The Schauer Machine Co.

In the Matter of THE SCHAUER MACHINE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LOCAL UNION #1061 OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 9-RC-340.-Decided March 29, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel.* Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization named below claims to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of machine tools and electrical equipment at its 2 plants in Cincinnati, Ohio. Plant 1 employs approximately 26 persons, while Plant 2, about 3 miles dis- tant, employs approximately 30 persons. While there is almost no interchange of employees, the 2 plants are under the same general supervision and their functions are highly integrated. At the hear- ing the Employer stated its intention to move all production in Plant 2 into Plant 1 within the following 30 days, using Plant 2 as a ware- house. While the change might result in a slight reduction in the number of production employees, it would not materially affect the nature or scope of the Employer's operations. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production employees at the Em- ployer's two Cincinnati plants, including the shipping clerk and the 'Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray. 82 N. L. R. B., No. 58. 490 THE SCHAUER MACHINE, COMPANY 491 stock clerk, but excluding office clerical employees, professional em- ployees, time-study men, maintenance employees, working supervisors, guards, foremen, and other supervisors. The Employer does not oppose the two-plant unit, and takes no affirmative position regarding the unit placement of any employees, but awaits the Board's determina- tion based on facts adduced at the hearing, on the following employees : the shipping clerk, the stock clerk, maintenance employees, and work- ing supervisors.,' The shipping clerk works in the shipping department at Plant 1, under the supervision of the plant superintendent. He signs bills of lading, prepares receiving reports, packs and unpacks materials, checks shipments against orders, records their weights, addresses them, and arranges for their transportation. While he has two helpers to aid him with the manual portion of his work, he has no power to hire or discharge them, or effectively to recommend the same. The shipping clerk is a factory clerical employee. The stock clerk is under the super- vision of the personnel director and the controller of materials. He works in the stock department, located in the center of the production lines of Plant 1. He issues materials on orders from the personnel director's office and notifies that office as to his inventory requirements. Approximately 60 percent of his work is manual in nature, and the remainder is clerical. He is listed on the factory pay roll. We shall include the shipping clerk and the stock clerk as factory clerks in the production unit .2 The maintenance employees concerned are three porters, two of whom work at Plant 1, and the third at Plant 2. These employees, who are under the supervision of the plant superintendent, clean the offices," the production areas, and the machines at the two plants. They also haul castings, carry lumber, help in crating large machines, and work in the shipping department once a month during rush periods. They perform no assembly-line work. In the absence of any cogent reason for their separate treatment, we shall include the maintenance em- ployees in the production Unit .4 Working supervisors direct the work of 3 to 20 employees in their respective Plant 2 departments, known as the stator-winding, grinder assembly, rectifier unit, and battery booster departments. They are hourly paid employees and work under the supervision of the plant superintendent and his assistant. Working supervisors spend from I The Petitioner seeks the exclusion of "first-aid personnel." As there are no employees of that description at the Employer's plant, we shall make no unit determination as to these categories. 2 Matter of General Electric Company, 80 N. L. R. B. 174. 1 The main office is located in Plant 1. There is also one, small office, in Plant 2, which is used by the assistant plant superintendent. 4 Matter of Goodall Company, 80 N. L. R. B. 562. 492 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 75 to 90 percent of their time in performing the same sort of tasks as the employees they direct; the rest of the time they instruct their crews, remove production bottlenecks, and make final tests and adjust- ments on equipment at the end of the production lines. They spend up to an hour a day keeping and checking inventories and time cards. They receive a wage differential of 10 to 15 cents an hour more than the employees within their departments. They have no power to hire or discharge employees, or effectively to recommend a change in status. Those powers are exercised by the plant superintendent and the f ore- men, who make their own separate investigations based on the verbal work reports of the working supervisors. Upon the instant record, we are of the opinion that working supervisors are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act, and we shall therefore include them in the appropriate unit." We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em- ployer's Plant 1 and Plant 2, in Cincinnati, Ohio, including the ship- ping clerk, the stockroom clerk, and working supervisors, but excluding office clerical employees, time-study men, guards, foremen, and other supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, 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, and also excluding em- ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Local Union #1061 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL. Cf. Matter of Sampsel Time Control, Inc., 80 N. L. R. B. 1250.