R. J. Gould Welding and Erecting Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 23, 1951

95 N.L.R.B. 460 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

460 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 9-RC-1131 be,
and it hereby is, dismissed.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
R. J. GOULD WELDING AND ERECTING COMPANY, INC. and INTERNA-
TIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LODGE 570, PETITIONER. C "e
No. 10-RC-,963. July 23, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Frank E.
Hamilton, Jr., 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Houston and Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer, a Florida corporation with its principal offices
at Tampa, is engaged in general machine repairs, welding, and steel
erection. During the year 1950 the Employer purchased materials
and supplies valued in excess of $53,000, of which all were made within
the State. During the same period it made sales and performed
services for which it received in excess of $309,000, of which $57,524
was received by it from the Pure Oil Company, $17,865 from the In-
ternational Minerals and Chemical Corporation, $3,513 from the U. S.
Phosphoric Products (Division of Tennessee) Corporation, $3,453
from the Continental Can Co., $2,400 from Lykes Bros., Inc., and
$1,600 from Bruce's Juices, Inc. All of these companies are in com-
merce,2 and the Board has asserted jurisdiction over most of them.3
' At the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds: (1) That
the Board lacks jurisdiction over it, and (2) that the unit requested by the Petitioner
is inappropriate. For reasons given in paragraphs numbered 1 and 4 below, this motion
is hereby denied.
2 All of them sell and ship directly to points outside the State materials and merchandise
valued in excess of $25,000 annually.
3 The Board has asserted jurisdiction over the Pure Oil Company, the International
Minerals and Chemical Corporation, the Continental Can Company, and Lykes Bros , Inc.
The hearing officer referred to the Board the question of admissibility in evidence of
several letters which the Regional Director solicited and received from other Employer
purchasers, indicating their status in commerce and the amounts paid for sales and
services to the Employer As the record, apart from these letters, amply justifies the
assertion of jurisdiction in this ease, we find it unnecessary to resolve this issue.
95 NLRB No. 54.
R. J. GOULD WELDING AND ERECTING COMPANY, INC. 461
We find, contrary to the contentions of the Employer, that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act to assert
_] urisdiction.4
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 Petitioner seeks to represent a unit consisting of the em-
ployees in the Employer's machine and boiler shops, including ma-
cchinists, boilermakers, welders, and. blacksmiths. The Employer
opposes the formation of such a unit, contending that separate units
for each of the categories named should be established.
"The unit sought by the Petitioner comprises all the Employer's
"inside' or shop employees, as distinguished from the Employer's
"outside" employees, or erection and construction crews. The em-
ployees in the construction crews receive rates of pay that are consid-
'erably higher than those received by the inside employees, are sep-
arately supervised, do not report for work at either the machine or
boiler shop, and have no working contacts with the inside employees.
Neither the Petitioner nor the Employer desires their inclusion in
the unit sought herein .-I
The machine' and boiler shops are in two buildings separated by
'a small alley, but connected by ramps and doorways. Both shops are
engaged entirely in repair work. Although each group of employees
is under the separate supervision of a shop superintendent, there is
substantial employee interchange between the two shops. The black-
smith, although stationed generally in the boiler shop, is supervised
by the machine shop superintendent, and frequently, when not doing
blacksmith'work, assists in the work of either shop, wherever most
needed.
All the shop. employees are under the same general supervision, work
the, same hours, receive comparable rates of pay, are subject to the
same working conditions, and are in frequent contact with one another.
There is no collective bargaining history concerning these employees,
and no labor' organization seeks separately to represent any of the
crafts involved hereins We find that the machinists, boilermakers,
Hollow Tree Lumber Company , 91 NLRB 635.'
5 The Board has held that shop employees such as those here involved may be represented
separately from the erection and construction crews. John H. McCann and Hazel McCann
d/b/a McCann Steel Company, 94 NLRB No. 65.
6 Although a representative of the Boiler Makers Union was present at the hearing and
was invited to intervene , he declined to do so. The Employer asserts that it has bargained
with the various unions who usually represent the particular crafts employed by it, but
ao contracts were claimed to exist as bars to this proceeding.
462 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
welders, and blacksmith may be appropriately joined in a single plant-
wide unit of shop employees.7
There remains for consideration the inclusion in the unit of the
following disputed classifications :
The assistant superintendent or leader man in the boiler shop 8
spends most of his time working with the other employees in that
shop. Occasionally, when the boilermaker superintendent is absent,
the leader man allocates the work to the other employees. He has no
power at any time to make recommendations concerning a change in
the status of other employees in the shop. We find that the assistant
superintendent or leader man ih the boiler shop is not a supervisor
within the meaning of the Act, and shall include him in the unit.
The storeroom man hands out materials to the employees of both
shops and keeps a record of the materials used for the various jobs.
Occasionally, he assists in checking equipment at the rigging loft .9
As this employee spends most of his time working with and assisting
in the work of other employees in both shops, we shall include him
in the unit 10
The janitor works under the supervision of the machine shop super-
intendent and performs the janitorial services for both shops. He
works the same hours as the other employees. As the unit here found
appropriate is essentially a plant-wide unit of the Employer's inside
workers, we shall include the janitor, in the unit as a maintenance
employee 1-
We find that all employees employed at the Employer's Tampa,
Florida, machine shop and boiler shop, including, machinists, boiler-
makers, welders, the blacksmith, leader man in the boiler shop, store-
room man, and janitor, but excluding office, clerical, and professional
employees, guards, the assistant superintendent in the machine shop,
and all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appro-
priate for purposes of collective bargaining within the ineaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
7 Cf. Jackson Daily News , 86 NLRB 729. A
8 The parties agree that the assistant superintendent in the machine shop performs
the functions of a supervisor within the meaning of the Act, and should be excluded
from the unit.
The rigging loft is located about a block or so away from the shops. and is used as a
storage place for the materials for the outside employees . On infrequent occasions some
of the shop employees go there to assist in the work.
11 Boro Wood Products Commpany, Inc ., 88 NLRB 886.
21 Arch Browning, Inc., 91 NLRB No. 229.