Standard Coil Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 25, 1952

98 N.L.R.B. 1296 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

1296 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
STANDARD COIL COMPANY and UNITED ELECTRICAL , RADIO & MACHINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA,1 PETITIONER
STANDARD COIL COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELEC-
TRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 1710, AFL,2 PETITIONER . Cases .NOS.
21-RC2'388 and 21-RC-235. April 05,195
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing 3 was held be-
fore Ben Grodsky, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.4
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is an Illinois corporation with plants in Chicago,
Illinois, Bangor, Michigan, and Los Angeles, California. Radio and
electronic components are manufactured at the Los Angeles plant,
the only one here involved. The plant manager of this plant testified
that in 1951 more than $25,000 worth of goods were shipped directly
to points outside the State of California. On the basis of this testi-
mony, we find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act, and that it will effectuate the policies of the Act
for the Board to assert its jurisdiction in this proceeding.'
' Herein called UE
a Herein called IBEW.
Ordered consolidated on January 17, 1951, at the outset of the hearing scheduled for
Case No . 21-RC-2288 . The IBEW, the Employer , and the International Association of
Machinists , an intervening labor . organization herein called the IAM , objected to the
consolidated bearing as to the petition in 21-RC-2352 , filed by IBEW on January 15, 1951,
on the ground that no notice of hearing was ever issued thereon and that there was
insufficient time to prepare for the issues raised therein . We find no merit to this
objection . In direct response to a motion for a continuance by the IBEW and the Employer,
the hearing was recessed , at the end of the first day's proceedings , from . January 17, 1952,
until January 22 , 1952 Further , the record fails to disclose that any of the parties
were prejudiced by lack of notice of hearing or by the consolidation order, or lacked
opportunity to introduce evidence' bearing on all issues raised herein . Accordingly, the
Employer 's motion to dismiss the petition is denied Pacific Metals Company, Ltd, 91
NLRB 696 ; Orkin Termite Company , Inc., 79 NLRB 935.
4 The hearing officer properly denied the IBEW's motion to continue the proceeding
until it could appeal the Regional Director 's dismissal of certain unfair labor practice
charges against the Employer . See United States Smelting , Refining and Mining Company,
93 NLRB 1280
We find no abuse of discretion by the hearing officer in refusing to grant a continuance
because of the inability of the Employer 's General Counsel to participate in the hearing.
As indicated above , the Employer was granted one continuance on other grounds, and in
any event was adequately represented at the hearing
Set, Stanislaus Implement and Hardware Company , Limited, 91 NLRB 618.
98 NLRB No 207.
STANDARD COIL COMPANY 1297
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.6
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 appropriate unit :
The UE desires to be certified as the bargaining representative of
a production and maintenance unit, corresponding to the unit de-
scribed in a recently expired contract between the Employer and the
IBEW.7 The IBEW seeks to expand this unit to include receiving,
incoming inspection,8 stockroom, packing, shipping, and laboratory
employees engaged in development work. The Employer opposes
this enlargement, but the UE, IAM, and IUE do not object.
The Employer's plant consists of one large building with various
separations broadly equivalent to the departments or parts of depart-
ments of the Employer. The separations are wire fences about 10
feet high. Along one end of the building there is a 5-foot wooden
wall from the top of which there extends, for an additional 5 feet,
a wire fence similar to those in the rest of the building. Behind this
wooden wall are the receiving department, incoming inspection de-
partment, the stockroom, the shipping department, and the main-
tenance department.' Of these departments, only the latter is
admittedly covered by the contract between the IBEW and the
Employer.
Receiving employees.-Raw materials for the production process
are received at a loading dock just outside the receiving department.
The 10 employees in this department open boxes and move the material
into the adjoining incoming inspection department. These employees
work under a receiving clerk who reports to the supervisor of material
control, who in turn reports to the plant manager.
Incoming inspection employees.--The incoming inspection depart-
ment, consisting of 15 employees, is between the receiving department
and the production floor of the plant. Materials are moved to the
inspection department by the receiving department employees, where
they are visually • and mechanically inspected to satisfy required
G The Employer did not agree that the UE . IBEW, TAM, and the International Union
of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, another Intervenor, herein called IUE,
are labor organizations as defined in the Act . As the TIE, IBEW , TAM, and IUE exist
for the purpose of engaging in collective bargaining with employers with respect to wages,
hours , and all other conditions of employment , we find that they are labor organizations as
defined in the Act. Pan American Relining Corporation , 95 NLRB 625.
v Under another contract with the Employer, the TAM 'represents all machine shop
employees. who are not involved in this case
8 There is a conflict in testimony as to whether incoming inspection employees have
been bargained for under the contract between the Employer and the IBEW. However,
in view of our finding hereinafter we need not resolve this conflict
1298 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
specifications. The chief of quality control is in charge of the incom-
ing inspection department and he reports directly to the chief
engineer.
Stockroom employees.-Materials are delivered to the stockroom
from incoming inspection. The 15-20 employees in the stockroom
supply material to the different manufacturing and fabricating
departments on requisition. Materials either are delivered by stock-
boys or are picked up by employees of operating departments. Many
departments have large bins where materials can be stored in sufficient
quantity to eliminate frequent trips to the stockroom. The stock-,
room is under the supervision of a foreman who reports to the
supervisor of material control.
Packing and shipping employees.-Two employees pack the finished
product in cardboard cartons, which are carried to the shipping depart-
ment by means of a conveyor belt. Shipping employees move the
cartons out to the dock and load them on trucks. The shipping
department foreman also reports to the supervisor of material control.
All the above employees are hourly paid at a starting rate in most
cases identical with that of other production employees.
Upon the foregoing facts, we find that employees in the receiving
department,9 incoming inspection department,1°, the stockroom,1' and
in the packing and in the shipping departments,12 have interests
closely allied with the production and maintenance employees, and we
shall include them in the production and maintenance unit hereinafter
found appropriate.
Laboratory employees engaged in development work.-The engi-
neering and laboratory department is a restricted area separated
from the rest of the plant by a solid wall with a connecting locked
door. Work is performed in this department on new designs and
developments in the electronic field. The work is done in 2 sub-
divisions : a test equipment design department headed by an engineer,
and a developmental engineering department under the supervision
of a chief engineer. There are approximately 50 employees in the
laboratory, but it is not-shown how many of these employees perform
development work.
Twenty-five laboratory technicians work at all times under the direct
supervision of one of 12-15 engineers having a college degree in engi-
9Elcco Products Company ( Eta-Brits Division ), 91 NLRB No . 36; Igleheart Brothers
Diuision , General Foods Corporation , 96 NLRB 1005 ; Southern Athletic Company, Inc.,
86 NLRB 908 ; Sampsel Time Control, Inc. 800 NLRB 1250
11 Ekco Products Company (Sta-Brite Divisaon)i, supra. Aladdin Industries, Incorporated,
92 NLRB No 241 ; Coca-Cola Bottling Company, 96 NLRB 1425
11 Sampsel Time Control, Inc, supra ; The Mead Corporation , 94 NLRB No . 73 ; Welding
Shipyards, 81 NLRB 936 , Aladdin Industries , Incorporated, supra.
12 Biggs Antique Company, 85 NLRB 554; The Peal Manufacturing Company, 80 NLRB
827; Chicago Rivet and Machine Company, 57 NLRB 1583 ; Sampsel Time Control, Inc.,,
supra, Wilson Athletic Goods Manufacturing Co , Inc , 95 NLRB 892.
STANDARD COIL COMPANY 1299
neering or some other subject. The laboratory technicians must have
a basic knowledge of the functions of electronic components or cir-
cuitry ; the work of these employees is described as being electronic
work of a type just below that which would be performed by a junior
engineer. There is no functional interchjtnge between laboratory em-
ployees and production employees, but on' occasion one of the latter is
brought in to operate newly designed equipment for a day or so in
order to demonstrate its usefulness. Although there are instances of
production employees who have previous training or the proper back-
ground being promoted to the laboratory, laboratory employees are
primarily recruited from outside the plant and must have a high
school or trade school background. The work of the laboratory is
varied and cannot be standardized, and the laboratory technicians
are paid a substantially higher hourly wage than production and
maintenance employees.
In view of the fact that laboratory employees perform technical
tasks which are unrelated to the production operation as such, we
shall exclude them from the unit 13
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's Los Angeles, California, plant, including receiving depart-
ment employees, incoming inspection employees, stockroom employees,
packing employees and shipping employees, but excluding employees
in the laboratory and engineering department, office, clerical, sales,
and machine shop employees, janitors, guards, foremen, and super-
visors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9
(b) of the Act.
5. At the hearing the UE stated that if it won the election, the em-
ployees herein would be assigned, in accordance with internal union
policy, to a specific local. The record admits the possibility that such
an assignment might be made in favor of either Local 1421 or Local
1004, both of which are chartered by the UE in the Los Angeles
area. In these circumstances, the Employer argues that the UE is
"fronting" for its noncomplying Local 1004 and should be denied a
place on the ballot.
We are administratively advised that although Local 1004 was not
in compliance at the time of the hearing, it is now in full compliance
with the Act. We do not see in the Employer's contention any ob-
stacle to immediate certification of the • Petitioner if otherwise
qualified.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
13 J. P. Stevens & Co., Inc., 93 NLRB 1513; Wm. P. McDonald Corporation , 83 NLRB
427; Stowe Spinning Company, 93 NLRB No. 130 ; United States Gypsum Company, 79
NLRB 869. See Monsanto Chemical Company, 89 NLRB 1478