American Stove Co.

Iv the Matter of AMERICAN STOVE COMPANY, HARVEY DIVISION, EM- PLOYER and UNITED STEEL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 13-R-3586.-Decided August 30,1946 Mr. Otto A. Jaburek, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer. Messrs. Raymond Saracco and S. E. Perish, of Harvey, Ill., for the Petitioner. 111r. Harvey B. Diamond, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Chicago, Illinois, on June 27, 1946, before Gustaf B. Erickson, Trial Examiner. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER American Stove Company has its main office in St. Louis, Missouri, and plants in various cities throughout the United States. The plant located in Harvey, Illinois, manufactures gas, oil and coal stoves and is the only one involved in this proceeding. During 1945 the Employer purchased raw materials for the Harvey plant valued at in excess of $2,000,000, 90 percent of which was received from points out- side the State of Illinois. During the same period the Employer sold finished products produced at the Harvey plant valued at in excess of $4,000,000, of which 90 percent was shipped to points outside the State of Illinois. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 70 N. L. R. B., No. 87. 712344-47-vol. 70--63 1059 1060 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations , claiming to represent employees of the Employer. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive' bargaining representative of the clerical and office employees of the Employer until the" Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. - We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Petitioner seeks a unit comprised generally,of all office and clerical employees, including time-study employees, but excluding certain supervisory employees. In the event the Board finds that time-study employees are not properly part -of an office and clerical unit, the Petitioner asks in the alternative that they be established as a separate collective bargaining unit. The Employer does not op- pose the general composition of the unit, but would exclude certain employees and classifications of employees, including time-study per- sonnel, on the ground that they are supervisory, confidential or man- agerial. We shall discuss the disputed classifications below. a. The time-study unit Junior and senior time-study observers.-The junior time-study observers work out of the- office of the control supervisor under the supervision of the standards supervisor. They perform time and mo- tion studies of the production operations, which studies are then collated and used for the purpose of establishing standard wage rates and incentive rates. The observers do not determine policy or wage rates, such determinations being made by the standards supervisor in conjunction with the plant superintendent and the foreman of the production unit involved. In the event of a grievance the ob- server may be called upon to explain his calculations or justify his findings. The records and reports of the observers are not considered confidential and are made available to union representatives when- ever requested. ' The duties and functions of the senior time-study ob- servers are similar to those of the junior observers, although senior 'There are approximately 49 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. AMERICAN STOVE COMPANY, HARVEY DIVISION 1061 observers are usually given the more important and complicated as- signments. In the event that a particular study requires the services of more than one observer, a senior observer is placed in charge of the project and one or more junior observers assigned to assist him. Fur- thermore, although the Employer will employ junior observers without previous experience, senior observers must have had considerable time- study experience and training either with the Employer or in similar fields. The contention of the Employer that the foregoing time-study employees are "managerial" and therefore should not be included in any bargaining unit, was considered and disposed of by the Board in the Ford Motor case,2 wherein we pointed out that employees of the -type involved herein are merely fact finders and do not formulate, determine, or effectuate management policies. However, in view of their specialized technical training and the technical nature of their, work, we find that time-study observers are a homogeneous group who would be best suited by constituting them a separate appropriate bar- gaixing unit.3 I b. The office and clerical unit Time-study clerks.-The duties of these employees include the preparation of production standards from the reports of the observers, checking the time-study reports with the observers, posting perform- ance records, and maintaining the files containing time-study reports and performance records. The Employer contends that the contents of these files are confidential and therefore the employees responsible for their upkeep should be excluded. We are of the opinion, however, that time-study clerks do not fall within our definition of "confiden- tial" employees in that they do not assist and act in a confidential capacity to persons who exercise "managerial" functions in the field of labor relations 4 Unlike the time-study observers, however, their work is not of a technical nature and is primarily clerical, and we shall therefore include them in the unit. Registered nurse.-The nurse is responsible for rendering first-aid treatment to injured employees, preparing and maintaining work- men's compensation reports and records, and preparing compensation pay rolls. Although we do not agree with the contention of the Employer that the nurse is a "confidential" employee, we find that she is a professional person whose training, skill, duties, and interests differ from those of the office and clerical employees and we shall therefore exclude her from the unit.,' Confidential secretary.-This employee is employed as secretary to tile.control supervisor. She takes and transcribes reports of contract 2 Matter of Ford Motor Company ( Chicago Branch ), 66 N. L. R B. 1317. 3 Matter of Brown d Sharpe Mfg. Co., 68 N . L. R. B. 487, and Supplemental Decision and Direction , 70 N L R. B 709. 4 Matter of Ford Motor Company ( Chicago Branch ), supra. n Matter of American Steel and Wire Company , 58 N. L. R. B. 253. 1062 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD negotiation proceedings, arbitration proceedings, job evaluations, per- sonnel ratings, etc. She prepares proposals and exhibits for nego- tiations with the Union,and maintains a confidential file on labor rela- tions matters. We agree with the Employer that the duties 'of this employee are "confidential" within the Board's definition of that term, and we shall therefore exclude her from the unit. Cashier and voucher clerk and senior cost clerks.-The cashier and voucher clerk audits all invoices and prepares the vouchers for pay- mnent. She examines pay-roll checks for accuracy and issues them for distribution. She maintains records of all payments made for - the plant. The senior cost clerks prepare the direct labor and material unit cost computations of the various stoves produced at the plant; which are used to determine the selling prices of the commodities. They prepare analyses of the costs, charges and expenses incident to plant operation. The data prepared by the senior cost clerks is sub- mitted to the main office of the Employer, and the cost clerks receive from the main office information concerning other plants which is used for comparative studies. The Employer contends that these employees are confidential inasmuch as the information available to them may be misinterpreted if it fell into the hands of persons who are not familiar with its proper uses. While we do not question the fact that the information used by the senior cost clerks and the cashier and voucher clerk is of a confidential nature in regard to the Employ- er's business generally, it clearly is not directly related to the latter's labor relations. We shall, therefore, include the senior cost clerks and the cashier, and voucher clerk in the unit. Pay-roll section leader.-The pay-roll section leader supervises the staff of the pay-roll section. He has authority to hire employees for his section and he can make final recommendations leading toward dis- missal or other disciplinary action. We find that this employee has a supervisory status within the Board's usual definition of that term,- and we shall exclude him from the unit. Assistant purchasing agent.-This employee is responsible for mak- ing direct purchases of materials and supplies for the plant. He is in charge of the purchasing section in the absence of the purchasing agent and is at all times responsible for the work of the clerks in the section. The assistant purchasing agent may employ people for the section and can take final disciplinary action. We find that this employee has supervisory status, and we shall therefore exclude him from the unit. Employment interviewer.-The employment interviewer acts as assistant to the personnel director. She is responsible for administer- ing vacation policies, maintaining employment records, and super- vising employees in the personnel department. She interviews appli- cants for jobs and on occasion may actually hire employees. She prepares data for use by the director as proposals or counterproposals AMERICAN STOVE COMPANY 1063 in negotiations with the Union. We are of the opinion that the em- ployment interviewer assists and acts in a confidential capacity to a managerial employee in the field of labor relations, and we shall exclude her from the unit. We find that the following groups of employees of the Employer at its Harvey plant constitute separate units appropriate for the pur- poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : 1. All junior time-study observers and senior time-study observers excluding all other employees. 2. All office and clerical employees,`including shop clerks, time-study elerks, the cashier and voucher clerk, and senior cost clerks, but ex- eluding time-study observers, the nurse, the employment interviewer, pay-roll section leader, assistant purchasing agent, confidential secre- tary, and all or any other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action." DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with American Stove Company, Harvey, Division, Harvey, Illinois, elections 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 Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec- tions 10 and 11, of, National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu- lations-Series 3, as amended, among the employees in each of the units 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 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 those em- ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to deter- mine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Steel Workers of America, CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining. Mn. J_»MES J. REYNOLDS, JR., took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Elections. 9 The parties agree that the following are supervisory employees and should be excluded : planning and scheduling supervisor, standards supervisor, accounting supervisor, material control supervisor , process engineer , personnel director, control department supervisor, and purchasing agent.