Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 5, 1954

108 N.L.R.B. 159 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

CONSOLIDATED VULTEE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 159
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
The Employer is a New Jersey enterprise comprised of a
partnership doing business as Mach Lumber Company, Capitol
Wholesale Supply Company, a corporation, and Philyet Cor-
poration . Capitol is engaged in the purchase and sale of roofing
and other materials and is located on the same premises as
Mach. Most of Capitol ' s sales are to Mach and all of its business
is transacted within the State. Mach is itself engaged in the sale
of lumber and other building materials . Philyet was organized
a number of years ago to construct houses but has transacted
no business in the past 3 or 4 years. The employees in issue
are on Mach ' s payroll . The gross annual sales of Mach for the
year ending July 31 , 1953, were approximately $ 1,127,000.
Of this amount , $ 5,000 represented out-of-State sales, and
between $5 , 000 and $10 , 000 represented sales to a military
installation within the State. The remainder consisted of sales
made locally to farmers , builders , and homeowners . During
the same period , Mach made direct out-of-State purchases
valued at approximately $ 51,000 and indirect out-of-State
purchases valued at $ 500,000.
We believe that the Employer ' s sales to the military installa-
tion within the State did not have a sufficient effect upon the
national defense to warrant our asserting jurisdiction for that
reason.2 As the remaining sales and purchases do not satisfy
any other of the Board's jurisdictional standards, we find that
it will not effectuate the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction
in this case.
[The Board dismissed the petition .]
Members Murdock and Beeson took no part in the consider-
ation of the above Decision and Order.
2 Alpine Mill & Lumber Co., 107 NLRB 915.
CONSOLIDATED VULTEE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION,
POMONA DIVISION and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPER-
ATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL NO. 501, A.F.L., Petitioner.
Case No. 21-RC-3388. April 5, 1954
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 Herbert C.
Bumgarner , hearing officer . The hearing officer ' s rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
108 NLRB No. 33.
160 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 cer-
tain employees of the Employer. 1
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of aircraft
and currently recognizes the Intervenor as the bargaining
representative of all production and maintenance employees
in its Pomona Division plant . The Petitioner seeks to sever from
this broad unit a unit of high pressure A and low pressure A
stationary engineers . These employees are engaged in operating
high and low pressure boilers and compressors . The high
pressure boilers supply steam for use in certain production
processes , such as aircraft plating, operations . The high
pressure York compressors supply coolants for cooling the
plant, while other high pressure compressors are used, for
example, with testing equipment in the production of missiles
or airframes . This high pressure equipment is operated by
the high pressure A stationary engineers , with the low pressure
engineers acting as part-time helpers , or by low pressure
engineers , if chosen for upgrading to the highpressure classi-
fication . The high pressure engineers operate both boilers and
compressors in the course of their employment . The low
pressure boilers are used for heating the plant, while the low
pressure compressors supply compressed air for machinery
such as rivet guns and punching presses. This low p ressure
equipment is operated by the low pressure engineers , though
on occasion the high pressure engineers may perform such
work.
Both the Employer and the Intervenor contendthat severance
here should be denied for a number of reasons:
a. It is argued that severance is not appropriate in view of the
highly integrated nature of the plant operations and in view
of the industrial pattern of bargaining prevailing not only in
the Employer' s plant but in the whole aircraft industry of which
it is a part . However, the Board has recently held that such
reasons will not preclude severance of a group otherwise
entitled to separate representation.2
b. It is further contended by the Employer and Intervenor
that the unit is not appropriate in that it does not include all
employees doing the same or substantially ' the same kind of
work . There is however, no showing --and, in fact , it is not
even alleged --that the requested unit does not include all
employees who operate high and low pressure boilers and com-
pressors . In fact, the record affirmatively shows that only
those employees inthe requested classifications regularly oper-
iThe International Association of Machinists , Lodge No. 1254, intervened at the hearing.
2 American Potash & Chemical Corporation , 107 NLRB 1418 , at page 5.
CONSOLIDATED VULTEE AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 161
ate such equipment. Accordingly, we find no merit in this
contention of the Employer and Intervenor.
c. Finally the Employer and Intervenor contend that sever-
ance should be denied as, under Board rulings, the high pressure
A stationary engineers are not craftsmen constituting a craft
nucleus warranting severance of the requested unit. However,
the alleged lack of craft status is not determinative of this
issue.
These engineers work for the most part in buildings which
house the boilers and compressors and which are separate from
other working areas. No other employees regularly work in
these buildings. There is no interchange between the engineers
and employees in other classifications. hi view of the type
of work performed by these engineers, and in view of the fact
that they constitute a functionally distinct and separate grouping,
we find that they constitute an appropriate powerhouse unit,
such as the Board has found to be entitled to separate repre-
sentation.' As the union requesting the stationary engineers
has historically and traditionally represented such engineers in
powerhouse units, we find that the high pressure A and the low
pressure A stationary engineers may constitute a separate
appropriate unit if they so desire. 4
Accordingly, we shall direct an election in the following voting
group: All high pressure A stationary engineers and all low
pressure A stationary engineers at,the Employer's Pomona,
California, plant, excluding all other employees and supervisors
as defined in the Act.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at this
time, but shall first ascertainthe desires of these employees as
expressed in the election hereinafter directed. If a majority
vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated
that they desire to constitute 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 purposes
of collective bargaining. In the event that 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. 5
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Member Beeson took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.
iSee American Potash & Chemical Corporation, supra at page 11, and cases cited at
footnote 9.
4American Potash & Chemical Corporation, supra, at page 11; Chrysler Corporation,
98 NLRB 1105, at 1108-1109.
5 In view of our disposition of this case, the Intervenor's motion to dismiss the petition
is hereby dented.
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