operations at the
Employer's plant, the long history of collective bargaining on a plant-
wide basis, the uniform conditions of employment and close relation-
ship and community of interest not only among the various groups
of employees performing pipe work, but also among all the Em-
ployer's production and maintenance employees, present a compelling
reason for an over-all bargaining unit .12 We find, accordingly, that
, Carpenters install glass pipe , ironworkers install iron hangers, machinists work with
"Haveg" pipe
ii The proposed inclusion of 3 instrument men with pipe -fitter seniority further indicate's
a lack of homogeneity , in that they , unlike the pipe fitters , work only on the instruments
installed by pipe fitters and are under different supervision. See Matter of. Mathieson
Alkali Works ( Inc ), 67 N. L R . B. 716; Matter of Standard Oil Company of New
Jersey, 61 N. L R. B 1344.
1' See Matter of International Harvester Company , McCormick Works, 77 N . L R B. 520,
and cases therein cited
12 Cf Matter of B. F Goodrich Chemical Company (Geon Plant), 75 N L. R. B. 1142,
and Matter of Hooker Electrochemical Company, 74 N. L it. B. 618 . These cases are dis-
tinguishable because integration and interdependence of operations were not factors
therein.
MONSANTO CHEMICAL COMPANY 1253
the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining, and we shall, therefore, order that the petition
be dismissed.
ORDER
Upon the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations
Board hereby orders that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
11
798767-49-vol 78-80