Monumental Life Insurance Co.

In the Matter Of MONUMENTAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY and UNITED OFFICE AND PROFESSIONAL WORKERS OF AMERICA (CIO) Case No. 14-R-1101.-Decided February 8, 194.5 Mr. J. W. Havighurst, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Mr. J. M. Boltz, of St. Louis, Mo., for the Company. Messrs. Laney T. Funderbwrk , Robert R. Conway , James MeHale, and Robert L. Miller, all of St. Louis, Mo., and Mr. T. J.'Breneisen, of Pine Lawn, Mo., for the Union. Mr. Nathan Saks, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by United Office and Professional Work- ers of America (CIO), herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of Monumental Life Insurance Company, Baltimore, Mary- land, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Harry G. Carlson, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on January 12,1945. The Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties 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 an 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 Monumental Life Insurance Company, a Maryland corporation, has its principal office and place of business, known as the Home Office, in Baltimore, Maryland. It is licensed to engage and is en- 60 N. L. R. B., No. 97. 510 MONUMENTAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY 511 gaged in the business of life, health and accident insurance in 13 States of the United States and in the District of Columbia, and has insurance in force in every State in the United States. As of September 30, 1944, the Company had 58 District Offices, and had 1,213,270 policies of insurance in force in the United States with a total face value of $448,426,274. On that date the Company's total admitted assets consisting principally of bonds, stocks, first mortgages on real estate, real-estate, loans, interest, uncollected premiums and cash in banks and trust companies, amounted in value to $60,604,385.20. From January 1, 1944, through October 1, 1944, the Company ex- pended $28,446.76 for printing and stationery ; $52,786.14 for postage, express, telephone, and telegraph; and $30,995.26 for traveling expenses. The Company manages and directs its business, issues all policies of insurance, and makes practically all payments of claims from its Home Office in" Baltimore, Maryland. The District Offices remit weekly to the Home Office on ordinary life and weekly premium business. We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the National Labor Relations Act.' H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED United Office and Professional Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization ad- mitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hearing, and additional authorizations for representation submitted at the hearing, indicate that the Union represents a substantial num- ber of employees 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. ' Polish National Alliance v. N L R B., 322 U S 643. ' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 30 membership cards which con- tained the names of employees in the appropriate unit, and that the number of employees in said unit on December 11, 1944, was 85 The Union submitted 4 additional authorization cards at the hearing which bore apparently genuine original signatures. 512 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Company maintains 6 District Offices in the State-of Missouri, located as follows: 2 in Kansas City, Missouri; 1 in St. Joseph, Mis- souri; and 3 in St. Louis, Missouri. Each District Office is under the supervision of a district manager aided by one or more assistant managers, who in turn supervise the industrial agents attached to the office and make reports and recommendations to the district manager concerning the agents and their work. There are 85 agents attached to and working out of the Missouri District Offices.3 The Union seeks a unit comprised of these employees, and the Company takes no position with respect to the appropriate unit. - We find, -in accordance with the unopposed request of the Union, and upon the entire record, that all industrial agents who are attached to and work out of the Company's District Offices in the State of Missouri, excluding office and clerical employees, cashiers, managers, assistant managers, and all other supervisory employees with author- ity to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con- stitute a -unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act .4 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 em- ployees 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 Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby 8 Of this number, 69 work in Missouri, 8 work in Kansas, and 8 work in Illinois. The Company maintains no District Offices in Kansas, and the 8 agents who work in Illinois have no "contacts" with the Company in that State There are no detached agents working in Missouri or attached to any District Office in Missouri 4 We have held that, in the absence of unusual circumstances, a unit for insurance agents smaller than State -wide in scope should be avoided . Matter of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 56 N. L. R. B. 1635 . We have also found that State-wide units are appropriate which include insurance agents -txho are attached to and work out of offices in the State involved but who actually work in neighboring States. Matter of The Prudential Insurance Company of America, 49 N. L. R B 450 . The unit established above is in line with our policy , as enunciated in these decisions. - MONUMENTAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY 513 DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Monumental Life Insurance Company, Baltimore, Maryland, an election by secret bal- lot 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, act- ing in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regu- lations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi- ately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during the 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 any 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 repre- sented by United Office and Professional Workers of America (CIO) for the purposes of collective bargaining. 628563-45-vol. 60-34