General Time Instruments Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsJul 14, 1944

57 N.L.R.B. 297 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of WESTCLOX DIVISION, GENERAL TIME INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION and WESTCI.ox WORKERS LOCAL UNION # 12573, DISTRICT 50, UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA Case No. 13-R-2417.-Decided July 14, 1914 Mr. Albert S. Regula, of New York City, and Mr. Herbert W. Beker- meier, of Peru, Ill., for the Company. Messrs. Joseph Marchesi and Robert Foley, of Peru, I11., for the Union. Mr. Joseph Lepie, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by Westclox Workers Local Union # 12573, District 50, United Mine Workers of America, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Westclox Division, General Time Instruments Corporation, Peru, Illinois, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before George S. Freudenthal, Jr., Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at La Salle, Illinois, on June 7,1944. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the is- sues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY General Time Instruments Corporation is a Delaware corporation, having its principal office in New York City, and operating plants in Thomastown, Connecticut, Peterborough, Ontario, and Peru, Illinois. 57 N. L. R. B., No. 55. 297 298 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD We are here concerned with its plant at Peru, Illinois, known as the Westclox Division, where the Company is engaged in the manu- facture of time instruments and time fuses. During the last 6 months of 1943, the Company purchased raw materials for use at its Westclox Division in excess of $1,000,000 in value, of which approximately 75 percent was shipped to the Westclox Division from points outside the State of Illinois. During the same period the Company produced finished products at its Westelox Division in excek s of $4,000,000 in value, of which approximately 90 percent was shipped to points outside the State of Illinois. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Westclox Workers Local Union #12573, District 50, United Mine Workers of America, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION It was stipulated that on or about April 14, 1944, the Union re- quested recognition from the Company as the exclusive bargaining representative of its Westclox Division timekeepers and the Company refused to accord such recognition until the Union was certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear- ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em- ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate .1 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 has been certified by the Board as the collective bargain- ing representative of certain of the Company's Westclox Division em- ployees, excluding office and clerical workers, among others.2 It now seeks a unit of timekeepers, excluding the chief timekeeper and assist- ant chief timekeeper, and, should it be selected by a majority of them, desires to merge these employees with those it now represents 3 as a single bargaining group. The Company contends that its timekeepers 1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 13 authorization cards and that there are 22 employees in the unit alleged by the Union to be appropriate. 8 The Union also hasbeen certified by the Board in a separate unit of Westclox Division guards. 3 Exclusive of guards. WESTCLOX DIVISION, GENERAL TIME INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION 299 are confidential and managerial employees so closely allied with man- agement that they cannot form an appropriate unit. It also urges that, in the event timekeepers are found not to be confidential or managerial employees, the appropriate unit should nevertheless consist of all office and clerical employees, including timekeepers. The Company employs approximately 21 timekeepers who are sta- tioned in various production departments throughout the plant. Timekeepers compute the total time worked by each employee, check and keep records of overtime and hours spent on piece work, and otherwise perform duties usually associated with their classification. The Company's contention that the timekeepers perform managerial functions is not supported by the record. While the timekeepers possess or have access to information concerning the earnings of other employees and the nature of the work being done by the Company, there is no evidence that they have information directly pertaining to labor relations or that they are in a position to acquire such infor- mation. It appears that the Union has limited its organizational activities among the Westclox Division clerical employees to timekeepers. Since timekeepers are a well-defined group 4 and inasmuch as organization among the Westclox Division clericals has been confined to them, we find that they comprise an appropriate unit for collective bargaining purposes. As noted above, the Union, if chosen by the timekeepers as their bargaining representative, wishes to consolidate them with employees of the Westclox Division it currently represents, employees who ap- parently are production and maintenance workers. Timekeepers, however, are engaged primarily in clerical work and we are of the opinion that their interests are not akin to those of the employees the Union now represents. Consequently, we shall not provide for a merger of the two groups.' We find that all timekeepers employed by the Company at its West- clox Division, excluding the chief timekeeper, assistant chief time- keeper, and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Union requests that the Company's May 1, 1944, pay roll be used to determine the eligibility of employees to vote. There is no ' See Matter of United States Cartridge Company, 49 N. L. R. B. 77. See Matter of Sullivan Drydock and Repair Corp ., 56 N. L. R. B. 582. 300 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD persuasive reason for departing from our customary practice and, accordingly, we shall direct that the question concerning representa- tion 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 limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.e- 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 Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Re- lations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Westclox Division, General Time Instruments Corporation, Peru, Illinois, 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 Thirteenth 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 immedi- ately 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 and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Westclox Workers Local Union #12573, District 50, for the purposes of collective bargaining. " The Union requested that it be designated on the ballot as its name appears in the Direction of Election.