General Motors Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 16, 1963

143 N.L.R.B. 647 (N.L.R.B. 1963)

GM CORP., GM PHOTOGRAPHIC ENGINEERING CENTER :647
General Motors Corporation, GM Photographic Engineering
Center 1 and Detroit Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union
No. 2, affiliated with International Printing Pressmen and
Assistants ' Union of North America , AFL-CIO, Petitioner.
Case No. 7-RC-5574. July 16, 1963
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph B. Bigler,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
f roe from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.2
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 McCulloch and Members Rodgers 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 organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.'
3. For .the following reasons we find that no question exists con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Employer.
The GM Photographic Engineering Center is part of the General
Motors Technical Center which in turn comprises one of the divisions
of the General Motors Corporation. The Photographic Engineering
Center is housed in,a single building and has four departments en-
gaged in the following reproduction activities : blueprint and white-
print; metal draft reproduction; tracing reproductions; and multi-
lith and mimeograph reproductions. The only employees involved
herein are those in the multilith-mimeograph department.
This department is separately located,and is under separate super
vision. It has 41 employees, of which 17 are actively engaged in the
operation of 9 multilith 4 machines and 1 mimeograph machine. The
balance of the employees in the department do collating,. binding,
stockwork, clerical,work, and preparation of paper mats for use on
the machines. Employees' who operate the machines are classified
as learners, junior operators, and senior operators, depending pri-
marily on their length of service. New employees are not required
' The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
s As the record and briefs adequately present the issues and positions of the parties, the
Employer's request for oral argument is denied.
3 United Automobile , Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL-
CIO, intervened at the hearing on the basis of a showing of interest
4 The word "multilith ," as it appears in the record , and consequently in this decision,
is used as a generic term.
143 NLRB No. 69.
648 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to have prior training or experience . All employees are subject to
uniform wage policies , receive the same benefits , and are salaried.
None of the output of the department is produced for resale. Other
staffs and divisions of GM use the various personnel forms , reports,
engineering changes, and parts lists that are produced.
The multilith machines in use are of the type found both in business,
offices and printing shops. The multilith machine operates on an
offset principle, whereby paper mats are used to put an impression
on a rubber roller which in turn imprints the image on paper. These
paper mats are made on a standard typewriter or on a Xerox machine.
Mats used in the multilith department are prepared by stenographic
personnel in the various divisional offices located elsewhere in the
Technical Center. Mats which cannot be prepared on a typewriter
are prepared on the Xerox machine in the multilith department. Sim-
ilar multilith machines are used in other offices in the Technical Center.
There is no interchange between employees in the multilith-
mimeograph department and other departments. Within the depart-
ment, interchange between job classifications is limited to vacation
and peak workload periods, and to filling in for absentees.
Operation of the multilith machine can most simply be described
as something more difficult than operating a mimeograph and con-
siderably less complex than running an actual lithographic press.
After the mat has been placed on its cylinder, the ink and water wells
are filled , and the adjustments for paper size are made, the machine is
ready to operate. None of these operations is complex or requires par-
ticular skill. The only adjustment made while the machine is in op-
eration is for darkness of image and this is accomplished by turning
a knob. Cleaning the machine between runs consists in running
through waste paper, or is done automatically on certain machines.
According to the record, cleaning the machine at the end of 'the day
requires 10 minutes. Other than adjusting for the darkness of the
print, the operator makes no mechanical adjustments . Maintenance
of the machine is done by outside contractors and is not done by the
operators.
There is no apprentice or formal training program to qualify an
individual for multilith machine operation. The record indicates that
only several days' training is necessary to learn its operation. New
employees are required to have no special training , experience, or
qualifications.
The employees in question are currently unrepresented. The Peti-
tioner seeks alternative units which are limited, according to the Peti-
tioner, to employees whose duties are predominantly devoted to the
lithographic production process. The first proposed unit includes only
multilith machine operators and excludes all others ; the second is the
same as the first , but also includes stockboys and photo plate makers.
GM CORP., GM PHOTOGRAPHIC ENGINEERING CENTER 649
The Petitioner contends that the multilith machines are in reality off-
set presses, that the operators exercise lithographic process skills, and
that either requested unit is appropriate as a lithographic process unit.
The Petitioner indicated that if the Board does not find either of its
proposed units appropriate, it does not wish to participate in any
election.
The Intervenor contends that a unit of all employees in the Em-
ployer's Photographic Engineering Center, excluding office clericals,
technicals, and professional employees, is appropriate. However, the
Intervenor indicated willingness to participate in an election in either
of the units Petitioner seeks.
The Employer contends that neither of the Petitioner's units is
appropriate because multilith operators are not craftsmen engaged in
the lithographic production process, the machines are office machines
and not presses, and neither grouping Petitioner seeks is departmental
in scope.
We note first that there is no apprenticeship program for any of
these employees. There is no formalized training program and the
record shows that only several days' training is necessary to learn the
operation of multilith machines. All new employees are hired as
"learners" for a year, after which they progress to other classifications
on the basis of length of service and job proficiency. Many of these
same pieces of equipment are operated by clerical personnel in other
office-, of the Employer in the Technical Center Complex.
Further, the actual operation of the machines is not complex, nor
does it appear to require particular skills, special training, or ex-
perience. Thus the setting up, cleaning between runs, and final daily
cleaning are relatively simple and quickly accomplished. Frequently a.
single operator can operate two adjacent machines. Adjustments dur-
ing the run are made by turning a single knob to regulate darkness, and
the operators make no fine adjustments. Finally, the operators per-
form no maintenance functions, which are done by outside contractors.
All of the foregoing clearly indicates that the operation of multi-
lith machines does not require the use of lithographic process skills.
Accordingly, in view of the relative simplicity of operation of multi-
lith machines, the limited amount of time needed for employee train-
ing, the absence of a formal training and apprenticeship program, the
relatively low cost of the machines, and the fact that no special skills
are required of multilith machine operators, we are satisfied that the
employees sought by the Petitioner are not engaged in the lithographic
process, and that the units sought by Petitioner comprise merely an
arbitrary grouping of employees. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the
petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]