Chrysler Corp.

III the Matter of CHRYSLER CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and INTERNA- TIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE , AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW-CIO), PETITIONER Case No. 7-R-2601.-Decided February 9, 1948 Rathbone , Perry, Kelley and Drye , by Mr. T. R. Iserman, of New York City, for the Employer. Mr. Maurice Subar, by Mr. Jack N. Tucker, of Detroit, Mich., for the Petitioner. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Detroit, Michigan, on July 16, 1947, before Jerome H. Brooks, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju- dicial 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-man panel consisting of Chairman Herzog and Board Members Murdock and Gray. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : - FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER Chrysler Corporation, a Delaware corporation having its general offices in Detroit, Michigan, is engaged in the manufacture of auto- mobiles and automobile parts and accessories, at plants located in the States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and California. This pro- ceeding is concerned only with the John R plant, located in Detroit, Michigan. Annually the Employer purchases raw materials and finished parts valued in excess of $250,000,000, of which approxi- mately 45 percent is shipped to its Michigan plants from points lo- cated outside the State. Before the war, the Employer sold and de- livered to purchasers who resided outside the State, approximately 75 percent of the finished products manufactured in its Michigan plants. 76 N. L. R. B., No. 9. 50 CHRYSLER CORPORATION 51 We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. Ti-FE 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 employees of the Employer until the Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit or units. We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 1V. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS The Petitioner seeks three separate units consisting of (a) em- ployees in the Photographic department , (b) employees in the Office Equipment department, and (c) employees in the Central Mailing, Central Files, Stationery, Stationery Production , and Advertising Stock departments. The Petitioner would exclude , from each unit, confidential clerks and secretaries to executives and supervisors, group leaders, foremen and all other supervisoors. The Employer contends that the units requested are inappropriate because ( a) the employees involved allegedly are confidential employees , and (b ) the Petitioner already represents the Employer 's production employees. In the alternative, the Employer urges that, in addition to separate units for Photographic and Office Equipment department employees , separate units should also be established for Central Mailing and Central Files department employees . There is no dispute as to the categories of employees to be included in, and excluded from, the proposed units. The John R plant furnishes clerical and other services to the Em- ployer's central offices and 14 operational plants in Detroit, Michigan. All operations within the plant are supervised by a single plant super- intendent. The following are the departments involved in this proceeding : Central Mailing Department, in which incoming, outgoing, and interplant correspondence , sealed and unsealed, is collected , sorted, and distributed among the various plants . Material handled in the department consists of letters , orders, price bulletins , statistical re- 781902-48-vol. 7G 5 52 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ports, credit ratings, advertising material, and, occasionally, written matter relating to labor relations. Executives may, and sometimes do, transmit confidential matter by direct mail, rather than through the Central Mailing department. Employed in this department are mail sorters, postal clerks, a typist, a messenger, and truck drivers.' Central Files Department, in which financial reports, pay-roll rec- ords, production records, correspondence, and other records pertain- ing to the Employer's business, including completed labor relations matters, are filed and stored. Employed in this department are file clerks, a vault custodian, and a stock handler. Stationery Department, which orders and distributes stationery items and printed forms, including production and accounting forms, and advance publicity material, which may reveal new products, prices, and sales policies. Employed in this department are stockmen, follow-up clerks, general clerks, a filing clerk, a junior auditor, a fan-fold operator, a forms specifier, a Sunstrand machine operator, and a typist.' Stationery Production Department, where record cards relating to warehouse and distribution operations are produced, addressograph plates are made and maintained, and general mailing material, such as publicity matter, dealer agreements, price lists, and parts specifica- tions, are inserted in mechanically addressed envelopes. Employed here are multilith operators, multilith typists, addressograph opera- tors, file clerks, mail binders, and a proof reader. Advertising Stock Department, in which price lists, and publicity and advertising literature are stored and shipped to dealers. Em- ployed in this department are stockmen and a file clerk. Photographic Department, where photographs of products and photostats of fornnllas, contracts, and correspondence are made. This department employs photographers, a reproduction operator, a photo printer, a photostat operator, a laboratory assistant, and several clerks who assist the operators. Office Equipment Department, which has the responsibility of re- pairing all kinds of office machinery The employees in this depart- ment are mechanics and their necessary assistants.3 'The truck drivers drive small panel trucks to and from the several plants , gathering and disci ibutmg incoming and outgoing mail. Both parties agree to their inclusion in the unit ' There are also within the department two courtesy drivers , who drive executives between the various plants Both parties agree to exclude these courtesy drivers from the unit we shall exclude them 3In addition to the seven departments described above, there are three other depart- ments, Chrysler Motors Magazine, which employs only editors and magazine writers, Central Service, an executive department consisting of executives and their confidential secretaries , and Power house and Maintenance. Both parties agree to exclude the employees in these three departments from all units CHRYSLER CORPORATION 53 As stated above, the Employer contends that the employees whom the Petitioner seeks to include in its proposed units are confidential employees and hence must be excluded from any bargaining unit. We do not agree that they are confidential employees within the Board's definition 4 Although a large number of these employees handle busi- ness and financial records of the Employer, including some labor rela- tions records, all of them act in a relatively routine minor clerical capacity. None of them acts in a confidential capacity to any execu- tive active in the field of labor relations:5 Accordingly, we find that the employees included in the units found appropriate hereinafter are not confidential employees. The further contention of the Employer that clerical employees may not be represented by the Petitioner because the Petitioner already represents production employees is also without merit.6 The Employer asserts, finally, that separate units should be estab- lished for the employees in the Central Mailing and Central Files departments, respectively. We perceive no reason for separating the clerical employees ni these departments from each other and from the clerical employees in the other three related departments. All these employees have essentially the same skills and work in the same build- ing, under similar working conditions. Accordingly, we shall include the employees in the Central Mailing, Central Files, Stationery, Sta- tionery Production, and Advertising Stock departments in a single unit. We find that each of the following units in the Employer's John R plant, excluding from each unit confidential clerks and secretaries to executives and supervisors, group leaders, foremen, and all other supervisors as defined in the amended Act, is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : It. All employees in the Photographic department. 2. All employees in the Office Equipment department. 3. All employees in the Central Mailing, Central Files, Sta- tionery, Stationery Production and Advertising Stock depart- nients, excluding courtesy drivers. - DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, "Matter of Ford Motor Company, 66 N L. R. B. 1317 5It is noted that the Petitioner agrees to the exclusion of all - confidential clerks and secretaries to executives and supervisors 6 See Matter of Armour and Company, 49 N L. R. B G88 and 54 N L R B. 1005, enf d N L R B N Armour and Company, 154 F (2d) 570 (C C A 10). 54 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Michigan, a separate election 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 Director for the Seventh Region, Detroit, Michigan, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula- tions-Series 5, among the employees in each of the units found appro- priate 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 the said pay-roll period because 1 hey 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 any employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine in each unit whether or not they desire to be represented by Interna- tional Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Imple- ment Workers of America (UAW-CIO), for the purposes of collective bargaining. MEMBER GRAY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Elections.