Western and Southern Life Insurance Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 6, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 855 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of WESTERN AND SOUTHERN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
and UNITED OFFICE & PROFESSIONAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 14-R-12841.-Decided February 6, 1946
Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease, by Mr. Carl H. Tangaman, of
Columbus, Ohio, and Mr. Ernest M. Blerseh, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for
the Company.
Mr. Laney T. Funderburk, of St. Louis, Mo., for the Union.
Mr. John A. Nevros, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Office & Professional Workers
of America, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, Cincin-
nati, Ohio, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Ryburn L. Hackler, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at St.
Louis, Missouri, on December 19, 1945. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportu-
nity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to in-
troduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with
the Board. After the hearing, the Company filed a motion to dismiss
the petition on the ground that the unit requested is inappropriate.
For the -reason stated hereinafter in Section IV, infra, the motion is
denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Western and Southern Life Insurance Company, an Ohio corpora-
tion, has its office and principal place of business in Cincinnati, Ohio.
It is engaged in the business of writing life insurance in the States
65 N. L. R. B., No . 152. 855
856 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Michi-
gan, and Pennsylvania.
As of December 31, 1944, the Company had in force approximately
4,000,000 policies with a total face amount of approximately $1.402,-
072,494. On that date the Company's total assets, consisting of
bonds, stocks, mortgages on real estate, real estate, loans, rents, in-
terest, uncollected premiums and cash, amounted to $270,038,018.
The annual purchases of the Company for such items as furni-
ture, fixtures, mechanical equipment and supplies amount to approxi-
mately $170,000, of which about 92 percent is purchased in the State
of Ohio. Approximately 20 percent of these items is purchased for
use in States other than the State of Ohio. The Company's annual
expenditure for postage, telephone, telegraph, and express service
totals approximately $150,000, and its annual outlay for traveling
expenses amounts to approximately $80,000.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in interstate
commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act?
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Office & Professional Workers of America is a labor organ-
ization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Union, by letter dated August 30, 1945, asked the Company
for recognition as bargaining representative of its agents in the
State of Missouri. On or about September 19, 1945; the Company
denied the request on the ground that the unit sought is inappro-
priate.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concern-
ing 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 should consist of all
trustees or agents 3 of the Company in the State of Missouri collect-
1 Polish National Alliance v . N L. R. B., 322 U. S 643 , affirming 136 F. (2d) 175
(C. C A. 7), enf'g. as mod 42 N L R B. 1375 • -
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 23 cards, bearing the names
of employees listed on the Company 's pay roll of September 8, 1945 , and that there are
approximately 40 employees in the unit sought.
3 The parties stipulated that agents are the same persons referred to by the Company
as trustees.
WESTERN AND SOUTHERN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY 857
Ing and selling life insurance, except for office and clerical employees,
associate managers, managers, and all other supervisory employees.
The Company differs with the Union only as to the geographical
extent of the unit, contending that no unit smaller in scope than one
of its administrative divisions should be found appropriate.
The Company has divided the areas of the nation in which it does
business into three territorial divisions for administrative purposes.
The employees involved herein are included in the Company's Terri-
torial Division B. At present, Territorial Division B comprises the St.
Louis, Missouri, area, the State of Illinois with the .exception of
Lawrenceville, and the cities of Gary, Hammond, and South Bend,
Indiana. This division is under the direction of a vice president,
who, due to war conditions and other circumstances, temporarily is
also supervising the entire State of Michigan, the area adjacent to
Cincinnati, Ohio, and Lexington and Covington, Kentucky. Division
B contains 37 district offices, two of which are in St. Louis, Missouri.
These two together with a detached office, St. Louis West, which is
under the supervision of one of the St. Louis offices, are the only
offices of the Company in the State of Missouri.
Each territorial division is under the supervision of a vice presi-
dent. Each district office is under the supervision of a manager, who
reports and is responsible to the vice president for his division. The
agent in one district office in Territorial Division B is in no different
position from the agent in another district office in that division.
Those factors which directly affect his work, such as collections, pro-
motions, compensation, working conditions, rules and regulations,
supervision, and termination, are uniform throughout Territorial
Division B. On the other hand insurance agents are licensed by their
States. Requirements for a license vary greatly from one State to
another. The insurance agents of each State are to this extent
similarly situated.
The Board many times found State-wide units to be appropriate
even though such units do not correspond to any organizational
division of the company 4 Here the Union has confined its organiza-
tional efforts solely to agents of the Company in Missouri, viz, those
working out of the St. Louis, Missouri, district offices, and the de-
tached office in St. Louis West. It also appears that it has con-
tractual or bargaining relationships with other insurance companies
in the area on the basis of State-wide units, with the exception of
Prudential Insurance Company with which it bargains on a Nation-
wide basis.5 In those cases in which we have established State-wide
Sce Matter of The Prudential Insurance Company of America, 47 N. L. R. B 1103, 49
N L. R. B. 450, 50 N. L. R. B. 689; Matter of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 43
N. L. R. B. 962.
5 The Union is dealing with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Monumental Life
Insurance Company, and Missouri Insurance Company on a State -wide basis.
858 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
units we have always made it clear that we have done. so in order
to make collective bargaining an immediate possibility in such units,
and that our finding such units to be appropriate does not preclude
a later finding that a larger or company-wide unit is appropriate.
We see nothing in the record of this case to lead us to find that the
State-wide unit is not now appropriate or that the time is ripe for the
establishment of a division-wide nr Nation-wide unit .6
We therefore find that all trusts or agents of the Company in the
State of Missouri, collecting and selling life insurance, excluding
office and clerical employees, associate managers, detached managers,
managers, 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, consti-
tute 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 shall direct that the question concerning representation 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.
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 Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it -is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Western and
Southern Life Insurance Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 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 Fourteenth 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 Regula-
tions, among employees 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
6 See Matter of Metropolitan Life In8urance Company, 56 N. L. R. B. 1635.
WESTERN AND SOUTHERN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY 859
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 United Office & Professional Workers of America, CIO, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.