National Fireworks Ordnance Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 5, 1953

104 N.L.R.B. 792 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

792 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
do not appear on the current payroll; all but one 11 are asserted
by the Employer to have been permanently separated from
employment. Testimony on behalf of the Employer indicates
that the laid-off employees in dispute fall into two categories:
(1) Those offered reemployment, which they refused, and (2)
those who had been employed in the molding shop which was
discontinued at the plant in question and moved to another
city. The Petitioner filed unfair labor practice charges
alleging that these laid-off employees were discriminatorily
discharged,12 but in respect to the instant proceeding waived
the allegations contained in the charge. In accordance with our
usual procedure, while this unfair labor practice charge is
pending, we hereby instruct the Regional Director to challenge
and segregate the ballots of the laid-off employees in question.
Their ballots will not be counted unless determinative of the
results of the election. In such event, the final disposition of
this case will await the outcome of the unfair labor practice
proceeding under investigation. By allowing these persons to
vote, subject to challenge, we are not to be taken as having
passed in any way on the issues involved in the complaint
case.1a
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
"Judson Magahee, whom the Employer expects to re-call when a vacancy in a certain
department arises . Accordingly, we find that Magahee has a reasonable expectancy of
reemployment and is therefore eligible to vote.
"Case No. 10-CA- 1638.
IsSee Falls City Creamery Co., 95 NLRB 1425.
NATIONAL FIREWORKS ORDNANCE CORPORATION and
UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS & JOINERS
OF AMERICA, AFL, LOCAL 529, Petitioner
NATIONAL FIREWORKS ORDNANCE CORPORATION and
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS,
CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN & HELPERS OF
AMERICA, AFL, LOCAL 878, Petitioner
NATIONAL FIREWORKS ORDNANCE CORPORATION and
BROTHERHOOD OF PAINTERS, DECORATORS AND PA-
PERHANGERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 1636, AFL, Petitioner.
Cases Nos. 15-RC-879, 15-RC-880, and 15-RC-891. May
5, 1953
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held
before William W. Fox, hearing officer. The hearing officer's
104 NLRB No. 93.
NATIONAL FIREWORKS ORDNANCE CORPORATION 793
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with these cases
to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Styles and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain 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. From the existing production and maintenance unit
presently represented by International Association of Ma-
chinists, Lodge No. 502, AFL, the Intervenor herein, United
Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, AFL, Local
529, herein called the Carpenters, seeks to sever (1) mainte-
nance carpenters and dunnage carpenters, and (2) outside
machinists; International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauf -
feurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, AFL, Local 878,
herein called the Teamsters, seeks to sever truckdrivers,
trailerdrivers, and traffic helpers; and Brotherhood of Painters,
Decorators and Paperhangers of America, Local 1636, AFL,
herein called the Painters, seeks to sever maintenance
painters. The Intervenor contends that the proposed units
are respectively inappropriate because they do not include
all employees performing the same respective tasks. The
Employer takes no position on the issues.
The Employer, a Massachusetts corporation, with its main
office at West Hanover, Massachusetts, has a cost-plus-fixed-
fee type of contract with the United States Navy, Bureau of
Ordnance, to load, assemble, and place in storage various
types of rocket ammunition and to protect and maintain the
Naval Ammunition Depot at Shumaker, Arkansas. Employees
at this depot are concerned in these proceedings.
Maintenance carpenters, with their apprentices and helpers,
work under the supervision of the assistant superintendent of
the carpenter shop, who works under the superintendent of
shops and installations and the Employer's maintenance man-
ager and his assistant. Maintenance carpenters work both in
and out of a separate carpenter shop, which contains automatic
I At the hearing, the Intervenor moved to dismiss the petitions in each of the cases. For
the reasons set forth below, the motions with respect to Cases Nos. 15-RC-879 and 15-RC-
880 are denied , and the motion with respect to Case No . 15-RC-891 is granted.
:On January 29, 1952, as a result of a certification issued in Case No . 15-RC-554, the
Intervenor and Employer entered into a collective- bargaining contract covering the Em-
ployer's production and maintenance employees at Shumaker , Arkansas , including the em-
ployees sought herein . This contract was effective from March 1, 1952, to February 28, 1953,
and contained a 60- day automatic renewal clause . The contract was opened by the Intervenor
pursuant to its terms and, at the time of the hearing, the parties were still negotiating and
no new contract had been executed.
7 94 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
woodworking machines, such as joiners, lathes, bandsaws, and
the like. When working inside the shop, they fabricate various
wood items for work orders outside the shop. They repair and
maintain the building at the depot, and erect wood scaffolds for
themselves and other maintenance employees. They do no
production work. Occasionally, they do cement, brick mason,
linoleum, and upholstery work, incidental to their regular
carpentry. All carpenters have been hired as journeymen
carpenters, with a 4-year apprenticeship. The Employer,
however, at present is in the process of setting up an ap-
prenticeship program for carpenters at the depot.
Three of the above-mentioned carpenters are assigned to
the dunnage crew located in a separate dunnage shop. These
carpenters, called dunnage carpenters, cut timber for bracing
boxcar loadings and make shipping containers, using such
tools as power saws and braces. They do no production work.
Dunnage carpenters and maintenance carpenters share com-
mon seniority rights as carpenters.
In addition to maintenance and dunnage carpenters, two other
groups of employees, called craters and packers and boxcar
bracers, cut and work with lumber, using hand tools such as
saws and hammers. These employees work in the warehouse
or shipping areas. They make crates and boxes and cut lumber
for braces used in the storing of materials in boxcars for ship-
ment. Craters and packers workunder the separate supervision
of the assistant superintendent of warehouses in the Employer's
storage and receiving department; car bracers workunder sep-
arate supervision in the Employer's transportation department.
These employees do not share in the seniority of maintenance
and dunnage carpenters, nor do they work in the same locations.
Although the skilled carpenters occasionally do work similar
to that performed by craters and packers,3 no other employees
at the depot perform, or are qualified to perform, the whole
range of skills exercised by the maintenance and dunnage
carpenters. We find, contrary to the Intervenor's contention,
that the maintenance carpenters and dunnage carpenters
exercise the skills typical of the carpenters' craft and may,
if they so desire, constitute a separate bargaining unit." We
shall hold an election among them, including apprentices and
helpers in the voting group, but excluding therefrom craters
and packers and boxcar bracers.
Outside machinists were formerly called millwrights. In
1952, the Employer changed their classification but not their
duties. Outside machinists, separately supervised by two
foremen under the superintendent of production line mainte-
nance, make their headquarters in a separate shop in the plant
area and have a small room for the storage of their tools in a
corner of the machine shop. They set up, install, and aline
heavy machinery, and they repair, maintain, and disassemble
3Occasionally carpenters make "tote" boxes, which are used on the production line to
convey or carry materials in the depot and are not used for shipping.
4Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation, 98 NLRB 1324; United States Defense Corpora-
tion, 101 NLRB 1065.
NATIONAL FIREWORKS ORDNANCE CORPORATION 795
such machinery in the production line. They are assigned by their
foremen to various plant areas when they are needed. In order
to erect and dismantle the heavy machinery, they use hoists,
dollies, and rollers, and wrenches, hammers,.and other hand
tools. They employ measuring devices, such as squares, micro-
meters , and the like in installing and alining the machinery. Out-
side machinists have separate seniority within their group.
The Intervenor contends that outside machinists do not con-
stitute an appropriate separate unit, apart from inside ma-
chinists. Inside machinists work the majority of their time in
the machine shop, under the supervision of the machine shop
foreman. They use machines, such as metal lathes, drill
presses, power hacksaws, and the like, to make parts and
bearings. Their seniority is separate and distinct from that
of outside machinists.
It is true that outside machinists occasionally work in the
machine shop, doing such work as repairing parts or moving
heavy machinery for the inside machinists to work upon. Inside
machinists occasionally work outside the machine shop, repair-
ing small parts or bearings in production machines. There is
no interchange, however, between inside machinists and outside
machinists. They do not essentially perform the same duties,
nor do they share seniority rights. Outside machinists are not
qualified to do the work of inside machinists, nor generally to
operate machines in the machine shop. Outside machinists
constitute a traditional craft group of millwrights, who may, if
they so desire, constitute a separate unit exclusive of inside
machinists.'
Truckdrivers, trailerdrivers, and traffic helpers all work
under the supervision of the Employer's superintendent of
motor vehicles of the plant transportation department. These
employees all punch a time clock in the Employer's garage
and work out of three motor pools on the depot. They are
engaged solely in the loading and unloading of trucks and
trailers and the moving of materials in these vehicles both
inside and outside the depot. Both truck and trailer drivers
are hired as qualified drivers and are not transferred to or
from any other group of employees.6 They operate only trucks
and trailers, and no other power-driven vehicles used at the
depot, such as forklifts'' and bulldozers. There is no interchange
between these two groups. Traffic helpers assist drivers and
work in the depot garage on a rotating basis.
The Intervenor contends that the Teamsters' proposed unit is
inappropriate in that it does not include all operators of
5 International Harvester Company (Louisville Works), 87 NLRB 317; Louisville Plant of
the Minneapolis-Moline Company, 101 NLRB 1766, and cases cited therein . Cf. Members
of the California State Brewers Institute , et al, 90 NLRB 1747.
6It appears in the record that the Employer 's electrical maintenance department employs
one truckdriver . This truckdriver is a part of the unit of the electrical maintenance depart-
ment employees presently represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
and certified by the Board on January 29, 1952. in Case No. 15-RC-557.
7A forklift driver may transfer to truck or trailer driver if an opening in that classifica-
tion appears . There is no evidence in the record , however, that this has ever occurred.
796 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
power-driven equipment. We find no merit to this contention.
Truck and trailer drivers with their helpers spend all of their
time performing usual duties of their classification. They have
their own separate immediate supervision and do not inter-
change with operators of other power-driven equipment. They
constitute a clearly identifiable and homogeneous group of
employees who we have frequently held may constitute a
separate unit, if they so desire."
Painters: At the time of the hearing, the Employer employed
in all 51 maintenance painters at the ordnance depot. They
work under separate supervision in a separate building called
the paint shop. Maintenance painters use brushes and spray
guns in exercising the customary skills of journeymen painters.
They paint both inside and outside the depot buildings and do no
production painting. They have exclusive seniority within their
own craft.
One maintenance painter in the paint shop, whom the Painters
would include, paints signs exclusively. Another is assigned to
the garage to paint the heavy motor vehicles used by the
Employer's transportation department. Another painter, how-
ever, whom the Painters would exclude, works in the transpor-
tation department and paints light motor vehicles under the
supervision of the motor vehicles superintendent. Four pro-
duction painters, who paint on the production line, mix paint
and are skilled workmen. It appears from the record that the
four production painters and the second transportation depart-
ment painter all of whom the Painters would exclude exercise
the same craft skills as maintenance painters, whom the
Painters seek.
Under these circumstances, and in accord with the Inter-
venor's contention, we find that the maintenance painters
desired for inclusion constitute but a segment of the painters'
craft employed at the ordnance depot. As it is well established
that the Board will not find a segment of a craft to be appro-
priate,' and the Painters do not have a sufficient showing
among all painters who should be included in the craft group,
we shall dismiss the petition in Case No. 15-RC-891, filed by
the Painters.
In view of the foregoing determinations, we shall direct
separate elections among employees at the Employer's Shu-
maker, Arkansas, Naval Ordnance Depot, in the voting groups
set forth below, excluding from each all office clerical
employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act:
(A) All maintenance carpenters, their apprentices and
helpers, and dunnage carpenters, excluding craters and packers,
boxcar bracers, and all other employees.
(B) All outside machinists or millwrights, excluding inside
machinists and all other employees.
(C) All truckdrivers and trailerdrivers and traffic helpers,
excluding the drivers of all other power-driven vehicles, the
" McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, 92 NLRB 899.
9 Douglas Aircraft Co., Inc., 101 NLRB 515.
MANSBACH METAL COMPANY 797
electrical department maintenance truckdriver, and all other
employees.
If a majority of employees in voting groups (A), (B), and (C),
respectively, vote for the labor organization seeking to repre-
sent that group separately, they will be taken to have indicated
their desire to constitute a separate unit, and the Regional
Director conducting the elections herein is instructed to issue
a certification of representatives to such labor organization
or organizations for such unit or units, which the Board under
such circumstances finds to be appropriate for purposes of
collective bargaining. In the event the majority in any of the
voting groups vote for the Intervenor, they will be taken to have
indicated their desire to remain part of the existing production
and maintenance unit, and the Regional Director will issue a
certification of results of election to that effect.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY OP TIERED that the petition in Case No.
15-RC-891 be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
(Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
JOSEPH MANSBACH, SAMUEL MANSBACH, SYLVIA MANS-
BACH, HANNAH MANSBACH, MINNIE RAE AUERBACH,
SOPHIA POCKROS, GERTRUDE WEBER, AND GERALD
MANSBACH, Co-partners d/b/a MANSBACH METAL COM-
PANY and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO.
Case No. 9-CA-540. May 6, 1953
DECISION AND ORDER
On March 9, 1953, Trial Examiner Lloyd Buchanan issued
his Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding,
finding that the Respondent had engaged in and was engaging
in certain unfair labor practices, and recommending that it
cease and desist therefrom and take certain affirmative action,
as set forth in the copy of the Intermediate Report attached
hereto. The Trial Examiner also found that the Respondent
had not engaged in certain other alleged unfair labor practices
and recommended that the complaint be dismissed with respect
thereto. Thereafter, only the Respondent filed exceptions to
the Intermediate Report and a supporting brief. The Respondent
also moved to take testimony of two witnesses by deposition.
The Boardl has reviewed the rulings made by the Trial
Examiner at the hearing and finds that no prejudicial error
t 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 Herzog and Members
Styles and Peterson].
104 NLRB No. 95.