Plumbing and Heating Contractors Association of Olean. New York

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 30, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 1099 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

PLUMBING AND HEATING CONTRACTORS ASSN. OF OLEAN, N. Y.1099
On the basis of the foregoing, we find that John Hall, Max Neal,
and Francis M. Bowen, are supervisors within the meaning of the
Act, and they will be excluded from the unit.
We find that all engineers and technicians employed at Station
WCPO, WCPO-FM, WCPO-TV, excluding all clerical and office
employees, executive and administrative employees, and supervisors
as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
PLUMBING AND HEATING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION OF OLEAN, NEW
YORK and LOCAL UNION 500 OF THE UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOUR-
NEYMEN AND APPRENTICES OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPE FITTING
INDUSTRY OF THE U. S. AND CANADA, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER.
Case No. 3-UA-6X. March 30, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (e) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Ralph Winkler, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed
On February 13, 1951, the Board heard oral argument at Wash-
ington, D. C., in which the Petitioner, the Employer, and the Inter-
venors 2 participated.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The business of the Employer :
The Employer is an unincorporated association organized for the
purpose, among others, of engaging in collective bargaining on behalf
of its members,3 all of whom are engaged in business as plumbing and
heating contractors in Olean, New York. During a recent repre-
1 The Intervenors moved at the hearing to dismiss the petition herein on various
grounds. The hearing officer referred this motion to the Board . For the reasons set
forth hereinafter , the motion is hereby denied.
2 The following labor organizations were permitted to intervene at the hearing : Interna-
tional Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers ; International
Hod Carriers ', Building and Common Laborers ' Union of America ; Bricklayers , Masons
and Plasterers' International Union of America ; United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America ; Sheet Metal Workers ' International Association ; International Union
of Operating Engineers ; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers , Iron Ship Builders
and Helpers of America , and International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers.
The following individual employers are members of the Employer Association: Lyons
Crowley Service , Robert G. Finlay & Co. , Shortell Bros. ; Olean Plumbing & Heating Co.;
and W . H. Simpson, Inc.
93 NLItB No. 176.
1100 DECISIONS Or NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
sentative 1-year period, the members of the 'Employer Association
made purchases of supplies and equipment valued in excess of $280,000.
Of this amount, in excess of $65,000 represented supplies and equip-
ment shipped directly to the members of the Employer Association
from outside New York, and in excess of $210,000 represented supplies
and equipment purchased in New York, but manufactured outside the
State. During this same period, the members of the Employer Asso-
ciation performed within New York work valued in excess of $150,000
for firms over which the Board would assert jurisdiction. On these
facts, we find, contrary to the contention of the Intervenors, that the
operations of the Employer affect commerce within the meaning of
the Act, and also that it would effectuate the policies of the Act to
assert jurisdiction in this case.4
2. The Petitioner is the currently recognized bargaining representa-
tive of the employees designated in the petition. The Intervenors are
labor organizations affiliated with the Building and Construction
Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor.
3. The petition herein alleges that more than 30 percent of the em-
ployees in the unit represented by the Petitioner desires to authorize
the Petitioner to make an agreement with the Employer requiring
membership in the Petitioner as a condition of employment in such
unit, which allegation was supported by documentary evidence sub-
mitted by the Petitioner.
The Intervenors do not claim to represent the employees designated
in the petition, and no question affecting commerce exists concerning
representation of employees of the Employer in the unit hereinafter
found appropriate. Accordingly, we find that the Petitioner has sat-
isfied the preliminary requirements for a union-shop authorization
election as set forth in Section 9 (e) (1) of the amended Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a union-security authorization election in a
unit of all plumbers and steam fitters and their apprentices employed
by the members of the Employer Association in Olean, New York,
and vicinity. The Petitioner and the Employer have engaged in col-
lective bargaining with respect to this unit for approximately 17 years.
The employees in the unit must undergo a 5-year apprenticeship train-
ing program before they can qualify as journeymen,5 and are engaged
in performing duties traditionally associated with their craft. Al-
though each of the members of the Employer Association employs
some employees other than those in the unit, and certain of such em-
ployees on occasion work with the employees in the unit in the per-
4 Hollow Tree Lumber Company, 91 NLRB 635; The Plumbing Contractors Association
of Baltimore, Maryland, Inc, et at, 93 NLRB 1081, decided this day
6 The apprenticeship program is a combined plumbing and steam fitting course. The
same individuals qualify as both plumbers and steam fitters.
AEROVOX CORPORATION 1101
formance of their duties, there is no interchange between the groups
of employees.
We find without merit the Intervenors' contention that the single
craft, multiemployer unit represented by the Petitioner is inappropri-
ate for purposes of collective bargaining s Accordingly, we find that
all plumbers, steam fitters, and their apprentices employed by the mem-
bers of the Plumbing and Heating Contractors Association of Olean,
New York, excluding. supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (e) (1) of the Act.
5. Stability of employment :
During the period from January 1, 1950, through November 30,
1950, nearly three-quarters of the employees in the appropriate unit
worked in that unit during more than 50 percent of the number of
weeks in the said period. During the same period, indeed, more than
three-fifths of the employees in the unit worked in the unit during
more than 80 percent of the number of weeks in the period. In addi-
tion, of the employees who, in May 1948, constituted the Petlitoner's
showing of interest, nearly three-quarters were still employed in the
unit in November 1950. On these facts, we find that employment in
the unit is sufficiently stable to permit an election to be held therein.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
6 The Plumbing Contractors Association of Baltimore, Maryland, Inc, et al, supra.
AEROVOx CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRI-
CAL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 1-RC-1809. March 30,
1951
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 Sidney A. Coven, 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 this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1
I During the pendency of the proceedings in this case, Intervenor, International Union
-of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, CIO, filed a petition in Case
No 1-RC-2079 in which it iequested the unit it contends is appropilate in this case it
subsequently filed a motion to consolidate the petition in Case No 1-RC-2079 with the
93 NLRB No 192