Remington Rand Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 8, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 626 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of REMINGTON RAND INCORPORATED , EMPLOYER and
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER
Case No. 7-R,0301.-Decided November 8. 1.946
Mr. Russell G. Rogeis, of New York City, for the Employer.
Mr. Robert A. Wilson, of Washington, D. C., and 11rs. Verna 0.
Corrigan, of Detroit, Mich., for the Petitioner.
211r. Leonard J. Mandl, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a, petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Detroit,
Michigan, on August 15, 1946, before Meyer D. Stein, hearing officer.
At the close of the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the peti-
tion on the ground that the individuals sought to be repi esented herein
are not employees within the meaning of the Act. Ruling on the
motion was reserved for the Board. For the reasons stated ini Section
III, infra, the motion is hereby denied. The hearing officer'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 EIII•LOYER
Remington Rand Incorporated, a Delaware corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture and sale of record-keeping equipment, office fur-
niture and office supplies, and operates more than 14 manufacturing
plants and approximately 200 sales offices throughout the United
States. We are here concerned with the operations of the Employer
at its Detroit, Michigan, branch office.
During the Employer's fiscal year ending March '31, 1946, it pur-
chased supplies and equipment, in connection with its Detl oit opera-
tions, valued in excess of $100,000, of which approxjmately 50 percent
represented shipments from points outside the State of Michigan.
71 N L.R B , No 9$.
626
REMVIINGTON RAND, INCORPORATED 627
During the same period , its Detroit branch sold goods in excess of 1
million dollars, of which approximately 60 percent represented ship-
ments to points outside the State of Michigan.
The Employer admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of its salesmen and method engineers in its
Detroit branch office until the Petitioner has been certified by the
Board in an appropriate unit. It takes the position that these in-
dividuals are not employees within the meaning of the Act.
The Employer's operations are broken down into divisions, viz:
Typewriter Division, Systems Division, Tabulating Machines Divi-
sion, ABC Division. Duplicator Supplies Division, Remtico Supply
Division, Wholesale Portable Division, and the Shaver Division. For
handling sales in these divisions the Employer has established about
1100 sales offices throughout the country, staffed with essential per-
sonnel including salesmen who handle only the product relating to
their particular division. These sales offices are grouped under branch
offices. The individuals involved herein are all on the Detroit branch
office pay roll but work out of the sales office in Detroit, Flint, Sagi-
naw, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Benton Harbor, and Jack-
son, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio.
As part of their job of selling equipment and records, salesmen,
when necessary, design and put into effect record-keeping systems
suitable to their customers' operations. In such situations their work
entails interviewing prospective customers, analyzing their books,
records, and operations and other applicable data and determining
the best and most reasonable method of keeping records and the type
of record-keeping equipment and supplies needed. The method engi-
neers do the technical work of the lay-out and take over some of the
duties of the salesmen after a system has been installed and has been
in operation for a year.
As noted above, the Employer contends that its salesmen and
method engineers are managerial or confidential employees and are
not employees within the meaning of the National Labor Relations
Act. It relies in this connection on the fact that the salesmen and
method engineers on occasion, in pursuance of their duties, have access
to and obtain information from the Employer's customers, which is of
628 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
an important and confidential nature and which concerns the labor
relations of the Employer's customers. It is clear, however, that at no
time do they obtain information concerning the labor relations of the
Employer or assist or act in a confidential capacity to a managerial
employee in the field of labor relations, or formulate, determine, and
effectuate management policies. Under these circumstances Ave find
that these individuals are neither confidential nor managerial within
our usual definition of these terms and that they are employees within
the meaning of Section 2 (3) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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
Petitioner seeks a unit of all salesmen and method engineers in the
offices falling within the Detroit branch of the Employer, excluding
office employees, system service operators, mechanical servicemen,
warehouse and shipping men, the installation operator, branch man-
agers, district managers, and all other supervisory employees. The
Employer stipulated at the hearing that if the Board overruled its con-
tention that these individuals are not employees within the meaning
of the Act, the requested units would be appropriate.,
In view of our finding in Section III, supra, and the aforesaid agree-
ment of the parties, we find that all salesmen and method engineers
in the Detroit branch office, consisting of the Typewriter Division, the
System Division, the ABC Division, the Tabulating Machine Division,
the Duplicator Supplies Division, Remtico Supply Division, the
Wholesale Portable Division, and the Shaver Division, but excluding
office employees, system service operators, mechanical servicemen,
warehouse and shipping men, the installation operator, branch man-
agers, district managers,2 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, 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
The Petitioner requested, without objection by the Employer, that
the balloting be conducted manually in the city of Detroit and that the
voting hours on the election date be between the hours of 2 and 6 p. in.
1 The Employer ' s position is, of course , taken without waiving its contentions that these
individuals may not comprise any appropriate unit.
2 Included in this classification are employees Kroger, Nelson , and Sargent.
REMINGTON RAND, INCORPORATED 629
In accordance with our usual custom, however, we shall leave these
matters to the discretion of the Regional Director.
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot, subject to the
limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Remington Rand Incorporated,
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 Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the em-
ployees 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 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 American
Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.