The National Survey

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 10, 1953

106 N.L.R.B. 97 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

THE NATIONAL SURVEY 97
We shall direct an election by secret ballot among the
following employees at the Employer's metal products plant
at Michigan City, Indiana: All toolroom employees, excluding
all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. If a
majority of employees in the voting group vote for the Peti-
tioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to
constitute a separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Direc-
tor conducting the election directed herein is instructed to issue
a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for such
unit, which the Board, under such circumstances, finds to be
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. If, under
the circumstances set forth below in footnote 8, the name of
Local #22268 appears on the ballot in the election hereinafter
directed, and if a majority of employees in the group vote for
Local #22268, the Board finds the existing unit to be appropriate,
and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results
of election to that effect.
[Text of Direction of Election8 omitted from publication.]
Member Peterson, dissenting:
Except for the acknowledged craft status of the toolroom
employees, there are present here no other factors which I
consider a necessary prerequisite to their severance from the
production and maintenance unit in which they have been
included since 1940. Accordingly, I would dismiss the petition
herein. 9
8Although served with notice, Local #22268 did not appear at the hearing. In view of its
present contractual relationship with the Employer. Local #22268 may appear on the ballot if,
within 10 days of the date of issuance of this Decision and Direction of Election, it notifies
the Regional Director of its desire to participate in the election.
9See my dissenting opinion in W. C. Hamilton and Sons, 104 NLRB 627.
LAWTON V. CROCKER & HENRY F. CROCKER, d/b/a THE
NATIONAL SURVEY and UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND
MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA (UE), INDEPENDENT,
Petitioner. Case No. 1-RC-3238. July 10, 1953
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 Sidney A.
Coven, 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 [Members Houston, Murdock, and Peter-
son].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the Act.
106 NLRB No. 19.
98 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent
certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and ( 7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of technical and clerical
employees at the Employer ' s Chester , Vermont , map-drafting
establishment . The parties disagree whether 4 maintenance
employees , 3 alleged confidential secretaries , and 6 alleged
working supervisors should be included in this unit.
The maintenance employees : Fifty to fifty-six of the Em-
ployer's 80 employees are cartographic draftsmen , editors,
or apprentices , who prepare maps for reproduction by other
concerns . The Employer itself has no equipment for repro-
ducing maps in quantity , nor does it employ any production
employees . The Employer desires to add the maintenance
employees , so that the unit will be virtually employer-wide.,
One of the maintenance employees is a night janitor. The
other 3 have a variety of duties . They drive trucks, go on
errands, care for the grounds , and handle the stocking and
shipping of maps . In addition , 2 of the men spray map negatives
and mount map drafts and finished maps; and 1 of these also
builds wooden toolkits , map racks , and map shipping cases.
On these facts we shall include the four maintenance men.
Three of them do much work which is closely related to map
drafting and which is performed in close proximity to the
technical and clerical employees . ' As for the janitor, he may
properly be included with the unit which enjoys his services,
despite its technical nature. 3
The alleged confidential employees : Although it desires to
include office clerical employees , the Petitioner would exclude
3 unspecified office girls whom it asserts are private secre-
taries to the management . The record shows , however, that
all the office girls , with the exception of a bookkeeper, work
for all the executives interchangeably . There was no evidence
that any of the girls spends any substantial amount of time on
work pertaining to labor relations policymaking . We there-
fore find that none of them are confidential employees in the
sense in which that term is used by the Board .4 We shall in-
clude all office clericals in the unit.5
The alleged working supervisors : The Petitioner would
include, and the Employer exclude as supervisory, sixworking
crew chiefs who are hourly paid . As the functions and authority
of these persons differ, we shall consider them separately.
1 Excluding only salesmen and the categories excluded by statute
2 Kelsey Hayes Wheel Co , 85 NLRB 666, 670-1; Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp . 73 NLRB 374,
378
3General Dyestuff Corp., 100 NLRB 1311.
4Republic Steel Corp., 94 NLRB 1294, 1295; Phillips Oil Co., 91 NLRB 534, 539
5As the Petitioner desires the inclusion of all nonconfideutial office clericals with the tech-
nicals and as the Employer declared that it would oppose a combined technical and clerical
unit only if some of the clericals were excluded, our decision against such exclusion reduces
this case to the usual one in which, absent objection, the Board holds that a technical-clerical
unit is appropriate . Titeflex, Inc , 103 NLRB 223.
THE NATIONAL SURVEY 99
Edwin DeGroff , crew leader of the mechanical line drafting
section , coordinates the flow of work for the 4 finalized
drafting sections in much the same way as is done by Young,
an admitted supervisor, for the 4 compilation sections . DeGroff
also writes up the job instruction sheets for these 4 finalized
drafting sections , in which some 22 persons are normally
employed. Like Adams, Bryant, and Young, all of whom are
admitted supervisors , DeGroff has several times traveled to
Washington to make estimates on United States Map Service
jobs . We find that he is a supervisor and shall exclude him.
Thurston , crew leader of 1 of the 2 "pull -up" sections
in the compilation division , has at times gone directly to Per-
sonnel Director Walsh to request wage increases for em-
ployees in his section . These increases have been granted.
As he thus has the power to make effective recommendations
regarding personnel action, we find that he is a supervisor.
We shall exclude him.
Howe , crew chief of the section which makes drainage and
contour drawings and vegetation overlays ( a part of the
finalized drafting department ), oversees the work of about 10
employees. Like Supervisors Adams, Bryan, Young, and
DeGroff , he has been sent to Washington to estimate the cost
of new projects . As there is no evidence rebutting the Em-
ployer ' s testimony that Howe 'has power to make effective
recommendations regarding personnel action , we find that he
is a supervisor and shall exclude him.
Thayer , who has charge of placing grid lines on maps, as
required , works by himself considerably more than half the
time. When the volume of grid work is greater than usual,
however , he is given as many as 12 assistants . During the
period of more than a month just preceding the hearing, there
was no grid work to do and Thayer worked for other crew
chiefs. Even when acting as a crew chief , Thayer has never
made any recommendations regarding raises and his sugges-
tions regarding transfers were not effective . Although at least
one apprentice worked for a while under him, Thayer was
never called upon to help rate his performance . Thayer's
crew members obtained their work assignments directly from
the central assignment board maintained by the Employer's
dispatcher . When Thayer wished to alter these assignments,he
requested Plant Manager Vincent Crocker to make the desired
changes. We find that Thayer is not a supervisor and shall
include him.
Stevens, crew chief in the " stick-up" section ( which places
printed names on the maps ), has only 2 employees on her
crew. Her $1 an hour rate of pay is the same as that of 1 of
her 2 subordinates and less than that of the other .6 The record
satisfies us that she has no substantial authority in personnel
matters . When apprentices working under her were rated by
the management, she was neither consulted about the matter
6 The Employer explained that Stevens had had a shorter span of continuous service than her
two subordinates
322615 0 - 54 - 8
100 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
nor informed of the result. We -findthatshe is not a supervisor.
We shall include her.
LaPoint, chief of the photo analysis and editing crew, in-
structs and oversees from 2 to 5 employees. For the past 6
months the number has not exceeded 3. His renumeration is
$1.25 an hour, which is the standard journeymen's rate for
cartographic draftsmen at the Employer's plant and is less
than the rate received by some of the men working under him.
We find on the conflicting evidence that he has no power to
make effective recommendations regarding personnel matters
and that he is not a supervisor . We shall include him.
We find that the following unit is appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act: All technical,' office clerical, and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Chester, Vermont, establishment,
excluding salesmen , the advertising manager , professional
employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.'
5. The Petitioner requests that the payroll period for
determining eligibility for voting in the election directed
herein be established as May 18, 1953, rather than the period
immediately preceding the date of our Decision and Direction
of Election. In support of this request, it says that a strike
occurred on May 19, the day before the hearing, and that
certain employees were then discharged. We are administra-
tively advised, further, that the Petitioner on May 22 filed
unfair labor practice charges predicated upon these discharges.
However, these events could not make necessary the use of a
payroll period other than that customarily utilized.9 Moreover,
we are administratively informed that the Regional Director
on June 9 refused to issue a complaint on the basis of the dis-
charges 10 and that the Petitioner did not appeal from that action
within the period allowed. Accordingly, for the purpose of in-
vestigation of representation the dischargees are no longer
employees and are not entitled to vote in the election directed
herein. 11
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
7 We adopt the stipulation of the parties to include the map editors, except for Kendall
Crocker, son of one of the partners.
8It was agreed that Adams, Bryant, and Young are supervisors. In addition, we exclude as
supervisors: Howe, Thurston, and Edward DeGroff.
9 Dischargees whose status as employees is being determined in pending complaint proceed-
ings can vote in Board elections subject to challenge. Grinnell Brothers, 98 NLRB 20.
10 The Regional Director did issue a complaint the next day alleging discriminatory reduction
of hours and elimination of overtime.
11 Times Square Stores Corp., 79 NLRB 361.
POULTRY ENTERPRISES, INC. and AMALGAMATED MEAT
CUTTERS & BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA,
LOCAL 442, A. F. of L. Case No. 10-CA-1562. July 13, 1953
DECISION AND ORDER
On April 15, 1953 , Trial Examiner George A. Downing issued
his Intermediate Report in the above - entitled proceeding, find-
106 NLRB No. 15