Republic Steel Corp.

In the Matter of REPUBLIC STEEL CORPORATION, CANTON PLANT, CEN- TRAL ALLOY DISTRICT, EMPLOYER and UNITED STEELWOR$ER$ OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 8-RC-946.-Decided October 11, 1950 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Carroll L. Martin, hearing officer. 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all office and clerical employees at the Employer's Canton, Ohio, plant, excluding telephone and teletype operators, production and maintenance employees, employees in the plant engineering, industrial engineering, and employees' industrial relations departments, clerks in the division superintendent's office, chemistry laboratory and metallurgical laboratory employees, pro- fessional employees, plant guards, and supervisors. The Employer contends that the proposed unit is inappropriate because all of these employees handle or have access to confidential information. The Employer further contends that if the Board determines that the requested unit is appropriate, certain specific categories of employees should be excluded from the unit as supervisors or confidential employees. ' At the hearing the petition and other formal papers were amended to show the correct name of the Employer. 91 NLRB No. 143. 904 REIPUBLIC STEEL CORPORATION 905 Office and clerical employees work in approximately 15 different departments at the Employer's Canton, Ohio, plant.2 The clerks in these departments, for the most part, do routine clerical work. While they handle confidential business or personnel information, they do not handle or have access to any matters relating to labor relations. The Employer, however, urges that all employees who have knowledge of personnel matters, or the Employer's business and financial opera- tions, are confidential employees. We do not agree. As the confi- dential information possessed by the office and clerical employees per- tains to personnel or to matters of a business nature, rather than to the field of labor relations, we find that they are not confidential employees such as we exclude from an appropriate unit, and that they may con- stitute an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining.3 There remain for consideration specific disputed categories, all of which the Employer, at; the hearing, urged "should be excluded from any appropriate unit either as supervisors or confidential employees.4 Group leaders: The Employer contends that the group leaders in the accounting department are supervisors. The accounting depart- ment is made up of six separate departments,5 each under the super- vision of a chief clerk who is responsible to the district accountant who heads the accounting department. All of these departments, except the timekeeping department, also have an assistant to the chief clerk. The group leaders, who are assistants to the assistant chief clerks, generally have four to five employees under them to whom they assign work and give instructions." They spot-check the work of the clerks for mathematical accuracy and conformity to standard plant pro- cedures.7 They have no authority to deviate from these procedures. They are responsible for the work of their group, and if it does not meet with the Employer's standards, they take it back to the clerk to be redone. They spend about 25 percent of their time assigning and checking the work of the other clerks, and the remainder of their time 2 These departments are the accounting , order, transportation , mechanical, electrical, coke plant, blast furnace , open hearth , No. 2 electric furnace, No . 1 electric furnace, bloom- ing mill , steel conditioning, heat treat , bar finish, shipping , and general departments. s Great Lakes Pipe Line Company, 88 NLRB 1370; Singer Sewing Machine Company, 87 NLRB 460 ; Amplex Manufacturing Company, 85 NLRB 523; Chicago Railway Equip- ment Company, 85 NLRB 586 ; Chrysler Corporation, 84 NLRB 516 ; Bonwit Teller, Inc., 84 NLRB 414. "The Employer, in its brief, argues only for the exclusion of superintendents ' clerks, c,nfidential secretaries to the - superintendents, and the bonus clerk in the bar finish department. 5 These departments are the . cost production, payroll, timekeeping , storeroom , billing, and job order departments. The group leaders in the billing department are called turn leaders. e In some cases, the group leaders' assignment of work consists merely of passing on the instructions of their respective chief clerks. * Spot- checking ' the mathematics for accurate iesults is routine clerical work. 906 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD doing similar work, though of a more difficult nature. They are paid Approximately 15 to 20'percent more, than the other clerks. The group leaders do not have authority to hire, discharge, or change the status of employees working under them. Nor do they handle the grievances of these employees. They report on the ability of their group to the chief clerk. The chief clerk makes an inde- pendent investigation of these reports before taking any action on them, and makes all decisions or recommendations as to hiring or dis- charge. The final decision as to discharge is usually made by the dis- trict accountant from information received from the chief clerk. The record indicates that the. duties of the group leaders are pri- marily of a routine nature which do not call for the exercise of inde- pendent judgment. On the facts before us it does not appear that these employees have the authority "responsibly to. 'direct" within the meaning of Section 2 (11) of the Act. Nor does it appear that these employees can effectively recommend a change in status or the disci- plining of the employees under them. Upon the entire record, we are convinced and we find that the group leaders are not, in fact, super- visors within the meaning of the Act." Accordingly, we shall include them in the unit. Chief schedule clerks: The Employer contends that the chief sched- ule clerks in the order department are supervisors. There are 38 em- ployees in the order department consisting of the manager of orders of the steel division, his assistant, 1 coordinator, 14 chief schedule clerks, 17 schedule clerks, 3 teletype operators, and a secretary who also co- ordinates and helps with the teletype operating. The chief schedule clerks have duties somewhat similar to those of the group leaders in.the accounting department in that they assign and check the work of the schedule clerks. They do not determine procedures; these are established by the-Employer. Some of the chief schedule clerks do not check the work of any clerks, while others have one to three clerks working with them. They have no authority to hire, discharge, or change the status of any of the clerks, nor do they adjust grievances of these employees. They discuss the work of the clerks with the manager of the order department or his assistant, but any recommendations they may make are subject to an independent investigation before any action is taken. About 50 percent of the chief schedule clerks' time is spent doing routine work similar to that of the schedule clerks .9 The remainder of their time is spent on rou- s Humboldt Full Fashioned Hosiery Mills, Inc., 90 NLRB No. 99; New England Tele- phone and Telegraph Company, 90 NLRB 639; Indiana Metal Products Corporation, 90 NLRB No. 206; Allied Materials Corporation, 90 NLRB No. 158; Maas Brothers, Inc., 88 NLRB 129. The Employer could not estimate the percentage of time spent in checking the work of the schedule clerks. REIPUB'LIC STE'E4 CORPORATION 907 tine duties pertaining to the scheduling of their unit. Their rate of pay is somewhat higher than that of the schedule clerks. For the reasons given above with respect to the group leaders, we find that the chief schedule clerks are not supervisors and we shall include them in the unit. Superintendents' clerks: 10 The Employer takes the position that the superintendents' clerks are confidential employees because they handle labor relations matters for the superintendents of their respec- tive departments. The superintendents' clerks handle mail received in the superin- tendents' offices, prepare and type various kinds of reports, maintain personnel files and records, and handle all correspondence relating to departmental operations, labor relations, and grievances in their departments. Although the superintendents of these departments handle the grievances of the employees in their respective departments, the record does not show that they establish general labor relations policy for the Employer. Nor does the record indicate that the superin- tendents' clerks have access to or handle general labor relations policy data. Inasmuch as the superintendents' clerks do not assist or act in a confidential capacity to persons exercising managerial functions in the field of labor relations, we find that they are not confidential employees.11 We shall, therefore, include them in the unit. Bonus clerk: The Employer contends that the bonus clerk has control over the earnings of employees in the bar finish department, and lacks any substantial community of interest with the other office and clerical employees, and therefore should be excluded from the unit. The bonus clerk selects, interprets, applies, and calculates rates and incentive earnings for various bar finish operations. He verifies the lengths, weights, and other factors affecting bonus earnings. His computations are based on predetermined standards in this depart- ment. He does not have authority to make changes, but may recom- mend that the rate should not apply or should be modified. We do not believe that the bonus clerk has such control over the earnings of employees in the bar finish department as would warrant his exclusion from the unit.12 We further find that the Employer's 10 There are approximately 15 superintendents ' clerks located in the transportation, mechanical , electrical, coke plant , blast furnace, open hearth , No. 2 electric furnace, No. 1 electric furnace , blooming mill, steel conditioning , heat treat, bar finish , and shipping department. 11 Ball Brothers Compaluy, Incorporated, 87 NLRB 34 ; Minneapolis-Moline Company, 85 NLRB 597 ; Amplex. Manufacturing Company, 85 NLRB - 523; Chrysler Corporation, 84 NLRB 516 ; Ozark Central Telephone Company , 83 NLRB 258. Iz In its brief, the Employer .did not urge , as a ground for exclusion of the bonus clerk, that he has control over the earnings of other employees . Cf. 'G: H."P. Foundry' Division 908 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD contention that he lacks a community of interest with the other office And clerical employees is without merit, and shall include the bonus clerk in the unit. Secretaries: The stenographer in the storeroom takes dictation from the general storekeeper, some of which concerns grievances arising in that department. The only labor relations information she might have access to would be only on a departmental level. The record does not show that any other stenographers or typists handle work pertaining to labor relations. For the reasons given above with respect to superintendents' clerks, we find that the secretaries are not confidential employees, and we shall include them in the unit. We find that all office and clerical employees at the Employer's Canton, Ohio, plant, including group leaders, chief schedule clerks, and secretaries, but excluding superintendents' clerks, bonus clerks in the Bar Finish Department (two employees), telephone and teletype oper- ators, employees in the plant engineering, industrial engineering, and employees' industrial relations departments, clerks in the division superintendent's office, chemistry laboratory and metallurgical labora- tory employees,13 professional employees, production and maintenance employees, plant guards, and supervisors,14 constitute a unit appropri- ate for 'the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 5. The Employer contemplates moving the payroll department at the Canton plant to its Massillon plant, about 5 or 6 miles away. When the transfer is accomplished, the payroll department will be merged with the existing payroll department at the Massillon plant, and one payroll department will make out the payrolls for the two plants. The Petitioner contends that these employees should be included in the unit, even though they are transferred to the Massillon plant. We do not regard the indefinite prospect that the payroll department employees may be moved to another plant a sufficient basis for exclud- ing them from the unit. The eligibility of these employees to vote will be determined by their status at the time of the election. If those on the eligibility payroll are still working at the Canton plant at the time of the election, they will be deemed eligible to vote. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] of the Dayton Malleable Company, 88 NLRB 1338 ; Elastic Stop Nut Corporation of America, 87 NLRB 1532; Aragon-Baldwin Mills, Inc., Aragon Plant. 80 NLRB 1042. 13 The parties stipulated that the employees enumerated above should be excluded as professional, technical , or confidential employees. 14 The parties stipulated , and we find, that the chief clerks and the assistants to the chief clerks in the accounting department are supervisors, and should be excluded from the unit.