S & S Corrugated Paper Machinery Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 16, 1951

93 N.L.R.B. 333 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

S & S CORRUGATED PAPER MACHINERY CO. 333
-s & S CORRUGATED PAPER MACHINERY Co. and LOCAL 3, INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL and DISTRICT No. 15,
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONERS. Cases
Nos. 2-RC-2644 and d-RC-f750. February 16, 1951
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Jerome A.
Reiner, 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 [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. Local No. 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,
AFL, the Petitioner in Case No. 2-RC-2644, herein called the IBEW,
and International Association of Machinists, the Petitioner in Case
No. 2-RC-2750, herein called the IAM, are labor organizations claim-
ing 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. The IBEW seeks a unit of all the Employer's maintenance and
construction electricians. The IAM seeks a unit of all of the Em-
ployer's production and maintenance employees, excluding electricians,
-timekeepers, office clerical and professional employees, watchmen,
guards, and supervisors. The Employer opposes the IBEW's request
for a separate unit of electricians on the grounds : (1) The employees
requested by the IBEW are tin integral part of the production process ;
<2) they do not possess craft skills; (3) there is close integration of
ork among all employees; and (4) a separate unit of electricians
-would only serve to hamper industrial relations in the plant and
disrupt the processes 'of collective bargaining. There is no history
of collective bargaining for any of the employees involved in this
proceeding.
The Employer is engaged in the business of designing and manu-
facturing machinery for the corrugated paper and fiber container
industry. At the time of the hearing there were four electricians
who worked under the supervision of the plant engineer,' who is also
1 The plant engineer is also known as the electrical foreman. He is a licensed
electrician.
93 NLRB No. 50.
334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS $OARD
in charge of the Employer's three guards and other maintenance
employees 2
The electricians are engaged in the work of wiring electrical equip-
ment and machinery, locating trouble in and repairing electrical equip-
ment and motors, and maintaining and servicing air-conditioning
units and air compressors. Most of the machinery manufactured_
by the Employer is driven by electric motors. In the course of
the manufacture of the machines it is necessary to have electrical
equipment installed in the machines. This is done by the electricians-
who follow wiring diagrams or blueprints. If no blueprints have
been made up for their use, they follow the instructions of the elec-
trical foreman.
All electrical maintenance work throughout the plant is done by
the electricians. They do all electrical wiring in the plant including
the wiring of the' panel boards, and the wiring and hanging of fix-
tures when new lighting systems are put in the plant. They main-
tain and repair the plant elevators which are driven by electric
motors. In the course of this work they also attend to any mechanical
troubles in the worm gears of the elevators. They maintain and re-
pair electrically the heating, intercommunication, public address, and
signal systems in the plant. They have done electrical construction
work which entailed installation of electric power ducts, conduits,
and wiring for the lights, heating system, and electrical hoists. The
electrical department is also responsible for maintaining the gasoline-
driven intraplant trucks and for electrical and mechanical work on the
Employer's gasoline-powered crane and its Diesel engines.3
Occasionally the electricians work with the steam fitters and as-
semblers who are engaged in production work. Each group, how-
ever, does only its own type of work. The electricians do not make
any of the parts for the machinery which the Employer manufactures,
and no other employees do electrical work to any appreciable degree
in the plant.4 The record does not show that any electricians have -
ever been transferred to production work, or that they regularly inter-
change with any other employees.
Although the Employer maintains no formal apprenticeship pro-
gram for the employees involved, we are satisfied that they exercise
in substantial degree the skills of the electrical craft. While the elec-
z There are five carpenters , three pipe fitters, and two Janitors under electrical depart-
ment supervision.
8 The gasoline trucks and Diesel engines have electric generators . The millwrights also,
work on these trucks.
4 Sometimes the assemblers help the electricians pull wires through holes which have
been drilled in the equipment and machines . The assemblers may also disconnect nma-
chines by either removing a fuse or pulling a plug out of an electric outlet. When the
electricians are busy, the assemblers may strip finished machinery of the electrical wi.rmg
used for testing the machinery.
S & S CORRUGATED PAPER MACHINERY CO. 335
tricians make some mechanical repairs, the record shows that they
are primarily engaged in electrical work.5 Although the electricians
are assigned to tasks throughout the plant, they do not interchange
with other groups of employees e Nor is it material that they some-
times work together with other production and maintenance em-
ployees in the' assembly of the Employer's finished product, for it is.
clear that at such times they are nevertheless required to exercise the
skills of their craft.'
While a production and maintenance unit including electricians is
appropriate, the record does not support the Employer's contention
that the work of the electricians is so integrated with the production
process that a separate unit of electricians is not also appropriate.s
We also find no merit in the Employer's contention that to find
appropriate a separate unit of electricians would hamper industrial
relations in the plant and disrupt the processes of collective bargain-
smg.
We find, therefore, that the electricians in this case, who comprise
an identifiable homogeneous craft group, may, if they so desire, con-
stitute a separate bargaining unit. We shall, however, make no final
unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of
these employees as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. If'
a majority vote for the IBEW, they will be taken to have indicated.
their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit.
We shall direct elections among the employees of the Employer in
its Brooklyn, New York, plant, in the following voting groups, ex-
cluding from each group all supervisors :
(1) All production and maintenance employees, excluding electri-
cians, timekeepers, office, clerical, and professional employees, watch-
men, and guards.
(2) All maintenance and construction electricians.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this,
volume.]
5 The work done by other employees which might be considered as electrical , is only of-
a minor nature . Cf. Danly Machine Specialties, Inc., 90 NLRB No. 14; Bunker Hill and
Sullivan Mining and Concentrating Company, et al, 89 NLRB 243.
O The few temporary transfers into the electrical department revealed in the record, do-
not destroy the identity of these employees as a distinct and homogeneous group.
7 The Baldwin Locomotive Works, Eddystone Division, 89 NLRB 403.
5 The Atlantic Refining Company , 92 NLRB 651; A. C. Spark Plug Division, Gen.
eral Motors Corporation, 88 NLRB 1214 ; American Hoist & Derrick Company, 88 NLRB
219.
1 The Atlantic Refining Company, supra; McDonnell Aircraft Corporation , 92 NLRB:;
899.