Nesco, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 29, 1952

101 N.L.R.B. 147 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

NESCO, INC. 147
We find that the following employees of the Employer at its Dallas,
Texas, plant, constitute separate units appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
(1) All lithograhic production employees, including offset press-
men and their helpers, cameramen, platemakers, and layout-opaquing
employees, but excluding proofreaders, composition-reproduction
proofreaders, varitypists, paper cutters, and all other employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
(2) All letterpressmen and their helpers, including the lockup man,
but excluding the washup man, stock cutters, and all other employees,
and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
NESCO, INC. and UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF
AMERICA, LOCAL #904, A. F. L., PETITIONER. Case No.13-RC-2747.
October 29, 1952
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 George Squillacote, 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson].
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 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.!
a The Employer and Fabricated Metal and Enamelware Workers' Union , Federal Labor
Union No. 23237, hereinafter called the Enamelware Workers, an Intervenor herein, en-
tered into a contract covering production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
plant, including employees involved herein, effective from October 18, 1951, to October 18,
1952, and thereafter from year to year in the absence of a 60-day notice before any ex-
piration date. As the Petitioner filed its petition on May 16, 1952 , before the automatic
renewal date of the contract, and as the contract has already terminated, we find, contrary
to the contention of the Employer and the Enamelware Workers , that the contract is no
bar to this proceeding. Krueger Sentry Gauge Co ., and Krueger Metal Products , Inc., 98
NLRB 420; Shenango Pottery Company, 85 NLRB 490.
101 NLRB No. 42.
242305-53-11
148 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4. The Petitioner seeks to sever from a larger bargaining unit at the
Employer's Jacksonville, Illinois, plant (1) a single unit of mill-
wrights, carpenters, and welders, or (2) a combined unit of millwrights
and welders and a separate unit of carpenters, or (3) separate units
of millwrights, carpenters, and welders, respectively. International
Association of Machinists, Lodge No. 1715, hereinafter called the
IAM, another Intervenor herein, alleging that millwrights and car-
penters may not be joined in a single bargaining unit, seeks a separate
unit of millwrights at the plant. The Employer and the Enamelware
Workers contend that, because of the bargaining history on a broader
basis, the employees sought by the Petitioner and the IAM may not
constitute a separate appropriate unit or units at this time. The
parties, although their positions on these issues are not entirely clear,
further disagree as to the group placement of certain categories,
discussed below.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of electrical appliances
at its plant at Jacksonville, Illinois, the only location immediately
involved herein. The Employer's millwrights, carpenters, and welder
perform the customary duties of their usual and respective classi-
fications.
The single unit of millwrights, carpenters, and welders and the
combined unit of millwrights and welders sought by the Petitioner
constitute multicraft groupings of employees, such as the Board does
not establish as separate units in the face of bargaining history on a
more inclusive basis 2 The Employer's single welder may not alone
constitute an appropriate unit.3 We therefore deny the Petitioner's
requests for (1) a single unit of millwrights, carpenters, and welders,
(2) a combined unit of millwrights and welders, or (3) a separate unit
of welders. However, the severance of individual craft groups, where
feasible, is not precluded by bargaining history on a broader basis'
We therefore find that the Employer's millwrights and carpenters,
with their respective apprentices, may each, if they so desire, constitute
a separate bargaining unit.5 Millwrights and carpenters may also
remain part of the existing production and maintenance unit. We
shall therefore make no determination as to the scope of the unit or
units appropriate for these employees, until we have first ascertained
their desires as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed.
Disputed Categories
Helpers assist millwrights, carpenters, pipefitters, and the welder.
There appears to be frequent transfer of helpers between millwrights
2 Hudson Pulp & Paper Corporation, 94 NLRB 1018.
3 Savage Arms Corporation, 89 NLRB 1366
4 Hudson Pulp & Paper Corporation, supra.
5 Campbell Soup Company, 98 NLRB 741.
NESCO, INC. 149
and carpenters. The car blocker spends about two-thirds of his work-
ing time in loading and unloading cars and the remainder in cutting
boards and blocking cars. Although in the latter work he uses the
usual tools of a carpenter, he does not appear to exercise the charac-
teristic skills of the craft. The guard builder was hired as, and
occasionally exercises the skills of, a millwright. Normally, however,
he spends about four-fifths of his time in making guards and the
remainder in Welding them on machines. He appears to spend the
greater part of his time in noncraft work. In view of the foregoing,
we shall exclude, among others, helpers, the car blocker, and the guard
builder from the voting groups hereinafter established.6 However,
the bargaining representative for millwrights, if one be selected, may
bargain with the Employer for the guard builder's time spent as a
millwright.7
We shall direct separate elections by secret ballot among employees
in the following groups of employees at the Employer's Jacksonville,
Illinois, electrical appliance plant, excluding from each voting group,
helpers, the car blocker, the guard builder, the welder,8 professional
employees, all other employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
Group 1: All millwrights and their apprentices.
Group 2: All carpenters and their apprentices.
As indicated above, we shall make no final unit determination at
this time for employees in groups 1 or 2 but shall first ascertain their
desires as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. If a ma-
jority of employees in group 1 vote for the Petitioner or the IAM,
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate
appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the elections
directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of representatives
to the Petitioner or the IAM, as the case may be, for such group, which
the Board, under such circumstances, finds to be a unit appropriate
for purposes of collective bargaining. If a majority of employees in
group 2 vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated
their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit, and the Regional
Director is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the
Petitioner for such group, which the Board, under such circumstances,
finds to be a unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. If
t majority of employees in groups 1 or 2 or in each of these groups
vote for the Enamelware Workers, the Regional Director shall issue a
6 See Standard Oil Company of California, 79 NLRB 1466 , and Nat Linzer and Saul
Linzer, co -partners doing business as Everla8t Process Printing Co., 98 NLRB 1313.
l Holtville Alfalfa Mills, Inc., 98 NLRB 1183, and cases cited therein.
s The welder is not regularly assigned to work with either group of employees. We
therefore exclude the welder from both groups and leave him in the residual production
and maintenance unit. International Paper Company ( Southern Kraft Division), 96
NLRB 295.
150 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
certification of results of election or elections concerning such group
or groups, which will remain part of the existing unit.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
RICHARDSON SCALE COMPANY and SHEET METAL WORKERS LOCAL
UNION No. 172, AFL, PETITIONER . Case No. 2-RC-4651. October
°29,1952
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 Arthur Goldberg,
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-mem-
ber 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 Petitioner and the International Association of Machinists,
Lodge 1170, the Intervenor, claim to represent certain 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 Petitioner seeks to sever a unit of all sheet metal workers 1
from the existing production and maintenance unit represented by
the Intervenor since 1942.2 The Employer and the Intervenor contend
that the sheet metal workers are not craftsmen and therefore should
not be severed from the historical plant-wide unit.
The Employer, which is engaged in the manufacture of scales,
packers, compound bins, bag conveyors, sewing machines, and electrical
panels, employs approximately 75 sheet metal workers. With the
exception of 1 employee, these employees constitute departments 7
and 25, the sheet metal departments, which are located and supervised
separately from other departments. Each department is under a fore-
man who reports directly to the plant manager. The one employee
referred to above is classified as a sheet metal worker but is located
1 At the hearing, the Petitioner's motion to redefine the unit described in the petition
was granted.
2 Pursuant to a consent election in Case No 2-R-3105 , the Intervenor was certified as
representative of an over-all unit of the Employer's production and maintenance em-
ployees. Neither the Employer nor the Intervenor urges the current contract as a bar
to this proceeding.
101 NLRB No. 24.