American Stove Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 30, 1946

70 N.L.R.B. 1059 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

Iv the Matter of AMERICAN STOVE COMPANY, HARVEY DIVISION, EM-
PLOYER and UNITED STEEL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R-3586.-Decided August 30,1946
Mr. Otto A. Jaburek, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer.
Messrs. Raymond Saracco and S. E. Perish, of Harvey, Ill., for the
Petitioner.
111r. Harvey B. Diamond, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Chicago,
Illinois, on June 27, 1946, before Gustaf B. Erickson, Trial Examiner.
The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
American Stove Company has its main office in St. Louis, Missouri,
and plants in various cities throughout the United States. The plant
located in Harvey, Illinois, manufactures gas, oil and coal stoves
and is the only one involved in this proceeding. During 1945 the
Employer purchased raw materials for the Harvey plant valued at in
excess of $2,000,000, 90 percent of which was received from points out-
side the State of Illinois. During the same period the Employer sold
finished products produced at the Harvey plant valued at in excess
of $4,000,000, of which 90 percent was shipped to points outside the
State of Illinois.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
70 N. L. R. B., No. 87.
712344-47-vol. 70--63 1059
1060 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations , claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive'
bargaining representative of the clerical and office employees of the
Employer until the" Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an
appropriate unit. -
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit comprised generally,of all office and
clerical employees, including time-study employees, but excluding
certain supervisory employees. In the event the Board finds that
time-study employees are not properly part -of an office and clerical
unit, the Petitioner asks in the alternative that they be established as
a separate collective bargaining unit. The Employer does not op-
pose the general composition of the unit, but would exclude certain
employees and classifications of employees, including time-study per-
sonnel, on the ground that they are supervisory, confidential or man-
agerial. We shall discuss the disputed classifications below.
a. The time-study unit
Junior and senior time-study observers.-The junior time-study
observers work out of the- office of the control supervisor under the
supervision of the standards supervisor. They perform time and mo-
tion studies of the production operations, which studies are then
collated and used for the purpose of establishing standard wage rates
and incentive rates. The observers do not determine policy or wage
rates, such determinations being made by the standards supervisor
in conjunction with the plant superintendent and the foreman of
the production unit involved. In the event of a grievance the ob-
server may be called upon to explain his calculations or justify his
findings. The records and reports of the observers are not considered
confidential and are made available to union representatives when-
ever requested. ' The duties and functions of the senior time-study ob-
servers are similar to those of the junior observers, although senior
'There are approximately 49 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
AMERICAN STOVE COMPANY, HARVEY DIVISION 1061
observers are usually given the more important and complicated as-
signments. In the event that a particular study requires the services
of more than one observer, a senior observer is placed in charge of the
project and one or more junior observers assigned to assist him. Fur-
thermore, although the Employer will employ junior observers without
previous experience, senior observers must have had considerable time-
study experience and training either with the Employer or in similar
fields. The contention of the Employer that the foregoing time-study
employees are "managerial" and therefore should not be included in
any bargaining unit, was considered and disposed of by the Board in
the Ford Motor case,2 wherein we pointed out that employees of the
-type involved herein are merely fact finders and do not formulate,
determine, or effectuate management policies. However, in view of
their specialized technical training and the technical nature of their,
work, we find that time-study observers are a homogeneous group who
would be best suited by constituting them a separate appropriate bar-
gaixing unit.3
I
b. The office and clerical unit
Time-study clerks.-The duties of these employees include the
preparation of production standards from the reports of the observers,
checking the time-study reports with the observers, posting perform-
ance records, and maintaining the files containing time-study reports
and performance records. The Employer contends that the contents
of these files are confidential and therefore the employees responsible
for their upkeep should be excluded. We are of the opinion, however,
that time-study clerks do not fall within our definition of "confiden-
tial" employees in that they do not assist and act in a confidential
capacity to persons who exercise "managerial" functions in the field
of labor relations 4 Unlike the time-study observers, however, their
work is not of a technical nature and is primarily clerical, and we
shall therefore include them in the unit.
Registered nurse.-The nurse is responsible for rendering first-aid
treatment to injured employees, preparing and maintaining work-
men's compensation reports and records, and preparing compensation
pay rolls. Although we do not agree with the contention of the
Employer that the nurse is a "confidential" employee, we find that
she is a professional person whose training, skill, duties, and interests
differ from those of the office and clerical employees and we shall
therefore exclude her from the unit.,'
Confidential secretary.-This employee is employed as secretary to
tile.control supervisor. She takes and transcribes reports of contract
2 Matter of Ford Motor Company ( Chicago Branch ), 66 N. L. R B. 1317.
3 Matter of Brown d Sharpe Mfg. Co., 68 N . L. R. B. 487 , and Supplemental Decision
and Direction , 70 N L R. B 709.
4 Matter of Ford Motor Company ( Chicago Branch ), supra.
n Matter of American Steel and Wire Company , 58 N. L . R. B. 253.
1062 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
negotiation proceedings, arbitration proceedings, job evaluations, per-
sonnel ratings, etc. She prepares proposals and exhibits for nego-
tiations with the Union,and maintains a confidential file on labor rela-
tions matters. We agree with the Employer that the duties 'of this
employee are "confidential" within the Board's definition of that
term, and we shall therefore exclude her from the unit.
Cashier and voucher clerk and senior cost clerks.-The cashier and
voucher clerk audits all invoices and prepares the vouchers for pay-
mnent. She examines pay-roll checks for accuracy and issues them for
distribution. She maintains records of all payments made for - the
plant. The senior cost clerks prepare the direct labor and material
unit cost computations of the various stoves produced at the plant;
which are used to determine the selling prices of the commodities.
They prepare analyses of the costs, charges and expenses incident to
plant operation. The data prepared by the senior cost clerks is sub-
mitted to the main office of the Employer, and the cost clerks receive
from the main office information concerning other plants which is
used for comparative studies. The Employer contends that these
employees are confidential inasmuch as the information available to
them may be misinterpreted if it fell into the hands of persons who
are not familiar with its proper uses. While we do not question the
fact that the information used by the senior cost clerks and the cashier
and voucher clerk is of a confidential nature in regard to the Employ-
er's business generally, it clearly is not directly related to the latter's
labor relations. We shall, therefore, include the senior cost clerks and
the cashier, and voucher clerk in the unit.
Pay-roll section leader.-The pay-roll section leader supervises the
staff of the pay-roll section. He has authority to hire employees for
his section and he can make final recommendations leading toward dis-
missal or other disciplinary action. We find that this employee has
a supervisory status within the Board's usual definition of that term,-
and we shall exclude him from the unit.
Assistant purchasing agent.-This employee is responsible for mak-
ing direct purchases of materials and supplies for the plant. He is in
charge of the purchasing section in the absence of the purchasing agent
and is at all times responsible for the work of the clerks in the section.
The assistant purchasing agent may employ people for the section and
can take final disciplinary action. We find that this employee has
supervisory status, and we shall therefore exclude him from the unit.
Employment interviewer.-The employment interviewer acts as
assistant to the personnel director. She is responsible for administer-
ing vacation policies, maintaining employment records, and super-
vising employees in the personnel department. She interviews appli-
cants for jobs and on occasion may actually hire employees. She
prepares data for use by the director as proposals or counterproposals
AMERICAN STOVE COMPANY 1063
in negotiations with the Union. We are of the opinion that the em-
ployment interviewer assists and acts in a confidential capacity to a
managerial employee in the field of labor relations, and we shall
exclude her from the unit.
We find that the following groups of employees of the Employer
at its Harvey plant constitute separate units appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act :
1. All junior time-study observers and senior time-study observers
excluding all other employees.
2. All office and clerical employees,`including shop clerks, time-study
elerks, the cashier and voucher clerk, and senior cost clerks, but ex-
eluding time-study observers, the nurse, the employment interviewer,
pay-roll section leader, assistant purchasing agent, confidential secre-
tary, and all or any other supervisory employees with authority to
hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such action."
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with American Stove Company, Harvey,
Division, Harvey, Illinois, elections by secret ballot shall be conducted
as early as possible, but not later than. thirty (30) days from the date
of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tions 10 and 11, of, National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 3, as amended, among the employees in each of the
units found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and
including employees in the armed forces of the United States who
present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em-
ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not
been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Steel
Workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Mn. J_»MES J. REYNOLDS, JR., took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections.
9 The parties agree that the following are supervisory employees and should be excluded :
planning and scheduling supervisor, standards supervisor , accounting supervisor, material
control supervisor , process engineer , personnel director , control department supervisor, and
purchasing agent.