North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co.

NORTH CAROLINA MUTUAL, ETC . 625 in the voting group set forth below, as they are in the line of direct progression to journeyman classifications. While the Petitioner does not seek to include other employees in the unit, the question arose at the hearing whether certain other em- ployees in the three plants should be included in the unit. These employees are classified as machine repairmen, machine setters, ma- chinists, grinding and lathe specialists, patternmakers, tool inspectors, attendants, and errand boys in the toolroom. It appears that none of these employees exercise the skills of tool- and die-makers or model- makers. Accordingly, even if some of them may exercise skills of ma- chinists or of other crafts, the unit sought by the Petitioner, excluding these employees, is appropriate, and we will exclude these employees from the proposed unit. Accordingly, we shall direct that an election be held among the employees of the Employer at its Ilion, New York, plants, in the voting group consisting of : All tool- and die-makers, tool- and die-maker trainees, modelmakers, and modelmaker trainees, excluding all other employees, supervisors, and guards as defined in the Act. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they shall be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the election directed herein is in- structed to issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for the unit described above, which the Board, under the circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. If a majority vote for the Intervenor, they will remain a part of the exist- ing unit and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to such effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] MEMBER PETERSON took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. NORTH CAROLINA MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA and INSURANCE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 4-RC-2343. July 30,1954 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 Morris Mogerman, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 109 NLRB No. 100. 626 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 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 to represent a unit of licensed and unlicensed industrial insurance agents, full- and part-time ordinary life insur- ance agents,' and clerical employees working in and out of the Em- ployer's Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, district office. The Employer contends that ordinary agents should not be included in the same unit with industrial agents because of differences in working conditions resulting from the different policies they write. It also contends that the unlicensed insurance agents should be excluded as trainees or probationary employees, and the clerical employees excluded because their working conditions are different from those of the agents. The Employer writes two kinds of insurance policies, ordinary and industrial. Ordinary policies are those written in amounts of $1,000 or more with premiums payable no oftener than quarterly. Industrial policies are those written for amounts less than $1,000 and the premi- ums are usually collected by the industrial agent personally at weekly intervals. The list of policyholders from whom the industrial agent collects premiums is referred to as his debit. Under Pennsylvania law insurance agents must be licensed in order to solicit applications for insurance from the public.2 There are 11 licensed ordinary agents, and 35 licensed and 13 unlicensed indus- trial agents. Both the ordinary and the industrial insurance agents work out of the Philadelphia district office, which is operated by the Employer, and are supervised by the same district manager. Both groups of agents are paid only on a commission basis. Ordinary agents do not usually collect premiums and are not confined to a specific territory, as is true of the industrial agents. However, indus- trial agents may, like the ordinary agents, write ordinary life insur- ance within and without their assigned debit territory. Both groups of agents are required to submit weekly reports to the office cashier for reconciliation of their accounts. We believe that a combined unit of industrial and ordinary agents is appropriate under the circumstances present in this case. The writ- ing and servicing of insurance policies itself creates a community of ' The Employer has no part-time ordinary agents. 2 This requirement seems to have been loosely enforced in the recent past because the testimony indicates that shortly before the hearing in this case unlicensed agents were permitted to submit applications for insurance to the Employer. NORTH CAROLINA MUTUAL, ETC. 627 interest shared by the two groups of agents despite the differences in the technique of servicing industrial and ordinary life insurance policies. Further, all agents are subject to the same supervision, contrary to the practice of many insurance companies which main- tain separate organizations for soliciting and servicing industrial and ordinary life policies. Finally, industrial agents frequently write ordinary life policies and may, on occasion, be transferred to that type of activity exclusively. Accordingly, we find that a com- bined unit of ordinary and industrial agents is appropriate. As stated, the Employer would exclude the unlicensed industrial agents on the ground that they are trainees or probationary employees. The unlicensed agents are presently engaged only in collecting pre- miums, whereas the licensed agents also solicit applications for new in- surance. Agents who fail to pass the State license examination are usually retained, merely continuing their collection work. Some of the unlicensed agents now employed have failed the examination a number of times and have been employed from 6 months to a year. All industrial agents, licensed and unlicensed, sign identical employment contracts, receive the same preliminary training, and are then assigned to a supervisor who works with them until they are qualified to carry their debits themselves. The unlicensed agents are in fact full-time permanent employees who may legally continue to work as industrial agents except that they may not solicit new business. We find that the similarity in interests and working conditions of all the industrial agents requires that the unlicensed agents be included in the unit. There are nine clerical employees who work exclusively in the office handling premium collections and deposits, servicing claims, and doing necessary accounting work. They are salaried and work a fixed sched- ule of hours. The Employer contends that they should be excluded. We agree with the Employer that the office clerical employees have interests dissimilar from those of the agents and should be excluded from their unit.-3 The following employees in the Employer's Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, district, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col- lective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All licensed and unlicensed industrial and ordinary agents, exclud- ing office clerical employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] MEMBERS PETERSON and BEESON took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. 8 Southern Aid Society of Virginia, Inc, 64 NLRB 780, 783. The Petitioner's showing of interest among the office clericals is not sufficient to war- rant direction of a separate election for that group. 334811-55-vol. 109-41