General Dynamics Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 27, 1959

125 N.L.R.B. 397 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

CONVAIR, A DIVISION OF GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP . 397
Convair, a Division of General Dynamics Corporation, Fort
Worth, Texas and Federated Independent Texas Unions, Air-
craft Local 900, Petitioner. Case No. 16-RC-0560. Novem-
ber 27, 1959
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before William H. Renkel, Jr.,.
hearing officer. The hearing officer's ruling 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 power in connection with this case to a three-member-
panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Bean and Fanning].
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 organization involved claims 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 to represent all photographers "A" and "B,"
and all photographic laboratory men "A" and "B" in departments
17-2 and 17-3 at the Employer's Fort Worth, Texas, plant. The
Employer moved to dismiss the petition, and contends that the unit is,
inappropriate, (1) because it does not constitute a craft or depart-
mental unit or all the technical employees of the Employer, (2) be-
cause it alone does not constitute a functionally distinct homogeneous
group with a community of interests, and (3) because the unit
requested by the Petitioner is based on extent of organization among-
the Employer's technical employees. The Employer contends that
the appropriate unit consists of all its hourly paid, nonrepresented'
technical employees. There is no history of collective bargaining at
this plant of the Employer in behalf of the employees sought by the-
Petitioner or for the employees in the unit which the Employer asserts
to be appropriate.
The Employer's Fort Worth plant is located on a tract of land 600,
acres in area and its operations are conducted in a main building 1
mile in length and one-fourth mile in width and in numerous out-
lying buildings. The record does not show what products are manu
-factured at this plant or the job classifications or tasks of its employ
ees, except that photography is widely used in its operations and that.
cameras and other photographic equipment are used in many depart-
ments throughout the plant. The Employer was unable to state with
125 NLRB No. 37.
398 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
exactness the number of its departments or the classifications of its
employees utilizing photographic equipment. Employees classified
as photographers "A" and "B" and photographic laboratory tech-
nicians "A" and "B" are assigned to the administrative photo group
and the optical instrument group (both in department 17-2) and to
the process camera group (department 17-3). They perform photo-
graphic and photographic laboratory tasks all the time. In addition,
the record shows that employees in the Employer's engineering motion
picture group, the tool reproduction group of department 82, and
the silk screen processing department, while not classified as pho-
tographers or photographic laboratory technicians, perform photo-
graphic and allied tasks all the time. In addition, photographic work
is performed by employees in other of the Employers' departments
part of the time.' However, the record does not show the classifica-
tions of these employees or the amount of time they spend in photo-
graphic work. The Employer has issued 269 cameras to 18 of its
departments, of which 46 cameras are issued to the departments to
which the employees sought by the Petitioner are assigned; and the
Employer utilizes 19 darkrooms in its photographic operations, of
which 4 are utilized by the employees sought by the Petitioner.
The employees sought by the Petitioner work in three separate
plant locations and are the only employees classified as photographers
"A" and "B" or photographic laboratory man "A" and "B." They
work in the administrative photo group, the optical instrument group,
and the process camera group? Other employee classifications are
assigned to these groups.3
The administrative photo group, consisting of five photographers
and eight photographic laboratory men, is located in the center of
the main building and is about one block from the process camera
group and about one mile from the optical instrument group. The
administrative photo group takes still photographs, make photo-
graphic prints, enlargements, and reductions of photographs, and
processes and mounts color slides. This section works on photo-
graphic requisitions from many departments, but principally from
requisitions submitted by the engineering department.4 These em-
ployees perform photographic and allied tasks exclusively. All
photographers "A," assigned to the administrative photo group, have
1 These groups are the process control group ; the medical section of the personnel de-
partment , the inspection department , the engineering department , the engineering service
department , the engineering test laboratory department , and the nuclear engineer group.
2 Also called the still photo group , flight test section, and copy camera group,
respectively.
3 The Petitioner , however, does not seek to include in the unit all employees in these
groups.
*Approximately 66 percent of the requisitions of the administrative photo group are
received from this department.
CONVAIR, A DIVISION OF GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP. 399
at least 4 years' training or photographic experience and all employees
in this group possess about the same skills.
The optical instrument group, consisting of four photographers
land six photographic laboratory men, is located about 1 mileile from
the administrative photo group. Its employees, who do not work in
response to photographic requisitions, load and unload cameras and
films on board airplanes. When a plane returns from flight, the
camera is unloaded and the film, which has been exposed by aircraft
personnel, is processed by the photographic laboratory men. An
estimated 15 percent of the time of the employees in this group is
spent taking pictures. The optical instrument group has different
supervision from that of the administrative photo group and the
process camera group. In the 2 years prior to the hearing herein,
four employees were transferred from the administrative photo group
to the optical instrument group.
The process camera group, consisting of one photographic labora-
tory man, "A," and two photographers, "B," is located a block from
the administrative photo lab. This group operates process cameras
which are used to produce pictures used in publications issued by
the Employer. The employees in this group are separately supervised
and have not been interchanged with employees in the administrative
photo group or in the optical instrument group. The record does
not show that the employees in the process camera group take pictures.
From the foregoing, it appears that the employees sought by the
Petitioner are separately located, separately supervised, and perform
different photographic functions. They are not interchanged or trans-
ferred generally from one group to another. Although they perform
photographic and allied tasks, they are not the only employees of the
Employer performing these duties.' While the parties agree that
they are technical employees, the record does not contain any specific
evidence of any training or experience of the photographers or photo-
graphic laboratory men sought by the Petitioner. As the employees
sought by the Petitioner are not the only employees who perform
photographic or other technical work 6 and as there is no showing
that the unit requested by the Petitioner is appropriate on any craft,
'departmental, or residual basis, we find that the employees sought by
.the Petitioner do not constitute an appropriate unit. We shall, there-
fore, on the basis of this record, grant the Employer's motion and
dismiss the petition herein.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
6 For example , the Petitioner does not seek to represent any of the 19 employees in the
engineering motion picture group who do photographic work in connection with motion
pictures and still pictures.
Cf. Boeing Airplane Company, 116 NLRB 1101.