The American Brass Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 3, 1958

120 N.L.R.B. 1276 (N.L.R.B. 1958)

1276 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
All of our employees are free to become or remain members of any labor organiza-
tion, except to the extent that this right may be affected by an agreement in conformity
with Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act, as amended . We will not discriminate against any
employee in regard to hire or tenure of employment, or any term or condition of em-
ployment , because of membership in or activity on behalf of any such labor
organization.
CALIFORNIA TEXTILE MILLS,
Employer.
Dated------------------- By-------------------------------------------(Representative)' (Title)
This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof, and must not be
altered, defaced, or covered by any other material.
The American Brass Company and Local Union 11, International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO; United Steel-
Workers of America, AFL-CIO; International Union of Mine,
Mill and Smelter Workers ; Metal Trades Council of Southern
California and its affiliated Local and International Unions,
AFL-CIO; and International Union , United Automobile, Air-
craft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW-
AFL-CIO , Petitioners . Cases Nos. 21-RC-5091,_ 21 RC-,5101,
21-RC-5109, 21-RC-5113, and 21-RC-5-122. June 3,1958
DECISION, ORDER, 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
Paul J. Driscoll, 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Rodgers, Jenkins, and
Fanning]. _
We deny the Employer's request for oral argument because we be-
lieve that the positions of the parties are adequately set forth in the
record and the briefs.
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.
4. The employees here sought are employed at a new plant of the
Employer 'at Paramount, California. Copper and copper alloy prod-
ucts are manufactured and fabricated at this plant. The production
120 NLRB No. 165.
THE AMERICAN BRASS COMPANY 1277
departments, consisting of tube mill, rod mill, sheet mill, casting and
scrap, together with the shipping and receiving functions, and the
service or maintenance department, are all housed in one large build-
ing without separating walls between departments. The service
department is located in an area which is screened off in the center
of the plant. A works manager is in charge of the plant, with a
separate supervisor for production and a separate supervisor for
maintenance.
The IBEW seeks a unit of maintenance electricians. The Metal
Trades Council seeks a unit consisting of the remaining maintenance
or service department employees. The other three Petitioners seek
production and maintenance units.' The Employer contends that only
a production and maintenance unit is appropriate because its opera-
tion is highly integrated and this is the established pattern of bar-
gaining at 6 of its 7 other plants. It also contends that plantwide
units prevail in the brass industry and that the Board should find
appropriate only a production and maintenance unit as it does in the
steel, aluminum, lumbering, and wet milling industries. We find no
merit in this latter contention.' As we would not deny severance in
this case because of the alleged bargaining pattern in the industry,
we would likewise not refuse to consider in the first instance, before
any bargaining has occurred, the appropriateness of the craft and
maintenance units here requested.
The IBEW petition: At the time of hearing the Employer had
four employees in the classification of maintenance electrician, with
a fifth anticipated in May 1958. Their work is to keep the production
machinery in repair, and they also install conduit, junction boxes,
lighting fixtures, and switches. Testimony for the Employer indicated
that construction work and most motor repairs would be done by out-
side contractors. The maintenance electricians are not assigned to
a particular machine or group of machines for repairs, but are con-'
stantly on call by the various production foremen for repairs as they
arise. However, one electrician is assigned on the second and third
shifts and over weekends to the electric melting furnace, to see that the
power is properly maintained and charcoal supplied to it.
The Employer has no apprenticeship system and does not hire jour
neyman electricians as such. In general it looks for electricians with
the equivalent of 4 years' experience, relying upon the judgment of
its power engineer to select applicants who will fit its needs. None
of the electricians testified and the record contains no evidence of the
particular skills or experience of any of those employed.,
1 See American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418, 1422 ; United States
Smelting Refinind and Mining Company, 116 NLRB 661 ; General Refractories Company, 117
NLRB 81; Bethlehem Pacific Coast Steel Corp., 117 NLRB 579; Pittsburgh Plate Glass
Company, 117 NLRB 1728, 1730.
1278 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer expects to have a lower paid classification of "main-
tenance electrician limited" for electricians with less experience. It
is anticipated that a person so employed may progress to the classifi-
cation of maintenance electrician after acquiring the necessary skills
on the job.
The maintenance electricians are interviewed for employment and
supervised by the power engineer, who in turn reports to the main-
tenance supervisor. They are also assigned work by production fore-
men, who call them directly as needed. In making repairs and adjust-
ments to machinery the electricians may work alone or with another
electrician. They may also work with the assistance of a maintenance
employee or of a production operator. The Employer estimates that
their time is about equally divided working on those three bases.
On this record we do not find sufficient evidence of the duties and
skills of the electricians at this plant to warrant a conclusion that
they are a distinct and homogeneous group of skilled journeymen
craftsmen, working as such. As the record does not show that the
requirements for craft status have been met, we shall dismiss the
petition of the IBEW in Case No. 21-RC-50912
The Metal Trades Council petition: Apart from the electricians, the
maintenance or service department had 38 employees at the time of
hearing, with 45 employees anticipated by May 1958, and no additions
during the remainder of the year. The Metal Trades Council seeks
to represent these employees.' The function of these employees is to
provide maintenance and repair service to the production departments.
The group includes employees classified as maintenance men, machin-
ists, tool- and die-makers, extrusion die makers, specialists, a carpenter,
and a heat treater. These maintenance employees are supervised by
the mechanical foreman, who, like the power engineer, reports directly
to the supervisor of all maintenance.
It is contended by the Employer and the Petitioners for a production
and maintenance unit, that the maintenance work is closely integrated
with production work at this plant and that the establishment of a
separate departmental unit for maintenance employees is therefore not
justified. Testimony concerning this alleged integration, however,
reveals only that maintenance employees are subject to call by produc-
tion foremen and may be assisted in their work by production em-
2 See Reynolds Metals Company , 108 NLRB 821 ; A. 0. Smith Corporation, 111 NLRB
200, 202; Precision Casttings Corporation , 114 NLRB 63; compare East Texas Pulp &
Paper Company, 113 NLRB 539, 544, 545, where the Board found that the electricians
there made use of all of the skills ordinarily associated with the electrician craft.
3 The Mine , Mill and Smelter Workers contends that the Metal Trades Council intends
to have the employees in the requested unit serviced by member locals, which, if the
Council should be certified , would amount to allowing a petitioner make the unit deter-
mination rather than the Board . We see no merit in this contention . The Board recog-
nizes trade councils as labor organizations in appropriate circumstances when they act
as bargaining agents for their affiliated unions. See Montgomery Ward & Co., 110
NLRB 256, footnote 1. If the Council and its affiliates are certified , the Employer may
insist that they bargain jointly for the unit as a whole.
THE AMERICAN BRASS COMPANY 1279
ployees, and that the time spent by them on repairs and adjustments is
charged to the production department affected. There is no testimony
concerning interchange of maintenance with production employees.
So far as the record shows the maintenance employees spend their
working time on maintenance work only. Clearly they have separate
supervision and are organized as a department within the plant. - In
the absence of a history of collective bargaining on a more comprehen-
sive basis at this plant, we find that the Employer's maintenance de-
partment employees may constitute a separate unit if they so desire 4
We shall include in this group the maintenance electricians inasmuch
as they are a part of the maintenance department, and we have dis-
missed the petition to represent them separately because they are not
shown to constitute a craft at this plant.'
It is clear, and we find, that the production and maintenance unit
requested by the Steel Workers, the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers,
and by the UAW may also be appropriate, or that a separate unit of
production employees may be appropriate. Accordingly, we shall
direct a self-determination election in a voting group of maintenance
department employees.
There remains for consideration the inclusion of administrative
assistants to department heads, or department clerks, in ,the proposed
production maintenance, or production and maintenance units. Only
one person was so employed at the time of hearing. Ultimately each
department may have an employee so classified to work in the fore-
man's office in the plant and assist the foreman in laying out work and
planning the.best method of production for particular items that have
been ordered. Without assigning a specific reason for so doing, the
parties agreed to exclude this classification which is paid on a salary
basis, unlike plant clerical employees who are paid on an hourly basis
and are included in the unit. Holiday and vacation benefits will also
vary as between these administrative assistants, or department
clerks, and the plant clerical employees. The Employer contends in
its brief that they should be excluded from any unit found appropriate
because they have no similarity of interest with plant clerical em-
ployees, which group includes such classifications as scalemen and
checker-marker-loaders, and because they have little contact with pro-
duction employees. There is no contention, however, that they are
A See Magma Copper Company, 115 NLRB 1 ; Fast Texas Pulp & Paper Go, 113 NLRB
539, 542; cf Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company of Kansas, 65 NLRB 532, 536, where the
maintenance employees were not sought on a departmental basis and the Board found
a high degree of integration at the plant involved.
5 The record indicates that the Metal Trades Council stated that it wished to appear
on the ballot only in the maintenance department unit, without specifying the exclusion
of electricians. We construe this as indicating a willingness to represent a unit of all
employees in the maintenance department, including the electricians If, however, they,
do not desire to represent the all-inclusive maintenance department unit, they may with-
draw by applying to the Regional Director within 10 days of this Decision , in which case
there will be but 1 voting group, for production and maintenance employees combined.
1280 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
managerial or have any supervisory authority. On this record we
find that they are engaged in plant clerical work and shall include them
in the voting'groups of production and of maintenance employees e
We shall direct, elections in the following voting groups of
employees at the Employer's Paramount, California, plant, including
leadmen and the appropriate plant clerical employees in each voting
group, but excluding from each voting group the employees in the
other voting group, office clerical employees, professional employees,
technical employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act :
(1) All maintenance employees, including electricians.
(2) All production employees.
If the employees in the maintenance voting group vote for the Metal
Trades Council they will be taken to have voted for separate repre-
sentation, and the Regional Director conducting the election is in-
structed to issue a certification of representatives to the Metal Trades
Council for a separate unit of maintenance department employees,
which the Board, in those circumstances, finds to be appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining. And, in that event, should a
majority of the employees in the production voting group select a
bargaining representative, -the Regional Director is instructed to issue
a certification of representatives to the successful labor organization
for a unit of production employees, which the Board in those circum-
stances finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.
On the other hand, if a majority in the maintenance voting group do
not select the Metal Trades Council, the ballots of the employees in
the maintenance voting group will be pooled with those of the em-
ployees in the production voting group? If the employees in the
pooled group select a bargaining representative, the Regional Director
is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the successful
labor organization for a unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees, which the Board in such circumstances finds to be an appro-
priate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining.
5. The employee complement at the time of hearing was 105 and
was expected to be approximately 138 in May 1958. An eventual
complement of 400 to 500 is anticipated sometime in 1959.' The plant
was structurally complete at the time of hearing and the tube and rod
mill were being operated. Certain machinery, including that in the
sheet mill, was still to be installed. Some production in the sheet
mill was scheduled for May 1958.
e See Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., 115 NLRB 1036, 1039; see also Eljer Co ., 108 NLRB
1417, 1420 , where the assistant to the manager of the quotation department was found
not managerial and included in a clerical unit.
4 If the votes are pooled , they are to be tallied as follows : The votes for the Metal
Trades Council shall be counted as valid votes , but neither for nor against any union
seeking to represent the more comprehensive unit; all other votes are to be accorded
their face value, whether for representation in one of the unions seeking the ci mpre-
hensive group or for no union. '
WEST VIRGINIA PULP AND PAPER CO. 1281
New employees are assigned first to a general utility classification
for training and then assigned to a regular classification. Approxi-
mately 100 will be permanently assigned in May. The record indi-
cates that production employees- are interchangeable because of a.
similarity of job requirements in the various departments.
In its brief the Employer contends that an election earlier than
June 1958 would be premature because of the expected expansion in
work force. However, no testimony was taken as to what the work
complement would be in that particular month except that it would
increase at the rate of about nine a month. The record does show
that at least one-fourth of the work force will be employed in May
1958, utilizing the skills of, or in training to utilize the skills of, the
full employee complement. In the circumstances we see no reason to
depart from our usual rule in directing an election. We believe that
the working force which will be employed when the election directed
herein is held, will be a substantial and representative segment of the
employees to be employed in the unit .8
[The Board dismissed the petition in Case No. 21-RC-5091.]
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
8 See General Motors Corporation, 111 NLRB 841, 844 ; Walton-Young Corp., 117
NLRB 51.
West Virginia Pulp and Paper Co. and International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, Local Union .No. 1753, AFL-CIO. Case
No. 11-RM-50. June 3,1958
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act in Case No. 11-RM-52, and thereafter consolidated for
hearing with the motion of the Employer for clarification of the
certifications in Cases Nos. 11-R-1167 and 1357, a hearing was held
before Jerold B. Sindler, hearing officer.' The hearing officer's rulings
1 The motion to amend and clarify concerns two 1944 certifications of the Board in cases-
originally numbered 10-R-1167 and 10-R-1357. The earlier case involves the Interna-
tion Association of Machinists, and the later the International Brotherhood of Paper
Makers and the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers.
The Employer 's motion included a similar clarification request concerning the contract
unit represented by the IBEW. ' This unit has never been certified by the Board . Because
of the lack of certification for that unit, the Board, by order of January 17, 1958, denied
that ' portion of the motion to amend and clarify which had to do with the contract unit
of the IBEW, without prejudice to the filing of a petition for representation by the Em-
ployer The Employer then filed the petition herein covering the unit represented by
the IBEW. As the contract between the Employer and .the IBEW is about to expire, and
as the Employer desires that this unit be certified before further bargaining negotiations,
thus requiring that an election be held, we shall sever the RM petition from its consohda-
120 NLRB No. 163.
483142-59-vol. 120-82