Robbins & Myers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 27, 1963

144 N.L.R.B. 295 (N.L.R.B. 1963)

ROBBINS & MYERS, IN C. 295
conclusion. In the final analysis, it appears to me that Respondent's attitude through-
out the negotiations was one of hard bargaining which the Act plainly does not
forbid.
Accordingly, as I find that the General Counsel has failed to sustain the allegations
of the complaint, I shall recommend dismissal of the complaint.
RECOMMENDATION
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings and upon the entire record in the case,
I recommend that the complaint herein be dismissed.
Robbins & Myers, Inc. and International Union , United Auto-
mobile , Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America , AFL-CIO , Petitioner. Case No. 9-RC-5340. August
27, 1963
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Cassius B. Gravitt,
Jr., hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Chairman McCulloch and Members Rodgers and
Brown].
Upon the entire record in this case the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of the employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
The Petitioner, which represents the production and maintenance
employees, seeks a unit of office and plant clericals and technical em-
ployees. Alternatively, it seeks an election in any unit or units the
Board finds appropriate. The Employer objects to the single unit,
contending that three separate units of office clerical, plant clerical, and
technical employees, respectively, are appropriate. While the prin-
cipal issue is the composition of the unit or units, the parties also dis-
agree on the exclusion of certain individuals alleged to be supervisory
or professional employees, as noted hereafter.
The Employer's Operations
The Employer manufactures electric motors, fans, pumps, hoists,
cranes, and ventilation equipment in its five plants comprising some 60
144 NLRB No. 32.
296 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
buildings at its Springfield, Ohio, location. The Employer has six
major divisions with each division a completely integrated operation.
With the exception of plant No. 5, the buildings are located in the same
general area in Springfield, Ohio. Plant No. 5 is located approximately
4 miles from the remaining plants and is also an integrated plant
combining the manufacturing, engineering, and sales departments of
the pump and propellair department.
Employees categorized as office clericals, plant clericals, and tech-
nical employees are scattered throughout the Employer's five plants
and assorted buildings although approximately 60 percent of the
office clericals are located in the Employer's main office building.
Technical employees and the remaining office clericals are located
in various buildings required by their respective duties with tech-
nical employees primarily employed in the various engineering depart-
ments. Plant clericals are located at or adjacent to areas of produc-
tion. With respect to Employer's plant No. 5, the same pattern of
distribution of employees prevails.
The Board has previously concluded that technical employees will
not be automatically excluded from units of other employees whenever
their unit placement is in issue, but that it will determine their unit
placement on the basis of their community of interests.'
The parties agree and we find that various categories of employees,
including those who are discussed hereafter, are technical employees.'
Among this group, the laboratory technicians in the pump engineer
department perform tests on experimental and production models
of pumps, measure stresses and pressures, verify engineering data,
construct, and disassemble pumps in an evaluation of their working
parts. These employees have a technical school background or
equivalent training. They exercise independent judgment in the per-
formance of their duties which are of a technical nature. The lab-
oratory technician in motor engineering and the laboratory assistants
in the propellair engineering department perform duties similar to
the laboratory technicians previously discussed, but they work with
motors and electrical fans. Their educational qualifications are simi-
lar. Data processing technicians in the motor engineering depart-
i Merameo Mining Company, 134 NLRB 1675 Factors to be considered , inter alia, are
the skills and duties of employees , the presence or absence of common supervision, the
similarity or disparity of working conditions , the kind of industry , the contact or inter-
change with other employees , the organization of the plant, and whether any union seeks
to represent any group of employees separately.
2 Production system programer , lab technician ( pump engineer ), lab technician (motor
engineering ) lab assistant ( propellair engineer), data process technician ( motor engineer),
dispatcher ( production ), tool designer , design draftsman ( pump engineer ), sample builder
(expd and research ), plant layout assistant , tool estimator ( production engineer), engineer
draftsman ( propellair engineer ), field service technician , process engineer , process engineer
trainee, draftsman mechanical layout detailer, draftsman layout and detail , draftsman
detailer (motor engineering ), design office technician , tester ( test project ), tester ( experi-
mental lab ), chemical lab technician, draftsman detailer ( hoist and engineering ), experi-
mental lab helper.
ROBBINS & MYERS, INC. 297
ment operate IBM equipment translating engineering terminology
into machine terminology. They have attended a special IBM school,
have an aptitude for mathematics and are supervised by the assistant
chief engineer and appear to be within the category of engineering
data processors the Board has found to be technical employees.'
Design draftsmen in the pump engineering department basically de-
sign pumps from sketches or ideas given them from the engineering
department. They have technical training in mechanical arts, me-
chanical drawing, and mathematics and a specialized training equiv-
alent to 2 years' college. The plant layout assistant, engineer drafts-
men, draftsman mechanical layout detailer, draftsmen layout and
detail, and draftsmen detailer in the various engineering depart-
ments all perform the basic function of draftsmen and must have
specialized training or schooling. In the performance of their duties,
they exercise independent judgment and work closely with profes-
sional engineers. Tool designers work for the production engineer
and design jigs, fixtures, and dies as required in the manufacture of
the Employer's various products. They work from blueprints and
are required to know mechanical drawing and to have an under-
standing of gears, levers, and the general field of physics, including
a knowledge of trigonometry and geometry. In general they do the
development work necessary to manufacture the employer's various
products. The testers (experimental lab) and a tester (test project)
perform various work from drawings and specifications to determine
design improvements and characteristics and utilize gauges and
instruments in their calculations. Their work requires a specialized
educational background or acquired technical knowledge. The tool
estimator works in the production engineering department and de-
termines the cost of making tools and the time to produce them. He
must be able to read complicated tool drawings and calculate the
time, material, and other costs of producing these tools. In reaching
these calculations, he must use his own judgment. The process engi-
neer works in the production engineering department and determines
the tools, equipment, and work places necessary to manufacture an
item. In establishing the manufacturing planning record in accord
with the available processes, he must have a technical knowledge and
is in constant communication with engineers.
Characteristic of all the categories in the technical group is their
close association with professional engineers with whom they share
common supervision (normally the engineering department head),
work the same hours and are at the same general location. None of
the technicals interchange with production or clerical workers. They
have little or no contact with production or plant clerical workers
and only slight contact with certain office clericals who are located
3Radto Corporation of America, 141 NLRB 1134.
298 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
In the engineering departments. While they are on a salaried payroll
along with the plant and office clericals and receive similar benefits,
all nonproduction workers are similarly treated including managerial
and professional employees. We conclude that the technical em-
ployees only have an identifiable community of interest with each
other and with the engineers with whom they are closely associated
and we find a separate unit of technicals appropriate.4
With respect to approximately 61 plant clericals,' the record dis-
closes that they work in the production and control department, the
standards department, the production and engineering department,
the traffic department, and the maintenance department. They work
in or adjacent to the production areas and, like the production and
maintenance people, are subject to the same immediate supervision and
to the ultimate supervision and control of the assistant factory man-
ager. Plant clericals and production employees share the same rest-
room facilities and have the same lunch hour.
Plant clericals do not interchange with office clericals and are sub-
ject to different supervision. They work in production areas apart
from the work areas of the office clericals and have little contact with
them, but have frequent contact with production and maintenance
employees.
With respect to the office clericals, the parties agree and we find that
certain job classifications are properly included in the office clerical
group.' Of approximately 92 individuals in the office clerical category,
about 60 percent are located in the employer's main office building. A
small percentage do clerical work in the various engineering sections
and are subject to common supervision with the technicals in such
instances. While the office clericals are on the same salaried payroll
as the plant clericals and receive the same type of remuneration and
fringe benefits, all nonproduction employees including managerial and
professional, are treated similarly.
With respect to joining office and plant clericals in a single unit, the
Board has adhered to a policy of denying such a combined unit absent
4Merarnec Mining Company, supra
5 The parties agree and we find that the following categories of employees are properly
included in the plant clerical group, Factory clerk, posting clerk , material clerk, dis-
patcher , clerk typist , production assistant , order distribution clerk , store office clerk, fac-
tory stores clerk, routing clerk, clerk stenographer, assistant supervisor tools supply clerk
typist-bill of lading clerk stock , clerk parcel post , shipping clerk , and chief clerk dispatcher.
d File cleric , file cleric followup , followup clerk, followup assistant , invoice clerk, clerk
typist, Ozalid and blueprint machine operators, timekeepers, IBM key punch operator,
IBM process analyst and operator, cost clerk, payroll clerk, analysis clerk (bookkeeper),
assistant chief timekeeper , chief payroll clerk, assistant cost order department manager,
steno- clerk , order clerk, order clerk typist , sales order clerk , Ozalid clerk blue print,
materials engineer , secretary , steno-clerk B, sales clerk , expediter , mail boy, receptionist,
photo operations stockroom assistant , stockroom clerk, telephone and teletype operator,
accounts receivable bookkeeper , assistant accounts payable, billing clerk , commission and
royalties clerk , chief billing clerk, cashier and sales analysis clerk , checking and file clerk,
general bookkeeper , and clerk -engineer.
ROBBINS & MYERS, INC. 299
agreement by the parties,' because as in the present case, plant clerical
employees work in areas separated from the office clerical employees,
come in frequent contact with production and maintenance employees,
and are also subject to the same supervision as production employees.
As Board policy precludes the establishment of a separate unit of
plant clerical employees where a petitioning union currently repre-
sents a unit of the production and maintenance employees, we shall
direct an election among the plant clericals and if the majority of the
employees in such voting group vote for the Petitioner, they shall be
deemed to constitute a part of the existing production and maintenance
unit. We shall also order an election in the office clerical unit herein
found appropriate.
Alleged Supervisors 8
The parties disagree about the status of 15 employees whom the
Employer contends are supervisors who should be excluded from the
appropriate unit or units. The record discloses that 14 of these indi-
viduals I have the authority to discharge, or effectively recommend
discipline, promotions, or possess other indicia of a supervisor within
the meaning of the Act. Accordingly, we find that they are properly
excluded from the units hereafter found appropriate. As to the al-
leged supervisory status of Leo Carney, we note the following :
Leo Carney has a job title of planning assistant supervisor. He
allegedly directs and assigns work to four employees under him and
may discipline, promote, or reward these individuals by effectively
recommending such action. However, Reinheimer, a fellow employee,
who apparently is part of the plant clerical group, stated that Carney
doesn't appear to give orders or discipline employees, or exercise any
authority indicative of a supervisor but is, in effect, an expediter. In
view of this conflict in the record, we shall permit Carney to vote as
a plant clerical subject to challenge.
The Union seeks to include Charles Baldwin, Karl Beck, and George
Frantz as technical employees while the Employer seeks their exclu-
sion as professional employees. The record discloses that Baldwin
7 Vulcanized Rubber and Plastics Co , Inc , 129 NLRB 1256 , Planisnton Pack+nq Com-
pany, 116 NLRB 1225, 1226.
s The Employer originally contended that Wayne Bull was a supervisor but later con-
tended he should be placed on the diverse interest list containing individuals whom the
parties agreed to exclude, because of his position as a sales analyst Hull correlates data
relating to sales made by all the sales departments of the Company, working closely with
the sales manager. Although he formerly directed several people, he does not presently
supervise anyone. As there is nothing in the record to indicate his duties aie so diverse
as to warrant his exclusion and absent evidence of specialized training or a technical
background , we conclude that he is properly included in the office clerical unit herein found
appropriate.
9 John Baker, Donald Barch, Daniel Chiricosta, James Detwiller, Ray Dunn, Luther
Edwards, Ralph Farrell , Estol Fuller , Daniel Glass , James Hamm, John Kennedy , Martin
Spahr , George Ward, and Elmer Cool.
300 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and Beck are mechanical designers in the motor engineering depart-
ment and the universal motor division respectively and both do orig-
inal design work on motors and component parts and are considered
design engineers. Baldwin is a college graduate while Beck is not.
Frantz is a project engineer in the hoist and crane division who has
the primary responsibility for designing special hoists and cranes to
meet customer needs. He works directly under the chief engineer.
While neither Frantz nor Beck is a college graduate, such formal edu-
cation is not a prerequisite for finding a professional1o where the
individuals as here do work normally attributable to a professional.
On the basis of these facts, we conclude that these three individuals
are professionals and are properly excluded from the units hereafter
found appropriate.
In accord with our previously expressed views, we find that the
following employees of the Employer constitute units appropriate 11
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.12
(a) All technical employees located at the Employer's Springfield,
Ohio, plant, excluding plant clericals, office clericals, confidential and
managerial employees, professionals, guards, and supervisors as defined
in the Act and employees covered by existing collective-bargaining
agreements.
(b) All office clerical 13 employees located at the Employer's Spring-
field, Ohio, plant, excluding plant clericals, technical employees, con-
fidential and managerial employees, professionals, and supervisors as
defined in the Act and employees covered by existing collective-
bargaining agreements.
As we have found that the plant clerical employees constitute an
appropriate voting group, we shall direct an election among the follow-
ing employees and if a majority of such employees vote for the Peti-
tioner, they shall be deemed to constitute a part of the existing produc-
tion and maintenance group and the Regional Director will issue a
certification of results of election to such effect.
(c) All plant clerical employees at the Employer's Springfield, Ohio,
plant, excluding technical employees, office clericals, confidential and
10 The Ryan Aeronautical Co., 132 NLRB 1160.
11 As the original showing of interest was for a unit different from those found appropri-
ate, the directions of election are subject to an administrative showing of interest in the
units found appropriate.
12 The parties agreed to exclude some 13 individuals because their interests were diverse
from other employees sought to be represented. The categories of employees involved
were sales engineers, sales trainees, and engineering students employed on a short term
cooperative arrangement. As their interests appear diverse from the other employees
sought to be represented and as the record does not warrant their placement in the units
found appropriate, we shall exclude them.
13 The parties agree that Marjorie Line and Wilma Jean Byerly, who were originally
sought to be excluded as confidential employees , are properly included in the office clerical
unit and we therefore include them.
WESTERN NEBRASKA TRANSPORT SERVICE DIV., ETC. 301
managerial employees, professionals, and supervisors as defined in the
Act and employees covered by existing collective-bargaining
agreements.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Western Nebraska Transport Service Division of Consolidated
Freightways and General Teamsters and Truck Drivers Help-
ers, Warehousemen Local 950, affiliated with International
Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and
Helpers of America , Petitioner. Case No. 17-RC-3875. August
27, 1963
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, an original hearing and a reopened hearing were
held before Hearing Officer Harold L. Hudson. The Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearings are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9(c) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer, engaged in hauling and distributing crude oil
and petroleum products in western Nebraska, owns one tractor and
one trailer operated by a full-time and a regular part-time driver,
both of whom are concededly its employees. It also uses trucking
equipment and drivers supplied by equipment lessors. The Peti-
tioner seeks a unit of the truckdrivers, including the two conceded
employees and the lease drivers supplied by the equipment lessors.'
The Employer raises an issue as to whether the lease drivers are
properly included in the Petitioner's unit as employees of the
Employer.
The Employer's Operations
Before May 21, 1961, Earl Houk, one of the equipment lessors
herein, operated a business known as Western Nebraska Transport
Service, herein called Western, which was engaged in hauling crude
i There is no dispute as to the exclusion of equipment lessors who drive leased equipment.
144 NLRB No. 36.