Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 25, 1953

103 N.L.R.B. 1020 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

1020 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. and LOCAL 68, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
OPERATING ENGINEERS, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 4RC17928.
March. 25,1953
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Alan Zurlnick, 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 [Members Houston, Styles, and Peterson].
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
employees 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, in effect, a powerhouse unit com-
posed of 7 regular and 2 standby engineers at the Employer's Yeast
Plant No. 2, Old Bridge, New Jersey. The Employer and the Inter-
venor, Bakery Drivers and Salesmen, Local 194, International Broth-
erhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, AFL, contend that the unit sought is inappropriate princi-
pally because of (1) the past bargaining history on a more compre-
hensive basis, (2) the integration of these employees with the produc-
tion process, and (3) their lack of separate, identifiable interests.
The Employer, at Yeast Plant No. 2, is engaged primarily in the
manufacture of bakers' yeast? Since 1937, the Employer has had
contracts covering the production and maintenance employees, includ-
ing the engineers, in a single plantwide unit. From 1937 to 1942,
the bargaining representative was an independent union known as
"The Employees' Association at Old Bridge, New Jersey." Since
that time the employees have been represented by the Intervenor,
except for the year 1945 when United Gas, Coke and Chemical Workers
of America, CIO, was designated as the bargaining representative but
did not execute an agreement.
1 The motion of the Employer to dismiss the petition on the ground that the requested
unit is inappropriate is denied for the reasons set forth in section 4, infra.
1 Approximately 95 percent of all yeast shipped from this plant of the Employer is
bakers' yeast . The remaining 5 percent consists of active bakers' dry yeast and pharma-
ceutical yeast which are manufactured by reducing the 70-percent water content of bakers'
yeast and by additional processing.
103 NLRB No. 100.
ANIIEUSER-BUSCH, INC. 1021
The engineers sought by the Petitioner perform the functions of
generating steam, furnishing refrigeration, compressed air, and water
for uses in connection with the manufacturing process, and operating
related auxiliary equipment. These employees are stationed in, and
work out of, the boilerhouse, blowerhouse, and wellhouse, which are
separate structures located at the rear of the manufacturing building.
In general, the steam generated in the boilerhouse, the water pumped
initially by the blowerhouse, and the air from the blowerhouse become
ingredients in the Employer's finished products. The steam, air, water
and refrigerants also have numerous other uses related to the
processing operations.
However, the engineers' duties are generally confined to the power-
house buildings 8 and they alone are licensed by the State of New
Jersey to operate the boilers and ammonia compressors and for their
duties involving refrigerants. While the engineers have generally
been subject to conditions of employment similar to those of other
plant employees under past contracts, such as plantwide seniority,
insurance benefits, common time clock, and uniform shift, and a minor
part of their duties are analogous to some functions performed in the
plant,' the engineers for the most part work under separate imme-
diate supervision from plant employees,5 have their own locker room,
receive the highest wages, and are obliged to work on weekends and
3 holidays, unlike plant employees who generally are not so required.
Moreover, although other employees occasionally perform certain
duties in the boilerhouse and blowerhouse,s and vacancies as standby
engineer have in the past been filled by qualified personnel from the
3 The engineers ' duties are performed in the powerhouse buildings except during each
S-hour shift when the engineer on duty in the blowerhouse spends about 2 hours in the
manufacturing building performing such work as the checking and control of temperatures
where refrigerants are used, defrosting refrigeration equipment , and checking the volume
of water in the various storage tanks. In so doing the engineer discusses necessary
adjustments with production foremen.
4 The starting and stopping of the blower motor in the blowerhouse is similar to the
operation of the exhaust blower in the warehouse which is operated by production em-
ployees in the production of active bakers' dry yeast . Also, the operation of the steam
and electric pumps, both in the powerhouse and manufacturing building , are similar.
The engineers are supervised by the utilities supervisor while production and main-
tenance employees are supervised by the production supervisor and foremen , and the
maintenance supervisor , respectively . During the absence of the utilities supervisor the
engineers are supervised by the maintenance supervisor . At night the engineers report
to whoever is in charge of the plant at the time.
Crews of maintenance or production employees are periodically assigned to clean the
powerhouse buildings or tear down equipment and while so doing are under the joint
supervision of their supervisor and the utilities supervisor. The plant oiler daily oils
equipment used by the engineers as well as other equipment throughout the plant. The
electrician , in addition to his general duties as plant electrician , regularly inspects the
electric panel and electrical equipment in the blowerhouse. However, none of these em-
ployees does the work routinely done by the engineers and all of them are under different
general supervision from the engineers and normally located elsewhere.
1022 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plant,' there is no interchange between plant employees and engineers,
nor have engineers been transferred to plant duties.
Under all the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the engi-
neers constitute an identifiable, functionally coherent group who have
a separate community of interest and are of a type we have generally
held may, if they so desire, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining." The history of bargaining on a more
comprehensive basis in which the engineers participated and from
which they received benefits does not preclude such separate repre-
sentation? Nor is the integration between the production process
and the engineers such as to render the requested unit inappropriate."
Accordingly, we shall direct an election in the following voting
group:
All engineers 11 at Employer's Yeast Plant No. 2, Old Bridge, New
Jersey, excluding office and clerical employees, professional employees,
guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time,
but shall first ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed
in the election hereinafter directed. If a majority vote for the Peti-
tioner, they will be taken to have indicated that they desire to consti-
tute a separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting
the election directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of
representatives to the Petitioner for the unit described above, which
the Board, under such circumstances, finds to be appropriate for pur-
poses of collective bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the
Intervenor, they may continue to be represented as a part of the
existing production and maintenance unit and the Regional Director
will issue a certification of results of election to such effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
' whenever an engineer's position has been vacated, the normal procedure has been
for a standby engineer to move up to regular engineer and the standby position to be
filled by posting in the plant. Only employees with an engineer 's license are eligible
for consideration.
8 Blatz Brewing Company, 94 NLRB 1277; Baugh and Sons Company, 82 NLRB 1399.
9 The Reliance Electric d Engineering Company, 98 NLRB 488.
w Blatz Brewing Company, supra ; Baugh and Sons Company , supra; Ralston Purina
Company, 86 NLRB 107. The Board's decision in cases such as Corn Products Refining
Co., 80 NLRB 362, and Union Starch and Refining Co., 91 NLRB 3, involving the "wet-
milling" industry and cited by the Employer and Intervenor in their briefs , are clearly
not controlling herein. Among other things, unlike in those cases , the record here does
not show any established pattern of bargaining on a production and maintenance basis in
this industry.
ii The Employer and Intervenor would exclude one of the standby engineers from the
unit. However , since this employee regularly works as an engineer , subject to the same
conditions of employment as other engineers , 2 days per week for 6 months each year,
we shall include him in the unit along with the other standby engineer concerning whom
there is no dispute.