Gunnison Homes, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 3, 1952

98 N.L.R.B. 1048 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

1018 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
by the Smelter Workers 3 Following a Board-conducted election the
Engineers was certified as the bargaining representative of a unit of
employees, including junction-powerhouse employees now sought by
the Petitioner as a separate unit. Other AFL unions, including the
Petitioner, were certified at the same time to represent separate ap-
propriate units of the Employer's employees. Since then these unions
have bargained with the Employer for their respective, units through
the Council and have individually executed joint contracts covering
the various craft units.
Under these circumstances, we find, for the reasons set forth in
Phelps Dodge Corporation, New Cornelia Branch ,4 that a unit of
powerhouse employees, as requested by the Petitioner, separate and
apart from the other employees in the established craft unit is not
appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. Accordingly,
the Employer's and Intervenors' motion to dismiss the petition on
this ground is granted.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
41 NLRB 140.
98 NLRB 726.
GUNNISON HOMES, INC. and LODGE No. 681, DISTRICT No. 27, INTER-
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, PETITIONER
GUNNISON HOMES, INC. and LODGE No. 681, DISTRICT No. 27, INTER-
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, PETITIONER
GUNNISON HOMES, INC. and LODGE No. 681, DISTRICT No. 27, INTER-
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, PETITIONER
GUNNISON HOMES, INC. and UNITED FURNITURE WORKERS OF AMERICA,
CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS, PETITIONER
GUNNISON HOMES, INC. and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAM-
STERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA,
LOCAL UNION #89, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER. Cases Nos. 35-RC-
577, 35-RC--578, 35-RC-579, 35-RC-594, and 35-RC-623. April 3,
1952
Decision, Order, and Direction of Election
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
98 NLRB No. 157.
GUNNISON HOMES, INC. 1049
Richard C. Curry, 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 these cases to a three-mem-
ber panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in these cases, 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. Questions affecting commerce exist 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.
The Carpenters 2 asserts its contract covering the Employer's pro-
duction and maintenance employees as a bar to these proceedings. The
Petitioners 3 and the intervening Firemen 4 contend the agreement is
not a bar. The Employer took no position on this issue.
The contract is for the period January 12, 1951, to January 12, 1952,
and automatically renewable for annual periods thereafter, absent
notice to amend the agreement 60 days before any anniversary date.
As the petitions herein were filed before the automatic renewal date of
the contract, we find that it is not a bar to a present determination of,
representatives.
4. The appropriate units :
The Machinists, the Firemen, and the Teamsters seek to sever, from
the existing production and maintenance unit represented by the Car-
penters, separate alleged appropriate units described hereinafter. The
Carpenters, the Furniture Workers, and the Employer contend that
only an over-all unit is appropriate.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and distribution of
prefabricated homes at New Albany, Indiana. It maintains a ware-
house at the plant and two warehouses at Jeffersonville, Indiana,
approximately 6 miles from the New Albany plant, where raw ma-
terials and job items are stored. The Employer's operations are
organized into various departments, which are divided into divisions,
1 The various motions to dismiss on the ground of unit inappropriateness , as to which the
hearing officer reserved ruling for the Board , are disposed of by our unit findings in para-
graph numbered 4, below
2 Falls City Carpenters District Council , Local Union 1821, of the United Brotherhood
of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL.
8 United Furniture Workers of America, CIO, hereinafter called Furniture workers ;
Lodge No. 681 , District No. 27, International Association of Machinists , AFL, hereinafter
called the Machinists ; International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs , Warehouse-
men and Helpers of America , Local Union #89, A . F. of L ., hereinafter called the Team-
sters.
' International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers , A. F. of L ., Local No. 320
1050 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and the latter, in turn, are divided into sections. The employees in-
volved in these proceedings, all of whom are hourly paid, work in the
Employer's manufacturing department and in its materials depart-
ment.
Maintenance mechanics: The Machinists seeks to represent separate
alleged craft units of (a) maintenance machinists, (b) maintenance
electricians, and (c) automotive mechanics, with their alleged respec-
tive helpers and apprentices. In the alternative, they seek separate
units comprised of (a) maintenance machinists and automotive me-
chanics, and (b) electricians. Their third choice is a unit of all main-
tenance department employees.
The Employer's manufacturing department is divided into produc-
tion, shipping, service, and certain other divisions not here material.
The service division is in turn subdivided into a maintenance section
and other sections. All employees sought by the Machinists are em-
ployed in the maintenance section of the service division of the manu-
facturing department.
There are about 24 employees in this section, all of whom are'classi-
fied as maintenance mechanics or as maintenance mechanics helpers.
They are supervised by maintenance section shift supervisors who, in
turn, report to the manager of the service division. Their base of
operations is an area 75 by 40 feet,, adjacent to the production area but
separated from it by an 8-foot wire fence. The maintenance equipment
they use, such as a lathe, ,grinder, and drill press, is located in this
enclosure. The maintenance mechanics perform a wide variety of
maintenance tasks incident to the repair, adjustment, cleaning, and
servicing of production and plant equipment, such as welding, sheet
metal, machining, electrical, and other work throughout the plant as
required, as well as in the maintenance enclosure. Although each
maintenance mechanic is not required to be able to perform every
variety of maintenance work, he must be familiar with more than one
kind. Although the mechanics are used interchangeably as required
on various maintenance tasks, certain mechanics, by virtue of experi-
ence or adaptability, are used primarily, but not exclusively, to per-
form certain types of repairs, such as machine, electrical, or auto-
motive works However, the amount of time devoted to any particular
,kind of repair work varies and is dictated by plant needs. The Em-
ployer does not require the mechanics to have craft training nor does,
it have any formal training program. The mechanics' helpers are
not assigned to any particular mechanic nor to any particular variety
of maintenance work but assist any mechanic as need arises, thereby
becoming familiar with all phases of Employer's maintenance opera-
5 When major machining, electrical, and other repair, overhaul, or installation work is
necessary , it is done by outside contractors.
GUNNISON HOMES, INC. 1051
tions. Although some maintenance mechanics were hired directly
from outside the plant, maintenance section vacancies are usually filled
by transfer or promotion from the production section on the basis of
plant-wide seniority and individual qualifications. Production or
maintenance employees are occassionally, as need requires, temporarily
transferred between the production and maintenance sections. All
the maintenance section employees have the same supervision and,
like the other employees in the existing production and maintenance
unit, are hourly paid, have plant-wide seniority,6 and enjoy the same
overtime, holiday, vacation, insurance, and other benefits. Since 1938
the Employer's employees have been represented on a plant-wide basis.
Upon the record as a whole, we conclude that the employees sought
by the machinists are not craftsmen such as the Board normally finds
may be separately represented, and are not entitled to separate repre-
sentation on any other basis. We therefore find that separate units
of alleged machinists, electricians, or automotive mechanics are
inappropriate 7
With regard to the Machinists' alternative request for a separate
unit composed of machinists and automotive mechanics, it is clear that
under all the foregoing circumstances such a unit would constitute an
arbitrary segment of a group of employees performing the same type
of work .8 We therefore find this proposed unit inappropriate.
The Machinists' final request is for a unit of all the maintenance
employees. However, in view of their lack of craft status, their close
relationship to the production employees, the history of successful
bargaining on a broader basis for more than 20 years, and the long-
established Board practice of refusing to sever such maintenance em-
ployees from established production and maintenance units, we shall
not sever these employees on a departmental basis.°
Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petitions in Cases Nos. 35-RC-577,
578, and 579.
Boiler attendants: The Firemen seeks to represent separately the
four boiler attendants who comprise the Employer's utilities section,
a section of the service division. Like the maintenance section em-
ployees, these employees are under the supervision of the shift super-
visors and the manager of the service division. They work mainly
in the boiler room, which is physically attached to the main plant,
where they observe the gauges and dials of the Employer's four auto-
matically controlled boilers, which provide power for plant opera-
" When operations are halted for less than 5 days, seniority is applied on a departmental
basis.
' Sawyer Biscuit Company, 92 NLRB 1447.
s Lake Superior Refinnng Company, 96 NLRB No. 177; General Electric Company, 89
NLRB 726, 744.
1 Cincinnati Industries, Inc., 84 NLRB 489.
1052 , DECISIONS OF. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tions, to ascertain whether the boilers are operating properly. In the
event of any breakdown of the boilers, the operators notify the man-
ager of the service division, and necessary repairs are made by main-
tenance men. The boiler room operators also observe a device which
registers the moisture and temperature of the Employer's "dry kilns."
Humidity and temperature are controlled by the operators by opening
or closing a valve. The boiler operators are not required to be licensed.
Their work is not skilled and may be satisfactorily performed within
a week without previous experience. Three of the four boiler attend-
ants were transferred to the boiler room from the other production
and maintenance jobs. These employees enjoy the same employment
benefits as the production and maintenance employees, and are tem-
porarily transferred to other production and maintenance jobs as
needed.
Under the foregoing circumstances, we find that it would be inap-
propriate to sever the boiler room operators from the existing pro-
duction and maintenance unit io
Tiering equipment and motor truck operators; shipping and re-
ceiving employees: The Teamsters seeks a separate unit of truck driv-
ers, tow motor operators, shipping and receiving employees, and ware-
housemen. The Employer's incoming raw materials are handled by
the receiving and stores division of its materials department, which
receives and unloads such materials and distributes them to the points
of use in the various sections of the production division of the manu-
facturing department. The hourly paid employees in this division
who are sought by the Teamsters are classified as material handlers
and as tiering equipment and motor truck operators. They are under
the supervision of the manager of the receiving and stores division
and of salaried receiving and stores clerks. They distribute incoming
material in the plant by hand, hand truck, and fork lift truck. Most
of their work is done at the plant but some is done at the warehouses.
They have the same working conditions, including plant-wide senior-
ity, and receive the same benefits as the production division employees.
The shipping division loads and packs the Employer's products for
shipment. The hourly employees of this division, who are under the
supervision of salaried shipping clerks, include car and truck bracers
and tiering equipment and motor truck operators, who use tow motors
and fork lift trucks. Like the receiving and stores division em-
ployees, they receive the same benefits and enjoy the same working
conditions as the other hourly paid production and maintenance em-
ployees. Tow motor and tiering equipment operators can be trained
in a week or less and are not required to be licensed.
10 General Mills, Inc., 84 NLRB 831.
HOME BENEFICIAL LIFE INSURANCE CO. 1053
The Employer has four trucks which are used primarily to transport
material from the warehouses to the plant or to transport employees
between the plant and the warehouse. These vehicles are operated by
tiering equipment and motor truck operators. Generally the same
individuals drive the trucks, but they also devote about 25 percent of
their time to driving other vehicles in the plant or doing other as-
signed work, and other individuals sometimes operate the trucks.
All the Employer's products are delivered by contract carrier and not
by the Employer's trucks.
The work of the shipping division and of the receiving and stores
division employees is frequently performed in the various areas of
the manufacturing and materials department and, as necessity re-
quires, these employees are interchanged with production division
employees. We find that the work of the employees sought by the
Teamsters is interrelated with that of the other production and main-
tenance employees with whom they are closely allied in interest, and
that, upon the entire record herein, a separate unit of these employees
would not be appropriate. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition
in Case No. 35-RC-623.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Em-
ployer at its New Albany, Indiana, plant, and Jeffersonville, Indiana,
warehouses, excluding office and clerical employees, inspectors, check-
ers, shipping clerks, receiving and stores clerks, guards, professional
employees, and all supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act 11
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions in Cases Nos. 35-RC-577,
578, 579, and 623, be, and they hereby are, dismissed.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
11 The parties are in agreement as to the composition of an over -all unit.
HOME BENEFICIAL LIFE INSURANCE Co. and INSURANCE AND ALLIED
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE , CIO, PETITIONER . Case No.
32-RC-366. April 3, 1952
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 Anthony J. Sabella, hearing
98 NLRB No. 160.