The Heekin Can Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 30, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 417 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

THE HEEKIN CAN COMPANY 417
of the seniority agreement now in existence , which has been so beneficial and
so much desired by our membership at the mines of the Consolidation Coal
Company.
This decision being made is in no way to be construed as establishing a
precedent of any kind in District 30 or in any other District of the United Mine
Workers of America.
Very truly yours,
Commission
[s] Joseph Yablonski.
JOSEPH YABLONSKI.
[ s] Ray Thomason.
RAY THOMASON.
CC:
District 30. UMWA
Local Union 5787
Local Union 6281
Commission
THE HEEKIN CAN COMPANY and LODGE 162, DISTRICT 34, INTERNA-
TIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, PETITIONER. Cases Nos.
9-RC-1624, 9-RC-1625, 9-RC-1626, 9-RC-1627, 9 RC-16928, and
9-RC-1629. July 30,1952
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon 'petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Leonard
S. Kimmel, 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-mem-
ber panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock].
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 Petitioner seeks to sever from a plant-wide unit six separate
craft units consisting of (a) welders, (b) sheet metal workers, (c)
electricians, (d) plumbers, air-conditioning, and refrigeration repair-
men, (e) machinists, mechanics, millwrights, and lubrication men,
iL United Steelworkers of America , CIO, and its Local 4372, were permitted to intervene
on the basis of a contract interest. _
100 NLRB No. 65.
418 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and (f) carpenters and their helpers and apprentices. The Intervenor
opposes craft severance on the ground that there is a long history of
collective bargaining in this plant on a plant-wide unit basis, and
that the employees sought to be severed are not true craftsmen. The
Employer prefers a plant-wide unit.
Under a plant engineer in charge of maintenance , there is a main-
tenance supervisor who directly supervises the welders, the sheet metal
workers, the electricians, the plumbers, air-conditioning, and refrigera-
tion repairmen, and the carpenters. The machinists, mechanics, mill-
wrights, and lubrication men work under the immediate supervision
of shop foremen who in turn report to the maintenance supervisor.
The record indicates that although some of the employees claimed
by the Petitioner have been transferred to their present positions from
jobs in the production department, the transfers were made on the
basis of their skills and qualifications in the particular craft to which
they were assigned. It is clear that all the employees for whom sev-
erance is sought herein possess the skills normally exercised in the
particular craft in which they are employed, and are of the type which
the Board has generally held to be entitled to separate representation,
if they so desire?
We shall direct separate elections by secret ballot among the follow-
ing groups of employees at the Employer's Cincinnati, Ohio, plant,
excluding from each group all office clerical and professional employ-
ees, guards , and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
Group (a) All welders.
Group (b) All sheet metal workers.
Group (c) All electricians.
Group (d) All plumbers, air-conditioning, and refrigeration re-
pairmen.
Group (e) All carpenters and the painter.8
Group (f) All machinists, mechanics, millwrights, and lubrication
men.
If a majority of the employees in groups (a), (b), (c), (d), (e),
or (f) 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 herein is instructed to issue a certi-
fication of representatives to such labor organization for such unit or
units, which the Board under such circumstances finds to be appro-
priate for purposes of collective bargaining. In the event a majority
of the employees in any of the voting groups (a) to (f) vote for the
2 Chrysler Corporation, Michaud Ordnance Plant, 98 NLRB 1105.
a We are precluded from establishing a painters' unit, there being only one painter.
However, the painter appears to possess interests sufficiently similar to those of the car-
penters that he may, as requested by the Petitioner , be included in the carpenters ' voting
group . Robertshaw-Fulton Controls Company, 88 NLRB 1508.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 419
Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to con-
tinue to be included in the existing production and maintenance unit,
and the Regional Director shall issue a certificate of results of elec-
tions to that effect.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY and DISTRICT #27 , INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, A . F. OF L ., PETITIONER . Case No. 9-
RC-1599. July 50,1952
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Lloyd R. Fraker,
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 Houston and Murdock].
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 employees of
the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all model shop employees, including
tool and die makers, model makers, toolroom machinists, tool machine
operators, welders, sheet metal men, and their helpers and apprentices.
The Employer and the two Intervenors, International Union of Elec-
trical, Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, and United Electrical,
Radio & Machine Workers of Amer!esr, contend that the petition was
filed prematurely because the Employer's operations are expanding.
The Employer's major appliance division, operating 6 plants in the
eastern part of the United States, manufactures electric refrigerators,
freezers, ironers, washing machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, food
disposers, and room coolers. In 1951, the Employer decided to,cen-
tralize its electrical appliance operations and for that purpose began
constructing, near Louisville, Kentucky, a large plant which will even-
100 NLRB No. 66.
22 7260-53-vol . 100-28