Boeing Airplane Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 21, 1959

124 N.L.R.B. 689 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

BOEING AIRPLANE COMPANY, SEATTLE DIVISION 689
2. By forming , dominating , and interfering with the administration of the Inde-
pendent and by contributing support to it, the Association and its drugstore employer-
members have engaged in and are engaging in unfair labor practices within the
meaning of Section 8 (a)(2) of the Act.
3. By entering into and giving effect to the contract effective July 2, 1957, with the
Independent , which contract was executed in violation of the Act, the Association and
its drugstore employer-members have engaged in and are engaging in unfair labor
practices within the meaning of Section 8(a)(1) of the Act.
4. By discriminatorily locking out certain employees on November 20, 1957,
thereby discouraging membership in the Union , the Association 's drugstore employer-
members have engaged in and are engaging in unfair labor practices within the
meaning of Section 8(a)(3) of the Act.
5. By interfering with, restraining , and coercing the employees here involved in
the exercise of the rights guaranteed in Section 7 of the Act, the Association and its
drugstore employer-members have engaged in, and are engaging in, unfair labor prac-
tices within the meaning of Section 8(a)( I) of the Act.
6. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices within the mean-
ing of Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
[Recommendations omitted from publication.]
Boeing Airplane Company, Seattle Division and National Union,
United Welders of America, Independent , Petitioner. Case No.
19-RC-92194. August p21, 1959
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CLARIFICATION
OF UNIT
On February 20, 1959, following a Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion 1 and an election held pursuant thereto, the Board issued a Cer-
tification of Representatives in the above-entitled proceeding in which
National Union, United Welders of America, Independent, was certi-
fied as the exclusive bargaining representative in an appropriate craft
unit of welding employees . Thereafter, on April 16, 1959, Aeronau-
tical Industrial District Lodge No. 751, International Association of
Machinists, AFL-CIO, the Intervenor and bargaining representa-
tive of the Employer's production and maintenance employees, filed
a motion in which it requested the Board to clarify the welding unit
to determine whether employees classified as automatic fusion welding
machine operator and sheet metal worker and welder maintenance C
should be included. The Petitioner filed a reply, and on April 28,
1959, the Board ordered a hearing for the purpose of receiving evi-
dence relating to the unit placement of the aforementioned classifica-
tions. Accordingly, on June 18 and 19, a hearing was held before
Hearing Officer Robert E. Tillman and, thereafter, the Petitioner and
the Employer filed briefs. The rulings of the hearing officer made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed 2
'Boeing Airplane Company, Seattle Division, Case No, 19-RC-2194 ( issued on Janu-
ary 13, 1959 , unpublished).
2 The requests of the Intervenor and the Employer for oral argument are denied, as the
record, including the briefs, adequately presents the issues and the positions of the parties.
124 NLRB No. 83.
525543-60-vol. 124 45
690 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Leedom and Members Rodgers and Jenkins].
The 12 automatic fusion welding machine operators operate auto-
matic welding machines which seam weld fuel tanks for Bomare
pilotless aircraft . The machines are automatic and after 10 days to
2 weeks instruction , operators , with no prior welding experience, are
able to turn out acceptable welds. Controls of the machine are preset
by the operator in accordance with certain prearranged settings
worked out by research welders. Once set, they govern the speed of
the weld, the voltage, the amperage, the wire feed , and the height of
the welding head. As the operators of these machines take no mili-
tary tests and receive no military certifications , and as they are not
otherwise required to possess or exercise the complex of welding skills
utilized by other aircraft welders, we find that they are not properly
included in the unit . See Lockheed Aircraft Corporation , 121 NLRB
1541.
While the welding machines were being phased into the production
process, they were operated by more highly paid production and high
strength welders called automatic fusion welding machine operators-
special . As the Employer does not contemplate using welders to
operate these machines in the future , we find it unnecessary to resolve
unit placement as to this classification.
The welding unit found appropriate and certified by the Board con-
tained no express reference to the classification of sheet metal worker
and welder maintenance C, as no evidence had originally been taken
on that classification . On the day of the election , pursuant to the
Board's instructions in the aforementioned Decision and Direction of
Election, employees in this classification were permitted to vote sub-
ject to challenge . Since their ballots were not decisive of the outcome
of the election , they were not counted . On the basis of the evidence
adduced at the supplemental hearing, we now note that these em-
ployees, who work with sheet metal workers, spend only 5 percent of
their time in welding . In these circumstances , they may hardly be
deemed to be "primarily engaged" in craft work within the require-
ment of American Potash.' Accordingly, they are not properly a
part of the welding Unit .4
[The Board amended the Certification of Representatives issued
to the National Union, United Welders of America, Independent, in
Case No. 19-RC-2194 to exclude from the certified unit the automatic
fusion welding machine operators and sheet metal worker and welder
maintenance C employees.]
3 American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418.
4 Arrowhead Products Division of Mogul Bower Bearings, Inc., Long Beach Plant, 120
NLRB 675, 676.