Spencer Lens Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 2, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 293 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of SPENCER LENS COMPANY and OPTICAL WORKERS
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE , C. I. O.
Case No. 3-R-858
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
AMENDED CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 2, 194.5
On October 12, 1944, the National Labor Relations Board issued a
Decision and Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceeding."
On November 11, 1944, the Board issued a Certification of Representa-
tives in this proceeding, certifying the Optical Workers Organizing
Committee, C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., as the exclusive
bargaining representative of all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Buffalo, New York, plants, located on Eggert Road
and on Doat Street, of Spencer Lens Company, herein called the
Company, excluding office and clerical employees, militarized guards,
technicians, metal polishers and plating employees in Departments
7 and 14, and all supervisory employees.
During collective bargaining negotiations that followed between
the Company and the C. I. 0., Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers,
and Helpers International Union, Local 18, AFL, herein called
Local 18, asserted the right to represent all the Company's employees
in Departments 7 and 14, while the C. I. O. took the position that the
certification of November 11, 1944, gave it authority to represent
certain helpers and maintenance employees in those departments.
Faced with these conflicting claims to representation, the Company,
On December 21, 1944, filed a letter with the Board requesting that
the record herein be reopened for the purpose of adducing evidence
concerning the exclusion of "metal polishers and plating employees
in Departments 7 and 14" from the unit described in the certification,
and for clarification of the certification. On December 30, 1944, the
Board issued a notice to all parties to show cause why the Company's
request should not be granted. None of the parties having responded
1 Matter of Spencer Lena Company, 58 N. L. R. B. 953.
61 N. L . R. B., No. 34.
293
294 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to that notice, the Board, on January 16, 1944, issued an order
granting the Company's request.
Pursuant to the Board's order, a hearing was held at Buffalo, New
York, on February 6, 1945, before Francis N. Helgesen, Trial Ex-
aminer. The Company, the C. I. 0., and Local 18 appeared, partici-
pated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and
cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the is-
sues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were
afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
SUPPLEMENTAL FINDINGS OF FACr
The Company is engaged in the manufacture of precision and
optical instruments. At its Eggert Road plant are located the de-
partments producing instrument parts, while at the Doat Street plant
the finished parts are assembled into complete instruments. Depart-
ments 7 and 14 are located in adjoining buildings in the Eggert Road
plant and together are set apart from the remaining departments
located in that building. Department 7, with 37 employees, does all
the polishing and finishing of parts, and Department 14, with 12
employees, does all the plating and enameling. There is an assistant
foreman in charge of the operations of each department with one
foreman having overall supervision of both departments.
Department 7-polishing and linishivg.
Among the employees in this department are 14 wheel polishers and
buffers and 16 lathe filers and polishers. All these employees are en-
gaged in actual polishing, requiring great skill, although in varying
degree. There is 1 sand blaster, who also does actual polishing with
a sand oven. A wheel setter keeps the polishing wheels in condition
and, after each operation, resets them with abrasives and glue. Four
filing and burring employees use files, lap wheels, and metal discs,Ao
remove burs and break edges, either before or after polishing, as a
part of the finishing process. Finally, there is a racking screw em-
ployee whose duty it is to place screws in trays for inspection pur-
poses before or after polishing and then to remove them.
Department 14-plating and enameling.
In this department there are four platers and an apprentice plater.
These are highly skilled workmen who immerse wired parts into
chemical baths to enamel, chrome, nickel, or anodize them. They di-
rect the electrical currents through the baths and control the time of
the process. These platers are assisted by six plating, wiring, and
racking helpers, who attach copper wires to the various parts and
SPENCER LENS COMPANY 295
arrange them in proper racks which hold the metal parts when placed
in the chemical baths. Lastly, there is a material handler, who places
materials on the benches for the wiring helpers, obtains materials
for the platers from the stockroom as needed, and keeps the plating
racks properly coated and in repair.
The C. I. O. contends that under the exclusion in the Board's ap-
propriate unit finding, which reads in part "metal polishers and plat-
ing employees in Departments 7 and 14," only three categories of
employees were encompassed, i. e., (1) polishers and buffers, (2)
filers and polishers, and (3) platers. It argues that since some of
the employees in these departments voted in the election as directed
by the Board, some of them must be included among the employees
for whom the C. I. O. has been certified.2 Local 18 urges that all em-
ployees in Departments 7 and 14 be excluded because their work is
integrated and they have similar interests with respect to collective
bargaining . The Company takes a neutral position.
The record clearly establishes that in each of the two departments
in question all employees work in coordination as a functional unit
carrying out a complete and separate part of the production business
of the Company. Although different degrees of skills are required
of the various employees, each of them is an essential part of the unit
devoted to polishing and finishing, or plating -and enameling, as the
case may be. In view of the functional integration of the duties
performed by all employees in Departments 7 and 14, their similarity
of interests arising from similar working conditions and supervision,
and the entire record in the case, we are of the opinion that all em-
ployees in Departments 7 and 14 are properly included in the phrase
"metal polishers and plating employees in Departments 7 and 14,"
and we shall amend our certification, nuns pro twm, so as to exclude
all these employees from the appropriate unit. 3
AMENDED CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES 4
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 9 and 10, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended,
2 The C. I. O. defeated the Scientific Instrument Workers of America, Local 20, Division
of Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Helpers International Union, by a plurality of 434
votes. The outcome of the election could not have been affected by votes cast by any of
the 49 employees in Departments 7 and 14. Local 18 did not appear on that ballot and
appeared at the original hearing only to preserve its interest among the employees in
Departments 7 and 14.
8 Matter of Cleveland Pneumatic Aerol, Inc., 55 N. L. it. B. 1269.
* This is not to be construed as a recertification but as an amendment, nuno pro tune, of
the certification issued on November 11, 1944.
296 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED, that Optical Workers Organizing Commit-
tee, C. I. 0., has been designated and selected by a majority of all pro-
duction and maintenance employees at the Buffalo, New York, plants,
located on Eggert Road and on Doat Street, of Spencer Lens Com-
pany, excluding office and clerical employees, militarized guards, tech-
nicians, all employees in Departments 7 and 14, and all supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the . status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, as their representative for the purposes of
collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act,
the said organization is the exclusive representative of all such em-
ployees for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates
of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of em-
ployment.