Rheem Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 8, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 564 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

564 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the two labor organizations are not paid on the same basis. While both
organizations seek and receive the same hourly rate of pay, members of
Carpenters receive time and one-half for hours worked in excess of six daily,
whereas members of IATSE do not receive the higher rate until the daily hours
have exceeded eight. Thus,-based upon an 8-hour day, carpenters receive a
higher daily rate of pay. According to Rossal, this information relative to which
organization the employee is affiliated with is provided by the superintendent
solely for the assistance of the payroll department in computing payrolls. It
would appear that these varying overtime pay practices are promulgated by
the respective labor organizations and not the Company. Under the foregoing
circumstances, the undersigned makes no finding of an unfair labor practice
predicated upon the use of this form.
The undersigned will therefore recommend that the complaint be dismissed
in its entirety.
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire record
in the case, the undersigned makes the following:
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. The operations of Respondent Company affect commerce within the mean-
ing of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
2. International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees and its Local
Union 44, and Studio Carpenters Local 946, United Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners of America, AFL, are labor organizations within the meaning of
Section 2 (5) of the Act.
3. Respondent Company has not engaged in unfair labor practices within
the meaning of Section 8 (a) (1), (2), and (3) of the Act.
4. Respondent Union has not engaged in unfair labor practices within the
weaning of Section 8 (b) (1) (A) and (2) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication in this volume.]
RIIEEM MANUFACTURING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD
OF, ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION 11, AMERICAN FEDERATION
OF LABOR, PETITIONER. Case No. 21-RC4516. August 8, 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 Fred W. Davis, 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].
i 'At the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the
unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate . For the reasons expressed in paragraph
numbered 4, infra, his motion is denied.
100 NLRB No. 88.
RHEEM MANUFACTUR ING COMPANY 565
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 2
4. Since April 30, 1941, the Intervenor has represented production
and maintenance employees at the Employer's South Gate, California,.
plant, including electricians, in a single unit. The Petitioner now
seeks to sever, and represent as a separate unit, maintenance and con-
struction electricians and their apprentices or full-time helpers at
the plant, excluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in
the Act. The Employer and the Intervenor oppose the severance,
alleging (1) that the Employer is engaged in the "basic steel" industry
and severance should be denied under the doctrine of the National
Tube Company 3 and Scullin Steel C0.4 cases; (2) that the proposed
unit is not a true craft group; and (3) that the highly integrated
operations of this plant preclude the severance of any craft group
from the existing production and maintenance unit, established by
10 years' bargaining history.
The severance of the proposed group is not precluded, as the Em-
ployer contends, by the doctrine of the National Tube Company and
Scullin Steel Co. cases, in which the Board enunciated the principle
that, due to the integrated nature of operations in the "basic steel"
industry, it will deny, in that industry, severance of a craft from a
production and maintenance unit. The Employer's South Gate plant
is principally engaged in the fabrication of various metal products b
from pressed sheet steel. It does not produce ingot steel, rolled steel,
or sheet metal products, which are the principal products of the "basic
steel" industry. Accordingly, we find that the Employer's South Gate
plant is not primarily engaged in the "basic steel" industry and that
2 The Employer and United Steelworkers of America, Local 3941, CIO, the Intervenor
herein, contend that their existing contract, as supplemented, is a bar to the instant peti-
tion The contract in question was originally executed on September 18, 1950, to be effec-
tive from July 1, 1950, to July 1, 1952, with a 60-day automatic renewal provision. On
December 14, 1950, the contracting parties executed a supplemental contract and, among
other things, extended the contract term through January 31, 1953. The instant,petition
was filed on April 15, 1952.
As it appears that the petition herein was timely filed with respect to the automatic
renewal date in the original contract, we find the contract. as extended, does not constitute
a bar to a present determination of representatives. The Reliance Electric & Engineering
Company, 98 NLRB 488.
3 76 NLRB 499.
4 95 NLRB 530.
5 Its principal products are steel barrels and steel gasoline containers made for the armed
forces, commonly called "blitz" cans.
566 DECISIONS .OF NATIONAL LABOR; RELATIONS BOARD
the National Tube Company and Scullin Steel Co. cases are not de-
terminative of this case.6
The Employer's maintenance department is under the general super-
vision of a maintenance engineer. - The electricians, as well as the
maintenance carpenters, painters, and pipefitters, work under the im-
mediate supervision of an assistant maintenance foreman. When
reporting for work, electricians, as well as other maintenance employ-
ees, report to one of the two maintenance shops located at this plant.
This maintenance shop has one corner reserved for the electricians and
their work benches. Electricians and other maintenance department
employees are subject to call 7 anywhere throughout the three build-
ings of the South Gate plant. The primary function of the electri-
cians is to repair electrical breakdowns occurring on all production
lines."
One electrician spends his full time as an operator of an electrically
controlled welding machine." This electrician's duties as operator
are similar to those of the other electricians in that his duties are to
start the machine, see that the machine runs properly, and in case of
any electrical breakdown, repair the same. This machine is auto-
matically fed, so that the electrician has only to perform maintenance
functions in regard to its operation.
Although the Employer has no formal apprenticeship program,
each electrician, when hired, is required to have 4 years' experience in
the electrical field: He then receives additional on-the-job training
at the plant.
Upon the foregoing facts, we are satisfied that these employees
exercise the degree of skill characteristic of the electrical craft. They
do not perform routine and repetitive tasks of the type which are in-
separable from the production process.1° For this reason, we do not
believe that the Employer's operations at South Gate are so integrated
as to preclude their severance. Notwithstanding a 10-year bargaining
history on a broader basis, we find that the Employer's electricians
constitute an identifiable, skilled, homogeneous craft group who may,
if they so desire, constitute an appropriate unit'
Under these circumstances, we shall direct an election in the fol-
lowing voting group : All maintenance and construction electricians
0 The Board has frequently recognized that the fabrication of commercial products is not
within "basic steel " operations . See e. g. General Steel Castings Corporation , 99 NLRB
607, Mesta Machine Company, 94 NLRB 1624.
An exclusive whistle call is used to summon the electricians to a desired place.
It was estimated by the maintenance foreman that the electricians spend 60 percent of
their time doing strictly electrical work and the remainder of their time performing routine
duties such as installing light bulbs , making routine checks of electrical equipment, and
occasionally assisting other maintenance department employees.
0 On another shift, the operator of this machine is a maintenance mechanic.
10 General Steel Castings Corporation , supra, and cases cited therein ; The Baldwin Loco-
motive Works , Eddystone Division, 89 NLRB 403.
11 General Steel Castings Corporation, supra, and cases cited therein.
UNION STARCH AND REFINING COMPANY 567.
and their apprentices or full-time helpers at the Employer's South
Gate, California, plant, excluding all other employees and supervisors
as defined in the Act, If a majority of them vote for the Petitioner,
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate
appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the election
directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of representatives
to the Petitioner for this group, which the Board, under such circum-
stances, finds to be an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor, the
Board finds the existing plant unit to be appropriate, and the Regional
Director will issue a certification of results of election to that effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
UNION STARCH AND REFINING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL CHEM-
ICAL WORKERS UNION, AFL PETITIONER . Case No. 14-RC-1784.
August 8,1952
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Benjamin E.
Cook, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. The Employer and the Intervenor, American Federation of
Grain Millers, Local 153, AFL, urge their 3-year contract, now in its
last year, as a bar to this proceeding, contending primarily that it
is of reasonable duration in the light of an alleged general trend
toward longer collective bargaining contracts.'
The Board has reexamined its current contract-bar rule, under
which no contract of more than 2 years' duration may serve as a bar
1 As the record and briefs in this case are sufficient , we hereby deny the Employer's re-
quest for oral argument.2
The Employer also argues that factors other than the custom of contract terms in the
industry should be considered in connection with this issue. It points particularly to the
special conditions of the Employer 's business and its bargaining with the Intervenor. His-
torically, however, the Board has considered the custom of contract duration in a particu-
lar industry , rather than special circumstances relating to an individual employer , in deter-
mining the reasonableness of contracts for terms longer than those reasonable per se.
Reed Roller Bit Company , 72 NLRB 927. The Board does not believe that special circum-
stances, such as those relied upon by the Employer here , warrant a reversal of the Board's
normal contract bar policy.
100 NLRB No. 89.