Chicago Railway Equipment Co.

In the Matter of CHICAGO RAILWAY EQUIPMENT COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 13-RC-593.-Decided August 8,1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Morris Slavney, 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 [Chairman Herzog and Mem- bers Houston and Murdock]. 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 Petitioner is a labor organization claiming 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 appropriate unit : The Petitioner requests a unit of all office employees in the Com- pany's general and factory offices including the shipping clerk, re- ceiving clerk, and timekeeper, but excluding executives, supervisors, I The Employer moved to dismiss the instant petition on the ground that the Petitioner cannot represent the employees herein petitioned for because its constitution does not authorize the organization of office employees of a company manufacturing railroad equip- ment. The motioh'was referred to the Board, and is hereby denied . As the Board has frequently held under similar circumstances , the willingness of a petitioner to represent the employees in issue is controlling under the Act, not the eligibility of employees to membership , nor the exact extent of the petitioner's constitutional jurisdiction . Matter of Hall Level & Manufacturing Works, 72 N. L. R. B. 165; Matter of Federated Publications, Inc., 74 N. L. R. B . 1054 ; Matter of American Buff Company, 67 N. L. It. B. 473. 85 N. L. R. B., No. 106. 586 CHICAGO RAILWAY EQUIPMENT COMPANY 587 private secretaries, the traffic manager, and purchasing agent. The Company, in addition to the above exclusions, would exclude the em- ployees discussed below. There is no previous bargaining history covering the employees herein petitioned for. The assistant purchasing agent. This employee works in the gen- eral office. He schedules new orders placed with the Company and interviews salesmen concerning possible purchases of materials and supplies. Although he places orders for supplies that are needed, requisitions must normally be approved by the purchasing agent. He has no supervisory authority. Accordingly, we shall include him in the unit.2 The customer correspondent. This employee is located in the gen- eral office. He acknowledges by letter orders placed by customers, checks and traces production orders, and ascertains shipping dates. He also expedites orders and confers with the works manager as to the progress of a particular order. He has the same working condi- tions and is paid a salary comparable to that of other employees in- cluded in the unit. The Employer seeks to exclude this employee on the same basis as the assistant purchasing agent. It does not appear from the record in this case, however, that this employee exercises any policy-making functions which associate his interests with those of management. Accordingly, we shall include him in the unit .3 The assistant to the traffic and billing supervisor. The Employer contends that this employee is a supervisor. The record indicates that he assists the traffic and billing supervisor in the general office and is responsible for much of the detail work connected with check- ing the accuracy of freight bills, routing sheets, and the proper bill- ing of orders. Although there is some evidence that this employee is consulted in connection with the hiring or discharging of other em- ployees, we are not persuaded that his recommendations in this regard are effective. Consequently, we find that he is not a supervisor within the meaning of the amendedAct, and shall include him in the Unit .4 The head bookkeeper. This employee works in the general office and performs all the nonroutine bookkeeking. The record indicates that she responsibly directs the work of the head pay-roll clerk, stock record clerk, pay-roll clerks, and hand bookkeepers, and spot checks their work for errors. She can effectively recommend that discipli- nary action be taken in regard to any of these employees. We find that she is a supervisor as defined in the amended Act, and shall ex- clude her from the unit. a Matter of S. T. Johnson Company, 67 N. L. R. B. 1330. See Matter of General Electric Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 654. 4 Matter of The Barrett Division, Allied, G emical_-d Dye, Corporation; 65 N. L . R. B. 903; see also Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company, 63 N. L. It. B. 1230. 588 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The head pay-roll clerk. This employee works in the general office. He maintains and prepares pay-roll records and does general ac- counting. He also supervises the work of the timekeeper and pay-roll distribution clerk and has access to the office personnel files in the normal course of his duties. However, this employee is not a con- fidential assistant to a managerial employee in charge of the Em- ployer's labor relations and does not have access to general labor relations policy data.. We find that he is not a confidential employee, and we shall include him in the unit.5 The pay-roll distribution clerk. This employee is located in the general office, and is responsible for the preparation of pay-roll re- ports covering shop and general office personnel. He examines and sorts job tickets, computes incentive payments, and assembles wage information. However, it does not appear that he has access to con- fidential personnel files, nor is he advised of the manner in which the data he compiles may be used in connection with labor relations. We have frequently held that working on, or having access to matters which ,are confidential to the Employer's business, but which' are not directly related to labor relations, does not warrant excluding the employee in question from a bargaining unit as a confidential em- ployee.6 Accordingly,' we shall include this employee in the unit. The shipping and receiving clerks. These employees work on the shipping dock in the plant, which is some distance away from the general office. The Employer contends that this physical separation warrants their exclusion from the office employees unit. These two employees maintain shipping and receiving records and perform'vari- eiis errands for the shop superintendent, under whose supervision they work. The shipping clerk handles the timekeeping duties in the absence. of the timekeeper,-who'is under the supervision of the head pay-roll clerk. Both employees make several trips throughout the day to the general office to obtain.factory mail and bills of lading. As the duties and, interests of these employees are similar to those of the general office employees and as no other labor organization seeks to represent them, we shall include them in the unit.7 The.timekeeper is located in the shop office but is under the super- visioiii of the head pay-roll clerk in the general office. He checks the attendance of shop employees, keeps records on their time and piece- work,and calculates their earnings, information. which the. Employer Matter of Inter-ifountain. Telephone Company, 79 N. L. R . B. 715; Matter of The Ohio Associated Telephone Company, 82 N. L. R. B. 972. e Matter of Art Metal Construction Company, 75 N. L. R. B. 80 ; Matter of. Line Material Company of Pennsylvania , 73 N. L . R..B.,704 ; Matter ,of Bethlehem,Steel Company, supra. Matter of E. W. Bliss Company, Toledo Machine Tool.Division, 81 N. L. R. B. 428. CHICAGO RAILWAY EQUIPMENT COMPANY 589 considers confidential. It does not appear that this employee performs any duties related to the field of labor relations, and mere knowledge of employee earnings or other pay-roll matters does not bring an employee within the Board's definition of a confidential employee.8 For the reasons stated above, in connection with the shipping and re- ceiving clerks, we shall include this employee in the unit. The engineering department. The Petitioner would include em- ployees in this department who perform clerical and office work. The Employer would exclude all engineering department employees. The engineering department is located on the floor above the general office .and is under the direct supervision of the mechanical engineer. This department employs 13 people, all of whom are engaged in engineer- ing, drafting, the making of blueprints or work closely related to these functions. Several of the employees have had either formal training in the field of engineering or the equivalent amount of time in actual experience, and the draftsmen and engineers must be familiar with advanced mathematics. Although some of the jobs in this department require relatively little skill and are' similar to clerical jobs in the general office, there is a planned program whereby employees in this department who have little training can advance to more technical jobs as they gain experience. There is no interchange of employees and very little contact between this department and the general office. In view of these circumstances, including the separate location and .supervision, the lack of interests in common with that of the general office employees, and the technical nature of their work, we shall ex- clude the employees in the engineering department from the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' Accordingly, we find all office and clerical employees of the Em- ployer, at its Chicago plant, including the timekeeper, shipping and receiving clerks, assistant to the traffic and billing supervisor, custo- mer correspondent, pay-roll distribution clerk, assistant purchasing agent, and head pay-roll clerk, but excluding the traffic manager, pur- chasing agent, head bookkeeper, employees of the engineering depart- ment, confidential employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain- ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 8 Matter of Art Metal Construction Company, supra ; Matter of Line Material Company of Pennsylvania, supra. See Matter of The Adams .t Westlake Company, 72 N. L. R. B. 726; Matter of Gardner- Denver Company, 82 N. L. R. B. 201; Matter of American Smelting and Refining Company, 80 N. L. R. B. 68. 590 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 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 su - pervision 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 , 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 collec- tive bargaining, by International Union, United Automobile , Aircraft and. Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO.