Westinghouse Electric Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 13, 1953

106 N.L.R.B. 1256 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

1256 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
While we do not depart from the policy of asserting juris-
diction over enterprises which furnish services valued at
$50,000 or more to direct instrumentalities of interstate com-
merce, we find that the construction of county roads is too re-
mote an extension of that policy to warrant our taking juris-
diction here.' Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition.
[The Board dismissed the petition.
3Camp Concrete Company, 94 NLRB 296, cited by the Petitioner as authority for assertion
by the Board of jurisdiction herein, is inapposite. In that case the materials sold to the State
Road Department of Florida were for use "in necessary maintenance of the State's highway
system," and not, as is the case here, for county roads.
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION and INTERNA-
TIONAL UNION OF ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE
WORKERS, C.I.O., P etiti oner and FEDERATION OF
WESTINGHOUSE INDEPENDENT SALARIED UNIONS, Pe-
titioner . Cases Nos. 2 -RC-6028 and 2-RC-6040.1 October
13, 1953
DECISION 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 Leonard S. Kimmell, 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 the case, 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. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.'
4. International Union of Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers, CIO, herein called the IUE, seeks to represent
the salaried unit for which the UE is the presently certified
bargaining representative . ' The Federation of Westinghouse
i On August 14, 1953, the Regional Director for the Second Region consolidated Cases Nos.
2-RC-6027, 2-RC-6028, and 2-RC-6040 After the consolidated hearing the parties to Case No.
2- RC- 6027 entered a stipulation for certification upon consent election Accordingly, the Board
on September 9, 1953, severed that case from the instant proceeding and remanded it to the
Regional Director for further proceedings in accordance with the agreement of the parties.
2 For the reasons stated in our recent Decision in Westinghouse Electric Corporation,
106 NLRB 1349, we reject the contention advanced by United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, Local 426, U.E , herein called the UE, that its contract with the
Employer of November 1, 1950, as extended, constitutes a bar to a present determination
of representatives.
'See Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 89 NLRB 812.
106 NLRB No. 214.
WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORPORATION 1257
Independent Salaried Unions, herein called the Federation,
seeks to sever from the salaried unit a technical group com-
posed of draftsmen, tool designers, and laboratory technicians. 4
Like the IUE, the UE and the Employer oppose any change in the
existing salaried unit.
Draftsmen and tool designers: These employees prepare
tracings and drawings for the Employer's engineers. The
draftsmen work with the engineers producing plans for new
designs and new products. When these plans are perfected the
tool designers, working in close cooperation with the engineers,
complete the plans and drawings required to produce the tools
necessary in the manufacture of the new product. Although the
two groups are separately located and separately supervised,
the education and special skills required of the draftsmen and
tool designers are substantially the same. It is clear therefore
that they constitute highly skilled technical employees who may,
if they so desire, be a part of a separate bargaining unit of
technical employees.' On the other hand, they may also continue
to be represented as a part of the existing salaried unit.
Laboratory technicians: These employees, like the draftsmen
and tool designers , work closely with the Employer' s engineers.
In the seven laboratories connected with the Newarkworks they
perform mechanical, chemical, or electrical tests to assure the
uniformity of the manufactured product and to assist in the de-
velopment of new products. They are required to have a high
school education and 2 years of college or the equivalent
technical education. As highly skilled technical employees they
may, if they so desire , constitute a separate unit of technical
employees together with the Employer's other technical em-
ployees, the draftsmen and tool designers.6 On the other hand,
they may also continue to be represented as a part of the exist-
ing salaried unit.
We shall at this time make no final determination with respect
to the unit or units appropriate, but shall first ascertain the de -
sires of the employees as reflected in the separate elections
which we shall direct be held among the employees in the fol-
lowing voting groups:
(a) All draftsmen , tool designers , and laboratory technicians
employed at the 95 Orange Street , Plane Street , and Raymond
Boulevard , Newark , New Jersey , works of the Employer, ex-
cluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
(b) All salaried employees employed at the 95 Orange Street,
Plane Street, and Raymond Boulevard, Newark, New Jersey,
works of the Employer, including the telephone operators and
the general duty clerks and the file clerks in the industrial
relations department , but excluding all other employees in the
4At the hearing the Federation also indicated that it desired a place on the ballot in the
overall salaried unit sought by the IUE.
5 Bethlehem Steel Company. 95 NLRB 1508.
6Cf. Standard Coil Company, 98 NLRB 1296.
1258 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
industrial relations department , all employees in the medical
department , staff assistants to department managers and the
plant manager, the suggestion interviewer , secretaries , assist-
ant secretaries to the manager of accounting , the buyer, the
audit clerk A, manufacturing and general engineers , time and
motion analysts , design, metallurgical , and chemical engineers
in the engineering department , sales engineers in the sales
department , the test engineer in the manufacturing department,
all employees in voting group ( a), guards, professional em-
ployees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.'
If a majority of the employees in each of the voting groups
select the same labor organization , the employees in voting
group ( a) will be taken to have indicated their desire to remain
part of the overall salaried unit and the Regional Director con-
ducting the elections is instructed to issue a certification of
representatives to the labor organization selected by the em-
ployees in such groups, which the Board in such circumstances
finds to be a single unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining . If the majority of the employees in voting
group ( a) select a labor organization which is not slected by the
employees in voting group ( b), the employees in voting group
(a) will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a
separate appropriate unit and the Regional Director conducting
the elections is instructed to issue a certification of representa-
tives to the labor organization selected by the employees in
such group, which the Board in such circumstance 's finds to be a
separate unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining . If a majority of the employees in voting group (b) also
select a labor organization the Regional Director conducting
the elections is instructed to issue a certification of representa-
tives to the labor organization selected by the employees in
such group, which the Board in such circumstances also finds
to be a separate unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining . If the employees in either or both of the voting
groups do not select a labor organization the Regional Director
conducting the elections is instructed to issue a certification of
results of elections with respect to such group or groups.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication]
Chairman Farmer took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections.
7 Except for the employees in voting group ( a), voting group (b) is the same as the salaried
unit for which the UE is the presently certified bargaining representative.