1943 - National Labor Relations Board

54 Eighth Annual Report of the National Labor Relations Boardpriate. The unit must meet certain objective standards, referred toabove. Of course the very fact that there is no dispute of itselfusually indicates that the proposed unit is appropriate, and consequentlyin such cases the Board's unit finding customarily coincideswith that sought. Depending upon the combination in which theunit-determining factors indicated above are present, the Board hasestablished craft or multiple craft units, departmental units, or industrialunits on a plant, employer, or multiple plant or employer basis.In cases, which present no basic unit problem, as where only oneunion is involved and seeks an industrial plant unit, the typicalunit issues revolve around the inclusion or exclusion of small groupsof employees on the fringe of the industrial unit. Likewise wherethe only union or unions interested in the case desire recognizablecraft units and there is no history of bargaining on an industrialbasis or any competing union seeking an industrial unit, the Boardcustomarily finds that the craft unit or units are appropriate.The cases which engender dispute are those in which there arerival unions seeking units which overlap, or where the unit or unitssought represent departures from an historical pattern of bargainingin the plant or industry. Since the opposing unit contentions areadvanced by unions which have been designated by some groups ofemployees as their representative for collective bargaining purposes,it follows that the denial of the unit claim of a union in a measurefrustrates the desires of certain employees. It is in these cases thatthe Board must carefully weigh the opposing contentions of theparties with the view to establishing units conducive to stability inindustrial relations and the fullest assurance to employees of freedomto select the representative they desire. Where such fundamentalunit issues are presented, the Board gives great weight to the relativehomogeneity of the proposed craft group, and the bargaining historyin the plant or industry. While the history of bargaining is a factorof primary importance in such cases, units fixed by past bargainingrelations may be altered where the historical factor is outweighedby other considerations, such as the general rule that purely clericalemployees or professionally trained technicians are not merged withproduction and maintenance employees." The presumption thatwhat the parties have done usually affords the best test as to whatunit is appropriate is not irrebuttable, and is overcome when tocontinue the arrangement previously established would not encouragecollective bargaining.47Where the Board finds that the considerations as between craftand industrial units are substantially- evenly balanced, it frequently.first ascertains the desires of the employees with respect to the organizationthey desire to act as their representative (and consequentlyan expression as to the type of unit through which they desire tobargain) in a self-determination election. After having ascertained46 Matter of Boston Edison Company, 51 N. L. R. B. 118."See Matter of Trailer Company of America, 51 N. L. R. B. 1100.