Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 29, 1952

98 N.L.R.B. 1324 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

1324 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FEDERAL TELEPHONE AND RADIO CORPORATION and DISTRICT 161,
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, PETITIONER.
Case No. 2-RC-3992. April 29,1959
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Bernard Marcus,
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, Murdock, 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. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. The Employer and the Intervenor, Local 447, International
Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, contend that
a current collective bargaining contract constitutes a bar to this peti-
tion, and the Employer moved to dismiss'the petition on that ground.
The current contract was entered into on September 5, 1950, and is
fora period of 2 years. Article II, section 2 provides for the check-
off, after proper authorization by the employee, of regular current
monthly dues, special dues in an amount, to be certified by the Inter-
venor, not to exceed $6 in any year, and a single initiation fee. Article
II, section 7 provides :
In the event that Local 447, I. U. E. (CIO) should be authorized
pursuant to Section 9 (e) of the National Labor Relations Act,
as amended, to enter into an agreement requiring union member-
ship as a condition of employment for employees in the bargain-
ing unit, for which the Union is the collective bargaining agent,
then within ten (10) days after the date of such authorization,
the Company and the Union agree to enter into and execute a
supplemental agreement to be effective immediately on execution
thereof containing the following provisions :.. .
Those provisions required, among other things, that any employee
member or any new employee (who is required to join) shall "main-
tain his membership in the Union to the extent of paying regular
current monthly dues, special dues, and a single initiation fee." On
October 31, 1950, after an election conducted pursuant to Section 9
'(e), as it was then written, the Board certified that the Intervenor was
authorized to make an agreement with the Employer requiring mem-
98 NLRB No. 216.
FEDERAL TELEPHONE AND RADIO CORPORATION 1325
bership in such organization as a condition of employment, in con-
formity with Section 8 ( a) (3) of the Act. On July 20 , 1951, the
Employer and Intervenor executed an agreement which consisted'
of a new article II, section 7. The only change, however, was the
insertion of 30 -day grace periods for union members and new
employees after which membership and maintenance of membership
would become a condition of employment . The requirement of pay-
ment of special dues remained the same , and we find that such a
requirement became a part of the contract.
The international constitution , the Intervenor 's notices that special
dues for nonattendance would be deducted on checkoff , and the Inter-
venor's certification to the Employer requesting such deduction, make
apparent the fact that "special dues" consist of fines levied on the
members for failure to attend meetings . The Board has held 1 that
such fines are not within the term "periodic dues" as used in Section
8 (a) (3) of the Act, and thus their nonpayment may not serve as the
basis for the discharge of an employee . As the contract contains an
illegal union-security clause, we find that it cannot constitute a bar to
these proceedings , and the Employer 's motion to dismiss is hereby
denied. Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce
exists concerning the representation 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 sever , on a craft basis , seven separate
groups of maintenance employees from an existing unit of production
and maintenance employees at the Employer's Clifton, New Jersey,
plant,' as follows :
( 1) Electricians.
( 2) Millwrights.
(3) Pipefitters.
(4) Painters.
(5) Masons.
( 6) Powerhouse employees.
( 7) Carpenters and cabinetmakers.
The Employer contends that none of the units sought constitutes a
homogeneous craft group appropriately severable from the produc-
tion and maintenance unit and that none of the groups performs work
requiring craft skills. The Intervenor also urges that only the over-
all production and maintenance unit is appropriate.
The Employer 's production department is housed in a large two-
story building . There is a separate building for the maintenance
I The Electric Auto-Lute Company, 92 NLRB 1073. See also International Harvester
Company Foundry Division ( Louisville Works), 95 NLRB 730.
2 According to a stipulation by the parties, the Employer operates temporary warehouses
at Newark and Passaic, New Jersey . These operations are not involved in this proceeding.
1326 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
department, except for the powerhouse which is in another structure
by itself. Most of the maintenance employees punch the time clock
in the maintenance department building, although, some for, con-
venience punch in on the production department clocks when they are
assigned to one production area for a long period of time. With some
exceptions, which will be discussed hereinafter, the maintenance
employees work in mixed crews of craft classifications in production
areas, and spend but a small part of their time in the maintenance
department. Although maintenance employees in some instances are
assigned jobs by production foremen, they remain at all times under
the supervision of maintenance foremen who are responsible for the
quality of the work performed.
There is no formal apprenticeship program for any of the classi-
fications sought by the Petitioner, but from the testimony adduced at
the hearing and from the Employer's job descriptions it appears that
vacancies in the craft classifications are filled by persons qualified in
the craft by training and experience. -Seniority is both plant-wide
and classification-wide, and consequently there have been some trans-
fers, occasioned by reductions in force, of employees from the main-
tenance department to the production department and later back to
their maintenance jobs. Although there has been some interchange
of duties, especially during week-end "standby" when the plant is riot
in operation, the employees have adhered in general to traditional
craft lines. Testimony covered grievances which were brought by
various classifications in the maintenance department complaining
that production employees or other maintenance department em-
ployees were doing work belonging to the grievants' classifications.
1. Electricians.-There are approximately 40 first-class electricians.
The electricians perform all electrical work at the plant except the
rewinding of generators and motors. The work done includes the
repair of instrument panels and switches, the installation of such
equipment, and electrical construction work. Second-class electri-
cians replace cords on soldering irons and replace other cords, clean
motors, remove and replace small motors, and do the other more sim-
plified electrical work.
2. Millwrights.-There are approximately 34 millwrights. Their
duties consist of cleaning plating plates, moving machinery, laying out
and making repairs on foundations for machines, installing all presses,
maintaining the mechanical parts of the automatic plating machines
and heat treating furnaces, installing sheet metal duct work, rigging,
installing conveyor lines and systems, maintenance welding, installing
FEDERAL TELEPHONE, AND RADIO CORPORATION 1327
and repairing all shafting that is installed between bearings, making
and installing machine guards, checking all machines after they are
set up, and doing routine checking work on machinery throughout
the plant. Repair work is done on bearing shafts, fly wheels, arms,
gears, and in the paint-spray booths. One millwright is regularly
assigned to the plating department on 30-day assignments to do small
repairs. There is some overlapping on certain parts of the job with
machinery repairmen-production department employees-who re-
place worn gears on machines, and with vacuum tube mechanics-also
production department employees-who move and install machinery
in the vacuum tube division.
3. Pipe fitters.-The pipefitters, of whom there are approximately
16, spend almost all of their time outside of the maintenance depart-
ment building, but there are benches equipped for pipefitters' work
in the maintenance shop, and some work, such as threading pipes, is
done there. The pipefitters' duties include the installation and repair
of all gas, water, and steam lines, estimation of the time and materials
involved in a job, care of all temperature control apparatus in the
plant including rebuilding of the controls when necessary, installation
and maintenance of heating and ventilation systems and relief valves,
and plumbing work. Although pipefitters do only pipefitting work,
there is some overlapping with the duties of vacuum tube mechanics.
4. Painters.-There are four painters whose duties include the mix-
ing of simple colors, cutting of glass, repairing of surfaces for paint-
ing, some stippling, high grade finishing of offices, some color match-
ing, outside maintenance painting of windows and smokestacks, and
inside maintenance painting of machinery. One of the painters
spends most of his time scraping paint off the spray booths and coat-
ing the booths with a rubber composition.
5. Masons.-The masons, of whom there are two, repair all wooden
blocks in the floor, lay asphalt tile, and do cement, plaster, brick, and
cinder block work. They are assisted from time to time by other
classifications of employees in order to get emergency jobs done.
6. Powerhouse employees.-The four powerhouse employees, who
are all licensed firemen as required by law, perform the usual duties
of powerhouse employees in or around the boilerhouse which is lodged
in a separate building.
From the facts set forth above, and the entire record, the Board
finds that the electricians, millwrights, pipefitters, painters, and ma-
sons, respectively, possess the traditional skills of their craft and are
entitled to separate representation, if they so desire. It is also appar-
1328 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ent from the record that the powerhouse employees form a distinct,
homogeneous, and functionally coherent group of a type which the
Board has customarily held may constitute a separate appropriate
unit.
7. Carpenters and cabinetmakers.-There are approximately 30
carpenters, of whom 14 work all of the time in the carpenter shop
which is located in the maintenance building.
The employees working in the carpenter shop are primarily engaged
in the construction of boxes which are used for the shipment of
some of the Employer's larger products. About 80 percent of the
boxes is built individually, and the rest on an assembly line basis.
Cable boards (smooth boards used for winding cables), tote boxes
(wooden trays used in the production areas), and work benches are
also made in the carpenter shop. One employee is assigned regularly
to the nailing machine, one is assigned to each of the two swing
saws , and the remainder works at the work benches. The shipping
boxes (other than those , formerly purchased from outside) were
formerly made by the packers in the packing department. When
the carpenter shop was set up, several packers were transferred to
the shop as carpenters. There is also a carpenter stationed in the
packing department who cuts diagonals and special bracing for
boxes as the equipment manufactured by the Employer is placed in
the boxes prior to shipping.
- The carpenters who work throughout the plant are engaged in
building partitions, repairing equipment, hanging doors and windows,
1 rimming windows, and doing general carpentry work in the plant.
We believe that these carpenters exercise the usual skills found in
their craft, and may constitute, if they so desire, a separate bar-
gaining unit. The "carpenters" working in the carpenter or box
shop and the "carpenter" in the packing department, however, do
not seem to be doing work requiring the craft's skills nor having
craft characteristics.3 We therefore shall exclude them from the
carpenters' voting group.
There are four cabinetmakers and one cabinetmaker and finisher
under the supervision of the carpenter foreman who has charge of
the carpenter shop. The finisher works in a separate room in the
maintenance building next to the carpenter shop. The other cabi-
netmakers work in a corner of the carpenter shop. A majority of
the time of these employees is spent in making and finishing tele-
8 General Electric Company, 89 NLRB 726, 755.
FEDERAL TELEPHONE AND RADIO CORPORATION 1329
phone switchboard cabinets in which they use a variety of woods.
These cabinets are finished like pieces of furniture and become part
of the finished product, a telephone switchboard. The remainder
of the time of the cabinetmakers and finisher is spent in repairing
cabinets which have been marred during production, making fan-
ning strips (which are pieces of maple wood about one-half inch
thick and are used in the manufacture of the Employer's products),
making instrument boxes, and finishing and repairing office furniture.
We shall include the cabinetmakers and finishers in the voting group
with the carpenters.4
In accordance with the above determinations, we shall direct sep-
arate elections among the following groups of employees at the Em-
ployer's Clifton, New Jersey, plant, excluding therefrom guards and
supervisors :
All electricians.
All millwrights.
All pipefitters.
All painters.
All masons.
All powerhouse employees.
All carpenters, excluding the carpenters assigned to the
carpenter shop (box shop) and the carpenters permanently
assigned to the packing department, and all cabinetmakers
and cabinet finishers.
If a majority of the employees in any of the voting groups de-
scribed in paragraph numbered 4 indicate, by voting for the Peti-
tioner, their desire to be represented in a separate unit, the Board
finds such unit to be appropriate, and the Regional Director conduct-
ing the elections directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of
representatives to the Petitioner for each such unit. If a majority of
the employees in any of the voting groups vote for the Intervenor,
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to continue to be
included in the existing production and maintenance unit, and the
Regional Director shall issue a certificate of results of elections to
that effect.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted froln publication in this
volume.]
* No one opposes the Petitioner 's request for inclusion of the cabinetmakers in this
unit in the event that the Board grants severance of craft units.