Westinghouse Electric Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 13, 1968

172 N.L.R.B. 1512 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

1512 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Interna-
tional Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers , AFL-CIO,' and Lima Westinghouse
Salaried Employees Association affiliated with the
Federation of Westinghouse Independent Salaried
Unions.' Case 8-UC-27
August 13, 1968
DECISION AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition of Machinists for clarification of
unit , duly filed on February 6, 1968 , under Section
9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended , a hearing was held on March 5, 6, 28,
and 29 , 1968, before Hearing Officer Richard A.
Du Rose . On May 17 , 1968, the Regional Director
for Region 8 issued an order transferring the case
to the Board . Thereafter, briefs were filed by the
Employer and the Petitioner
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended , the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error . The rulings 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, and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein
2. The Petitioner and the Intervenor are both
labor organizations within the meaning of the Act,
and both claim to represent certain employees of
the Employer.
3. In this clarification proceeding we are asked
to determine whether three employees, who have
been promoted to the newly created position of
manufacturing laboratory technician , remain within
the toolroom unit represented by the Machinists.
The certified unit in which the above clarification
is sought consists of:
All employees in Department 59, commonly
known as the tool room of Employer 's Lima,
Ohio , plant , including inspectors and tool crib
attendants working in Department 59, who ap-
pear on the Employer 's payroll for the period
Herein called Machinists or Petitioner
Herein called Association or Intervenor The Association was allowed
ending September 21, 1952, but excluding of-
fice clerical employees, professional em-
ployees, guards, and supervisors, as defined in
the Act.3
At the time of the above certification (November
3, 1952), department 59 was under the Small Mo-
tors Division (SMD) of Westinghouse. SMD's busi-
ness operations consisted primarily of two phases,
the manufacturing of fractional horsepower motors
for various appliances and electrical generating
equipment for aircraft. By 1955 both phases had
expanded considerably and Westinghouse decided
to departmentalize each activity. The new depart-
ments were known as the aircraft equipment de-
partment and the industrial motor department.
Each department had an individual manager who
reported to the vice president and general manager
of SMD. Department 59 acted as the toolmaking
facility for both the aircraft equipment department
and the industrial motor department. The record is
not clear as to where department 59 was assigned
between 1955 and 1958. However, in 1958 the Em-
ployer assigned department 59 (the toolroom) to
the aircraft equipment department. In 1962, the
two departments became separate divisions, the
Aerospace Electrical Division (AED) and the Small
Motors Division. Under this divisionalization SMD
and AED are completely separate entities under the
Employer's organizational structure and report
through different channels of authority to top
management.
As a result of the 1962 divisionalization AED
took over the physical premises of the Wapak Road
location-the Employer's main plant in Lima. SMD
leased from AED the main floor manufacturing
facility. However, SMD's entire headquarters, in-
cluding its manufacturing laboratory (to which the
three employees involved in the instant proceeding
are assigned) moved to a separate location in Lima.
The AED employees in department 59 are paid
on the basis of their labor grade number, a designa-
tion agreed on between the Petitioner and the Em-
ployer. The highest grade is labor grade 16 which
applies to journeyman tool and gauge makers. SMD
has used labor grade 16 tool and gauge makers in
its manufacturing laboratory for a number of years.
Since 1958, when department 59 was assigned to
AED, SMD has purchased their services from AED.
In January 1968, SMD moved its entire headquar-
ters including its manufacturing laboratory to a new
location in Lima. At this time there were three de-
partment 59 employees working in the manufactur-
ing laboratory on a purchased basis. These three
to intervene on the basis of its contract which covers salaried and technical
employees of the Employer
' Case 8-RC-1721 ( not printed in NLRB volumes)
172 NLRB No. 170
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP. 1513
employees were reassigned as salaried manufactur-
ing laboratory technicians to the new laboratory.
The primary function of SMD 's manufacturing
laboratory is in the area of long -range planning and
development of new SMD products and manufac-
turing techniques . In addition , the laboratory also
provides technical direction to SMD 's production
employees at the Lima plant and three other SMD
production locations.
The Petitioner contends that , since it has always
represented department 59 employees who have
been either temporarily or permanently assigned to
work in SMD's manufacturing laboratory, it
should be allowed to continue to represent the
three department 59 employees assigned to work in
the manufacturing laboratory.
The Employer contends that the three employees
who were formerly department 59 employees have
been reassigned to work in the manufacturing
laboratory , not as department 59 employees rented
from AED , but for the first time as salaried em-
ployees of SMD in the newly created position of
manufacturing laboratory technician . Furthermore,
the Employer claims that the duties of the em-
ployees involved have been, or will be , upgraded
and that this fact further differentiates them from
department 59 employees.
The three employees who have assumed the
newly created position of manufacturing laboratory
technician had been department 59 employees as-
signed to the SMD manufacturing laboratory. One
of the three has worked in the manufacturing
laboratory since 1954 and the other two since
1965. However , as manufacturing laboratory
technicians , the responsibilities of these three em-
ployees have been significantly expanded . The du-
ties of the manufacturing laboratory technicians in-
clude . the authority to purchase parts and tools
from either AED or outside suppliers; the authority
to negotiate with outside suppliers and department
59 for the supply of parts and tools, the solving of
machine design problems; participation with other
laboratory employees in conceptual discussions of
new products ; and teaching production employees
the use of various production machines.
Some of the foregoing duties performed by the
manufacturing laboratory technicians represent dif-
ferences in degree rather than in kind from the du-
ties previously performed by the department 59
employees assigned to the manufacturing laborato-
ry. Nevertheless , the creation of the manufacturing
laboratory technician position, with its expanded
responsibilities , further differentiates the techni-
cians, who primarily perform work of a developmen-
tal nature , from the journeyman toolmakers in de-
partment 59, whose functions are primarily of a
toolmaking nature and who work on existing
machinery or products.
The Intervenor represents , with certain exclu-
sions not pertinent herein , all salaried and technical
employees at the Employer's Lima plant. Among
the employees it represents are salaried and techni-
cal employees working in SMD's manufacturing
laboratory. The Intervenor also represents other
SMD technical employees with skill classifications
lower than the manufacturing laboratory techni-
cians.
Department 59 toolmakers are paid on an hourly
basis whereas the manufacturing laboratory techni-
cians are salaried . As noted above, the function of
the technicians is primarily in the area of concep-
tual manufacturing development. They are required
to use independent judgment to a far greater degree
than the department 59 employees. Their present
skills are technical in nature , and their on-the-job
training will result in the development of further
specialized knowledge. The change in the Em-
ployer's administrative structure has completely
separated the technicians from the department 59
employees. Furthermore, in their new position,
these employees are supervised by technical em-
ployees and, in fact , the technician position was
first offered to the technical employees represented
by the Intervenor on the basis of competitive
bidding.
We find, on the record as a whole, that the
manufacturing laboratory technicians are technical
employees and, therefore , the three employees in-
volved herein are no longer in department 59.
Their duties, functions , and interests are not such
as to ally them with the toolmaker unit represented
by the Petitioner . Accordingly, as the Petitioner
seeks to include the manufacturing laboratory
technicians within the department 59 toolmaker
unit for which it is certified, we shall dismiss the
petition for unit clarification filed herein.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition be, and it
hereby is, dismissed.
354-126 O-LT - 73 - pt. 2 - 24