International Harvester Co.Download PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsSep 7, 194985 N.L.R.B. 1175 (N.L.R.B. 1949) Copy Citation In the Matter Of INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY, MILWAUKEE WORKS, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTIIERI-IOOD OF FIREMEN c^ OILERS , LOCAL 125, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 13-RC-742.-Decided September 7, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Richard C. Swander, 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock]. 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 represen- tation 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 requests a unit of all powerhouse employees. The Employer and the Intervenor, Federal Labor Union No. 22631, AFL, contend that the unit is inappropriate in view of the past bargaining history on a broader basis 1 and the fact that certain powerhouse em- ployees maintain equipment located in the production plarlt.2 Both contentions lack merit. The record establishes that these powerhouse employees constitute an identifiable, functionally cohesive and homo- geneous group of the sort which the Board has frequently held may constitute an appropriate unit without regard to the past bargaining ' In 1941, the Board found appropriate a unit consisting of all production and mainte- nance employees, including the powerhouse employees. By agreement, salaried employees as well as supervisors were excluded. matter of International Harvester Company (Milwaukee Works), 32 N. L. R. B. 16. 2 The so-called "engineers stationary" spend some time in the production plant working on the refrigeration equipment , gas compressors , and elevator pumps. 85 N. L. R. B., No. 196. 1175 1176 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD history .3 The fact that some of them occasionally work on equipment located outside the powerhouse does not, in itself, compel a different result.4 Included in the unit as requested by the Petitioner are three op- erating engineers whom the Employer would exclude because they are the only salaried employees within the powerhouse and have, as such, been excluded from the past collective bargaining contracts covering hourly paid employees, and also because they allegedly are supervisors. We do not agree with the Employer's contentions. Mode of payment alone is not a sufficient ground for exclusion from a unit.5 With re- spect to the argument that the operating engineers are supervisors within the meaning of the Act, the Employer concedes that they have no authority to hire, discharge, effectively recommend such action, or to discipline other employees. However, the Employer contends that they have authority "responsibly to direct" other employees. Dur- ing the day shift, the hourly paid powerhouse employees are directly responsible to the chief and assistant chief engineers. The operating engineers regularly work on the second and third shifts, when the chief and assistant engineers are not on duty. They operate the boiler- house equipment following the written instructions given them by the chief or assistant chief engineer. Although the operating engineers check the performance of the work of the fireman and helper, the latter employees, like the operating engineers themselves, are prin- cipally guided in their work by written instructions given them di- rectly by the chief or assistant chief engineer. The operating engi- neers cannot reprimand the employees with whom they work, although they report dereliction from the written instructions. The use of discretion by the operating engineers is narrowly confined to routine matters for the effective coordination and execution of the written orders transmitted by their superiors both to them and to the others.' It is true that the operating engineers in question also perform relief work on the day shift, substituting for the assistant chief engi- neer when he is on vacation, ill, or acting as chief engineer in the latter's absence on vacation or sick leave. At such times, the operating engineer who substitutes for the assistant engineer has full supervisory authority. However, the substitution occurs only 2 or 3 weeks out of the year and then is shared among all three operating engineers. Such sporadic and infrequent exercise of supervisory authority is in- 8 Matter of Baugh and Sons Company , 82 N. L . R. B. 1399, and cases cited therein. Matter of Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 81 N. L. R. B. 441. Matter of Watson-Flagg Machine Co ., 83 N. L. R . B. 734, and cases cited therein. See Matter of Watson -Flagg Machine Co., supra, and cases cited therein. INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER COMPANY 1177 sufficient to render them supervisors within the meaning of the amended Act.7 Under all the circumstances, we find that the operating engineers are not supervisors within the meaning of the amended Act, and we shall include them in the unit.8 Accordingly, we find the following employees may constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All powerhouse employees, including operating engineers, employed at the Employer's Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Works, but excluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in the amended Act. How- ever, we shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall be guided in part by the desires of these employees as expressed in the election hereinafter directed. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election 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 supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the voting group described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Local 125, AFL, or by Federal Labor Union No. 22631, AFL, or by neither. See Matter of Kentucky Utilities , 81 N. L . R. B. 1006. 8 Cf. Matter of General Motors Corporation , 76 N. L . R. B. 879, 883 , in which the excluded operating engineers had responsible supervisory authority. Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation