Lockheed Aircraft Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 4, 1944

57 N.L.R.B. 41 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION and PATTERN
MAKERS ASSOCIATION OF Los ANGELES & VICINITY, AFL
Case No. 21-R-0165.-Decided July 4,1944
Mr. Maurice J. Nicoson, for the Board.
Mr. Homer I. Mitchell, of Los Angeles, Calif., and Mr. Emil Steck,
Jr., of Burbank, Calif., Tor the Company.'
Messrs, Ralph Kaplan, and W. F. Jebe, of Los Angeles, Calif., and
Mr. George Q. Lynch, of Washington, D. C., for the P. M. A. '
Messrs, E. R. White, and Roy W. Brown, of Los, Angeles, Calif.,
Mr. Dale 0. Reed, of Burbank, Calif., and Mr. L. 0. Thomas, of Wash-
ington, D. C., for-the I. A. M.
Mr. Robert E. Tillman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Pattern Makers Association of Los An-
geles & Vicinity, AFL, herein called the P. M. A., alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, California,
herein called the Company,'- the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before James C.
Batten, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia, on, April 21, 22, and 24, 1944. The Company, the P. M. A., and
International Association of Machinists, Aeronautical Industrial Dis,
trict Lodge No. 727, herein called the I.A. M., appeared, participated,
and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-_
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
The rulings of the Trial Examiner made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded
opportunity to file briefs with the Board. On June 15, 1944, pursuant
1 In the formal papers of this proceeding , the Company is designated as "Lockheed Air-
craft Corp ." Its name appears in the caption and body of this Decision as it was amended
at the hearing.
57 N. L. R. B., No. 7.
41
42 DECISIONS OF _NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to notice served upon all the parties, a hearing for the purpose of oral'
argument was held before the Board at Washington, D. C. The Com-
pany, the P. M. A., and the I. A. M. appeared and participated.
At the hearing before the Trial Examiner, the Company and the -
I. A. M. joined in a motion to dismiss the petition of the P. M. A.
Ruling on this motion was reserved for the Board. For the reasons
set forth in Section*III, infra, the motion is hereby granted.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, a California corporation, has its
principal office and place of business in Burbank; California. 'The
Company is engaged in the manufacture and sale of airplanes and
airplane parts. In the conduct of its business, it owns and operates
numerous plants, service units, warehouses, and a modification center
located in Burbank, Los Angeles, Pomona, Bakersfield, Fresno, Taft,
and Santa Barbara; California.2 During the fiscal year -endingJune
30, 1941, the Company purchased raw materials aggregating more
than $50,000,000, in value, of which approximately 85 percent orig-
inated at points outside the State of California. During the same
period, sales by the Company of such items as airplanes, , air-
plane parts, and used airplanes amounted to over, $85,000,000, of
which more than 90 percent represents the value of'sales made to cus-
tomers located outside the State of California.3 Since the above-
mentioned period, the operations of the company have materially,
increased in volume.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE , ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Pattern Makers Association of Los Angeles & Vicinity is' a labor
organization affiliated with Pattern Makers League of North America,
,which, in turn, is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor.
It admits to membership employees of the Company.
International Association of Machinists, Aeronautical Industrial
District Lodge No. 727, is a labor organization affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees
of the Company.
The Company also operates certain facilities in Dallas , Texas.
' At the time for which the above figures are given, there were two separate corporations :
Lockheed Aircraft and Vega Aircraft . The figures include the purchases and sales of both
corporations On December 15, 1943, Vega Aircraft Corporation was dissolved and its
assets transferred to Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.
LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 43
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The P. Al. A. seeks a unit confined to two departments of the
Company and consisting of all wood and metal pattern makers, or
other employees therein, who are engaged for any part of their time
in making wood or metal patterns which are used for castings, includ-
ing leadmen, but excluding supervisory employees of the rank of
group supervisor and above. The Company and the I. A. M. con-
tend that the existing system-wide industrial unit, including pattern
makers, in which the I. A. Al. is recognized by the Company as the
collective bargaining representative, is appropriate, and that the
unit sought by the P. Al. A. compromise only a segment of a craft,
inasmuch as the Company has nine departments in which wood and
metal pattern makers are employed. -
The I. A. M. was recognized by the Company in 1937 as the exclusive
collective bargaining representative of its production and maintenance
employees, on the basis of a majority showing made by a. pay-roll
check of membership cards. Beginning in March 1937, the Company
and the I. A. Al. entered into a series of bargaining contracts covering
the production and maintenance employees, including pattern makers.
In 1939, Vega Aircraft Corporation was incorporated as a subsidiary
of the Company, and it also entered into a. contract with the I. A. Al.
Since 1940, the employees of the two companies (now the Company)
have been included in the same contracts.
The Board has observed heretofore that the mass production opera-
tions in the airplane industry are particularly conduce ve to collective
bargaining upon an industrial unit basis 4 The record in the instant
case reveals that the Company's operations are highly integrated and
thus gives support to this conclusion. On the other hand, the Board
has recognized, under appropriate circumstances, that collective bar-
gaining upon a craft basis is feasible in the airplane industry. Where
proper conditions are present, the Board has frequently postponed its
determination of the appropriate unit pending an indication of the
desires of employees sought to be set off in separate units., Among
the crafts which have been found to constitute separate appropriate
units is that of the pattern maker, concerning whose highly developed
skills there can be little question.
In the instant case, however, we do not consider that the proper con-
ditions warranting a postponement of our determination of the appro-
priate unit have been met, inasmuch as the unit sought by the P. M. A.
comprises only a segment of a craft. The petition of the P. M. A., as
amended at the hearing, is directed to 2 departments in plant B-1 of
the Company at Burbank. In all, the Company has 9 departments in
4 See Matter of The Glenn L. Martin-Nebraska Company, 54 N. L. R. B. 424 ; and Matter
of Illinois Division, Bendxv Aviation Corporation , 54 N. L. R. B. 1051.
44 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL.LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
which it employs wood and metal pattern makers. The numerical
designations of these departments and the particular plant in which-
each is located are as follows:
Burbank Plant : Department No.
B-1---------------------------------- 44-53;28-26;72-25-83
B-5- ------------------------- 72-25-B
A-1---------------------------------- 29-42; 15- 08; 43-28; 71-60
A-2---------------------------------- 17-C8
The P. M. A. attempted to prove-that only the employees it desired
to include in its unit were true pattern makers and that the Com-
pany had more or less indiscriminately given classification of wood and
metal pattern maker to other employees.5 The record fails to support
these contentions of the P. M. A. - The Company's classification of
,wood and metal pattern maker- is based upon a directive issued by the
National War Labor Board which fixes classifications and wage rates
for the Southern California air frame industry., In this directive
the following "job summary" for wood, and metal pattern makers is
contained:
This occupation requires the layout of complicated metal and
wood patterns, mock-ups, and wood models from prints or
sketches and the ability to layout and complete any information
lacking-in the print, or, in some cases , to develop and make the.
pattern, mock-up, or model from the part drawing or templates.
The operations consist of making simple and complicated,' large
and small, wood patterns, wood mock-ups, and wind tunnel
models, occasional wood jigs, and form blocks * * *.
At the time of the hearing, the Company had a total of 107 wood and
metal pattern makers. In the 2 departments in which the P. M. A.
evinced an interest, there were 69 wood and metal pattern makers, not
all of whom the P. M. A. would include in its proposed unit. Depart-
ment44-53, located in plant B-1, is the principal department in which
the P. M. A. is interested, being the only one designated in the original
petition which it filed with the Board. This department is divided
into the following 3 sections each headed by a section supervisor : (1)
Foundry, (2) Plaster, and (3) Pattern and Motor Parts. The latter
section, in turn, is subdivided into 3 groups, namely, Wood and Metal
Patterns, Form Press Group A, and Form Press Group B, each headed
by a group supervisor. There are 50 wood and metal pattern makers
° The P. M A did not contend that the several plants of the Company should be treated
separately in determining the appropriate unit or units for collective bargaining purposes.
Had it so contended , little support could be found in the record for its position in view of
the integrated character of the operation and management of the Company 's system of
plants and the history of bargaining on a system-wide basis.
6 Neither the P M . A nor its parent body participated in the conferences which culmi-
nated in the National War Labor Board 's directive
LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CORPORATION 45
in the entire department , some of whom are in the Plaster Section
with plaster pattern makers where they make the wood and metal
bases for plaster patterns , but the majority of whom are in the Wood
and Metal Patterns Group of the Pattern and Motor Parts Section.
This Group has its working shop on the upper floor of the building
which adjoins the building in which the Plaster Section occupies the
lower floor. The wood and metal pattern makers in the Group work
on wood patterns , metal patterns , models , jigs, fixtures , and mock-ups.
The patterns which they make are used for castings of airplane parts.
This is the decisive test allegedly applied by the P. M. A. in determin-
ing which employees are to be included in its proposed bargaining
unit.
Department 28-26, also located in Plant B-1, is the other depart-
ment in which there are pattern makers , whom the P. M. A. would
include in its proposed unit. This department is likewise divided
into 3 sections, 1 of which, the Tool and Wood Shop Section, is sub-
divided into the following 3 groups: Wood Fabrication and Patterns;
Tooling; and Jigs. There are 19 wood and metal pattern makers in
the department, all of whom are to be found in the Patterns Group.
The P. M. A. claims that only 7 of these employees are engaged in
making patterns to be used for castings , and therefore may properly
be included in its proposed unit. The record indicates that most of
the 19 wood and metal pattern makers in Department 28-26 work on
wood, metal, and plaster patterns , models, mock -ups, jigs, and fixtures.
Patterns made in this department are used for tool castings. The
Company's assistant manager of the Tool Engineering Division testi-
fied that 7 or, 8 of the employees may devote most of their time to
pattern making. On the other hand, a jig and fixture builder em-
ployed in the department denied that any pattern makers therein
worked exclusively on patterns for castings ; he testified- that almost
all the pattern makers made patterns for cerrobend castings.
In a third department of Plant B-1, i.' e. 72-25-83, two wood and
metal pattern makers make wood patterns for castings to be used on
experimental tests of airplane design.
In Department 72-25-B of Plant B-5, there are five wood and metal
pattern makers , who also make wood patterns for castings to be used
on experimental airplanes.
In Department 29-42 of Plant A-1, there are 5 wood and metal
pattern makers . They are chiefly engaged in making jigs , fixtures,
and models , and very seldom make patterns . Department 15-08 of the
same plant is assigned 9 wood and metal pattern makers , who make the
wood and metal bases of plaster patterns as well as splashes , mock-ups,
master models , and, occasionally, a wood pattern for castings or a com-
plete plaster pattern . They work in conjunction with plaster pattern
t
46 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
makers. In Department 43-28 of this salve plant, there are 11 wood
and metal pattern makers, who make wood patterns for tool castings,
form blocks, master models, jigs, and fixtures. In still a fourth de-
partment, 71-60, a single wood and metal pattern maker is engaged
in making wood patterns from which castings for wind tunnel models
are made. There are also 9 model builders in the department per-
forming similar work.
Plant A-2 has a single department, 17-08, in which five wood and
metal pattern makers are employed. They make the wood and metal
bases for plaster patterns, an occasional wood pattern for- kirksite
castings,• and master models.
The above brief descriptions of work performed by the wood and
metal pattern makers employed by the Company in nine of its depart-
ments tend to indicate that the line of division sought to be drawn by
the P. M. A. among the Company's wood and metal pattern makers is
arbitrary.? Moreover, the record indicates that other employees of
the company, such as the model builders, appear to have skills which
are substantially similar, if not identical, to those possessed by pattern
makers, and appear to perform similar work, and yet are not included
in the proposed bargaining unit.
Because the unit sought by the P. M. A. comprises only a segment
of a craft group employed by the Company possessing similar skills
and performing comparable work, we find that it is not appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the Act.
IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since, as stated in Section III, above, the bargaining unit sought to.
be established by the petition of the P. M. A. is not appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, we find that no question affecting
commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the
Company in an appropriate unit.. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the
petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact; the-National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation
and certification of representatives of employees of Lockheed Aircraft
Corporation, Burbank, California, filed by Pattern Makers Association
of Los Angeles & Vicinity,-AFL, be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
7 We also note that the P M. A. admits that plaster pattern makers , of whom the Coin-
pany employs a considerable number, are eligible to membership and further admits that-,
the only reason it does not seek to include them in the unit petitioned for at this time is:
that "they are not members of our association"