ITT Grinnell Corp.

734 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ITT Grinnell Corporation and United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 8-UC-92 manufacturing engineering in the office clerical unit is hereby affirmed. August 1, 1974 DECISION ON REVIEW BY CHAIRMAN MILLER AND MEMBERS FANNING AND JENKINS On March 29, 1974, the Regional Director for Re- gion 8 issued a Decision and Order Clarifying Bar- gaining Unit in the above-entitled proceeding in which he included, among others, the position of sec- retary to the manager of manufacturing engineering in a unit of office clerical employees, finding that the secretary was not a confidential employee. Thereafter, the Employer filed a request for review of the Regional Director's Decision, on the ground, inter alia, that the Regional Director's finding that the manager of manufacturing engineering does not ap- pear to be responsible for the formulation and effectu- ation of the Employer's labor policy is clearly erroneous on the basis of the record before him and that he departed from officially reported precedent in not excluding the position of secretary to the manager of manufacturing engineering from the bargaining unit. By telegraphic order dated April 22, 1974, the Board granted the request for review. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has considered the entire record in this case with respect to the issue under review and hereby adopts the findings and conclusions of the Regional Director, with respect to that issue, as set forth in the excepted portion of his Decision attached hereto. Accordingly, the Regional Director's action in in- cluding the classification of secretary, manager of APPENDIX DECISION AND ORDER CLARIFYING BARGAINING UNIT Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(b) of the Na- tional Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before a Hearing Officer 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 position of secretary, manager of manufacturing en- gineering, was not occupied at the time of the close of the hearing, although the job is viable, having been established in 1972. This secretary is directly supervised by the manager of manufacturing engineering and performs general steno- graphic duties, including the taking and transcribing of dic- tation, typing, and filing work. Recently the manager of manufacturing engineering has been placed in charge of the maintenance department. His secretary will be responsible for typing documents which may relate to the handling and processing of maintenance employee grievances. It is well established, however, that the typing of grievances or mate- rial relating to grievances is not sufficient to render an em- ployee confidential. Weyerhaeuser Company, 173 NLRB 1170 (1968). While the record reflects that the manager of manufacturing engineering may, in the indefinite future, participate to some unknown degree in collective-bargain- ing negotiations regarding unit employees, it does not ap- pear that he is responsible for the formulation and effectuation of the management labor relations policies of the Employer. Under these circumstances the position of secretary, manager of manufacturing engineering is not confidential in nature. The B. F. Goodrich Company, 115 NLRB 722 (1956); Ford Motor Company (Chicago Branch), 66 NLRB 1317 (1946); Weyerhaeuser Company, supra; Holly Sugar Corporation, 193 NLRB 1024 (1971). I find that al- though the duties of the secretary, manager of manufactur- ing engineering may expand somewhat with additional duties developing upon the manager, it does not appear that those duties are materially different from those traditionally performed by office clerical personnel and I shall include the classification of secretary, manager of manufacturing engineering in the office clerical unit presently represented by the Petitioner. 212 NLRB No. 105