Stone & Webster Engineering Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 17, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 124 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the MRtter of STONE & WEESTER ENGINEERING CORPORATION and IN-
TERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TECHNICAL ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS &
DRAFTSMEN 'S UNION, A. F. of L.-LOCAL 105
Case No. 1-R 2139.Decided-January 17,.1945
Messrs . A. G. Eldredge, C. G. Bjork, and H. L. Bunce, Jr., of Boston,
Mass., for the Company.
Messrs. J. Lawrence Raimist, Harry P. Grages, Maurice Scott, and
Herbert B. Powers, of Boston, Mass., for the A. F. of L.
Mr. N. C. Mancinelli, of Boston, Mass., and Mr. Frederick Roach,
of Wollaston, Mass., for the Association.
Miss Ruth E. Blie field, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Federation of Technical
'Engineers, Architects and Draftsmen's Union, A. F. of L., Local 105,
herein called the A. F. of L., alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Stone
& Webster Engineering Corporation, "Boston, Massachusetts, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before John W. Coddaire, Jr.,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Boston, Massachusetts,
on November 13, 1944. The Company, the A. F. of L., and Em-
ployees' Association of Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation,
herein called the Association, appeared and participated. All parties
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
The Association filed a motion to Expunge Excerpts from the Corpora-
tion's Brief, and a Motion to Expunge Excerpts from the Petitioners'
Brief. Inasmuch as our findings of fact are made on the basis of the
record only, we disregard allegations of facts extraneous thereto, or
irrelevant arguments presented in the briefs, and the motions are
60 N. L. R. B., No. 24.
124
STONE & WEBSTER ENGINEERING CORPORATION 125
therefore denied, as being superfluous. The Association's request
for oral argument is also denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation was incorporated in
Massachusetts in 1929, and is engaged in the preparation of plans and
specifications for the construction and direction of power plants, oil
refineries, and other chemical and industrial plants. It maintains its
principal offices in Boston, Massachusetts, with other offices in Chicago,
Illinois; Houston Texas; Los Angeles, California; New York, New
York; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; San Francisco,
California; and Washington, D. C. During 1943 the volume of the
Company's business exceeded $1,000,000 and more than 50 percent of
the Company's services was rendered to clients outside the Common-
wealth of Massachusetts.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Federation of Technical Engineers, Architects and
Draftsmen's Union, Local 105, affiliated with the American Federation
of Labor, and Employees' Association of Stone & Webster Engineer-
ing Corporation,' are labor organizations admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III: THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On September 25, 1944, the Association requested recognition as the
exclusive bargaining representative of the employees in the design
division of the Company. The Company stated that it would deal with
the Association on proof that it represented a majority of the group.
Subsequently, the A. F. of L. notified the Company by letter that it
claimed to represent the technical employees in the design division,
and that it had filed a petition with the Board.
1 The Association introduced a copy of Its charter Into evidence. This was objected
to by the A . F. of L. on the ground that it is opposed to the incorporation of any labor
organizations and contends that no bona fide labor organization incorporates. We find
no merit in this objection and it is hereby overruled.
126 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the A. F. of L. represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The A. F. of L. seeks a unit consisting of all technical engineering,
architectural and other technical employees in the design division of
the Company in its Boston offices, including but not limited to techni-
cal engineers, architects, draftsmen, designers, bill of material writers,
checkers, tracers, detailers, squad bosses, but excluding clerical and
blueprint employees, and supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees or effectively recommend such action. The Company is in
substantial accord with the unit as requested by the A. F. of L., except
that it desires the inclusion of squad clerks, and the A. F. of L. desires
their exclusion.
The Association agrees with the A._F. of L. as to the composition
of a unit confined to the design division, but would include in the unit,
in addition to the design division employees, all technical, engineering,
and architectural employees in the other divisions of the Engineering
Department .3
The Engineering Department of The Company is composed of -10
divisions, among which is included the design division. The record
shows that the design division Js carried on a separate pay roll, as
distinguished from the other divisions which are carried on the so-
called Engineering pay roll. The employees in the design division
are paid weekly, and receive overtime pay, while the employees in the
other divisions of the Engineering Department are paid monthly
on a straight salary basis. In,the Company's main office the design
division is, and always has been located on a separate floor, and has
always been somewhat segregated from the other divisions in the De-
2 The Field Examiner reported that the A. F. of L. submitted 143 application for mem-
bership cards ; that the names of 138 persons appearing on the cards were listed on the
Company's pay roll of October 16, 1944, which contained the names of 470 employees in
the appropriate unit ; and that the cards were dated as follows :
February 1944, 1 May 194,4, 9 August 1944, 15 - November 1944, 3
March 1944 , 25 June 1944 , 20 September 1944, 25 Undated, 3 -
April 1944, 23 July 1944, 10 October 1944, 9
The Association submitted 71 application cards. The names of 70 persons appearing
on the cards were contained in the aforesaid pay roll. The cards were dated as follows :
May 1944, 64 August 1944, 1 October 1944, 6
8 The Association , while requesting a unit which would encompass employees in all
divisions of the Engineering Department admits that it has as yet obtained no employees
as members in its organization , other than employees-in the design division.
STONE & WEBSTER ENGINEERING CORPORATION 127
partment. While the whole process of planning, designing, construct-
ing, and directing of plants by the Company is interrelated, the de-
sign division is engaged entirely in handling one phase of these opera-
tions, the drafting of plans, designs, and specifications. The record
indicates that while there is some consultation and contact between
the employees in the other divisions of the Engineering Department
and the design division, the design division has always been considered
as being functionally separable.
It also appears that the qualifications for positions in the design
division are not as high as for those in the other divisions in the
Engineering Department. The employees classified as engineers in
the other divisions apparently are required to have higher technical
skill and educational background than the design division employees 4
Inasmuch as it appears that the design division is functionally and
administratively distinct from the other divisions in the Engineering
Department, and since the proposed unit of design division employees
apparently includes all non-professional employees in the Company's
Boston headquarters' office engaged in drafting plans, designs, and
specifications, we find that the appropriate unit should be confined to
that division.
The parties were agreed that the unit in the design division should
include all technical engineering, architectural, and other technical
employees such as draftsmen, designers, bill of material writers, check-
ers, tracers, detailers, and squad bosses,,, and should exclude all super-
visory 6 and clerical employees.7 There was some dispute as to the
inclusion or exclusion of the squad clerks.
Squad clerks: The company contends that the squad clerks in the
design division are apprentices, and should therefore be included in
the unit. - The A. F. of L. contends that they are clerical employees,"
and desires their exclusion on that basis. ,
The squad clerks' duties consist of handling time records and run-
ning errands for other employees in the division. Four of the A. F.
of L's witnesses testified that in their spare time these clerks sit at
a table and read magazines and books. The Company contends that
See Matter of General Electric Company, 57 N. L. It. B. 81,' in which the Board held
that draftsmen and professional engineers might appropriately be in a single unit, if they
so desire . and directed that self -determination elections be held in each group to deter-
mine the wishes of the employees in the two groups
' At the beginning of the hearing the A. F. of L. requested the exclusion of the squad
bosses , or assistant engineers . Later, however, it was agreed by all parties that these
employees are not supervisory employees and should be included in the unit . In accordance
with the agreement of the parties we shall include the squad bosses within the unit.
See Matter of Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., 55 N. L. It. B. 1438.
The employees , in following categories were agreed to be supervisory employees : -
design managers , production managers , designing engineers , and chief clerk of files and
time-
- 7 Included are blueprint machine operators , stenographers , typists, and clerks.
8 The A. F. of L . stated that it could not accept squad clerks as members since another
A. F. of L. union claims jurisdiction over them as clericals.
128 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
these squad clerks were, and are, put in the design division because
they, had expressed a desire to learn designing or tracing, and in
their spare time they are. expected to practice these skills to prepare
them for promotion in the division. It appears that the Company
policy prior to the war was to promote such employees as showed
aptitude to positions in the design division, but-this has not been done
to any great extent recently. Since it appears that the work of these
employees is primarily clerical, we shall exclude them from the
unit.
We find that all technical engineering, architectural and other tech-
nical employees s in the design division of the Company's Boston
headquarters' office, including squad bosses or assistant engineers, but
excluding squad clerks, clerical employees, design managers, pro-
duction managers, designing engineers, and chief clerk of files 'and'
time and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth
in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-, Series 3, as amended, it
is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Stone & Webster
Engineering Corporation, Boston, Massachusetts, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty
(30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director- for the First Region, acting, in
'This will include all designers , bill of material writers, draftsmen , junior draftsmen,
tracers, checkers, detailers , and any other technical employees -in" the design division whose
work brings them within the purview of the unit as defined above.
STONE & WEBSTER ENGINEERING CORPORATION 129
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board and sub-
ject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during - the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the
armed forces of the United States •whoa present themselves in person
at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior
to the date of the election, to determine whether they desire to be
represented by International Federation of Technical Engineers, Ar-
chitects and Draftsmen's Union, Local 105 affiliated with the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, or by Employees Association of Stone &
Webster Engineering Corporation, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
628563-45--vol. 60--10