Sperry Rand Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsJun 29, 1964

147 N.L.R.B. 988 (N.L.R.B. 1964)

988 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD APPENDIX B NOTICE TO ALL OUR MEMBERS, OFFICERS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND AGENTS, AND TO ALL EMPLOYEES OF KENTILE, INC. Pursuant to the Recommended Order of a Trial Examiner of the National Labor Relations Board , and in order to effectuate the policies of the , National Labor Rela- tions Act, as amended , we.hereby notify you that:. WE WILL NOT request Kentile , Inc., to discharge any employee except as permitted by an agreement authorized by Section 8(a) (3) of the Act. WE WILL NOT in any other manner attempt to cause Kentile , Inc., to dis- criminate against any employee in violation of Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act. WE WILL NOT in any manner restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of any rights guaranteed by Section 7 of the Act, except as such rights may be affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment , as authorized by Section 8(a)(3) of the Act, as amended. LOCAL 457, UNITED RUBBER , CORK, LINOLEUM AND PLASTIC WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFL-CIO, Labor Organization. Dated------------------- BY ----------- ------------------------------ (Representative ) ( Title) This notice must remain posted for 60 consecutive days from the date of posting, and must not be altered , defaced , or covered by any other material. Employees may communicate directly with the Board's Regional Office, 745 Fifth Avenue , New York , New York , Telephone No. Plaza 1-5500 ; if they have any ques- tion concerning this notice or compliance with its provisions. Sperry Gyroscope Company, Division of Sperry Rand Corpora- tion and International Union of Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers, AFL-CIO, and its affiliated Local 470, Petitioners I Sperry Gyroscope Company and International Union of Electri- cal, Radio and Machine Workers, C .I.O., and Local 450, Inter- national Union of Electrical ,- Radio and Machine Workers, C.I.O., Petitioner Sperry Gyroscope Company, Division of The Sperry Rand Cor- poration and Local 450, International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, C .I.O., Petitioner. Cases Nos. 2-RC-12651, 2-RC-1804, and P2-RC-3118. June 29, 1964 DECISION AND ORDERS DISMISSING PETITION AND CLARIFYING CERTIFICATIONS Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, in. Case No. 2-RC-12651, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Haywood E. Banks. The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing were free from- prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. I The names of the Employer and the Petitioners in Case No . 2-RC-12651 appear as amended at the hearing. 147 NLRB No. 135. SPERRY GYROSCOPE CO., DIV. OF SPERRY RAND CORP. 989 The Petitioners in Case No. 2-RC-12651 request an -election in a single unit comprised of employees in two existing units which are based on Board certifications in Cases Nos. 2-RC-1804 'and 2- RC-3118, and certain previously unrepresented employees. The Em- ployer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that-the-unit requested therein is inappropriate. The Employer also made a motion at the hearing and in its brief that the Board clarify the existing cer- tifications in certain respects; the Petitioners opposed this motion. As the issues involved in the motion to clarify certifications were fully litigated at the hearing herein, Cases Nos: 2-RC-1804 and 2-RC-3118 are hereby consolidated with Case No. 2-RC-,12651 for the purpose of ruling on the aforesaid motion.2 Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with the cases to a three-member panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Leedom and Brown]. Upon the entire record,3 the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organizations 4 involved claim to represent certain employees 'of the Employer. 3. No 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, for the following -reasons: The Employer is engaged in research, development, manufacture, sale, and servicing of navigation and related devices and equipment, chiefly for the defense agencies of the United States Government. Employees at the Employer's Great Neck, Long Island, New York, plant, here involved, are currently represented by IUE and certain of its locals in various units, as follows : IUE and its Local 450 rep- resent an hourly paid production and maintenance unit, herein called 3 On June 24 , 1964, the Employer filed with the Board a motion to reopen hearing and to permit filing of additional brief, for the purpose of adducing evidence that the Employer and the Petitioners , subsequent to the hearing herein, jointly negotiated and executed new collective-bargaining agreements covering the existing salaried and processing units, and contending that such evidence would support its position that the unit requested herein is inappropriate and that such agreements constitute a bar to an election . The Petitioners have filed a telegram in opposition to the Employer 's motion. As the additional evidence sought to be adduced would in any event not affect our decision herein, the Employer's motion is hereby denied. 3 All the exhibits to whose admission the parties agreed , as well as Petitioners ' Exhibit No. 2 and Employer 's Exhibit No. 57, which have, apparently inadvertently not heretofore been received , are hereby received in evidence. 'As both International Union of Electrical , Radio and Machine Workers , AFL-CIO, herein referred to as IUE, and its affiliated Local 470 admit employees to membership and bargain collectively with the Employer , we find that they are labor organizations within the meaning of Seetion 2 ( 5) of the Act. 990 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the'hourly unit; IUE and its Local 445 represent a unit referred to herein ' as the technical unit ; and IUE and its Local 470 represent a salaried unit, a processing unit, and a guards unit. In addition, certain employees in professional, clerical, and technical classifica- tions are unrepresented. The petition (Case No. 2-RC-12651) As indicated above, the Petitioners seek an election in a single unit comprised of employees in two of the existing units, the salaried unit and the processing unit, and certain previously unrepresented em- ployees. The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the requested unit is inappropriate. For the reasons set forth below, this motion is granted. The Employer's operations Prior to 1956 the 'Employer's operations included a single manu- facturing division, a single production control department, and various centralized service divisions. In 1956 the operations' were reorganized into their present form, consisting of several product manufacturing 'divisions, and certain centralized divisions, such as building services, engineering and manufacturing services, and treas- ury, which perform services for all the manufacturing divisions. Each of the divisions was divided into various separately supervised depart- ments. The production control department was divided into a number of small departments, one within each of the product manufacturing divisions. Traffic, formerly in production control, was set up as a department in the building services division. Employees in the units discussed below which were certified before 1956 continued to do the same work under the same immediate supervision as before the' re- organization. The unit descriptions in the collective-bargaining con- tracts covering such employees have not been changed to reflect the reorganization. Bargaining history Hourly unit: IUE was certified in 1950 as the representative of a unit of all hourly paid production and maintenance employees, which was found appropriate on the basis of bargaining history and agree- ment of the parties.5 IUE and its Local 450 6 have been the contract 5 Case No. 2-RC-1804. See Sperry ayroecope Company, 88 NLRB 907 . Although Local 450 was a petitioner In that case, its name did not appear on the ballot and IUE alone was certified. O Local 450 Is not a party to the Instant proceeding. SPERRY GYROSCOPE CO., DIV. OF SPERRY RAND CORP. 991 representatives of the employees in this unit since that time. The hourly unit covered by the current contract is comprised of approxi- mately 5,000 employees who constitute some, but not all, of the Em- ployer's production, maintenance, and plant clerical employees.' The parties herein stipulated that the hourly unit includes more than 600 technical employees. Although not specifically referred to in the unit description, these employees are classified as tube technician A, tech- nician and test technician mechanical electrical, and technician and test technician electronic, and are assigned to 33 different departments in various divisions. Technical unit: IUE Local 445 was certified in 1962, following a consent election, as the representative of a technical unit.8 IUE and Local 445, the current representatives of this unit, executed a contract covering it in January 1963. This unit includes more than 500 em- ployees, all of whom the parties herein stipulated to be technical employees. These employees are located in 79 different departments, and are classified as draftsmen and senior draftsman, engineering aid, engineering writer I and II, industrial illustrator and senior indus- trial illustrator, materials lab assistant I and II, materials test co- ordinator, parts catalog writer I and II, technical illustrator I to IV, and development technician. Salaried unit: IUE was certified in 1950 as the representative of the salaried unit, which was, found appropriate by the Board on the basis of bargaining history and agreement of the parties. This unit consisted of salaried employees in the production control department (at that time a centralized department which was subsequently divi- sionalized, as explained above), plus senior laboratory technicians, T The hourly unit is described in the current contract as follows: All hourly paid production and maintenance employees including porters, elevator operators , internal transportation employees , outside chauffeurs and helpers, stock clerks , food service employees , hourly paid employees in the production control de- partment , leadmen and Instructors , die casting machine operators , die casting cleaners, office machine repairman , foundry journeymen and nonjourneymen classified as foun- dry apprentices, foundry journeymen trainees , squeezer machine molders , squeezer machine molders trainees , casting cleaners , sand blasters , journeymen helpers, furnace- men, casting straighteners , heat treaters , foundry laborers , power truck operators (foundry ) and leaders , and such other employees for whom the Union is, or may hereafter become, the bargaining agent and who may by mutual agreement be here- after Included within the terms of this agreement ; and excluding executives , super- intendents , engineers , office and clerical employees , draftsmen , methodsmen , foremen, assistant foremen, section foremen, subforemen , salaried employees in the production control department , timekeeper leaders, patternmakers , patternmaker apprentices, all electricians , electrician leaders and electrician apprentices and elevator maintenance men and their helpers, timekeepers , guards, plant protection firemen and wardens, junior flight mechanics , flight mechanics , senior aircraft mechanics, ground service men, crew chiefs , pilots and all supervisory and nonhourly paid professional per- sonnel throughout the Company. 8 Case No. 2-RM-119, not published in NLRB volumes. Local 445 is not a party to the Instant proceeding. 992 -DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD timekeepers, stationary engineers, and fireguards .9 This unit has been represented by IUE and Local 450. The members of Local 450 who were in this unit elected their own chairman and a committee who, with the officers of Local 450 and a representative of IUE, nego- tiated successive contracts with the Employer covering this unit. On January 5, 1951, following a consent election, Local 450 was certified as the representative of the salaried reproducers, and these employees were thereafter added to the salaried unit and incorporated in subse- quent contracts covering ' this unit. The following employees have also been added to the unit by agreement of the parties : photographers I and II in the reproduction department and industrial photographers (1951) ; traffic clerks A, B, and C (1954) ; keypunch operators and verifiers and tabulating machine operators I and II in production control (1955) ; garage dispatcher (1957) ; contact printer, stripper and opaquer, and photographer III (1958). Fireguards were trans- ferred by agreement in 1956 from this unit to a unit of guards, also represented by Local 470. The salaried unit is currently represented by IUE and Local 470, which, in 1956, assumed the bargaining status previously held by Local 450 for this unit, as discussed below. The current contract unit is essentially the same as the certified unit, and is comprised of stationary engineers and traffic employees in different departments of the building services division ; timekeepers in the treasury division; senior laboratory technicians, who the parties here- in agree are technical employees and who are assigned to the laboratory and reliability and quality control departments of the manufacturing divisions; salaried employees in the production control departments, and industrial radiographers in the quality control departments of the manufacturing divisions; and various classifications in the repro- duction section of the engineering and manufacturing services divi- 6 Case No. 2-RC-1804, supra. The salaried unit was certified in the same proceeding as the hourly unit. The name of Local 450 did not appear on the ballot in the election in the salaried unit, which was described in Sperry Gyroscope Company, supra, as follows: All Class II salaried employees in the Production Control Department at the Em- ployer's Great Neck, Long Island, New York, plant classified as expediter, follow-up man, dispatcher-machine and assembly, coverage analyst, coverage clerk, traffic rate clerk, posting clerk, stenographer-secretarial, stenographer, typist, addressograph operator, messenger ; all timekeepers, timekeepers foundry, senior laboratory 'tech- nicians, fireguards, and stationary engineers, excluding employees classified as chief clerk, assistant store supervisor, secretaries assigned to the production control man- ager, production control manager's administrative assistant, the foundry production control superintendent, all in the production control department, and all assistant timekeeping supervisors, timekeeping supervisors, chief timekeepers, engineering tech- nicians, guards and watchmen, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. The designation "Class II" is applied to employees whom the Employer considers to be covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act. None'of the Class I employees, whom it con- siders not to be covered by that Act, are represented for bargaining purposes. SPERRY GYROSCOPE CO., DIV. OF SPERRY RAND CORP. 993 sion.10 This unit includes about 1,000 employees who comprise a seg- ment of the production, maintenance, plant clerical, and technical employees. Processing unit: Local 450 was certified as the representative of this unit in 1951, following a consent election. It included certain salaried employees engaged in packaging methods, processing, and tool design work in the then centralized manufacturing division." A separate contract covering the processing unit was negotiated by a representative of IUE, the officers of Local 450, the chairman of the Local 450 salaried group, and a committee elected by the Local 450 members in the processing unit. This unit is currently represented by IUE and Local 470, which in 1956 assumed the bargaining status of Local 450 for this as well as the salaried unit. The present process- ing unit is essentially the same as the certified unit, and contains about 250 employees, including tool designers and process engineers in the manufacturing engineering departments of the manufacturing divi- sions, and packaging methods engineers in the packaging methods department of the building services division.12 10 The current contract describes the salaried unit as follows: Class II salaried employees as assigned to the production control department and classified as expediter , follow-up man, dispatcher-machine and assembly , coverage analyst, coverage change clerk , coverage clerk, traffic rate clerk , posting clerk, stenographer-secretarial , stenographer, typist , addressograph operator, keypunch op- erator, tabulating machine operator I and II , and keypunch verifier, traffic clerks "A," "B," and "C," messenger , ' excluding chief clerk, assistant stores supervisor and secre- taries assigned to the production control manager , assistant production control man- ager and engineering production control manager ; industrial radiographers , and all reproducers , contact printers , strippers and opaquers , and photographers I and II in the reproduction department , all timekeepers , timekeeping checkers, and timekeepers foundry exclusive of assistant timekeeping supervisors , timekeeping supervisors and chief timekeepers ; dispatcher , garage; photographer III; and including such other employees for whom the Union is or may hereafter become the bargaining agent, and who may, by mutual agreement , be hereafter included in the terms of this agreement, but excluding all other supervisory personnel throughout the Company. 11 Case No . 2-RC-3118, not published in NLRB volumes . The certified processing unit was described as follows: All class II salaried tool designers and all class II salaried methods engineers (product, process , project , packaging , and standards-manufacturing) and packaging process methods men in departments numbered 4310, 4320 , 4661, 5519 , 5620, and 4100, excluding salable tool designers , estimators , time-study engineers, plant layout methods engineers , all class I employees, all clerical employees, and all guards, pro- fessional employees , and supervisors as defined in the Act. 12 The current contract describes the processing unit as follows: - - - - 'Class II salaried employees in the manufacturing division classified as tool de- signer I, tool designer II, tool designer III, process engineer I, process engineer II, process engineer III, product methods engineer , engineer packaging methods, pack- aging methods man, tool detailer , project methods engineer class II, and includ- ing such other employees who may by mutual agreement be hereafter included in the terms of this agreement but excluding all clerical , class I, and supervisory per- sonnel associated with packaging methods , processing , or tool design , and excluding all other employees of the Company not specifically above included within the bargain- ing unit. There are at present no employees in some of these classifications . The Employer con- tended that all employees in the processing unit are technical employees ; the Petitioners took no position on this matter. 756-236-65-vol. 147--64 '994 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Unrepresented employees: There are 30 classifications of profes- sional employees located in 95 different departments" and more than ,83 classifications of employees located in virtually every department in the various divisions, whom the parties agreed to be office clericals, all of whom are unrepresented and whom the Petitioners do not seek. Also unrepresented are the following employees, whom the Peti- tioners seek to include in their proposed unit: (a) In the manufacture divisions : product methods engineers, estimators, laboratory photog- raphers, industrial engineers, and industrial standards analysts in the manufacturing engineering departments; quality control analysts and test engineers, in the quality control and reliability departments; manufacturing planning representatives, project coordinators, and product programing coordinators in the planning departments; purchasing field representatives in the purchasing departments; and keypunch operators and verifiers and tabulating machine operators in various departments other than production control. (b) In the engineering division : industrial and public relations photographers in the publications department. (c) In the building services divi- sion : plant layout draftsmen and engineers in the plant layout depart- ment. The parties agree that this group of over 500 employees in- cludes all the unrepresented technical employees, and that there are no other unrepresented plant clerical employees in the plant : 14 Findings and Conclusions Petitioners contend that the salaried unit has been merged with the processing unit on the basis of the bargaining history and that this merged group along with the 500 unrepresented employees constitutes an appropriate unit. We disagree. The salaried unit alone or in combination with the processing unit might be appropriate based on the bargaining history but only on that bwsis.15 Otherwise these units are comprised merely of segments of the Employer's production, main- tenance, plant clerical and technical employees, which segments do not correspond to its divisional or departmental lines and do not show com- mon supervision, skills, or duties. Like its historic components, the enlarged unit request of Petitioners is a similar anomalous grouping, 13In Case No. 2-RM-1199 , supra, the following classifications , stipulated by the Em- ployer and Local 445 , the parties therein, to be professional employees , voted against representation : chemists , engineers , materials or components engineers , materials test en- gineers , metallurgists , publications engineers , industrial artists, research engineers, com- ponents engineers , materials engineers, special technicians , design engineers , and designers. Within many of these broad classifications there are assistant , associate , and senior sub- classifications . The parties herein stipulated that field training instructors are also pro- fessional employees. - 14 The Employer contends , contrary to the Petitioners , that some of these employees are professional , managerial , or office clerical employees . We find it unnecessary , in view of our disposition of this case , to make any determination of these issues. 1s In view of our ultimate determination herein, we find it unnecessary to determine whether these two units have been merged, as contended by Petitioners. SPERRY GYROSCOPE CO., DIV. OF SPERRY RAND CORP. 995 adding only a further segment of the technical employees. 'Unlike the historic components, however, the enlarged unit request does not have a bargaining history to justify it. We find, therefore, that the unit requested by the Petitioners is in- appropriate on any basis.16 The Petitioners declined to take any alternate unit position, and none of the parties has requested an elec- tion in any alternate unit which might be appropriate on a combined or residual basis." In these circumstances, we shall grant the Em- ployer's motion to dismiss the petition. Motion to clarify certifications in Cases Nos. 2-RC-1804 and 2-RC-3118 The Employer made a motion at the hearing , which it renewed in its brief, that the Board clarify the existing certifications to reflect those changes in the salaried unit which have been effected by agree- ment between the Employer and the Petitioners . The Petitioners opposed this motion.18 The changes in the salaried unit, however, were based originally on agreement between the parties, have been incorporated into subsequent contracts , including the current con- tracts, and do not substantially change the nature of the salaried unit. Moreover, we note that these changes are reflected in the pertinent portion of the petition herein. Accordingly , we shall grant that part , of the Employer 's motion which seeks to incorporate the aforesaid changes in the salaried unit as certified. The Employer 's motion also urged that the name of Local 470 be' added to that of IUE as the certified representatives of the salaried unit, and that the names of IUE and Local 470 be substituted for Local 450 as the certified representatives of the processing unit. The record clearly establishes that Local 470 and Local 450 are locals of the same International , IUE, and that the chartering of Local 470 and the transfer to it of representative'status in 1956 were approved by a majority of all the employees concerned as well as by Local 450, Local 470, IUE, and the Employer . The requested substitution of Local 470 for Local.450 as the certified representative of the employees 'in the processing unit would therefore insure to ' these employees a continuity of their present organization and representation. Accord- ingly, we shall grant this portion of the motion.19 On the other hand, to See The Hartford Electric Light Company, 122 NLRB 1421, 1424 . Cf. General Box Company, 82 NLRB 678, in which the petitioner, seeking certified status, was granted an election in a unit comprising only those employees for whom it was the recognized bar• gaining representative. ' 17 In any event , the Petitioners have made . no showing of interest among the unrepre^ seated employees. 18 The reasons for the Petitioners ' opposition to this motion are not clearly stated on the record. 19 Climax Molybdenum Company, 146 NLRB No. 61. 996 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD we find that no valid reasons have been presented for adding the names of Other labor organizations to those of the unions originally certified, as requested by the Employer, and the motion in this respect is therefore denied.zo [The Board dismissed the petition filed in Case No. 2-RC-12651 and amended the description of the salaried unit in the certification issued on June 16, 1950, in Case No. 2-RC-1804, by deleting the cate- gory of Fireguards, and by adding the following classifications : re- producer; photographer I and II in the reproduction department; industrial radiographer; traffic clerk A, B, and C; keypunch operator and verifier and tabulating machine operator in production control; garage dispatcher; contact printer, stripper and opaquer; and pho- tographer III.] [The Board further amended the certification issued on January 5, 1951, in Case No. 2-RC-3118, by substituting "Local 470, Inter- national Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, AFL- CIO" for "Local 450, International Union of Electrical, Radio and" Machine Workers, C.I.O."] MEMBER BROWN, concurring: I agree with my colleagues that the, petition should be dismissed, but reach this conclusion because I would find, for the reasons below, that the petition was untimely filed. I also agree with the findings that the outstanding certifications should be clarified. It is clear that the petition herein was filed on April 2, 1963, more than a year before the expiration date of the contract, May 31, 1964. I would therefore find it was prematurely filed, and that the valid contract was a bar, notwithstanding the fact that this decision is issuing after the expiration date of the prior contract. I would mod- ify the holding of Deluxe Metal Furniture Company, 121 NLRB 995, to remove this exception to the Board's contract-bar rules, because, in my view, it serves only to deprive the parties to an existing contract of the benefits of that contract for extended periods and thus inter- feres with the stability of established bargaining relationships. Because I would dismiss the petition on this procedural basis, I do not reach the question as to the appropriateness of the unit sought. Accordingly, I do not adopt the opinion of my colleagues herein in- sofar as they consider that issue. 20 Our decision herein does not preclude the parties affected thereby from bargaining in the same manner as they have in the past. Nor is the Board 's action herein to be con- strued as passing upon the validity of the existing certifications; or considered as new certifications or recertification.