Hope's Windows, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 28, 1942

41 N.L.R.B. 430 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of HOPE'S WINDOWS, INC. and LOCAL 24, INTERNATIONAL
FEDERATION OF TECHNICAL ENGINEERS ARCHITECTS AND DRAFTS-
MEN'S UNIONS, A. F. OF L.
Case-No. R-3790.-Decided May 28, 1942
Jurisdiction : steel window manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition until certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all technical employees, including
draftsmen, detailers, estimators, and squad bosses or group leaders, but
excluding the time-study man.
Mr. J. Russell Rogerson, of Jamestown, N. Y., for the Company.
Mr. J. Lawrence Raimist, of New York City, for the Union.
Mr. William F. Scharnikow, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Local 24, International Federation of
Technical Engineers, Architects and Draftsmen's Unions, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Hope's Windows, Inc., Jamestown,
New York, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
'Samuel Edes, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Jamestown,
New York, on April 30, 1942. The Company and the Union ap-
peared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
41 N L. R. B., No. 91.
430
HOPE 'S WINDOWS; INC.-`' 431
Upon the entire record-in the case, the Board makes the following,:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Hope's Windows, Inc., a New'York corporation with a single plant
at Jamestown, New'York, is engaged in the manufacture and sale of
steel casement windows and other steel framing used in window
construction. During the calendar year* 1941, the Company pur-
chased raw materials amounting to approximately $400,000 in value,
of which 50 percent was purchased outside the State of New York.
'During the same period, the Company manufactured products of the
approximate value of $2,000,000, of which 75 percent by value' was
sold and shipped to points outside the State of New York. The
Company admits that it is engaged in commerce, within the meaning
•of the National Labor Relations Act. -
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local 24, International Federation of Technical Engineers, Archi-
tects and Draftsmen's Unions, is a labor organization affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership
employees of the Company.
III. THE -QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize the Union unless and until
the Board certifies the Union as the exclusive representative of the
-employees of the Company in an appropriate unit.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced in evidence at
.the hearing, shows that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.,,
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 contends that the appropriate unit consists of "all
-technical employees, including draftsmen, detailers, designers, esti-
mators, technical expeditors, time study men, squad bosses, group
leaders, etc." 2 The Company objects only to the inclusion of three
' The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 19 applications for mem-
,bership , of which 16 bore the, apparently genuine, signatures of persons whose names
appear on the Company's list of employees - in the appropriate unit . There are , approxi-
mately 19 employees-in the appropriate unit. • ,
432 DECISIONS OF' NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees : its time-study man ; Olson, who' is in charge of five drafts-
men; and Samuelson, who is in charge of five detailers. The Union
would include Olson and Samuelson as "squad bosses," and would
also include the time-study' man.
The draftsmen, the detailers, and the standard window detailer are
-in the engineering department under a chief engineer; the estimators
fare under,the supervision of the sales manager; and the time-study
-man is within the jurisdiction of the factory superintendent. Except
as to standard sizes of windows, which are handled by the standard
window detailer upon the basis of stock drawings and fixed prices,
,orders first go to the draftsmen for drawings. When drawings are
approved by the contractor and the architect, the estimators fix the
prices. Thereupon, the detailers prepare and submit to the factory
detailed information as to the material required and the stock' on
hand for the purpose. The Company's time-study man has no con-
nection with the preparation of price estimates, but merely calculates
the normal time required for an operation in the factory, on the basis
of which bonus payments to factory employees are determined. All
these, employees, with the exception of the time-study man in the
factory, work in a single administration building.
. The time-study man does clerical work for the Company in
the determination of bonus payments to factory workers. - He plays
no part either in the planning or the execution of the manufacturing
process. Furthermore, he is -under the supervision of the factory
superintendent, and he works entirely apart from, and has no contact
with, the technical employees in the unit under discussion. We shall
exclude the time-study man.
Olson, a draftsman, and Samuelson, a detailer, are respectively
responsible for the work of the other five draftsmen and the work of
the other five detailers employed by the Company. The record shows
that they do not,-in practice,-hire or discharge employees except after
consultation with the chief engineer. The Union contends that'Olson
and Samuelson are merely "squad bosses," viz, 'superior and ex-
perienced technical - employees who. guide and instruct their fellow
workmen and submitted in evidence excerpts from contracts with
other employers including such employees in`units of non-supervisory
employees. We see no, such differentiation between the, functions and
work of Olson and Samuelson and those of their fellow draftsmen
and fellow deailers as-would warrant their exclusion'from the unit.
We find that Olson and Samuelson are "squad bosses" and, as such,
are within the appropriate unit.
'• 2 This is • the unit alleged' - in the Union's petition to be ' appropriate :' 'It ' appear̀s' from
-the `r'ecord '- that the Union wants, included 'in ' the unit all technical 'employees , as well
as those specifically enumerated . The Company- nod ' has no ' employees classified" 'as
"designers" or "technical expeditors ," and only one time-study man. The classifications
of "designers" and "technical expeditors" will , therefore , not be included within the unit.
t
HOPE'S WINDOWS, INC. 433
We find that all technical employees' of the Company, including
draftsmen, detailers, estimators, and squad bosses or group leaders,
but excluding the time-study man, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot.
The parties stipulated that the Company's pay roll of April 30,
1942, be used to determine the eligibility of employees to vote in any
election ordered by the Board. We shall direct that the employees
of the Company eligible to vote in the election shall be those in the
appropriate unit whose names appear on the Company's pay roll
of April 30, 1942, subject to the limitations 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 8, 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 Hope's Windows,
Inc., Jamestown, New York, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted 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 Third Region, acting in this matter as agent
for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among- the employees in
the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, whose names appear
on the Company's pay roll of April 30, 1942, including employees
whose names do not appear on that-pay roll because they were ill or
,on•vacation or in -the active military service or training of the United
States, or, temporarily laid -off, but excluding'- any, who have since
quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented, by Local 24, International Federation of
Technical Engineers, Architects, and Draftsmen's Unions, A.F. of L.,
for the purposes of collective bargaining. , - .
MR . GERARD D. REILLY took ,no part in the.consideration of the
above DECISION and DIRECTION of ELECTION.
463892-42-vol. 41-28
4
In the Matter of HOPE'S WINDOWS, INC. and LOCAL 24, INTERNATIONAL
FEDERATION OF TECHNICAL ENGINEERS, ARCHITEC'rS AND DRArrs-
MEN7S UNIONS, A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-3790
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 26, 1942
On May 28, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board issued a
Decision and.Direction of Election in the above-entitled proceedings.'
Pursuant to the Direction of Election, an election by secret ballot was
conducted on June 15, 1942, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director for the Third Region (Buffalo, New York).
On June 16, 1942, the Regional Director, acting pursuant to Article
III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 2, as amended, issued and duly served upon the parties
his Election Report. No objections to the conduct of the ballot or the
Election Report have been filed by either of the parties.
As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director reported
as follows :
Total on eligible list-------------------------------------- 18
Total ballots cast---------------------------------------- 16
Total ballots challenged__________________________________ 0
Total blank ballots_______________________________________ 0
Total void ballots_________________________________________ 0
Total valid votes counted--------------------------------- 16
Votes cast for LOCAL 24, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TECH-
NICAL ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS AND DRAFTSMEN's UNIONS,
A. F. of L--------------------------------------------- 14
Votes cast against LOCAL 24, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF
TECHNICAL ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS AND DRAFTSMEN'S
UNIONS, A. F. of L------------------------------------- 2
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 8 and 9, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, . .
1 41 N. L. R. B. 430.
41-N. L. R. •B., No. 91a.
434
S' ^l
HOPE'S WINDOWS, INC. 435
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Local 24, International Federation of
Technical Engineers, Architects and Draftsmen's Unions, A. F. of L.,
has been designated and selected by a majority of all technical em-
ployees of Hope's Windows, Inc., Jamestown, New York, including
draftsmen, detailers, estimators, and squad bosses or group leaders,
but excluding the time-study man, as their representative for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a)
of the Act, Local 24, International Federation of Technical Engineers,
Architects and Draftsmen's Unions, A. F. of L., is the exclusive repre-
sentative of all such employees for the purposes, of collective bar-
gaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and
other conditions of employment.
I