The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO. 133 The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company ' and United Rubber, Cork, Linoleum and Plastic Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 21-RC-10535 November 7, 1967 DECISION AND ORDER By CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS BROWN AND JENKINS Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held on August 2, 1967, before Barton W. Robertson, Hearing Officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The Employer and Peti- tioner have each filed briefs. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connec- tion with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings, and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the pol- icies of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. No question affecting commerce exists con- cerning the representation of certain employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons: The Petitioner seeks a unit of 18 tab operators. These employees operate collators, sorters, a 1440 computer, a 360 computer, a 604 calculator with a 541 system attached, regular and hand keypunch machines, interpreters, and reproducers. To qualify for their jobs, the tab operators normally undergo a 2-week training period at IBM school. Operation of the computers is not difficult. On the 360 and 1440 computers, the operator sets a number of switches according to an instruction manual . The "load deck" and "head card" are then inserted, appropriate buttons pushed, and the machine does its calculations, which are reported on a blank form. Operation of the 604 calculator with the 541 system attached requires wire panels. The great majority of panels are prewired. On occa- sion, partially wired panels will be used and the operator completes wiring by inserting "leads" into appropriate holes. This task requires no skill I The names of both Employer and Petitioner appear as amended at the hearing 2 108NLRB80 168 NLRB No. 25 beyond that needed to follow the instruction manual circulated by the Employer's home office. The tab operators form one of the four sections or, subdivisions of the Employer's Western Zone Accounting office. The other three are the wholesale, retail, and keypunch sections. Each of these has a separate line of supervision. There are some 24 keypunch operators, and from 90 to 100 wholesale and retail clerks. There are six tab super- visors, three on the first or day shift, two on the second shift, and one on the third shift, all of whom report directly to the operations manager of the of- fice. Wholesale and retail clerks perform the stan- dard gamut of office clerical functions. These em- ployees are in 16 separate classifications. Broadly speaking, they prepare journal entries, invoices, shipping papers, and similar information sources of keypunching. There the information is coded onto IBM cards, thence to the tab room. Keypunchers normally receive 1 week's training at IBM schools. A high school education is generally required of all employees in Western Zone Accounting. Half of the tab operators were promoted from lower classifications within the company, a half coming directly from the outside. While tab opera- tors may on occasion be temporarily transferred to keypunching, only tab operators operate the machinery located in the tab room. When opera- tions are efficient, tab operators will spend only 5 percent of their time in other sections with other employees tracking down errors, though on occa- sion it may be more. Tab operators are among the highest paid in the division. On these facts, it is clear that tab operators do not constitute an appropriate collective-bargaining unit. This Board so held in General Insurance Company of America.2 We see no reason to alter our prior determination insofar as it concerns tab operators such as are involved herein. The Board has also on at least one occasion con- sidered an analogous question, namely, whether tab operators may properly be included in a larger unit of office clericals, and answered affirmatively.3 And in Lowe's Inc.,4 the Board specifically rejected the employer's contention that tab operators were technical employees and included them in a unit of office clericals. Petitioner's contention that an appropriate tab operators' unit exists here rests principally on four considerations: The functionally distinct nature of the tab operators' work, the complexity and ex- pensive nature of the machinery involved, the separate work area, and the higher salaries. On balance, these considerations fail to establish the requisite separate community of interest. Tab 3 The Grocers Supply Company, Inc , 160 NLRB 485 127 NLRB 976 To identical effect is The Dayton Power and Light Company, 137 NLRB 337 134 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD operators have the same basic education as their fellow office clericals. They possess no distinguish- ing skill. In half of the cases their ranks are filled by transferees from other sections of the same divi- sion. All are salaried , and enjoy the same benefits. We find, therefore , that the unit sought is too nar- row in scope to be appropriate. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petition. ORDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed.