General Motors Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsSep 16, 1943

52 N.L.R.B. 649 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL. UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLE- MENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW-CIO) Case No. R-5778.-Decided September 16,1943 i Messrs. Henry N. Hogan, H. S. Benjamin, Jr., and William J. 0ldani, of Detroit, Mich., for the Company. Maurice Sugar and Jack N. Tucker, by Mr. Jack N. Tucker, of De- troit, Mich., for the Union. Mr. William C. Baisinger, Jr., of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition and amended petition 1 duly filed by International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of General Motors Corporation, Buick Motors Division, De- troit, Michigan, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela- tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert J. Weiner, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Detroit, Michigan, on July 30 and 31, 1943. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, to introduce evidence bearing upon the issues, and to file briefs with the Board. The Trial Examiner granted the motion made by the Union at the hearing to amend the description of the unit set forth in the amended petition by adding employee classification No. 1079, office clerk (female). The Trial Examiner reserved ruling upon the Company's motion to dismiss the petition on the grounds : (1) that in view of certain 1 The Union filed the original petition on December 12, 1942, and the amended petition on June 2, 1943. 52 N. L. R. B., No. 112. 649 650 DDEIOLSIONS OF NAMIOINAL LABOIR RELAT'ION'S BOARD testimony adduced at the hearing on behalf of the Union to the effect that the Union has for the past 31/2 years bargained for certain cate- gories of employees which it now desires to include in an alleged appropriate unit comprised of clerical employees, no question con- ,cerning the, representation of these employees has arisen; (2) that the Union has failed to show that it represents a substantial number of employees in the alleged appropriate unit to give rise to a question ,concerning representation. For reasons set forth in Section III, infra, we hereby deny the Company's motion. 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 Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY General Motors Corporation is a Delaware corporation with its .principal office in New York City and with other offices in Detroit, Michigan. Buick Motor Division, one of the Company's several un- incorporated divisions, operates a plant at Flint, Michigan, which is herein referred to as the Flint Buick Plant and is the only plant in- volved in the present proceeding. At this plant the Company is en- gaged in the manufacture of military ordnance and military vehicles for the United States Government. During the past fiscal year, the Company has used raw materials at its Flint Buick plant valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which approximately 75 percent came from points outside the State of Michigan. During the same period the Flint Buick plant manufactured over $1,000,000 worth of finished products, approximately 90 percent of which was delivered by the Company to the United States Government, f. o. b., Flint, Michigan. The Company does not deny that at the Flint Buick plant it is en- gaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Rela- tions Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The parties stipulated that in December 1942 the Union addressed a written request to the Company for recognition as the exclusive GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 651 bargaining representative of certain of the Company's clerical em- ployees and that the Company has continually refused to accord the Union such recognition because it denies the appropriateness of the unit sought by the Union. Since the Company entered into the above stipulation, we find it unnecessary to consider in detail the first ground of its motion to dismiss as hereinbefore set forth other than to state' that we find it to be without merit. We find, contrary to the allegation of the Company set forth as its second ground for dismissal of the petition, that the statement of the, Regional Director, introduced into evidence at the hearing, and the- statement of the Trial Examiner, made at the hearing, indicate that the Union represents a substantial number of employees within the, unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.2 We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union seeks a bargaining unit comprised of the hourly rated employees of the Company who fall within the following job classifi- cations : 8 1067-supervisors' clerk, 1071-file, messenger, and mail' clerk, 1073-record clerk, 1079-office clerk (female), 1086-railroad yard clerk, 1082-general experimental clerk, 1955-material dis- patcher, 5731-shipping and receiving clerk, 6830-timekeeper, A-6661-stock chaser, 1084-maintenance clerk, and 6830-A-core and floor checker. The Company contends that the alleged unit is- inappropriate because of the supervisory authority exercised by the various employees involved and also on the ground that a majority of said employees have access to information which is considered con- fidential by the Company and therefore should be excluded from the right to bargain collectively. 2 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted a list containing the names of 219 persons who are carried on the Union 's ledger cards ; that 144 of said ledger cards bear the names of persons whose names appear on the Company 's pay roll of February 25, 1943, which contains the names of 440 persons within the alleged appropriate unit; that when examined in March 1943, 89 of said cards showed dues payments made in January, February, or March 1943, and 55 of said cards showed dues payments made prior to January 1, 1943 ; that the Union also submitted 79 authorization cards bearing apparently genuine original signatures of persons whose names appear on the aforesaid' pay roll The Trial Examiner reported on the record that the Union submitted 2 authorization cards bearing apparently , genuine signatures of persons whose names appear on the list submitted by the Company which contains the names of 18 persons in the employ of the Company as of July 30 , 1943 , who are in classification No. 1079 , office clerk ( female). 3In its amended petition as further amended at the bearing , the Union sets forth the job classification number and title of each category of the employees it desires included in the unit. For the sake of uniformity we shall follow the same method . This alleged unit apparently includes all-the hourly rated plant clerks employed at the Flint Buick plant. C652 DECISION'S OF NArrIOINAI. LABOR RELATIONS' BOARD Inasmuch as the parties are in dispute with respect to the dispo- sition of every employee classification involved except 1071- file mes- senger and mail clerk, we shall discuss each classification separately. 1067-supervisors' clerks This classification comprises 23 hourly rated employees each of -whom is under the direct supervision of various departmental super- visors 4 They maintain confidential records such as employment lists, rates of pay, and production schedules for the supervisor of the de- partment in which they work. , They also have access to a manufac- turing operations book which the Company considers to contain con- fidential information. These clerks may be detailed by their super- visor to obtain information which requires them to converse with other employees, including other supervisors throughout the plant. The supervisors' clerks supervise and are responsible for the work of ,other employees, usually record clerks or material handlers, who are 'assigned to assist them. While acting in such supervisory capacity, the supervisors' clerks have the authority effectively to recommend -the discharge or discipline of the employees assigned to them. The -majority of these clerks have desks in the offices of their supervisors. In view of the supervisory authority exercised by the supervisors' clerks over the employees who assist them in carrying out their duties, we shall exclude them from the appropriate unit.5 1073-record clerk There are approximately 211 -hourly rated record clerks employed in the various departmenth of the Flint Buick plant. They work under the direct supervision of salaried supervisors and perform such clerical work as posting material requisitions, transferring time rec- ^ords to other forms, accumulating the hours of the, non-productive employees, maintaining production records, and recording the over- time worked by production employees. They have access to certain ,records which the Company considers confidential. They have no ,connection with the administration of the grievance procedure pro- vided for in the current bargaining contract, between the Company and the Union which covers the production and maintenance em- ployees of certain of the Company's plants including the Flint Buick plant" As previously noted groups of record clerks are frequently assigned to assist the supervisors' clerks. The record contains no evidence that * The various witnesses who testified at the hearing referred to supervisors and general foremen indiscriminately . It appears that the title "supervisor" refers to a person who in the automobile industry is usually described as a general foreman, i. e ., a foreman who is in effect the head of a department or division and supervises the work of other foremen .in the department. - ° Cf Matter of St. Johns River Shnpbwalding Company, et al, 52 N. L. R. B. 12. ° This contract specifically excludes all clerical employees from the bargaining unit. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 653 the record clerks exercise any supervisory authority over other em- ployees of the Company. We are of the opinion that they perform purely routine clerical duties and, as we have frequently found, the access to information which an employer may consider to be confiden- tial is of itself insufficient to justify 'excluding employees from the right to bargain. collectively.' We shall include the record clerks-in the unit. 1079-office clerk (female) The record indicates that these employees, of whom there are 18, perform substantially the same duties as do the record clerks. In addition to performing routine clerical duties and maintaining repeti- tive records, these women clerks may be assigned to operate duplicat- ing machines or do stenographic work for their supervisors. Since it appears that the only real difference between these clerks and the record clerks is one of sex, we shall include classification 1079-office clerk (female) in the unit. 1086-railroad yard clerk The Company employs only two persons in this classification. It is their duty to make a daily check of all railway cars in the railroad yard of the Company and to turn over these reports to the plant's yardmaster. Each day they receive from the yardmaster a list of all cars to be placed in a particular location or spotted that day and instructions as to where' to, spot the cars. The clerk relays these in- structions to the switching crew which handles the actual movement of the cars. He stays with the switching crew to see that the cars are properly spotted. However, he has no authority to supervise the work of the members of the switching crew and if the crew refuses to follow the instructions formulated by the yardmaster, the only recourse the clerk has is to report this fact to the yardmaster. Inasmuch as the duties 'performed by these clerks are substantially clerical in nature and since they possess no authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis- cipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or, effectively recommend such action, we shall include the railroad yard clerks in the unit. 108.. general experimental clerk Only one person within this classification is employed at the Flint Buick plant. He is an hourly rated employee who acts in the capacity of•general clerk in the plant's experimental department. He main- tains all the necessary records for the department's supervisor, includ- ing personnel records, time reports of men engaged in experimental work, and records of the results of all experiments. The department '' See Matter of Creamery Package Manufacturing Company, 24 N. L. R. B. 108; Matter of St. Johns River Shapbuilding Company , et al., 52 N. L. R. B. 12. 654 DECISIONS OF NAfrT01NAL LABOR RELA7`IONS BOARD supervisor relays certain instructions to the employees who are doing experimental work through the medium of the general experimental clerk. However, the clerk exercises no supervisory authority over those employees. While it may be true that the clerk has access to all the records and secret documents of the department, there is no reason to believe that he would more readily disclose such information if he were included in a bargaining unit of clerical employees than if he were denied the right to bargain collectively. As we previously stated herein, the mere possession or access to confidential information does, not warrant excluding an employee from collective bargaining. We shall include the general experimental clerk in the unit. 1955-material dispatcher There are approximately 3 employees within this classification. These clerks receive the production schedules for the respective areas in the plant from the material control division. From these schedules, they determine the parts and assemblies required to complete each operation-and assign these parts, and, assemblies°to• the various produc- tion departments so that each department may fulfill its production: quota. When an emergency arises in his area, the material dispatcher may require the assistance of other clerks to expedite the dispatch of materials to the various departments. On such occasions which, it appears, rarely occur, the material dispatcher exercises some directive authority over the clerks who are assigned to assist him. However, inasmuch as these emergencies very seldom arise and are of short duration, it necessarily follows that the material dispatchers are in- vested with this temporary quasi-supervisory authority only on rare occasions. As hereinbefore stated the possession, of confidential infor- mation does not of itself warrant denying an employee the right to bargain collectively. Nor are we of the opinion that the authority occasionally exercised by these clerks over other clerks is sufficient to justify excluding them from the unit. Accordingly, since their duties are essentially clerical in nature, we shall include the material dispatchers in the unit. 5731-shipping and receiving clerks. Approximately 29 employees are within this classification. Ship- ping and receiving clerks perform similar functions except that, as the designations imply, one is concerned with incoming while the other with outgoing materials and equipment. They examine ship- ping papers for errors, superintend the loading and unloading of machinery and equipment and are responsible for the delivery of in- coming freight to the proper place in the stockroom. Where condi- tions permit, these clerks not only perform the clerical work incident to the receipt and shipment of merchandise, but also. perform the actual manual work of unloading and packing the materials. In the GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 655 larger departments in the plant, these clerks direct groups of common laborers known as material handlers who perform the manual work involved. However, the clerks are in turn supervised by a salaried foreman known as the receiving clerk, and a few of the shipping and receiving clerks are also supervised by the supervisors' clerks pre- viously discussed. Thus it appears that their supervisory function is no greater than that exercised by gang leaders or working foremen whom we have frequently included in production and maintenance units and who were specifically included by the parties in the contract unit of production and maintenance employees currently represented by the Union. In view of these facts and, since the majority of their time is spent in performing routine clerical duties, we shall include the shipping and receiving clerks in the unit. 6830-timekeepers. The Company employs about 64 persons in this classification. They check the clock cards of hourly rated employees, post the hours worked each day by these employees to another record called a check sheet and perform other routine clerical duties relative to the time-keeping op- eration. They have access to records of the personnel department which show the hirings, transfers, and discharges and the reasons therefor of other employees in' the plant. While such information may be of a confidential nature, it is usually available to the Union's grievance committee and regardless of this fact, we reiterate that the possession of confidential information is of itself insufficient grounds for denying an employee the right to bargain collectively. We are of the opinion that the functions performed by the timekeepers char- acterize them as essentially clerical employees.8 Accordingly, we shall include the timekeepers in the unit. A-6661-stock chasers. The function of the 71 employees in this classification is to see that the flow of materials to the production departments is kept constant so as to obviate production lags. When a disruption of production occurs or is threatened by reason of a failure or breakdown in the flow of materials the stock chasers may request assistance to help transport certain large items to the location where they are needed. On such occasions they supervise or direct the activities of the employees who are assigned to assist them. This 'supervision is similar to that ex- ercised by the material dispatchers and the shipping and receiving clerks previously discussed and whom we are including in the unit. The majority of 'their duties are clerical in nature. Since their in- terests are similar to those of other employees within the unit, we shall include stock chasers in the appropriate unit. 8 See Matter of Bohn Alumiawrn & Brass Corporation , 47 N. L. It. B. 1229. 656 DECISIONS- OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS, BOARD 1084-maintenance clerk There are 10 employees in this classification. They work in the maintenance department under the supervision of the foreman of that department. They maintain all the records of the department, includ- ing personnel lists, rates'of pay and time records of employees in the department, records of- work orders, and the private -personnel records, kept by the foremen. Their duties are similar to those performed by the record clerks discussed above. There are no other employees in the maintenance department over whom the maintenance clerks exer- cise any supervisory power. Inasmuch as they perform essentially clerical duties and exercise no authority over other employees and since the all-inclusive contention of the Company with respect to the alleged confidential information available to the various clerks involved has been disposed of, we shall include the maintenance clerks in the unit. 6830-A-core and floor checkers There are approximately 23 employees classed as core and floor checkers. The core checkers perform duties analogous to those of the timekeepers but with respect to piece-work employees in the plant's. aluminum foundry. The records they compile are used as the basis for computing the pay of these piece-work employees., Certain floor checkers perform similar-functions with respect to other piece-work employees in the plant. The title floor checker is also applied to employees who act as spot checkers to see that the production workers in each department are properly classified according to the work they perform. They also compile data from which group costs and group efficiency can be computed. None of these employees possesses super- visory powers. Since their functions and duties are similar to those of the timekeepers whom we are including in the unit, we shall include the core and floor checkers in the appropriate unit. 1071-file, messenger, and mail clerks This classification, comprised of about 12 employees, is the only category over which there is no dispute. These clerks pick up, sort, and distribute mail, perform general messenger work, and occasionally file papers. Since their interests are clearly similar to the other cleri- cal employees involved, we shall include these clerks in the unit. We have frequently found that units comprised of clerical employees engaged in work similar to that performed by the above-described employees of the Company, with the exception of the supervisors' clerks, are appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.9 Accordingly, we find that all,hourly rated clerical employees em- See Matter of American Smelting cE Reflning Company, 22 N. L R. B. 997 ; Matter of Fairchild Aviation Corporation , 40 N. L. R. B. 1222; Matter of Chyr8ier Corporation, (Marysvdie Plant), 36 N. L . R. B. 157. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION 657 ployed at the Flint Buick plant of the Company who are within the following classifications : 1073-record , clerk, 1079-office clerk (female), 1086-railroad yard clerk, 1082-general experimental clerk, 1955-material dispatcher, 5731-shipping and receiving clerk,, 6830-timekeepers, A-6661-stock chaser, 1084-maintenance clerk,, 6830-A-core and floor checker, and 1071-messenger, mail and file clerk, but excluding 1067-supervisors' clerk, constitute a unit apppro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the, pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitation and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela- tions Act and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with General Motors Corporation, Buick Motor Division, Flint, Michigan, an election 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 Seventh Region,, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regu- lations, among the employees in the unit 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 employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricul- tural Implement Workers of America (UAW-CIO), for the pur- poses of collective bargaining. CHAIRMAN Minis took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.