173 N.L.R.B. 310 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

Westinghouse Electric Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsOct 24, 1968

173 N.L.R.B. 310 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

310 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Local Union 1035 , International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO , Petitioner . Case 22-UC-17 October 24, 1968 DECISION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION TO CLARIFY CERTIFICATION BY MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND ZAGORIA In a petition for unit clarification, dated May 14, 1968, the Petitioner seeks to include as an accretion to its certified unit of salaried manufacturing and repair department employees all salaried warehouse employees. On June 6 and 7, 1968, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer James F. Brady for the purpose of taking testimony with respect to the issues raised by this petition. On June 18, 1968, the Regional Director issued an order transferring this case to the National Labor Relations Board. There- after, the parties filed briefs. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has considered the Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing and finds that no prejudicial error was committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: The Employer is a Pennsylvania corporation en- gaged throughout the United States in the manu- facture, distribution, and sale of power generating apparatus. Prior to the original Board certifications,' the Employer maintained two separate facilities in Newark, New Jersey, a manufacturing and repair department on Haynes Avenue, and a warehouse on Plane Street. In 1948 the Employer moved both divisions to new facilities at Hillside, New Jersey. At Hillside the manufacturing and repair depart- ment is situated in a building separate from the warehouse. Its operations are divided into two parts. On the repair side it repairs such apparatus as motors, generators, and transformers On the manufacturing 1 In 1942 (see 39 NLRB 946) the Board certified the Petitioner for the following three units* (1) All the hourly paid service men in the engineering and service department at 40 Wall Street , New York City (2) All hourly paid employees in the manufacturing and repair department at Haynes Avenue, Newark, New Jersey. (3) All salaried employees in the manufacturing and repair depart- ment at Haynes Avenue, Newark, New Jersey. 2 It does not warehouse , or in any way handle, the products repaired or manufactured by the manufacturing and repair department 3 Petitioner's contentions notwithstanding , the company records clearly show that employees Dorn (a salaried order clerk- 173 NLRB No. 51 side, it manufactures control boards for electrical power companies. It has carried on these operations in essentially the same manner since the early 1930's. From 1942 to the present the Petitioner has repre- sented, in separate units, all the salaried and hourly employees in this department. The functions of the Hillside warehouse consist of shipping, storing, and receiving apparatus.' It has performed these same functions since the early 1930's and in 1942 the handling of consumer products was added to its functions. The Petitioner has never represented any of the salaried employees in the warehouse. The Petitioner seeks the inclusion of the salaried warehouse employees located at the Hillside ware- house in the certified unit of salaried employees at Hillside manufacturing and repair department. The Employer opposes this and argues, inter alia, that a petition for unit clarification is not the proper method for their inclusion. The Board finds merit in the Employer's argument. It is clear that the first full-time salaried employee came to work at the Hillside warehouse in 1960.3 It is also clear that the Petitioner and the Employer periodically enter into local supplemental contracts," augmenting the National Contract, and that in the 1961 local supplemental negotiations the Petitioner did not claim to represent or attempt to bargain for the classification of salaried warehouse employees. In view of the entire record, and particularly as this classification of employees has separate job functions, separate supervision, and a separate departmental location we find that the salaried warehouse em- ployees cannot be regarded as an accretion to the existing salaried manufactunng and repair department unit We do not consider a petition for unit clarification the proper vehicle for their inclusion.' The correct procedure to determining the issue of inclusion is a petition pursuant to Section 9(c) of the Act, seeking an election.' We shall therefore deny the Petitioner's petition.7 ORDER It is hereby ordered that the Petitioner's petition for unit clarification be, and it hereby is, denied. correspondence) was moved to the warehouse in August 1960. 4 The Board finds that since 1951 all the local supplement contracts have noted that the hourly employees in the warehouse have been included with the hourly employees in the manufacturing and repair department by agreement of the parties. 5 Worthington Corporation , Compressor and Engine Division, 155 NLRB 222, 227 6 BeaumtFibers, Inc , 153 NLRB 987, 989 7 In view of our disposition of this matter , we find it unnecessary to pass upon the Employer 's contention that the unit is indefinite and inappropriate for bargaining , and that one of the salaried employees is a confidential secretary.