Underwriters Adjusting Co.

UNDERWRITERS ADJUSTING COMPANY Underwriters Adjusting Company, Employer-Petition- er and Highway Truckdrivers and Helpers Local 107, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America." Cases 22-RM-477, 22-RM- 478, and22-RM-481 December 20, 1976 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS BY MEMBERS FANNING, PENELLO, AND WALTHER Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Maria B. Balzano of the National Labor Relations Board on June 10 and 14, 1976. Thereafter, the Regional Director for Region, 22 -transferred the case to the Board for decision? 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, having duly considered the Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing, finds that they are free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. Underwriters Adjusting Company (hereinafter called the Employer) is an association registered in the State of New York and is engaged in the business of adjusting claims and losses arising out of insurance policies, with facilities located in New York, New York, and Newark and Saddle Brook, New Jersey. During the past 12 months, the Employer derived gross revenue in excess of $500,000 from sales and performance of services and revenue in excess of $50,000 from customers located outside the States of New Jersey and New York. Accordingly, the parties stipulated and we find that 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 parties have stipulated and we find that Local I is a labor organization within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.3 Although the parties refused to stipulate that Local 107 is a labor organization, the testimony of Local 107's secretary- treasurer established that Local 107 exists for the i The Union's name (hereinafter referred to as Local 107) appears as amended at the hearing. 2 The Intervenor (hereinafter referred to as Local 1), for reasons set forth infra, shall be designated on the ballot as Teamsters Local 1, American Communications Association , affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America (affilia- 227 NLRB No. 66 453 purpose of dealing with employers concerning griev- ances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours, or working conditions; operates under bylaws and a consitution; conducts meetings at which employees participate; and currently represents employees un- der various contracts. Accordingly, we find that both Local 1 and Local 107 are labor organizations within the meaning of Section 2(5) of the Act. 3. A question concerning representation exists concerning 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., As stipulated by the parties, Local 1 is the certified bargaining representative of certain employees at the Employer's three locations in New York, New York, and Newark and Saddle Brook, New Jersey. The parties also stipulated that the three units are appro- priate and were certified separately .4 The Employer and Local 1 entered into three separate bargaining agreements which were effective from April 30, 1975, to July 4, 1976. In July 1973, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America (hereinafter referred to as the Internation- al) voted to merge Local 1 into Local 115 (a Philadelphia local) but, subsequently, members of both locals protested this merger, and it was never consummated. In 1975, the International decided to merge Local I into Local 107. On September 8 and 9, 1975, Louis Bottone, Local 107's president, sent letters to the Employer and to Local l's members informing them of the merger and stating that Local 107 would succeed Local 1 as the collective-bargaining represent- ative. - Under the leadership of William Bender, secretary-treasurer of Local 1, the membership of Local 1 protested the merger by means of a petition sent to the International and filed an action -in U.S. district court against the International and Local 107 seeking to enjoin the merger. On April 30, 1976, Bender gave notice of Local is desire to reopen the contracts for the purpose of making changes and amendments. The Employer responded by stating that "It would be improper for us to decide on our own who, if anyone, has the right to represent our employees as their collective bargain- ing representative at this time." Thereafter, the Employer filed the instant petitions requesting the Board to resolve the question concerning representa- tion; the petitions were consolidated for hearing. tion with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware- housemen and Helpers of America in dispute). s At the hearing, counsel for Local 107 agreed to this stipulation with the proviso that "It is currently the position of Local 107 that [Local 1 [ no longer exists as a separate union, but has been merged with Local 107.. " 4 The Saddle Brook unit was certified while it was in Hackensack. 454 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Local 107 contends the merger should be recog- nized because it was direi,ted in accordance with the authority vested by the International constitution and, due to the low membership and unfavorable financial condition of Local 1, the merger can only inure to the benefit of Local l's members. Local 1 contended at the hearing that no question concerning representation exists as it continues to function as the bargaining representative of the employees involved herein and that no valid merger has taken place. The Employer contends that the merger did not assure a continuity of representation because premerger offi- cers will not be retained; the proposed merger contemplates an entirely new collective-bargaining procedure; the difference in size between Locals 1 and 107 is substantial; the two Locals do not represent the same type of workers; neither the members of Local 1 nor those of Local 107 were given the opportunity to vote on the merger. Upon the foregoing, we find that a question concerning representation exists. The facts in the instant dispute are substantially similar to those in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, 225 NLRB 966 (1976), which involved the instant merger of Local I into Local 107. As stated more fully in that case, we are not convinced that the employees involved enjoy an assurance of the continuity of their present organization and representation. Not only were the employees in the affected unit not provided an opportunity to express their approval or disap- proval of the merger, but an overwhelming majority of them signed the petition protesting the merger. Moreover, merger into Local 107 would provide a significant change for the employees in the certified units since Local 1 consists of approximately 120 members, whereas Local 107 has approximately 8,000 members. Accordingly, based on the evidence indicating the opposition of a certified unit to the merger, and the lack of opportunity for the members of Local I to formally express their approval or disapproval of the merger by means of a referendum, we find that a question concerning representation exists. Subsequent to issuing our Decision and Direction of Election in State Farm, we recognized that confusion at the election might result if the employees were confronted with a ballot listing alternate locals of the same International where one of the local unions may, in fact, no longer be affiliated with the International. Accordingly, we issued an order amending the Decision and Direction of Election so that the entity designating itself Teamsters Local 1 would be designated on the ballot as Teamsters Local 1, American Communications Association, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America (affiliation with International Brotherhood of Team- sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America in dispute). Likewise, in order to avoid possible confusion in the instant election, we shall direct that the election be conducted among eligible employees who shall vote whether they desire to be represented for collective-bargaining purposes by Teamsters Local 1, American Communications Asso- ciation, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Help- ers of America (affiliation with International Broth- erhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America in dispute); by Highway Truckdrivers and Helpers Local 107, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauf- feurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America; or by neither. The parties have stipulated that the certified unit is appropriate. Accordingly, we shall direct an election at each of the Employer's three locations in the following unit, which we find is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(b) of the Act: All adjusters and compensation examiners (in- cluding adjuster and examiner trainees who have completed the first six months of the Employer's training program) and all claims representatives; excluding office clerical, managerial, confidential, and professional employees and guards, supervis- ing adjusters, and other supervisors as defined in the Act. [Direction of Elections and Excelsior footnote omitted from publication.]