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OFFICE OF THE UMPIRE No. D-44 JULY 1, 1946
Claim Of Improper Reclassification
GRIEVANCE: Chevrolet Aviation Engine #2 -- Cases D-8 and D-13 "I protest my change of classification from tool chaser to Tool Crib Attendant with cut in pay, but still performing duty of tool chaser. Request back pay."
Umpire’s Decision:
In the Matter of: United Automobile Workers of America—C.I.O.—Local 424 and General Motors Corporation Chevrolet Aviation Engine Plant #2 – Cases D-8 and D-13
During the war, while this plant was functioning as Chevrolet Aviation Engine Plant #2, Employees S. and Q. were classified as "Tool Chasers" and received the maximum rate for that classification of $1.24 per hour. After V-J Day their classification was changed to that of "Tool Crib Attendant" at the rate of $1.09 per hour. Charging that their work was still substantially the same as that which they performed while classified as "Tool Chasers", S. and Q. question the propriety of their reclassification and ask back pay for the wages which they have improperly lost. The Tool Chaser’s job during the period of war production was essentially that of seeing that the tools necessary to maintain production were at all times available. Though each Tool Chaser serviced a definite area, he was responsible for locating and securing the necessary tools no matter where they might be in the plant. Their job was very different from that of the Tool Crib Attendants who remained, for the most part in the tool cribs themselves, merely disbursing the various tools which the operators requisitioned. The Tool Chasers worked on the floor of the plant, checking with the Foremen and the machine operators to see that tools needed for immediate use were available and that an additional set of tools was always at hand, locating special tools which were not available in the tool crib, following through with the Purchasing Department on orders for the purchase of new tools, etc. It was a job which called for the exercise of considerable responsibility and initiative if the stoppages due to tool shortages were to be prevented. After V-J Day, that phase of the work which had to do with the servicing of production machines necessarily stopped. The government-owned machines, however, still had to be prepared for shipment out of the plant, and this involved a considerable amount of tool locating work. The original parts, with which each machine had first been equipped, and which in many cases had been replaced by new fixtures and attachments, had to be located and restored to the machine. This involved more than merely reading a list of parts and making routine trips to the designated locations where such parts were stored. It required familiarity with the parts themselves, with the plant, and with storage locations and practices, so that parts or tools which could not immediately be located could nevertheless be searched for intelligently and found. The Union argues that the work was thus so substantially similar to that of a Tool Chaser during war production that the reclassification of S. and Q. was improper. Management contends that the most important element in the Tool Chaser’s classification and rating was his responsibility for preventing tool shortages. After the war, Management states, the pressure was off. Speed in the location of tools was less important. Indeed, even if they could not be located at all the government would accept the machine, merely holding the Corporation responsible for the missing parts. Since the job had become a mere matter of locating tools and parts, and required the exercise of little or no initiative or responsibility, Management says, it was comparable to that of a Tool Crib Attendant and was properly placed in that classification. From the evidence entered in this case, the Umpire concludes that after V-J Day the complainants did have less responsibility, less call for initiative, and less pressure for perfect performance than while the plant was producing aviation engines for the armed forces. The nature and function of their work changed substantially, and a change in their classification was therefore justified. Nevertheless, the Umpire cannot agree that their classification as Tool Crib Attendants was appropriate. Their jobs still called for a knowledge of tools and machine parts, of plant and storage locations, and of plant practices in recording and storing tools and parts which was never required of a Tool Crib Attendant. Moreover, though failures on their part would no longer result in a stoppage of production, they might well result in the Corporation’s being held financially responsible for the tools and parts not found. It is hardly to be assumed that the Corporation took its own responsibility in this matter lightly or viewed the loss of government-owned materials with indifference. Since the special work to which these complainants were assigned fell neither in the Tool Chaser nor the Tool Crib Attendant classification, it must be held that it constituted a new job within the meaning of Paragraph 112 of the National Agreement. That the work was temporary and may already have been completed does not justify casualness in classification or a departure from the established procedures with regard to the negotiation of rates. A new classification and rate must therefore be negotiated by local Management and the Shop Committee to cover the work performed by these complainants. If the rate negotiated is higher than that established in the wage agreement for Tool Crib Attendants, the complainants shall receive back pay in an amount equal to the difference between the two rates for all time worked on the job since V-J Day.
Decision:
Signed, Ralph T. Seward UMPIRE July 1, 1946. |