UTD Corp.

346 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD UTD Corporation (Union-Card Division),' Employer-Petitioner and United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE) UTD Corporation (Union-Card Division) and United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), Petitioner. Cases 1-RM-636 and 1-RC-9340. June 13, 1967 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS FANNING AND ZAGORIA Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a consolidated hearing was held before Hearing Officer Robert C. Rosemere of the National Labor Relations Board. The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The Employer- Petitioner, herein referred to as the Employer, and the Petitioner in Case 1-RC-9340, herein referred to as the Union, filed briefs which have been considered by the Board. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with these cases to a three-member panel. Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the purposes of the Act to assert jurisidiction herein. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists con- cerning the representation of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The parties are in agreement as to the appropriateness of a unit of the Employer's production and maintenance employees. They are in dispute, however, as to the unit placement of apprentices, leadmen, and watchmen. The Employer, contrary to the Union, would include apprentices and leadmen and exclude watchmen.2 A. Apprentices The 25 apprentices are high school graduates, who, during a 4-year program, receive training at various operations throughout the plant. Most of their time is devoted to training in production classifications, during which they actually perform production operations and are supervised by the foreman of the production department to which they are assigned. The apprentices are hourly paid, are paid for overtime, punch a timeclock, and receive the same fringe benefits as do the production employees. Upon completion of the program, the apprentices are recognized as journeymen machinists, although they may then be assigned to duties outside the unit. The Union would exclude the apprentices on the ground that they are recruited and trained for positions "outside of the bargaining unit." However, the record indicates that the purpose of the program is to train men who will be capable of performing a variety of functions throughout the plant, and that many of the apprentices are assigned to production classifications upon completion of the program. Moreover, the Employer has a separate program for training college graduates for sales and management positions outside the unit. We find, therefore, that the interests and conditions of employment of the apprentices are similar to those of the unit employees. Although they have better prospects for advancement with the Employer than do the employees who have not had such training, this factor cannot change the community of interest which the apprentices share with the production and maintenance employees during the 4-year training program.3 We shall accordingly include the apprentices in the unit.4 B. Watchmen The two watchmen, who are not armed, do not wear uniforms or badges, and are not authorized to make arrests, periodically tour the plant during and after working hours, checking for irregularities and punching the watchman's clocks as they pass certain stations. When their tour is completed, they spend some time at the main gate before beginning the next tour. In the evening, the watchmen close and padlock the plant gates, and thereafter employees entering the plant must be admitted by a watchman. A watchman must determine whether an employee leaving the plant with any of the Employer's materials is authorized to do so, and, if not, he must report the infraction to the employee's supervisor. The watchmen do no janitorial or custodial work. As it is clear that the watchmen are employed to enforce against the employees rules to protect the property of the Employer, we find that they are ' The name of the Employer-Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing ' In 1953, the Board certified the United Steelworkers of America, not here involved, as the representative of the Employer's production and maintenance employees in a unit which included apprentices and leadmen and excluded watchmen The Steelworkers lost a decertification election in 1956, and the employees involved have apparently not been represented since that time ' See General Electrtc Company, 131 NLRB 100, 104-105 ' Although the record shows that the 1955 contract entered into by the Employer and the Steelworkers excluded apprentices, they were, as noted above, included in the unit by the 1953 Board certification 165 NLRB No. 48 UTD CORPORATION guards within the meaning of Section 9(b)(3) of the Act. Accordingly, we shall exclude the watchmen from the unit. C. Leadmen There are approximately 700 employees in the production and maintenance unit and 42 admitted supervisors: 7 second foremen, 17 foremen, 14 head foremen, 3 superintendents, and a works manager. There are 35 regular and 2 temporary leadmen. Leadmen work in departments which include from 4 to 25 employees. They distribute and check the quality of work, instruct new employees, set up machinery, and do some production work. If completed work does not meet the required standards, the leadman might call this to the attention of the employee who worked on the product, and note the defect on an error slip for the purpose of having a record of pieces that might later be removed from an order. Leadmen also perform such routine functions as correcting clock and contract cards, by which employees record the amount of time they are at work or on a particular job, and passing out checks; and a few of them compute piece rates for incentive workers by referring to a chart prepared for this purpose. Although leadmen at present do less production work than they did formerly, their duties have not changed significantly since 1953, when they were included in the unit. During the day shift, foremen are present in the production departments. Although foremen are not present during the night shift, a "night supervisor," who the record indicates is a head foreman, is present, and the day-shift foremen give the night- shift leadmen detailed instructions concerning the night operations. Leadmen have told employees who were away from their machines or talking to return to work, but they refer to the admitted supervisors cases of more serious misconduct. Likewise, employees occasionally come to leadmen with work problems, and, if routine in nature , such as a problem with the functioning of a machine, the leadman disposes of it. More complicated or serious problems are referred to the foremen. Although See Corey Brothers, Inc , 162 NLRB 1253, Welsh Farms Ice Cream, Inc., 161 NLRB 748. Although employees have come to leadmen and requested permission to leave work early, and occasionally leadmen have granted permission, without first seeking approval of a foreman, the sporadic exercise of such limited authority does not show the leadmen to be supervisors See Corey Brothers, Inc, supra, fn 12 'An election eligibility list, containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer 347 many leadmen express opinions to the admitted supervisors concerning an employee's performance, usually in relation to the Employer's periodic merit rating system, any recommendations the leadmen may make are subject to independent investigation, and, when disagreement occurs, the opinions of the admitted supervisors prevail. Management schedules separate periodic meetings for leadmen and for foremen, although occasionally a foreman who misses his meeting might then attend a leadmen's meeting. It was stipulated at the hearing that leadmen do not engage in prehire interviewing, and the record does not show that they have authority to hire, discharge, suspend, transfer, lay off, recall, promote, reward, discipline, settle grievances, or effectively recommend action as to any of these matters. Although a leadman is paid 20 to 25 cents an hour more than the highest paid employee in his assigned department, he receives the same fringe benefits as do the production employees, punches a timeclock, is hourly paid, and receives time and a' half for overtime. On the basis of the foregoing considerations and the record as a whole, we find that the leadmen are not supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Although they do appear to give some routine directions pertaining to the functions of the department to which they are assigned, they do not, in our opinion, exercise independent judgment so as to constitute them supervisors within the meaning of the Act.-5 Therefore, we shall include them in the unit. Accordingly, we find that the following employees constitute a unit appropriate for collective- bargaining purposes within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Athol, Massachusetts, plant, including apprentices and leadmen, but excluding office clerical employees, professional employees, watchmen, guards, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election6 omitted from publication.] with the Regional Director for Region 1 within 7 days after the date of issuance of this Direction of Election The Regional Director shall make the list available to all the parties to the election No extension of time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed Excelsior Underwearlnc , 156 NLRB 1236