Ravenna Arsenal, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 11, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 1129 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

RAVENNA ARSENAL, INC. 1129
the instant record shows that these employees are, in fact, guards
within the meaning of the Act, the Board, of its own motion, will
amend its certification in Case No. 2-RC-1897 to exclude guard-
watchmen.4 Accordingly, we find that the current contract between
the Employer and the UE operates as a bar to an immediate de-
termination of representatives. We shall therefore dismiss the instant
petition.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the instant petition be, and it hereby
is, dismissed.
4 The inclusion of guard -watchmen in the prior proceeding is not binding on the Board
for the reason that, in that proceeding, the parties agreed to the composition of the unit
and no evidence was taken as to the propriety of the inclusion or exclusion of these
employees, Gulf Refining Company, 64 NLRB 304
RAVENNA ARSENAL, INC. and BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN,
PETITIONER
FIRESTONE RUBBER COMPANY ( RAVENNA ARSENAL , INC.) and BROTHER-
HOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND ENGINEMEN , PETITIONER. Cases
Nos. 8-RC-1636 and 8-RC-1651. September 11, 1952
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Charles A. Fleming, 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-
inember panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and
Murdock].
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 em-
ployees of the Employer.
' At the hearing, the Intervenor , United Steelworkers of America , CIO, moved to dismiss
the petition in Case No. 8-RC-1636 on the ground . that the local chartered by the Peti-
tioner in that case , Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen , herein called the Trainmen, for
the purpose of representing the employees sought herein , has not complied with the filing
requirements of Section 9 (f), (g), and ( h) of the Act . The fact of compliance by a labor
organization which is required to comply is a matter for administrative determination and
is not litigable by the parties . Moreover , the Board is administratively satisfied that the
Trainmen and its local are in compliance . See Sunbeam Corporation, 94 NLRB 844;
Swift & Company, 94 NLRB 917 . Cf. N. L. R. B. v. Highland Park Manufacturing Com-
pany, 341 U. S. 322.
100 NLRB No. 168.
1130 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD -
3. The Intervenor contends that an election held on October 2, 1951).
in a unit of the Employer's production and maintenance employees
is a bar to an election among railroad employees at this times At the
time this election was held, all the employees sought to be represented
herein were civil service employees of the Federal Government. Con-
sequently, they could not and did not vote in the 1951 election and were
not covered by the Board certification which followed the Intervenor's
winning of the election 4 On March 3, 1952, the Employer took over
the operation of the arsenal railroad transportation facilities, together
with other functions formerly performed by the Government, and the
railroad personnel were transferred to the Employer. As the rail-
road employees were not included in the unit in the October 1951
election, because they were not employees of the Employer at that
time, Section 9 (c) (3) does not preclude a present election among
them.'
Accordingly, we find that questions affecting commerce exist con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) (7) of the Act.
4. In Case No. 8-RG-1636, the Trainmen seeks to represent a unit
composed of all conductors, brakemen, and yardmasters employed at
the Ravenna Ordnance plant operated by the Employer for the United
States Government. The Petitioner in Case No. 8-RC-1651, herein-
after called the Locomotive Firemen, seeks to represent a unit con-
sisting of all locomotive engineers (Diesel-electric locomotive engi-
neers), locomotive crane engineers, locomotive firemen (oilers, helpers,
or second men on Diesel-electric locomotives), hostlers, and hostler
helpers s employed at the same plant. The Employer and the Steel-
workers contend that the proposed units are inappropriate because
only a plant-wide unit is appropriate. The Employer further urges
that, in the event the Board determines that the employees sought
herein may constitute separate units, yardmasters should be excluded
from the unit requested by the Trainmen, and locomotive crane engi-
neers should be excluded from the unit requested by the Locomotive
Firemen. The Steelworkers also urges that, if these employees are
entitled to separate representation, both groups, together with the
Employer's railroad maintenance and equipment repair employees not
2 Case No. 8-RC-1411 ( not reported).
2 Section 9 ( c) (3) provides , in part : "No election shall be directed in any bargaining
unit or any subdivision within which , in the preceding twelve-month period , a valid elec-
tion shall have been held. . . "
4 See Higgins, Inc., 73 NLRB 543, 545. Cf. Bausch and Lomb Optical Company, 92
NLRB 139, 140.
5 Florida Citrus Canners Cooperative, Inc, 96 NLRB 1021.
6 As the Employer does not presently employ any individuals in the classifications of
hostler and hostler helpers, and has no definite expectation of employing them , we shall
make no determination concerning the unit placement of these classifications.
RAVENNA ARSENAL, INC. 1131
sought herein should be established as a single unit. There is no
recent bargaining history concerning any of these employees?
The Employer, in furtherance of its operation of the Ravenna
Ordnance Center for the Government, operates its own locomotives
and railway cars over approximately 175 miles of standard gauge
railroad track within the plant area of about 32 square miles. The
train crews that operate these trains transport supplies, ordnance
products, and other materials to and from the tracks of the Pennsyl-
vania, Baltimore and Ohio, and Erie railroads, the three common
carriers servicing the ordnance center. Although the tracks of the
ordnance center connect with those of the three trunk line railroads,
the Employer's railroad crewmen are seldom required to operate on
the tracks of the common carriers. The locomotive engineers and the
locomotive crane engineers operate standard Diesel electric loco-
motives. They, as well as all other train crewmen, work under rules
similar to those of trunk line railroads and utilize the same safety
devices and equipment as the latter.
The Employer has five regular train crews operating during the
day, or second, shift, four crews on the third shift, and two crews on
the first shift, each consisting of a conductor, engineer, and brakeman.
It also has three locomotive crane crews, each composed of an engineer
and an oiler. All train crews, with the exception of locomotive crane
crewmen, are assigned to the railroad transportation department
where they work under the general foreman, or supervising yard-,
master, in charge of that department. Locomotive crane crewmen are
assigned to the engineering department but, like all the other train
crewmen, are responsible to the engine house, or roundhouse, foreman
for the mechanical operation of their equipment, and to the super-
vising yardmaster while operating on the regular tracks in the plant
yard. There is no evidence of any interchange between railroad per-
sonnel and the other plant employees.
It is clear -that the railroad employees sought in this proceeding
perform the customary duties of employees in their classifications.
Although the Board on occasion has joined locomotive engineers with
other trainmen in a single bargaining unit," it has also found separate
units of locomotive engineers appropriate where their craft character-
istics were clearly shown .9 As it is evident that the Employer's loco-
motive engineers are highly skilled employees who perform the tradi-
tional work of that craft, we find that they may be established as a
7 The record indicates that the railroad employees, during the past 5 -year period of
their Government employment , have not been represented by any union for the purposes of
collective bargaining. Before the Federal Government took - over operation of the
Ravenna Ordnance Center and while it was operated by the Atlas Powder Company, the
railroad employees were represented by the Trainmen and the Locomotive Firemen.
8 Kaiser Steel Corp , 87 NLRB 043 ; Southland Paper Mills, Inc., 81 NLRB 330.
D Worthington Pump and Machinery Corp., 93 NLRB 527; The Eagle-Picher Mining ci
Smelting Company, 71 NLRB 1337.
1132 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
separate bargaining unit. As the conductors and brakemen sought
by the Trainmen also perform duties similar to those of other groups
of trainmen to whom the Board has accorded the opportunity of sepa-
rate representation; we find that they also may constitute a separate
unit.lo
There remains for consideration the unit placement of individuals in
certain other classifications who the Employer contends should be
excluded from the requested units.
Yardmasters: The three yardmasters, under the direction of the
general transportation foreman, are responsible for the movement and
placement of railway cars throughout the plant. They have their
headquarters in the transportation office in the plant railroad yards,
from which they maintain constant radio contact with the various
train crews, directing, them as to the proper and safe methods of
operation. All conductors receive their daily work assignments and
track clearance orders from yardinasters, one of whom is assigned to
each shift. On the first and third shifts yardmasters are in, complete
charge of all plant railroad operations. They have the authority
effectively to recommend the hire, discharge, and discipline of rail-
road crewmen. In these circumstances, we find that the yardmasters
are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. We shall therefore
exclude them from the voting group of trainmen hereinafter
established.
Locomotive crane engineers: The three locomotive crane engineers
operate Diesel electric locomotives with controls similar to those of
the regular locomotives. Their work is similar to that of locomotive
engineers assigned to "work" trains of trunk line railroads, consisting
of the loading and unloading of heavy machinery and other materials,
and the moving and switching of railway cars. They must be qualified
in the same manner as the regular locomotive engineers to operate
on the main yard tracks and must adhere to the same operating rules
as the latter employees. As there is no distinction in the Employer's
operating requirements and qualifications for the two classes of loco-
motive engineers, we shall include locomotive crane engineers in the
engineers' voting group's The locomotive crane oilers are regularly
assigned as helpers, or second men, to the locomotive crane engineers.
We shall include them in the same voting group.
As the locomotive engineers and the trainmen may also be appro-
priately represented as a part of the production and maintenance
unit currently represented by the Steelworkers, we shall make no final
unit determinations at this time. Accordingly, we shall direct that
separate elections be conducted among the following groups of em-
ployees at the Employer's Apco, Ohio, plant :
10 The Eagle-Picher Mining & Smelting Company, supra, and cases cited therein.
11 See Worthington Pump and Machinery Corp., supra . Cf. Republic Steel Corporation,
84 NLRB 483.
COBURN CATERING COMPANY 1133
(a) All conductors and brakemen excluding all other employees,
yardmasters, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.
(b) All locomotive engineers (Diesel-electric locomotive engineers),
locomotive crane engineers, locomotive firemen (oilers or second men
on locomotive cranes), and Diesel mechanic, excluding all other
employees and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
If a majority in either voting group vote for the respective Peti-
tioners, 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 Petitioners, for such group,
.described above, which the Board, under the circumstances, finds to
be appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. If a ma-
jority in either, or both, voting groups vote for the Intervenor, such
group, or groups, will be taken to have indicated a desire to be bar-
gained for as a part of the existing production and maintenance unit,
and the Regional Director is instructed to issue a certification of results
of election to such effect.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
OTHA T. COBURN, INDIVIDUAL, D/B/A COBURN CATERING COMPANY and
DISTRICT LODGE 776, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,
AFL, PETITIONER
OTHA T. COBURN, INDIVIDUAL, D/B/A COBURN VENDING SERVICE and
DISTRICT LODGE 776, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,
AFL, PETITIONER. Cases Nos. 16-RC-1105 and 16-RC-1108. Sep-
tember 11, 1952
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
William H. Renkel, Jr., 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-
member panel [Members Houston, Styles, and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds:
1. The business of the Employers::,
Coburn Catering Company, herein called Catering, operates a
cafeteria and a number of food wagons within the Fort Worth, Texas,
plant of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (Fort Worth,
Division), herein called Consolidated. In the past year, Catering
made total purchases of approximately $660,000, of which less than
' The names of the Employers appear in the caption as amended at the hearing.
100 NLRB No. 175.