Yawman and Erbe Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 8, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 898 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of YAWMAN AND ERBE MANUFACTURING COMPANY and
OFFICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL No. 34, A. F . OF L.
Case No. 3-R-1072.-Decided February 8, 1946
Nixon, Hargrave, Middleton di Devans, by Mr. Arthur L. Stern, of
Rochester, N. Y., for the Company.
Mr. Jack Cadden, of Rochester, N. Y., and Mr. J. Howard Hicks, of
Washington, D. C., for the Union.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Office Employees International Union,
Local No. 34, A. F. of L., herein called the Union, alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Yawman and Erbe Manufacturing Company, Rochester,
New York, herein called the Company,' the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Francis Y. Helgeson, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at
Rochester, New York, on September 20, 1945. The Company and the
Union appeared, 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.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Yawman and Erbe Manufacturing Company is normally engaged
in the manufacture of office and filing equipment and, during the war
I The petition and other formal papers were amended at the hearing to show the correct
name of the Company.
65 N. L. B. B., No. 160.
898
YAWMAN AND ERBE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 899
period, in the manufacture of ship furniture, radar housings, and other
war equipment.
During 1944, the Company purchased raw materials, consisting
principally of steel and miscellaneous parts, valued in excess of
$500,000, of which more than 50 percent represented material brought
to its plant from points outside the State of New York. During the
same period, the Company sold finished products valued in excess of
$1,000,000, of which more than 51 percent was 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
Office Employees International Union, Local No. 34, is a labor or-
ganization affiliated with the American Federation of. Labor, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about August 1, 1945, the Union asked the Company for rec-
ognition as bargaining representative of its employees. The Company
disagreed with the Union concerning the scope of the bargaining unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
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 office and non-production factory em-
ployees, including the nurse, who is classified as an "office" employee,
constitute a single appropriate bargaining unit. The Company con-
tends that "office" and "non-production factory employees" should, not
be included in the same bargaining unit, but that the latter should be
included in the same unit with production and maintenance workers.
In addition to its approximately 500 production and maintenance
employees, the Company employs approximately 90 office and clerical
employees, of whom 60 are termed "office" employees and the remaining
"non-production factory" employees. The so-called office employees,
including accounting, credit, purchasing, order, estimating, advertis-
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 45 cards. There are approxi-
mately 85 employees in the appropriate unit.
900 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ing and sales department employees, are housed in office space on the
first two floors of one building known as the "office" building, the third
floor of which is devoted entirely to production work. The so-called
non-production factory employees, including office and clerical work-
ers in the traffic, engineering, inventory, and planning departments, are
housed in offices in a connected building, other parts of which are de-
voted to production work. Due to the nature of their work, time clerks,
called factory clerks by the Company, and time-study clerks, listed by
the Company among its non-production factory employees, spend
their working time for the most part on the factory floor among pro-
duction employees. Subject to the over-all supervision of the manager
of the plant, office employees work under separate department heads,
while the non-production factory employees are subject to the inter-
inediate supervision of the works manager and to the direct super-
vision of separate department heads. So far as the record discloses, no
special group of these employees is more closely related to one rather
than to another group of employees. All punch the time clock, re-
ceive a weekly wage, and substantially the same vacation privileges.
Some of the Company's production employees are represented by
Federal Labor Union Local 19620, and, for a number of years, have
been covered by bargaining contracts. Although at one time factory
clerks were included in this bargaining group, factory clerks were
subsequently specifically excluded from coverage by the contract by
agreement between the contracting parties. No clerical employees
are covered by the current agreement between the Company and the
Federal Laboi: Union Local 19620, and it appears that the contracting
labor organization does not desire to represent factory clerks. We find
that office and non-production factory employees, iicluding ,factory
clerks, may properly constitute a single bargaining unit.3
The Company and the Union disagree with respect to the unit
placement of the secretary to the Company's executive officers and the
assistant to the employment manager. The Company would include,
and the Union exclude, these employees. The parties agree that
time-study employees should be included in the unit.''
The secretary to executive officers of the Company handles all cor-
respondence of the Company's officials, including any which relates
to labor matters. The assistant to the employment manager has
charge of the employment records of employees and, in the absence of
the employment manager, interviews applicants for employment.
Although she is not equipped to pass upon the competence of skilled
applicants to suit the Company's factory requirements, a matter which
I Matter of J H Williains & Co, 57 N. L R. B . 634; Matter of The Babcock & Wilcox
Co., 52 N. L . R. B. 900.
4 The Union clarified in its brief its uncertainty expressed at the hearing with respect
to the unit placement of these employees.
YAWMAN AN D ERBE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 901
is left to departmental supervisors, the assistant to the employment
manager may make recommendations for hiring based upon her per-
sonal interview with the applicants. We will exclude the secretary
to the Company's executive officers and the assistant to the employ-
ment manager from the bargaining unit as confidential employees.
The time-study clerks, as distinguished from time clerks whose
duties are admittedly clerical, study production operations and re-
port the results of their work to the head of the time-study depart-
ment, located in the factory building. Production work is paid, on a
piece-rate basis, and, after consultation with the head of the time-
study department, rates are determined as a result of these time
studies. The record does not indicate how far the recommendation
of time-study clerks influences piece rates. It is, however, quite clear
that time-study clerks are not supervisory employees and that their
work does not, in any manner, affect the rates of pay of the employees
in the unit herein found appropriate. We will, therefore, include
them in the bargaining unit.b
At the hearing, the parties agreed to include employees in the tele-
phone department in the bargaining unit with other employees clas-
sified by the Company as "office" employees. In its brief, the Union
expressed a desire to exclude these employees. We believe that tele-
phone operators and mail clerks and messengers, who constitute the
telephone department, are not confidential employees and we shall
include them in the bargaining units
We find that office and non-production factory employees of the
Company, including the nurse, time clerks, time-study clerks, and
telephone department employees, but excluding the secretary to the
executive officers, the assistant to the employment manager, and all
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. TILE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employ-
ees 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.
S Matter of J. H. Wxlaams d Co., supra.
° Matter of Montgomery Ward d Go , Incorporated, 38 N L R B 297.
902 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Re-
lations 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 Yawman and
Erbe Manufacturing Company, Rochester, New York, 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 Third 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 va-
cation 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 dis-
charged 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 Office Employees International Union, Local No. 34,
A. F. of I... for the purposes of collective bargaining.
I