Gerber Plastic Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 22, 1954

108 N.L.R.B. 403 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

GERBER PLASTIC COMPANY 403
As one of the factors supporting the appropriateness of
separate representation for voting group ( A) is that the
petitioner seeking to represent this group is a labor organ-
ization which traditionally represents such employees ( the IAM),
we shall provide that if a majority of the employees in this
group o elect the union seeking to represent them separately,
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute
a- separate bargaining unit, and the Regional Director con-
ducting the election is instructed to issue a certification of
representatives to such labor organization for such unit which
the Board , in such circumstances , finds to be appropriate for
purposes of collective bargaining . On the other hand, if a
majority of the employees in voting group ( A) do not vote for
the union which is seeking to represent them in a separate
unit, that group will be included in the plantwide unit and their
votes shall be pooled with those in voting group ( B),18 and
the Regional Director conducting the election is instructed to
issue a certification of representatives to the labor organ-
ization selected by a majority of the employees in the pooled
group which the Board , in such circumstances , finds to be a
single unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
18 American Potash & Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418, sets out the full language
of the new way of counting.
GERBER PLASTIC COMPANY and UNITED GAS, COKE &
CHEMICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, Petitioner. Case
No. 14 - RC-2487. April 22, 1954.
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Joseph H. Solien,
hearing officer . The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
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 cer-
tain employees of the Employer.
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) and ( 7) of the Act.
4. The parties generally agree that a unit of all production,
maintenance , and warehouse employees at the Employer's
108 NLRB No. 73.
404 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
three plants in St. Louis, Missouri,' excluding office clerical
and professional employees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors
is appropriate. The parties disagree as to the inclusion of the
following employees: Experimental employees who workatthe
Eighth Street and Spruce Street plants, leadmen working on the
second floor of the Eighth Street plant and on the third floor of
the Pine Street plant, the electrician, and the maintenance man.
The Employer would exclude all of these employees, whereas the
Petitioner would include them.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of toys, house-
wares, and utility items. It also does some contract molding for
other manufacturers. Directly under the president are 2 super-
intendents, one in charge of production and the other in charge
of designing, development, tooling, and maintenance of equip-
ment. Directly responsible to the production superintendent are
various foremen and floorladies, located in the 3 plants.
Experimental employees: The Employer contends that all of
these employees should be excluded from the unit as pro-
fessional employees.
There are five employees doing experimental work at the
Spruce Street plant. They work under the joint supervision of
the superintendent in charge of designing , development, tooling,
and maintenance of equipment, and the production super-
intendent. At the time of the hearing they were devoting the
majority of their time to experimenting with fibreglass, although
the Employer was not producing anything made of fibreglass.
They make experimental parts for the Employer, and also for
other companies. They sometimes make finished experimental
products which the Employer sells.
They must be able to read blueprints, be familiar with
chemistry, patternmaking and molding techniques, and know how
to lay up and produce fibreglass. The employee who is con-
ducting the experiments in fibreglass has a college degree. The
others have had schooling and practical experience in the work
that they are doing, and varied experience in chemicals and
material handling. It takes from 8 to 10 years to train employees
for this work. Two of these employees are on a salary basis, and
the others are hourly rated. Their hourly rate is the highest
in the plant.
There are six employees working at the Eighth Street plant
who design and make experimental tools, dies, andmolds. They
work in a separate shop under the direct supervision of the
superintendent in charge of designing, development, tooling,
and maintenance of equipment. In making the molds they
experiment with different types of metals, and must know the
various stresses and reactions of metals under different
conditions. A knowledge of plastics is also necessary to their
1 The Employer's factories and warehouse facilities are located at 308 South Eighth Street,
herein called the Eighth Street plant; at Eighth and Spruce Streets, herein called the Spruce
Street plant; and at 2622 Pine Street, herein called the Pine Street plant.
GERBER PLASTIC COMPANY 405
work . If the experimental tools and molds prove satisfactory,
they are sent to the production superintendent for production.
A few of these employees go into the shop to change dies or
molds . Two of them maintain the tools and machines in their own
shop. They do not, however , repair or work on any production
machines in the plant . The other men are primarily concerned
with designing.
These employees are more skilled than the average tool and
die maker or pattern maker . They do not work from established
formulas, but determine their own formulas through trial and
error. They must be able to use a drawing board, and not only
must know how to read blueprints , but also must be able to
make up blue prints . Two of these employees have engineering
degrees. They are paid on a salary basis. The others were
hired on the basis of their past tool - designing or tool - making
experience . They are paid on an hourly basis.
We do not believe it necessary to decide whether these em-
ployees are professional employees within the meaning of the
Act. It is clear from the record that their duties are not of a
routine nature , but require the use of independent judgment and
discretion. It is also evident that these employees possess and
exercise a high degree of specialized skills. They perform no
production and maintenance duties, and are not interchanged
with production and maintenance employees . We find that their
work is technical in character , and that their duties and
interests are separate and distinct from those of the production,
maintenance , and warehouse employees . 2 We shall therefore
exclude them from the unit.'
Leadmen : The operations on the third floor of the Pine
Street plant are almost identical to those on the second floor
of the Eighth Street plant . Both operations work 3 shifts, with
1 foreman and 1 leadman on each shift . The duties of the fore-
men and leadmen at both plants are the same. The leadmen are
directly' responsible to the foremen , and the foremen to the
production superintendent . The foremen have authority to
recommend the hiring and discharge of employees, and to grant
time off. The foremen make out the work assignments." In
addition to the leadmen and foremen , there are approximately
45 to 50 employees working on all 3 shifts on the second floor
of the Eighth Street plant . The record does not ' show how many
employees work on the third floor at the Pine Street plant.
There are about 60 employees working on the second and
third floors at Pine Street.
2Cf. Phillips Petroleum Company , 107 NLRB 1207 ; General Electric Company, 105
NLRB 921; Brady Aviation Corporation, 104 NLRB 220 ; Palmer Manufacturing Company, 103
NLRB 336; Delta Manufacturing Division , Rockwell Manufacturing Company, 89 NLRB 1434;
F. W Sickles Company, 81 NLRB 390; Westinghouse Electric Corporation , 81 NLRB 337.
31t is now well-established Board policy that technical employees may not be joined with
production and maintenance workers when any party objects to their inclusion . Philip Carey
Mfg. Company , 107 NLRB No. 26; Heintz Maufacturing Company , 100 NLRB 1521.
4 The parties agree that the foremen are supervisors within the meaning of the Act.
406 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The leadmen are responsible for the quality of the work
done by the production employees. They watch the quality from
the raw materials states to the completion of the operation.
If a leadman finds that the quality is not up to standard, he
usually corrects it by making an adjustment on the mechanical
equipment. When scrap pieces result from improper handling
by the employees, he shows the employees what they are
doing that is wrong. The standards are set by the production
superintendent.
The leadmen spend about 50 percent of their time doing
production work. Their authority is limited to carrying out the
orders of the foremen or other management personnel. If,
however, a bottleneck develops at one particular point, the
leadman can move an employee to another place in the depart-
ment to relieve the congestion on the line, without the authority
of the foreman. The leadmen do not have authority to hire,
discharge, or discipline employees, or effectively to recommend
such action.5 They refer to the foremen any requests by em-
ployees for time off. Any reports or recommendations made
by the leadmen are subject to independent investigation by the
foremen.
The record does not permit a finding that the leadmen
responsibly direct the work of other employees in a manner
which requires the use of independent judgment. We are
satisfied, on the record as a whole, that the leadmen do not
possess supervisory authority within the meaning of the Act.
We shall, therefore, include them in the unit.
Maintenance employees:7 The Employer urges that two
maintenance employees, an electrician and a mechanic, should
be excluded from the unit, contending that they are technicians
and a lack of community of interest with the other employees
in the unit.
The electrician and the mechanic work at all three plants,
under the supervision of the superintendent in charge of
designing, development, tooling, and maintenance of equipment.
Both are hourly rated employees. The duties of the electrician
consist of general electrical work such as maintenance, in-
stallation, and changing of motors, wiring, and putting in light
switches. The mechanic works along the production line, but
does not do any production work. He repairs, installs, and
5 Leadmen may recommend the discharge of an employee only when the employee has per-
formed his duties in a malicious manner. The leadmen, however, have never recommended
the hiring or discharge of an employee.
6 Alloy Manufacturing Company, 107 NLRB 1201 The Clinton Construction Company,
107 NLRB 946, Cone Mills Corporation (Tabardrey Plant), 107 NLIIB 866, Textron Incorpora-
ted, 107 NLRB 355, York Transfer & Storage Co., 107 NLRB 139, Meier Electric & Machine
Co., Inc , 107 NLRB 143; Specialty Manufacturing Company, Inc., 107 NLRB 80
7 The record does not show what other maintenance employees work at the three plants.
WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY 407
helps move production machinery. He sometimes helps the
electrician.'
Contrary to the Employer's contention, there is nothing in
the record which indicates that the interests or conditions of
employment of these maintenance employees are different
from those of other employees in the unit. Accordingly, we
shall include them in the unit.'
We find that all production, maintenance, and warehouse
employees at the Employer's three plants in St. Louis, Missouri,
including the leadmen working on the second floor of the
Eighth Street plant, and the third floor of the Pine Street
plant, electricians, and mechanics, but excluding experimental
employees working at the Spruce Street and Eighth Street
plants, office cleiical,10 confidential, and professional em-
ployees , watchmen, guards , and supervisors ," constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
8The record does not show in what way the electrician directs the work of the mechanic.
There is no showing in the record that the electrician exercises any supervisory authority
over the mechanic or any other employees.
9 Whiting Corporation, 107 NLRB 493; Sherold Crystals, Inc., 104 NLRB 1072; Peterzell &
Gelles, Inc., 94 NLRB 346; Taunton Pearl Works, 89 NLRB 1382; Century-American Corpor-
ation, Woodstock Typewriter Division. 79 NLRB 43.
10 The parties stipulated that two inventory clerks should be excluded from the unit as office
clerical employees.
IIThe parties agree that the following employees are supervisors within the meaning of
the Act, and should be excluded from the unit: All foremen, leadmen on the first floor of the
Eighth Street plant, and floorladies on the second floor of the Pine Street plant, and on the
second and third floors of the Spruce Street plant.
WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UN-
ION NO. 920, AFL
WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY and RAYMOND B.
SADLER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELEC-
TRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION NO. 1044, AFL
WEST TEXAS UTILITIES COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UN-
ION NO. 898, AFL. Cases Nos. 16-CA-411, 16-CA-466, and
16-CA-545. April 23, 1954
DECISION AND ORDER
On September 8, 1953, Trial Examiner Thomas S. Wilson
issued his Intermediate Report in the above consolidated pro-
108 NLRB No. 80.