Hawley & Hoops, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 4, 1956

115 N.L.R.B. 1276 (N.L.R.B. 1956)

1276 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
a new employee did not understand that it was her responsibility to
transmit the already completed data to these agencies. When they
became aware of this clerical mistake on Tuesday, April 3-the
second working day following the expiration of the grace period-
the Union's officials completed the necessary filing requirements by
the afternoon of the following day.
The effect of the Board's action is not confined to this case, but
also applies to other pending cases brought by the Union or one of
its locals, as well as to cases in which the Union or one of its locals was
certified during the 90-day grace period. Thus all pending petitions
will be dismissed and certifications issued during the grace period will
be vacated. For years the Board has extended the grace period upon
good cause shown and where no purpose to evade the Act's filing re-
quirements appeared. Indeed, in the Monsanto case it was stated that
the Board in its discretion "may grant additional time beyond this
90-day period." There is not the slightest indication that the Union
sought to evade or ignore its obligations under Section 9 (g). I am
fully persuaded that in the proper exercise of our discretion, and in
keeping with the statutory objective of promoting stability in collec-
tive bargaining, this. lapse in compliance should be excused. Any
language in the Monsanto decision that seems to require the fantasti-
cally rigid application of the filing requirements here made should
be clarified.
Hawley & Hoops, Inc. and Local 68, International Union of Op-
erating Engineers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No. 2-RC-7995.
May 4,1956
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 Leonard J. Lurie, 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 certain em-
ployees 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.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of four licensed powerhouse em-
ployees classified as boiler and refrigeration men. The Employer con-
115 NLRB No. 203.
HAWLEY & HOOPS, INC. 1277
tends that the unit is inappropriate alleging, in part, that its manufac-
turing operations are completely integrated, and that the requested unit
is based only on the extent of organization. There is no recent history
of collective bargaining on a more comprehensive basis.'
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of candy at its plant
located at Newark, New Jersey. Its manufacturing division, 1 of 5
major divisions, consists of 5 separate departments of which 1, under
the direction of the plant engineer, is responsible for the maintenance
of all plant machinery and equipment including boilerroom and refrig-
eration equipment. Current maintenance, as distinguished from pre-
ventive maintenance, is handled by four maintenance shift superin-
tendents. Each shift superintendent is in charge of one boiler and
refrigeration man and a number of maintenance mechanics and
helpers.
Three boilers, 2 semiautomatic low pressure and 1 automatic
high pressure, with their respective auxiliary equipment, are housed in
separate but adjoining areas on the ground floor of the Employer's 5-
story plant building. Refrigeration equipment, directly tied in with
production machinery, is located throughout the plant. Production
processes are continuous, although production operations are sus-
pended 1 day each week to permit the cleaning of machinery and equip-
ment. The boilerrooms on the other hand are operated 24 hours a day,,
7 days a week. The steam produced in the boilerrooms is used in major
part, estimated at from 85 to 90 percent, for production and refrigera-
tion purposes, the latter an essential part of the Employer's manufac-
turing processes.
There are five employees at present classified as boiler and refriger-
ation men. Their principal duties and responsibilities are to operate
the boilers and refrigeration equipment so as to assure the mainte-
nance of proper steam pressures, and the temperatures and humidi-
ties necessary. to the manufacturing processes. . Thus, their work
assignments, consist of checking gauges, water columns, temperatures,
and pressures and adjusting valves and controls on boilers and boiler-
room equipment and on refrigeration equipment .2 Although the time
which he has to spend on duty in the boilerroom in order to assure
safety of operation is made dependent on the judgment of the indi-
vidual boiler operator, it is estimated that during a normal 8-hour
shift about 10 percent of his working time will be spent in operating
boilerroom equipment, and the remaining portion will be spent in
adjusting refrigeration equipment.
1 See Hawley A Hoops, Inc., 83 NLRB 371.
s Boiler and refrigeration men also perform such incidental duties as locking the front
door of the premises at the end of the night office shift and opening the door in the morn-
ing, and turning on the lights in the stair wells. Also, during periods of plant shutdown
of more than 24 hours' duration they, in conjunction with maintenance mechanics, operate
production equipment for short periods of time in order to prevent loss of product.
1278 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Boiler and refrigeration men are usually selected for. their jobs
from among the maintenance mechanics. Although possessing some,
mechanic's skills, they do no maintenance and repair work except in
emergency situations. All ordinary repairs and maintenance on
boilers and auxiliary equipment, on refrigeration equipment, and on
general plant machinery, are the responsibility of the maintenance
mechanics. Major repairs are made by the vendors of the equipment.
The record shows that 4 of the 5 employees who are at present classi-
fied as boiler and refrigeration men are licensed in accordance with
State requirements. One of them holds a fireman-in-charge license,
the lowest permissible under State regulations for the Employer's
boilerroom equipment, and 3 others hold steam engineer licenses,
which are 1 or 2 grades higher than fireman-in-charge.3 According
to State regulations 3 months' experience as helper and an additional
3 months as a boiler operator is required by an applicant for a fire-
man-in-charge license in order to qualify for an examination. For
higher licenses, longer periods of actual service in the operation of
boilers and related equipment is required.
In view of the foregoing, and on the basis of the record as a whole,
it is clear that the duties performed by the boiler and refrigeration men
constitute them a functionally homogeneous and separate group of
employees of a type to which the Board has in the past customarily ac-
corded separate representation.4 The Employer's contentions that the
unit is inappropriate because the boiler and refrigeration men per-
form guard duties 5 or that it does not include other employees who
possess similar skills and perform comparable duties are without merit.
It is true that boiler and refrigeration men possess mechanical skills
and that maintenance mechanics perform comparable tasks in check-
ing gauges, dials, and temperatures throughout the plant, but it is
established that neither group performs the work of the other. The
fact that, in the circumstances of this case, a substantial amount of
refrigeration work is performed by the boiler and refrigeration men
outside the area of the boilerrooms does not make such work any less a
function of the boilerroom.s Moreover, the fact that maintenance me-
3 The fifth employee , identified as John Garotte , is said to be responsible -for the gen-
eral appearance and cleanliness of the boilerroom equipment He also substitutes for the
regular boiler and refrigeration men during absences and relief periods It appears,
although the record is not clear on that point , that be is in the process of securing a fire-
man-in -charge license.
4 American Potash d Chemical Corporation , 107 NLRB 1418 ; New England Confec-
toonery Company , 108 NLRB 728 , Armour and Company, 88 NLRB 309; Swift and Com-
pany, 81 NLRB 333 ; Hawley d Hoops, Inc, supra
5 We find that the incidental duties , as described herein , performed by the boiler and
refrigeration men do not make them guards within the meaning of the Act Alloy Manu-
facturing Company, 107 NLRB 1201, 1203. ,
'6 New England Confectionery Company, 108 NLRB 728 , 730 (air-conditioning operators
and maintenance handyman) , Armour and Company, 88 NLRB 309 , 310 (temperature
readers ) ; Swift and Company, 81 NLRB 333 , 334-335; Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Cor-
poration, 108 NLRB 159, 160.
THE GREAT ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC TEA COMPANY , 1279
chanics may spend a substantial amount of time in the boilerroom in
the repair and maintenance of machinery and equipment does not de-
stroy the functional unity of the boilerroom group, for the duties of the
maintenance mechanics are not limited solely to the repair and main-
tenance of boilerroom and refrigeration equipment.' Nor is such
unit rendered inappropriate on grounds of interchange by reason of the
fact that maintenance mechanics, are transferred or promoted to the
boilerroom classification, or have common supervision,8 where it is
clear that such transfers and promotions are made on a permanent
basis and do not destroy the functional identity of the occupational
group.9 Furthermore, we find no merit in the Employer's argument
that integration of production processes, or similar employee benefits,
are factors which would preclude the finding of a separate unit of
boilerroom employees.lo
On the basis of the record and entirely apart from any considera-
tion of the extent to which the Employer's boiler and refrigeration
men may have been separately organized,il we find that all boiler and
refrigeration men 12 at the Employer's Newark, New Jersey, plant, ex-
cluding office clericals, watchmen, guards, all other employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act, 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.]
° See Swift and Company , supra, 334 (utility maintenance men).
d J L Handy Company/, 81 NLRB 425,'426
'North American Aviation, 115 NLRB 1090 . For the reason given above , the facts
of the instant case are to be distinguished from those in General Electric Company, 112
NLRB 839 , 839-840. There the record showed that employees operating automatic boilers
were unlicensed and that it was the employer 's intention to have boiler operators inter-
change regularly with the maintenance men in operating the boilers and performing gen-
eral factory maintenance work
1o American Potash cC Chemical Corporation, supra , North American Aviation, Inc,
supra
11 See Shoreland Freezers, Inc, 108 NLRB 723, 728
''a Although the Petitioner claims only 4 employees as properly belonging in the unit,
the evidence in the case shows , although not conclusively , at least 1 more employee classi-
fied as a boiler and refrigeration man who is assigned to the boilerroom . If such be the
case , this employee should be included in the unit iirespective of whether or not he holds
a fireman or steam engineer license
The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and Retail Clerks
International Association , AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 15-
RC-1331. May 4,1956
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION
OF SECOND ELECTION
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election (not reported in
printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders) of the National
115 NLRB No. 200.