The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., 904 (1976)

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company and International Society of Skilled Trades, ACA, Petitioner.

Case 8-RC-10292

April 13, 1976 RULING ON ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION

On February 12, 1976, the Petitioner filed a petition seeking to sever a group of skilled tradesmen from an established production and maintenance unit at the Employer's plants. After an administrative investigation, the Regional Director by letter dated March 12, 1976, the pertinent parts of which are attached hereto as an appendix, dismissed said petition, finding that the requested unit was not appropriate for the purpose of severance. On March 25, 1976, the Petitioner filed a request for review of such dismissal, assigning error in fact and law and requesting a hearing. Thereafter, the Employer and the intervening United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America, AFL-CIO, filed respective opposition thereto.

Having duly considered the matter, the Board concluded that the request for review raised no substantial issues warranting review or a hearing herein.

Accordingly, the dismissal of the petition is hereby affirmed.' 1 By order of this date, the Board also sustained the Regional Director's dismissal of similar petitions filed in : The B. F. Goodrich Company, Case 8RC-10293; The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Case 8-RC-10294:

and The General Tire and Rubber Company, Case 8-RC-10297.

APPENDIX

The above-captioned petition, filed on February 12, 1976, and amended on March 1 , 1976, by the International Society of Skilled Trades , A-C-A, (hereinafter referred to as ISST) seeks to sever a unit of 'all skilled trades located at all locations under the present Master Agreement' from the existing employer-wide multiplant bargaining unit comprising all production and maintenance employees , presently represented by the United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America , AFL-CIO-CLC, (hereinafter referred to as URW). The ISST lists the following unit as that appropriate for collective bargaining:

All skilled employees including, tool & die makers, maintenance mechanics (machine repair), industrial electricians, millwrights, welders, stationary engineers, sheet metal workers , pipefitters, (steam fitter), industrial automobile or truck mechanics, oilers, (not apprenticeable), carpenters, instrument mechanics, machinists, (machine shop), painters, riggers, scale repairmen (apprenticeable under machinist), bricklayers, cement finishers, blacksmiths, structural steel workers, engravers, electrotypers, compositors, pressmen, printer slotter operators, mold makers, air-conditioning & refrigeration mechanics, plumbers, pipe covers, electronical maintenance, locksmiths, precision special machine and equipment builders (not apprenticeable), tool makers, die makers, sewing machine repairmen, motor winders, mold repair & assembly men, foundry workers (skilled tradesmen), crane operators (servicing skilled trades only), battery attendants, elevator mechanics, crane repairmen, plaster moldmakers, firemen (high pressure boiler operators), but excluding all other production employees, office, clerical employees, and guards, professional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act.

The ISST goes on to list the following locations as those covered by the Master Agreement between URW and Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (hereinafter referred to as the Employer):

Russellville, Arkansas (represented by URW Local #884) Los Angeles, California (represented by URW Local #100) Albany, Georgia (represented by URW Local #887) Decatur, Illinois (represented by URW Local #713) Des Moines, Iowa (represented by URW Local #310) Akron, Ohio (represented by URW Local #7) Pottstown, Pennsylvania (represented by URW Local #366) Memphis, Tennessee (represented by URW Local # 186) Noblesville, Indiana (represented by URW Local # 138) Salinas, California (represented by URW Local #776) Bloomington, Illinois (represented by URW Local #787) The existing unit represented by URW encompasses all production and maintenance employees at the above locations, who number approximately 15,000.

The skilled trades include both apprenticed and nonapprenticed trades and classifications, and they number over 2,000 employees at the locations herein concerned, or about 13 percent of the total unit.

The parties to this case have been given ample opportunity to present and offer evidence relevant to 223 NLRB No. 152

FIRESTONE TIRE AND RUBBER CO. 905 the petition. All evidence offered during the investigation has been carefully considered.

The skilled tradesmen in the unit sought constitute all the employees who perform the general maintenance, repair, fabrication and installation functions in the Employer's production plants. While their principal function is to keep equipment operating properly and to minimize delays in the production department, the skilled trades jobs encompass such diverse classifications as oiler, welder, carpenter and laborer. In effect, the ISST is seeking to sever employees whose primary function is maintenance from an existing production and maintenance unit.

The URW has represented employees of the Employer for more than 30 years. Since 1948, the URW and the Employer have executed a series of collective-bargaining agreements in a multi-plant unit with specific provisions for supplementary agreements to be concluded through local plant negotiations. Thus, for the past 28 years , the Employer and the URW have been parties to successive collective -bargaining contracts which have involved in each instance a production and maintenance unit in which skilled tradesmen have been included and which have featured periodic improvements in wages and other benefits. The investigation reveals that a pattern of dual representation such...