Bulldog Electric Products Co.

642 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Order - - IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. BULLDOG ELECTRIC PRODUCTS COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHER- HOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. -7-RC- 1384. October 4,1951 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 James A. Harley, 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Reynolds]. Upon the entire record in this ease, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees 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) andSection2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of technical employees, including, among others, various kinds of draftsmen, a laboratory technician, a model maker, copywriters, estimators, a blueprint opera- tor, production planners, and methods engineers. The Employer contends that the unit is inappropriate because of a lack of homo- geneity in its composition. It bases this contention on the fact that a' little less than one-half of the employees in the proposed unit are draftsmen, that other employees in the unit do not have drafting training or experience, and that even among themselves the drafts- men are not interchangeable. It further argues that an appropriate unit should include office and clerical employees and should exclude certain classifications of employees discussed hereinafter. Finally, the Employer asserts that the Petitioner is an inappropriate bargain- ing agent because it already represents the Employer's production and maintenance employees, and technical personnel are not eligible for membership in the Petitioner. 96 NLRB No. 85. BULLDOG ELECTRIC PRODUCTS COMPANY 643 The Board has repeatedly held that a unit of technical employees is appropriate.' The Petitioner's proposed unit is no more diverse in its composition than other technical units which the Board has found appropriate? The proposed unit is not inappropriate because it does not include office and clerical employees. It is now well set- tled that office and clerical employees may not be joined in a single unit with technical employees where any party objects to such group- ing.3 Accordingly, we find that, with the modifications indicated hereinafter, the proposed unit is appropriate. The Employer's arguments addressed to the right of the Petitioner to represent these employees are also without merit. There is no statutory limitation on the right of a union to represent technical employees because it already represents the same employer's produc- tion and maintenance employees under a contract which excludes technical employees from its coverage.' Nor is the Petitioner dis- qualified to act as statutory representative of the technical employees, even assuming arguendo that the Petitioner's constitution does not admit such employees to membership, in the absence of evidence that the Petitioner will not adequately represent them.5 Although the proposed unit in broad outline is -appropriate, we shall exclude the following as nontechnical employees : 6 Follow-up man (sales service) : Handles all incoming calls and correspondence from customers and field engineers relative to prod- ucts on order. Handles sales correspondence with customers and keeps abreast of production orders in the shop. Perpetual inventory working supervisor: Directs factory em- ployees who count and record quantities of stock in the parts stock room. Handles the details required for keeping accurate records. Production planner: Responsible for scheduling and following up orders in the shop. Art layout man in the advertising and promotion department: Prepares and arranges art layouts for sketches, pictures, or diagrams used to illustrate company products in catalogues, bulletins, and gen- eral literature. Advertising copywriter in the advertising and promotion depart- ment: Writes copy for all advertising layouts for catalogues, bulle- tins and engineering data sheets. The Employer employs six students in technical classifications under an arrangement with the University of Detroit whereby the ' E. g., F. W. Sickles Company, 81 NLRB 390. IF. W. Sickles Company, supra. 3 'Willard Storage Battery Company, 94 NLRB 1423. ' Of. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, 81 NLRB 584; Detroit Harvester Company, 79 NLRB 1316. " Federated Publications, Inc., 74 NLRB 1054. 6 The Timken-Detroit Aale Company, 95 NLRB 736. 644 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD students attend school and work in the shop at alternate intervals of 3 months. The students do not receive the same rate of pay as regular employees, nor do they receive the benefits accorded to the latter, such as insurance coverage and vacation rights. Unlike the regular em- ployees, the students are advanced at regular intervals to more re- sponsible jobs. At the completion of their combined classroom and on-the-job training, the students receive degrees in electrical engineer- ing. It as apparent that the students do not have the same interest in terms and conditions of employment as do regular employees. We shall, therefore, -contrary to the contention of the Petitioner, exclude them from the unit. The Employer would exclude methods engineers as managerial, su- pervisory, and confidential employees. These employees determine methods of performing operations and work area layouts necessary for fabrication, assembly, or other manufacturing processes. They also determine standards of production through the application of either method-time-measurement analyses or accepted time-study techniques. The requirements for the position include only a high school education and specialized training in MTM and time-study techniques. Several former production and maintenance employees were promoted to the position of methods engineers after taking an 11-week course in ap- plicable techniques. We find that the methods engineers are technical employees? We reject the Employer's contention that they are either supervisory, managerial, or confidential employees. The methods engineers have no subordinates. They do instruct foremen in th6 proper method of per- forming operations and in the application of standards to work under their supervision, but they do not supervise them or the rank and.file in the statutory sense. Although the work of the methods engineers is extremely important to the Employer in controlling costs, that factor does not make them managerial employees, as the Employer argues. In the event of a grievance by the Union concerning a work standard established by the Employer, the foreman asks the methods engineer to check the job and give him the facts. This limited partici- pation in the grievance procedure is not sufficient to constitute the methods engineers either managerial or confidential employees.,, We find that the methods engineers are not supervisory, managerial, or confidential employees. As technical employees, we shall include them in the unit. The Employer has six junior estimators and six senior estimators in its sales engineering and service,department. The Employer con- tends that estimators, senior and junior, should be excluded as mana- 7 Cf. Florence Stove Company, 94 NLRB 1434. 8 Florence Stove Company, supra; F. W. Sickles Company, 81 NLRB 390. SEAMPRUFE, INC. 645 gerial employees. The estimators analyze orders submitted by field engineers and customers and fix the price to be charged. The calcula- tions made by the estimators are substantially final. In making their calculations, they have to exercise discretion and judgment. As it appears that the estimators may establish prices and thus commit the Employer financially to third persons, we find that they are managerial employees and shall, therefore, exclude them from the unit.° We find that all technical employees at the Employer's plant in Detroit, Michigan, including draftsmen detailers, draftsmen I and II, model makers,10 laboratory technicians, blueprint and photostat oper- ators,- special engineering order bill of material writers and cost clerks, bill of material and routing engineers, engineering detail checkers, methods engineers, tool and die draftsmen, and tool inspector trouble-shooters, but excluding material writer and cost clerks, art layout men, copywriters, estimators, follow-up men (sales service), perpetual inventory working supervisors, production plan- ners, students receiving training under arrangement with the Uni- versity of Detroit, and supervisors, as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] 11 The Electric Controller S Manufacturing Company, 69 NLRB 1242. so Delta Manufacturing Division, Rockwell Manufacturing Company, 89 NLRB 1434. nDelta Manufacturing Division, Rockwell Manufacturing Company, supra. SEAMPRUFE , INC. and LOCAL 234, INTERNATIONAL LADIES' GARMENT WORKERS' UNION, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 41-RCi-1130. Octo- ber 4,1951 Decision and Certification of Representatives On April 27, 1951 , pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent election, executed by the Employer, Local 234, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, AFL, herein called the ILGWU, and the Seamprufe Employees' Association (of Easton), herein called the Association, ai election by secret ballot was conducted among the employees of the stipulated unit under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fourth Region. Upon the comple- tion of the election, a tally of ballots was issued and duly served by the Regional Director upon the parties. 96 NLRB No. 92. 974176-52-vol. 96-42