Sylvania Electric Products, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 28, 1955

113 N.L.R.B. 375 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

SYLVANIA ELECTRIC PRODUCTS, INC . 375
Sylvania Electric Products , Inc. and Local 384, International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America, AFL, Petitioner. Case No. 4-RC-2635.
July 28,1955 -
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Morris Mogerman, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent 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 petitioner seeks a unit of all drivers, warehousemen, handymen,
and shipping clerks at the Employer's Hatboro, Pennsylvania, plant.
In the alternative, Petitioner seeks a unit of drivers only. The Em-
ployer asserts that it employs no drivers as such and that a unit com-
posed of the other categories sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate.
There is no history of bargaining at the plant involved herein.
The Employer, at its Hatboro plant, is engaged in the manufacture
and repair of television tubes. Its operations are carried on in three
separate but proximate buildings.' These buildings are denominated
the manufacturing plant, the finished tube warehouse, and the quonset
hut. The manufacturing plant is primarily a production plant; the
finished tube warehouse, while containing some production operations,
is, as its name implies, primarily a storage building for finished prod-
ucts; and the quonset hut is used for the storage of new or recondi-
tioned tubes.
The manufacture of new, or the repair of used tubes, is essentially
the same process except that the new tubes are received in the manu-
facturing plant, while salvage or used tubes are received in the finished
tube warehouse. Both types of tubes, however, proceed through 13.
production processes, at the end of which they are ready for sale to
distributors. The 13 steps of the production process are largely man-
ual because of the fragility of the tube and because of the type of
production operation involved. Thus it is necessary to have manual
' The manufacturing plant is about a city block from the finished tube warehouse and
the quonset hut. It is necessary to traverse a public thoroughfare to travel from one
building to the other.
113 NLRB No. 43.
379288-56-vol. 113-25
376 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
laborers at 12 of the processes to transfer tubes from one operation
to the other. Likewise, after the finished product is sent to the ware-
house, extensive manual operations are necessary to prepare the prod-
uct for delivery. Some of the manual labor required in the production
and packaging operations is performed by employees in categories
sought by the Petitioner, viz, warehousemen and handymen. The
Employer has 28 warehousemen and 27 handymen, of which 12" ware-
housemen are located in the finished tube warehouse and 16 are located
in the manufacturing plant. The handymen are located throughout
all three buildings. Both these categories are supervised by different
foremen depending on the plant location to which they are assigned.
The Employer has two shipping clerks. One of these employees
spends the major part of his time driving a customer service truck
between the Employer's plant and points in the metropolitan Phila-
delphia area. The rest of his time is spent in clerical duties, which
includes the preparation of bills of lading. The other shipping clerk
and the 4 other employees assigned to driving spend from 1 to 2 hours
a week hauling materials by truck from one to the other of the Em-
ployer's buildings; the remainder of their time is spent in loading and
unloading their own trucks or the trucks of other drivers.
The employees sought by the Petitioner are dispersed throughout
the Employer's three buildings, have diverse supervision, and most of
them do unskilled work similar to that of other employees not sought
by the Petitioner.2 In these circumstances, we find that the unit sought
by the Petitioner is neither a departmental nor a craft unit such as the
Board has in the past held to be entitled to separate representation,
and that such unit is therefore inappropriate.' As there is only one
employee who spends the major part of his time driving, we find that
a separate unit of drivers only would also be inappropriate. We shall,
therefore, dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.]
2 Employees located in other pacts of the plant classified as carton preparation opera-
tors, packing carton scalers , and tested tube cartoner perfoim the same duties and receive
the same rate of pay as handymen and warehousemen Likewise, employees classified as
buffers and branders are assigned and perfoim the duties of warehousemen and handymen
as the needs of the Employer require
3 See Sears Roebuck & Company, 112 NLRB 559
Rockingham Poultry Cooperative Inc. and Union Local 27, Re-
tail, Wholesale and Department Store Union , CIO, Petitioner.
Case No. 5-fl C-1705. July °28, 1955
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 Robert W. Knadler , hearing
113 NLRB No. 42.