Republic Aviation Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsJul 10, 1953

106 N.L.R.B. 91 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

REPUBLIC AVIATION CORPORATION 91 4. The aforesaid unfair labor practices are unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 5. The Respondent has not refused to bargain collectively with United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America. Local 914, within the meaning of Section 8 (a) (5) of the Act. [Recommendations omitted from publication.] REPUBLIC AVIATION CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED PLANT GUARD WORKERS OF AMERICA, Petitioner. Case No. 2-RC-5759. July 10, 1953 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 Samuel Korenblatt, 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Members Murdock, Styles, and Peter- son]. Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to representcer- tain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the mean- ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent, separately or in any unit the Board finds appropriate, employees performing plant guard duties at the Employer's four plants on Long Island, New York, at Farmingdale, Port Washington, Mineola, and Greenlawn, excluding other employees and supervisors. The Employer contends that the unit appropriate for these em- ployees should also include employees performing similar duties at its 99 Church Street and 41 Park Place plants in New York City. The parties further disagree as to what payroll categories of employees are guards within the meaning of the Act and may be included in the unit of guards sought by the Petitioner. The Employer, an aircraft manufacturer, has its principal office, plant, and warehouse at Farmingdale, where purchases are made and administrative and labor policies are determined for all plants . It maintains two other manufacturing plants, one at Port Washington and the other at Greenlawn, and a warehouse at Mineola, for receiving and inspecting parts. At its two New York City plants, the Employer handles primarily drafting , engineering , and experimental work , and does no production manufacturing. The New York City plants are ap- proximately 50 miles from the main plant at Farmingdale; 106 NLRB No 17. 92 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the other Long Island plants are from 11 to 26 miles distant from Farmingdale. All employees with whom we are concerned in this proceed- ing are employed in the Employer ' s plant-protection depart- ment, under the overall supervision of the director of security, assisted by the police chief and the fire chief , all three being stationed at Farmingdale . The department includes (1) the police section directly under the police chief ; and (2 ) the fire section directly under the fire chief.' All employees of this department are hired and trained at Farmingdale , and are subsequently transferred and assigned to the several plants for service . These employees include the following payroll categories : Patrolmen , investigators , chauffeurs , recep- tionists , and fire patrolmen . Fire patrolmen are under the intermediary supervision of the fire chief ; all other categories are under the intermediary supervision of the police chief. Patrolmen , of whom there are 111 at Farmingdale, 12 at Greenlawn , 4 at Mineola , 28 at Port Washington , 12 at 99 Church Street, and 4 at 41 Park Place, are hourly paid em- ployees , who work on rotating 8-hour shifts on a 7 -day week, on a base workweek of 40 hours . They are deputized , armed, wear like uniforms, and receive the same benefits and privi- leges. Similarly , their duties are to protect the Employer's property and personnel and to report violations of company rules and regulations . Interchange of patrolmen between various plants occurs but is infrequent .' Promotion of patrolmen is on a 6-plant eligibility basis. Patrolmen at the Greenlawn , Mineola , and New York plants report directly to the police chief with no intermediate super- vision . The more numerous patrolmen stationed at Port Wash- ington and at Farmingdale are immediately under the direction of subsidiary police supervisors .3 Ultimate supervision for all patrolmen rests in the chief of police at Farmingdale . Special instructions emanate from his Farmingdale headquarters. The parties agree , and we find, that patrolmen at the six plants named above are guards within the meaning of the Act. The Employer has contracts with 5 other labor organizations respecting a production unit and several maintenance units at its Long Island plants . Persons in the various classifications subject to these several contracts are not employed at the New York City plants and, therefore , the New York plants are not considered within the sco, a of any of these contracts. There has been no history of collective bargaining for plant -protection employees at any of the Employer's 6 plants under considera- tion. i The department also includes a third section, known as the security section. The parties agree that employees in the security section should not be included in any unit ofplant- protection employees 2 The warehouse at Mineola is regarded as a temporary installation Guards were trans- ferred from the Farmingdale plant to serve at Mineola. When the necessity for their pres- ence at Mineola ceases, these guards will be returned to Farmingdale. 3At Port Washington , where there are 28 patrolmen , there are stationed a police lieutenant and 4 police sergeants: at Farmingdale , where there are 111 patrolmen , there are stationed a police captain, 4 police lieutenants , and 5 police sergeants. REPUBLIC AVIATION CORPORATION 93 Under all these circumstances, including their common rate of pay, common benefits, similar duties, and other uniform employment interests , we conclude and find that the appro- priate unit for plant-protection employees at the Employer's Long Island plants should include also plant-protection em- ployees located at the Employer's New York City plants.4 The Petitioner would exclude from the plant-protection unit of patrolmen, and the Employer would include, employees classified as investigators, chauffeurs, receptionists, and fire patrolmen, all in the plant-protection department and on that department payroll. Investigators, of whom there are 4, are plainclothes men, all stationed at the Farmingdale plant. They are employed solely for plant-protection purposes. Like patrolmen, investi- gators are deputized and armed while patrolling the plant. Their duties are to detect and investigate thievery, sabotage, and fire hazards. They report and investigate violations of the rules and regulations designed to protect the Employer's property and personnel to the chief of police, who is their immediate supervisor. They work an 8-hour shift, 5 days per week. They exercise no supervisory functions. Both investi- gators and patrolmen check employees at the plant gates for proper identifications. Patrolmen are promoted to positions as investigators. In general, they perform similar duties under common overall supervision. Chauffeurs, of whom there are 4, are all stationed at the Farmingdale plant.5 They drive the Employer's chief executives to and from the several plant locations; drive escort cars to provide protection for the payroll; and drive emergency cases of injured or sick employees to the hospital. Patrolmen, as a part of their regular work, also perform these driving duties on an "on-call" basis. Chauffeurs wear uniforms and work an 8-hour shift, 5 days per week. When not driving, and about 30 percent of their time, chauffeurs do odd jobs at police head- quarters, such as fingerprinting and photographing employees for identification, matters incidental to plant protection. Chauffeurs have pistol permits and are armed. Clad in patrol- men's uniforms, they regularly assist patrolmen and recep- tionists at plant gates and turnstiles, watching for unauthorized badge wearers, packages, etc. They do not, however, make regular clock rounds or serve shift tours as do patrolmen. They receive a slightly higher wage than patrolmen. They report employees for violation of rules and regulations to the chief of police, who is their immediate supervisor. Receptionists, all women, serve in the police department, 8 in number, 6 at Farmingdale and 1 each at the Port Washington and 99 Church Street plants. Receptionists wear uniforms not unlike those worn by airline hostesses. They screen visitors 4Acme Electric Corporation. 102 NLRB 1233; Richards Commercial and Industrial Pro- tection Company, 100 NLRB 385; Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Inc., 101 NLRB 101 iChauffeurs are clearly distinguishable from the bus driver, who is not engaged in guard duties, and who the parties agree should be excluded from the unit. 94 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD at the plant gates and entrances ; they clear visitors by check- ing with police headquarters at Farmingdale ; and they prepare and issue passes to authorized visitors . They checkemployees taking sick or other leave ; and they check all deliveries made to plant entrances . Patrolmen substitute for receptionists who are ill or on vacation . Receptionists report violations of rules and regulations for the protection of personnel and property. Receptionists and patrolmen receive the same hourly rate, are listed on the same payroll and are subject to the immediate supervision of a police lieutenant under the police chief. Like chauffeurs , receptionists work an 8-hour shift , 5 days per week. The receptionist at 99 Church Street is designated a "tele- phone operator - receptionist ," in that , though a receptionist, she also operates a multiple extension private branch exchange switchboard , handling all incoming and outgoing calls for the 400 employees at the plant and keeps records of toll and collect calls. Fire patrolmen , part of the fire section of the Employer's plant -protection department , number 26 in all , of whom 17 are stationed at Farmingdale , 8 at Port Washington , and 2 at Greenlawn , all under the direct supervision of the fire chief at Farmingdale, who in turn is responsible to the director of security. Fire patrolmen patrol assigned plant areas to safeguard property and personnel against fire hazards. The instruct groups of volunteer auxiliary firemen and conduct periodic fire drills. They are not armed ; they wear uniforms dis- tinguishable from those of patrolmen ; and they receive an hourly rate higher than that of patrolmen . Their duties are not limited to fire protection . It is an essential part of their duties to enforce against employees the Employer ' s plant-protection rules and regulations . Like patrolmen , they report incidents of sabotage and thievery . They work the same shifts as patrol- men. When the fire chief is absent from the plant , they report to the police chief as patrolmen regularly do. Senior fire patrolmen, 4 in number , all at Farmingdale, responsibly direct the activities of fire patrolmen on each shift and recommend their hire , discharge , and discipline, having same authority as police sergeants , who the parties agree are supervisors. Under all these circumstances , and the entire record in the case , we find that patrolmen , investigators , chauffeurs ,6 recep- tionists , 7 and fire patrolmen8 are guards within the meaning of the Act and therefore properly to be included in the unit for plant -protection employees at the Employer's 6 plants. We exclude the telephone operator - receptionist at the 99 Church Street plant because it does not appear that she spends more than 50 percent of her working time as a receptionist in plant- 6Cf Socony Vacuum Oil Company, Incorporated , 99 NLRB 268. 7 West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, 96 NLRB 871; Westinghouse Electric Corpora- tion (Lima, Ohio, Plant), 96 NLRB 1250. 6Socony Vacuum Oil Company, Incorporated , supra Kohler Company, 93NLRB 398;cf Chance Vought Aircraft Division, United Aircraft Corporation, 102 NLRB 556 INTERSTATE METAL PRODUCTS INC. OF INDIANA 95 protection duties .9 We exclude senior fire patrolmen , police sergeants , police lieutenants , police captains , and all other supervisors from the unit. We find that the following employees constitute a unit ap- propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All plant-protection employees at the Employer ' s plants at Farmingdale , Port Washington , Mineola , and Greenlawn on Long Island and at its plants at 99 Church Street and 41 Park Place in New York City, including patrolmen , investigators, chauffeurs , receptionists , and fire patrolmen , but excluding the 99 Church Street telephone operator - receptionist , the bus driver , senior fire patrolmen , police sergeants , police lieu- tenants, police captains , and other supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] 9 Wiley Mfg. Inc ., 92 NLRB 40. INTERSTATE METAL PRODUCTS INC. OF INDIANAandIN- TERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, DISTRICT NO. 72, Petitioner. Case No. 13-RC-3366. July 10, 1953 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 Marie A. Pierce, 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 Act, the Board had delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Members Murdock, Styles, and Peter- son]. Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 'Although served with notice of hearing, Federal Labor Union #22268, American Federa- tion of Labor, hereinafter called Local #22268, which presently represents the Employer's production and maintenance employees, including those sought by Petitioner, did not appear at the hearing. At the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition, on the grounds, in substance, (1) that there is no proof in the record that the Petitioner has complied with Section 9 (f) of the Act; and (2) that the employees sought herein by the Petitioner as a separate appropriate unit may not constitute such a unit at this time. The hearing officer referred ruling on the motion to the Board. The motion is denied. As to (1): The fact of compliance with Section 9 of the Act by a labor organization which is required to comply is a matter for administrative determination and is not litigable by the parties, Swift R, Company, 94 NLRB 917. Moreover, we are administratively informed that the Petitioner is in compliance. As to (2): For reasons stated below in paragraph numbered 4 of this Decision , we find no merit in this contention. 106 NLRB No. 13.