General Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 30, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 327 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LODGE
729 AND LODGE 162, AFFILIATED WITH DISTRICT 34, INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LODGE
162, AFFILIATED WITH DISTRICT 34, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
In the Matter of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT, AND AGRICUL-
TURAL IMPLEMENT `YORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
III the Matter Of GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, EMPLOYER and IN-
TERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE-
TTOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 100, AFL, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 9-RC-470, 9-RC-471, 9-RC-488, and 9-RC-509,
respectively.-Decided September 30, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon petitions duly filed, a hearing in these consolidated matters 1
was held before Harold V. Carey, 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National. Labor Relations 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.
I By order of the Regional Director issued May 25. 1949, Cases Nos. 9-RC-470,9-RC-471,
9--RC-48S. and 9-RC-509 were consolidated.
86 N. L. R. B., No. 43. 327
328 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4. The appropriate units :
The positions of the parties
Lodge 729 and Lodge 162, Affiliated with District 94; International
Association ofMachinists, jointly seek a unit of all tool, die, jig, fix-
ture, and/or gouge makers, and machinists working in and out of
the toolroom, including their helpers and apprentices, but excluding
guards, watchmen, all supervisors, and all other employees. Lodge
162 also.separately seeks a unit of all mechanics, including welders
and auto mechanics, their helpers and apprentices in the maintenance
department, but excluding watchmen, guards, all supervisors and all
other employees. International Union, United Automobile, Air-
craft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America CIO, seeks
to represent all production and maintenance employees employed by
the Employer at its plant at Lockland, Ohio, excluding clerical
workers, guards, professional employees, and all supervisors. Inter-
national Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America, Local 100, AFL, hereinafter called the Teamsters,
seeks to represent it unit consisting of all truck drivers, helpers, and
chauffeurs, excluding supervisors, professional Employees, guards,.
and all other employees.
The Employer opposes the units requested and would consider as
appropriate a unit of all hourly paid employees, excluding guards,
professional employees, and supervisors.z It urges that a toolroom
unit is inappropriate because the type of work performed is an integral
part of production; that a unit of maintenance mechanics is•inap-
propriate because their work.is closely connected with and necessary
to the continued operation of the assembly line; that the chauffeurs
are salaried employees with different working hours who are employed
in a confidential capacity and therefore may not be included in any
unit; and that the one truck driver may not -alone constitute an ap-
propriate unit.
The operations 61 the Employer
The Employer's Lockland Division of the Aircraft Gas Turbine
Division, located in what was formerly known as the North Shop of the-
Wright Plant, Lockland, Ohio, is primarily engaged in the assembly
and testing of jet turbine engines for the United States Government.
There is no history of collective bargaining at the Lockland, Ohio,.
2In determining an appropriate unit , the Board will not distinguish between employees
solely on the ground of difference in the mode of payment. See Matter of Gunnison
Homes, Inc., 72 N. L. R. B. 940 ; Matter of Pocono Apparel Mfg. Co., 73 N. L. R. B. 84-1.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 329
plant, which alone is involved in this proceeding, as it has been in
operation only since December 1, 1948. All parts for the jet engines,
with one minor exception, are fabricated by subcontractors and re-
,ceived at this plant for inspection and assembly.
The assembly and test departments, along with their complemen-
tary receiving and shipping, inspection, and stock departments, are
located on the main floor of the plant. The basement is occupied in
one end by the toolroom department, maintenance, janitor, and service
department, tube department, and tool crib and storage area, and in
the other by locker rooms, restrooms, cafeteria, and offices.
The toolroom group
The toolroom department, which is separated from the other de-
partments by walls and wire fencing, contains lathes, drilling ma-
chines, jig boards, drill presses, grinders, and other general toolroom
equipment. Working in the toolroom under the supervision of the
toolroom foreman are 14 machinists, 4 tool and die makers, and 1
welder. All toolroom employees must have a high school education
and must be able to read blueprints. In addition, the Employer re-
quires Class A, B, and C tool and die makers to have had a combina-
tion of apprenticeship and experience totalling from 8 to 12 years.
They make, from blueprints, sketches, or instructions, complicated
dies, tools, and fixtures, requiring accuracies under 1/1000. The
plant is constantly retooling, changing, and creating new tools. The
Class A, B, and C machinists must have had from 4 to 8 years of
apprenticeship and experience and must be able to operate all ma-
chines in the toolroom and do hand bench work.
The bench work consists of reworking engine parts received from
vendors, which parts are not in accordance with specifications and
must be modified before assembly; rework or fabrication is made nec-
essary by changes in specifications required by United States Gov-
ernment orders which are given with such short notice that it is not
possible to' have the changes made by the manufacturing subcon-
tractors prior to shipment. Approximately 75 percent of the ma-
chinists'working time, and a lesser amount approximately 40 to 50
percent of the tool and die makers' time, is spent in this type of
hand bench rework. The parts to be reworked are segregated by the
Inspection Department and forwarded to the toolroom for modifi-
cation and'then returned for assembly. Only in infrequent instances
do the toolroom employees perform minor modifications on the assem-
bly floor. It also appears that each day several machinists are loaned
330 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to the tube department in order to establish operations in that
department.'
The Employer's plant superintendent admitted that these toolroom
employees are a homogeneous group of closely related and highly
skilled craftsmen; that no other employees in the plant perform the
same type of work; 4 and that it is not the policy of the Employer to,
interchange toolroom employees with any other. The record discloses
that the toolroom employees perform a highly specialized type of craft
work on a level with that of tool and die makers whom the Board
has held may constitute a separate unit apart from maintenance ma-
chinists.5 Moreover, the mere fact that the toolroom employees use
their skills directly on parts of the final product does not prevent
their qualifying as a craft group; the Act does not limit the right
of separate craft representation to maintenance craftsmen. The only
prerequisite is that they shall not be so integrated and intermingled
with other production employees as to lose their identity as a craft
group.6 We find that the toolroom employees are a distinct craft group
who may, if they desire, constitute a separate unit for collective bar-
gaining purposes.7
The maintenance machinists and mechanics group
The maintenance, janitor, and service department, having a work-
ing complement of 45 employees, is under the supervision of the
maintenance foreman. Of these employees, 22 are skilled craftsmen
and trade helpers consisting of maintenance machinists, mechanics-
test, mechanics-auto and truck, welders, and plumbers and pipe fitters,
The tube department ,' which is located across the aisle from the toolroom , is under the
supervision of the toolroom foreman. The operation of this department is to fabricate
from raw pipe , stainless steel parts consisting of oil and fuel tubes for the engines. The
tube department contains specialized machines, as distinguished from the standard pur-
poses machines in the toolroom . The department is presently being set up and at the
time of the hearing had only one permanent employee. To get the department into opera-
tion the toolroom machinists work on a loan basis interchangeably between the two de-
partments . The Employer anticipates hiring six employees with from 3 to 4 years of
mechanical experience specifically to train each employee to operate one of the specialized
machines . As tube department employees are to be trained only to achieve that degree of
skill required to perform the particular work to which they will be assigned, they cannot
be said to be craftsmen . See Matter of Johns -Manville Products Corporation , 80 N. L. it. B..
602.
4It appears that Class A inspectors are required to have the same background as tool
and die makers . However, such knowledge is required to enable them to perform their par-
ticular work rather than to exercise craft skills.
6 Matter of Aluminum Company of America, 83 N. L. it. B. 398.
6 Matter of Indiana Limestone Company , Inc., 83 N. L. it. B. 1124 ; Matter of Aluminum
Company of America, 83 N. L. R. B. 398; Matter of International Harvester Company, 80
N. L. R. B. 1451. .
4 Although Board Member Gray does not deem it desirable to establish a separate unit
where the employees therein are engaged in production work for a large portion of their
time he concurs in this finding in order to protect the interests of a highly skilled craft
group.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 331
millwrights, electricians, and carpenters. The remaining 23 employees
are laborers, janitors, industrial truck operators, and gasoline truck
drivers. . These unskilled maintenance employees report to and re-
ceive instructions from :group leaders -%ihile the craftsmen, other than
the test mechanics, 1 electrician and a plumber who are permanently
assigned to the test maintenance foreman, receive their instructions
from the maintenance foreman. Each craft has a separately desig-
nated shop containing work benches, tools, and equipment necessary
to its particular trade.
The maintenance machinists and mechanics-test, Class A and B,
are required to have a combination of apprenticeship and experience
totaling from 6 to 8 years. The maintenance machinists maintain
and repair machine tools and mechanical installations associated with
the building, property, and equipment. In the performance of lna.in-
tenance work, the machinists are required to go into all areas of the
plant. The mechanics-test maintain and repair the equipment in the
test cells. Although these employees are assigned to the test depart-
ment, part of their working time is spent in their designated portion
of the maintenance area where they have their tools, machines, work
benches, presses, and related equipment. The maintenance foreman
retains supervision of these employees as to the manner of performing
the work and all other supervisory authority including hiring, firing,
and disciplining. However, the test foreman directs the sequence of
their work. The mechanics-auto and truck are required to have 4
years of typical auto mechanic experience. They perform all duties
incidental to the upkeep, repair, and maintenance of auto equipment,
passenger cars, trucks and industrial trucks. They also perform the
lubrication of equipment throughout the plant.
None of the craftsmen in the maintenance department have any
duties in the plant other than their own craft work. Although all
are under the supervision of the same foreman, each craft retains its
own identity and has, as previously stated, separate areas where it
performs craft duties. Nor can it be said, as contended by the Em-
ployer, that these maintenance craftsmen are integrated with the
assembly lines as were craftsmen in ° the Dodge case." Rather, it
appears that the present craftsmen, like most maintenance crafts-
men, spend much of their time throughout the plant performing craft
duties which are not of a highly repetitive nature.
The Employer further urges that a craft unit for this group is
inappropriate as it does not include all employees with similar craft
8 Matter of Dodge San Leandro Plant, 80 N. L. R. B. 1031. This case followed the
principles previously set forth in Matter of Ford Motor Company ( Maywood Plant), 78
N. L. R. Ti. 887.
332 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
skills and qualification.9 It is clear that the mere possession of craft
skills is not determinative of craft status where such skills are not
exercised by the employees concerned in the course of their employ-
ment. In the present instance, it appears that although other em-
ployees in the plant possess skills similar to those of certain of the
maintenance machinists and mechanics, they do not exercise such
skills in the performance of their present jobs. Maintenance ma-
chinists are not required to perform the type of highly skilled hand
bench work which consumes a large portion of the working time of
both machinists and tool and die makers in the toolroom. Further,
maintenance machinists are in general neither able nor required to
operate the variety of machines which toolroom machinists must op-
erate in conjunction with the hand bench work. As was stated in
Aluminum Company of America case, previously cited,10 "The work
programs and employment interests of die machinists and main-
tenance machinists are clearly separate and distinct." We conclude,
therefore, in the instant case, that toolroom machinists perform
skills, sufficiently different from those of maintenance machinists to
warrant separate units. Accordingly, we find that all maintenance ma-
chinists, mechanics-test, mechanics-auto and truck, and their helpers
may constitute an appropriate unit if they so desire.
The truck driver and chauffeurs group
The Teamsters has requested a unit of truck drivers and chauffeurs.
The only truck driver in the plant is under the supervision of the
maintenance, janitor, and service department foreman. He is an
hourly paid employee whose duties including hauling combustibles
and waste from the plant to the incinerator or dump, making trips to
the airport to pick up air freight, and to the post office for parcels.
He does his own loading and unloading but does no mechanical work
on his truck.
The two chauffeurs drive company-owned station wagons and a
limousine. They are salaried employees who are under the direct
supervision of the general foreman. Their duties include hauling and
carrying back and forth from town and other locations, Wright Field,
United States Air Force, and company officials, and taking sick or
injured employees home or to the hospital. They also pick up-first-
class mail from the post office and act as couriers in delivering highly
confidential data at which time they are accompanied by an armed
guard.
6 See footnotes 3 and 4, supra. The employees mentioned in those two footnotes, and
the toolroom machinists previously discussed, appear to be the only employees in the plant
who would fall within this category.
10 See footnote 5, supra.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 333
The Employer urges that these chauffeurs may not properly be a
part of any unit, because in the performance of their work they are
in a position to overhear highly confidential conversations and are
therefore confidential employees. However, as these employees clearly
do not assist or act in a confidential capacity to persons exercising
managerial functions in the field of labor relations, we find no merit
in the Employer's contention 11
The Board has held that the duties and interests of chauffeurs and
truck drivers are similar,12 and warrant the inclusion of both categories
within the same bargaining unit.13 In addition thereto, the interests
of chauffeurs and truck drivers differ substantially from those of other
employees.14 We find, therefore, that chauffeurs and truck drivers
together constitute a well-established traditional. group of employees
who may, if they desire, constitute a separate unit for purposes of
collective bargaining.
We shall make no final determination with respect to the appro-
priate unit or units for employees at the Lockland, Ohio, plant of the
Employer until after separate elections shall have been held among
employees in the following voting groups :
1. All tool and die makers and machinists working in and out of the
toolroom, including their helpers and apprentices,15 and the welder,1B
but excluding all supervisors and all other employees.
2. All maintenance machinists and mechanics, including mechanics-
test, mechanics-auto and truck, and their helpers 11 and apprentices,
but excluding all supervisors and all other employees.'8
11 Matter of Smith Paper, Inc., 76 N. L. R. B. 1222 ; Matter of Tide Water Associated
Oil Co., 66 N. L. It. B. 380.
12 Matter of Luscombe Airplane Corp., 69 N. L. It. B., 479.
13 Matter of Roane-Anderson- Company, 77 N. L. R. B. 953; Matter of The Imperial To-
bacco Company, 74 N. L. It. B. 1038.
14 Matter of Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, 74 N. L. It. B. 513.
"Although it appears that there are no machinists' helpers, or apprentices at present
employed in the toolroom, no objection was made at the hearing to their inclusion in the
unit sought by Lodge 729 and Lodge 162 jointly. Accordingly, such classifications are in-
eluded therein. See Matter of Herman Nelson Corporation, 85 N. L. It. B. 206.
"The welder works approximately 90 percent of his time in the toolroom with the ma-
chinists and tool and die makers, performing all necessary welding, including are welding
and some brazing. To qualify for this position an employee must have, in addition to
from 6 to 8 hours of experience, samples of his work tested under the observation of an Air
Force representative from Wright Field. In view of the fact that his interests are allied
with those of the toolroom employees, the welder is included in the voting group of such
employees. See Matter of St. Regis Paper Company (Kraft Pulp Djvision), 80 N. L. R. B.
570.
17 The helpers in the maintenance department are generally assigned to a particular
craftsman. Although in emergencies a helper may be shifted temporarily to another craft
or be given an assignment alone, we believe that the helpers, who are assigned to the crafts-
men included in the voting group of maintenance machinists and mechanics, have sufficient
homogeneity and community of interest to warrant their inclusion in such voting group.
See Matter of Mergenthaler Linotype Co., 80 N. L. R. B. 132. Cf. Matter of Shell Chemical
Corp., 81 N. L. It. B. 965 .
11 The record fails to disclose the amount of working time which the welder spends in
duties connected with the work of these craftsmen. As no objection was raised to his
334 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
3. All chauffeurs, truck drivers and helpers, excluding supervisors
and all other employees.
4. All remaining production and maintenance employees, excluding
office and clerical. employees, professional employees, guards, and all
supervisors as defined in the Act.
5. The determination of representatives :
The Employer contends that an election at the present time would
be premature because of the scheduled expansion of the plant opera-
tions, and the fact that all employees are temporary for a period of
1 year. The Employer admits, however, that the plant has presently
reached an over-all 50 percent of the anticipated- complement of em-
ployees and that the present complement is representative as to job
classifications. It appears from the record that the plant, although
new, is currently in production; that no additional floor space will be
required; and that the contemplated increase in the number of em-
ployees, for the most part, will be merely expansion of classifications
already in existence. Moreover, the employees in the present comple-
ment of the plant have a reasonable expectation of becoming perma-
nent employees, and appear to be representative and to constitute a
substantial portion of the contemplated working force. Under these
circumstances, we see no reason for departing from our usual policy of
directing an immediate election.1s
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS 2e
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Ninth Region, and subject to
Sections 203.61 and 203. 62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations among the employees in the voting groups listed in
paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elections,
including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but exclud-
ing those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause
and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elec-
. tions and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to
reinstatement, to determine :
inclusion in this voting group, we shall include him if for 50 percent or more of his work-
ing time lie is closely associated with these employees.
10 Matter of American Enka Corporation (Lowland), SO N. L. R. B. 351.
20 Any participant in the elections directed herein may , upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by, the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.
GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY 331)
(a) Whether the employees in voting group 1 desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Lodge 729 and Lodge
162, Affiliated with District 34, International Association of Ma-
chinists, or by International Union, United Automobiles, Aircraft and
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, or by neither;
(b) Whether the employees in voting group 2 desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Lodge 162 affiliated
with District 34, International Association of Machinists, or by Inter-
national Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Im-
plement Workers of America, CIO, or by ueithei ;
(c) Whether the employees in voting group 3 desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Brother-
hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of Amer-
ica, Local 100, AFL, or by International Union, United Automobile,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO, or
by neither ;
(d) Whether or not the employees in voting group 4 desire to be
represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement
Workers of America, CIO.