Hawaiian Telephone Co.

HAWAIIAN TELEPHONE CO. I Hawaiian Telephone Company and Local Union 1260, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 37-UC-9 October 15, 1970 DECISION AND ORDER BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND JENKINS Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Dennis R. MacCarthy, Hearing Officer. All parties appeared at the hearing, and were given full opportunity to participate therein. On July 13, 1970, the Regional Director for Region 20 issued an order transferring the case to the National Labor Relations Board. Thereafter, briefs were timely filed by the Petitioner and the Employer. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing 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 purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein. 2. The Employer, a Hawaii corporation, provides telephone services to the residents of the State of Hawaii and to foreign countries. In 1943, the Petitioner was certified by the Board as the collective- bargaining representative of all employees of the Employer on the Island of Oahu. Subsequently, the Petitioner and Employer agreed to expand the unit to encompass all of the Employer's operations in the State of Hawaii. While not specifically described in the unit certifica- tion, service assistants have been included in the collective-bargaining unit.' On November 16, 1969, the Employer replaced the classification of service assistants with the new classification of traffic supervisors. Those employees who were service assistants then became traffic supervisors. The Peti- tioner has requested that the unit be clarified to include traffic supervisors. The Employer opposes this petition, contending that this job classification is a supervisory position, and, therefore, it should be excluded from the unit. Traffic supervisors perform essentially the same duties as were previously performed by service assistants. Miss Lau, the only traffic supervisor who testified, stated that she is assigned a group of approximately 15 operators. She stated that a traffic supervisor is responsible for observing the operators, seeing that work is performed properly and watching the flow of traffic. Additional duties consist of training and monitoring operators and taking over difficult calls. Traffic supervisors do not participate in the hiring or firing of employees, and do not assign work. The Employer contends that the classification of traffic supervisor was created for the purpose of increasing the number of "first line" supervisors. The Employer supports this contention by relating the additional "supervisory" responsibilities given to traffic supervisors. They are now responsible for appraising each operator every 9 months. The appraisal is reviewed by the assistant chief operator and then discussed by the supervisor with the employee. The Employer's general traffic manager testified that he did not know what use was made of the appraisal information, and the record does not otherwise indicate. Traffic supervisors are also re- sponsible for "approving" step increases in wages. The record shows that the personnel department prepares a list containing the names of employees eligible for step increases under the union agreement. This list is sent to the chief operator for her approval. The traffic supervisor reviews the list and places her initials next to each increase unless she chooses not to initial an increase in which case an explanation is written on the form. This list is then reviewed by the assistant chief operator and chief operator who decide whether the increase should be given. This decision is further reviewed by the department manager and the vice president of personnel. The record does not show that the traffic supervisor's initialing results in an effective recommendation. The Employer also contends that traffic supervisors have supervisory authority with regard to discipline. A traffic supervisor can give an initial warning to an operator and recommend disciplinary action. If such a recommendation is made, the assistant chief operator will make an independent investigation of the situation and then decide what action is to be taken. There is no evidence that traffic supervisors have made effective recommendations regarding discipline. Their function is simply to report discipli- nary problems, at which point the assistant chief operator then represents management in the investi- gation and correction of the problem. Although the Employer has enlarged the responsi- bilities of the job in issue and devised a new title, we find that the additional responsibilities are not such as to confer supervisory authority. The recommenda- 1 They are specifically listed in the contract which expired April 30, 1970. 186 NLRB No. 2 2 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD tions concerning discipline and reward are not shown to be effective or to result in personnel action being taken without resort to independent investigation by higher authority.2 As shown here, the position of traffic supervisor appears to be that of a work leader. After a careful review of the record, we conclude that traffic supervisors do not possess any indicia of supervisory authority and, therefore, are not supervi- sors as defined in Section 2(l1) of the Act, as amended. We therefore, conclude that the traffic supervisors are properly placed within the present bargaining unit, and we shall, accordingly, clarify the certification to include them. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the certification heretofore issued to Local Union 1260, International Brother- hood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO be, and it hereby is, clarified by specifically including therein the position of traffic supervisor. 2 Cf General Telephone Company of Michigan, 112 NLRB 46