Astronautics Corp. of America

652 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Astronautics Corporation of America and Interna- tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO-CLC, Petitioner. Case 30-RC-2099 May 16, 1974 SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION, ORDER, AND SECOND DIRECTION OF ELECTION BY MEMBERS JENKINS, KENNEDY, AND PENELLO On September 28, 1973, the Regional Director for Region 30, after a hearing, issued a Decision and Direction of Election' in the above-entitled proceed- ing in which he found the unit noted below2 appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. Before the election was held, the Petitioner and the Employer disagreed as to whether certain employees in the material department should be included in the unit. To resolve this matter, a further hearing was ordered by the Regional Director which was held by Hearing Officer Cecil Sutphen. Thereafter, in ac- cordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Series 8, as amended, this case was transferred to the Board. The Employer and the Petitioner filed briefs with the Board. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board has delegated its authority in this proceeding 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. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and sale of electronic aircraft instruments at three plants, all located within a two-block radius. The material department, under the overall supervision of B. L. Peters, has three separately supervised sections known as industrial engineering, purchasing, and material control. The Employer contends that the employees in the material department do not have a sufficient community of interest with the production and maintenance employees to warrant their inclu- sion in the same unit. The Petitioner is agreeable to the exclusion of certain of these employees, but would include others as plant clericals. Thus, the Petitioner would exclude the employees in the industrial engineering section which, it appears, consists of professional and office clerical employees. It would also exclude the buyers in the purchasing section as managerial employees, in view of their authority to commit the Employer for purchases that may amount to many thousands of dollars, but would include the clerks in the purchasing section, whose duties of maintaining records, typing, and taking dictation show them to be office clerical employees. We shall exclude the employees in the industrial engineering and purchasing section. Remaining for determination are the employees in the material control section whom, except as noted below, the Petitioner would include in the unit as plant clericals. That section is divided into three separately supervised subsections: stockroom, mate- rial expediting, and inventory control. The stockroom employees are hourly paid and are classified as receiver, storekeeper, assistant store- keeper, drivers, store attendant, and store attendant helper. They perform the usual duties associated with receiving, in-plant distributions, storing, and record- keeping of material shipped to the Employer. They also assemble parts from "kit sheets" and place them into a kit or container for use by the production employees. There are employees in material expediting who are salaried and are classified as senior expediter, expediter, material control clerk, and material clerk. They maintain records relating to the flow of materials throughout the plant and "run" needed parts from the stockroom to other locations, princi- pally to the production area. There is also a salaried material coordinator who interprets engineering drawings to resolve complex problems that arise with respect to material shortages at various plant locations, for which work a formal technical educa- tion is required. The employees in inventory control who are salaried are classified as scheduler, material control clerk, and senior clerk typist; one hourly paid employee is a packer. The employees are responsible for all shipping operations and the maintenance of an adequate supply of materials. They also prepare the kit sheets for the stockroom personnel and maintain a separate storeroom for office supplies. There are also salaried employees classified as material coordinators in inventory control, whom the Petitioner would exclude. Their duties require the analysis of engineering drawings in the planning of the more difficult shipments, some of which are destined for overseas. A formal technical education is also a requisite for their jobs. Except for the material coordinators, the work of the employees in the stockroom, material expediting, 1 Unpublished quality assurance and reliability department employees , office clerical 2 All production and maintenance employees employed at the Employ- employees, managerial employees, professional employees, guards, and er's Milwaukee, Wisconsin, facilities, including plant clerical employees and supervisors as defined in the Act , and all other employees. production inspectors, but excluding civil aviation department employees, 210 NLRB No. 101 ASTRONAUTICS CORP. OF AMERICA 653 and inventory control of the material control section is in the nature of that performed by plant clericals .3 We shall therefore include them in the production and maintenance unit found appropriate by the Regional Director which specifically includes plant clerical employees by agreement of the parties. However, in view of the technical nature of their work, we shall exclude the material coordinators from the unit in which technical employees have been excluded.4 ORDER It is hereby ordered that the unit found by the Regional Director to be appropriate be, and it hereby is, amended to read as follows: All production and maintenance employees em- 3 See Container Research Corp, 188 NLRB 586. 4 During the hearing, it was disclosed that the Employer had acquired, in October 1973, the assets of another company which was engaged in the computer terminal business. The Employer has established a computer terminal department, but this department is in a developmental engineering ployed at the Employer's Milwaukee, Wisconsin, facilities, including plant clerical employees (in- cluding those employed in the stockroom, materi- al expediting, and inventory control subsections of the material control section of the material department), and production inspectors, but excluding all other employees in the material department, civil aviation department employees, quality assurance and reliability department employees, office clerical employees, managerial employees, professional employees, guards, all other employees, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. [Direction of Second Election and Excelsior foot- note omitted from publication.] stage, employing only engineers, and no decision has been made as to the extent the Employer will utilize its recent acquisition . In these circumstances it would be premature to make a unit determination of the employees who will be employed in that department.