Librascope, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 11, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 178 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of LIBRASCOPE, INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER-PETITIONER
and INTERNATIONAL ASSOOIATION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT LODGE
156, ON BEHALF OF LOCAL LODGE 1600', UNION
Case No 21 RM7-14d.Decided September 11, 1950
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Eugene M.
Purver, 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
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 National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Union, a labor organization, claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
• '-tion of the employees involved within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
:(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons :
The Employer is a manufacturer of precision instruments. It has
an engineering staff to design and create new instruments and a non-
engineering work force which includes, among others, production
:machinists, experimental machinists, and mechanical laboratory tech-
nicians. All employees in these three job categories have had machin-
ist training, but their work differs. The production machinists are
,engaged in mass production of the Employer's finished products. The
experimental machinists fabricate and assemble the prototypes of ma-
.chines to be manufactured on the production line or manufacture
machines for small run production. Both the production machinists
.and the experimental machinists work from detailed blueprints.
Both groups are responsible to the production manager.
The mechanical laboratory technicians, of whom there are two in
the nonsupervisory category, work in close association with the en-
gineers helping to translate theoretical design ideas into practical
91 NLRB No. 28.
178
LIBRASCO 'PE, INCORPORATED . 179
form. A considerable part of their work involves the designing, ere-
ating, and testing of components . They work not from blueprints,
but from ideas of the engineers expressed orally or in rough sketches.
The technicians work in a separate room under their own supervisor
who is responsible to the chief engineer. They are paid a salary,
unlike the production and experimental machinists who are hourly
paid.
The Union has represented the Employer's production and main-
tenance employees for a number of years. The most recent contract
signed on August 23, 1948, and renewed in 1949 for another year to
expire on August 23, 1950, lists wage rates for production and ex-
perimental machinists, but contains no rate for mechanical laboratory
technicians. This omission appears to have been deliberate. The po-
sition of mechanical laboratory technician was created by the Em-
ployer in 1947. In the negotiations which led to the signing of the
1948 agreement, the Union brought up the matter of including the
mechanical laboratory technicians in the contract. The Employer
objected and the Union allowed the matter to drop. However, the
contract contains the following clause :
In the event the jurisdiction of the union in regard to any new
occupational classification is in question, the union and the com-
pany will reach a mutual agreement.
On February 9-1, 1950, the Union sent a letter to the Employer claim-
ing, in substance, that the laboratory technicians were part of the
existing production and maintenance unit, and asking the Employer
to bargain for them. The Employer denied the claim and refused
the request to bargain. Subsequently, the Union filed a grievance
alleging that the Employer had violated its contract by unilaterally
establishing the title of "mechanical laboratory technician" and at-
tempting thereby to remove such classification from the appropriate
bargaining unit. The Employer denied that the Union's claim was a
proper subject for the grievance procedure and filed the present peti-
tion on March 23, 1950.
The Union denies that any question affecting commerce exists. It
asserts that ( a) the dispute is one over contract interpretation, (b)
the contract is a bar, and (c) the mechanical laboratory technicians
do' not constitute a separate unit, but are part of the existing pro-
duction and maintenance unit.
The work of the technicians differs from that of machinists; the
former are expected to be much more creative. They also work in
a separate room under their own supervisor who is responsible to
the chief engineer; whereas machinists are ultimately supervised by
the production manager. Technicians work with the engineers at
917572-51-vol. 91-13
180 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
nonproduction tasks ; machinists are engaged in production. Finally,
the history of the 1948 negotiations shows plainly that the technicians
were knowingly omitted from the coverage of the agreement. In view
of this diversity of interests and the bargaining history, we find that
the mechanical laboratory technicians are not included in the pro-
duction and maintenance unit.'
A question of representation may be brought to the Board's atten-
tion by the filing of an Employer's petition, but the question is raised
only by an affirmative claim of a labor organization that it represents
a majority of employees in an appropriate Unit .2 In the present case,
the Union's claim has been that the laboratory technicians are part
of its production and maintenance unit. We have found that they
are not. Therefore, no further question of representation exists.,,
We shall accordingly dismiss the petition.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition of the Employer filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
' Cf. Delta Manufacturing Division , Rockwell Manufacturing Company, 89 NLRB 1434.
z Coca-Cola Bottling Co . of Walla Walla, 80 NLRB 1063.
$ Button Corporation of America, 89 NLRB 967.