A. B. Dick Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 17, 1977

230 N.L.R.B. 257 (N.L.R.B. 1977)

A. B. DICK COMPANY
A. B. Dick Company and Communications Workers
of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 7-RC-
14090
June 17, 1977
DECISION ON REVIEW AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS
PENELLO AND WALTHER
On March 2, 1977, the Acting Regional Director
for Region 7 issued a Decision and Direction of
Election in the above-entitled proceeding in which he
directed an election in a unit, as sought by Petitioner,
of all full-time and regular part-time employees of
the Employer at its Southfield, Michigan, facility,
including service department employees, warehouse
employees, and office clerical employees, but exclud-
ing sales employees, professional employees, confi-
dential employees, guards and supervisors as defined
in the Act. Thereafter, in accordance with the
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions, Series 8, as amended, the Employer filed a
timely request for review of the Acting Regional
Director's decision on the ground, inter alia, that by
including office clerical employees with service
department employees in a single unit he made
erroneous factual findings and departed from offi-
cially reported precedent.'
On March 24, 1977, the National Labor Relations
Board by telegraphic order granted the request for
review solely with respect to the inclusion of the nine
office clerical employees in the unit and stayed the
election. No briefs on review have been filed.
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 entire record in this
case with respect to the issue under review and
makes the following findings:
The Employer is a Delaware corporation engaged
in the manufacture, sale, and service of word-
processing, copying, and duplicating equipment and
the sale of related supplies. At the Employer's
Southfield, Michigan, branch facility there are
approximately 23 sales representatives (whom neither
party seeks to include), 29 service representatives, 3
service and parts clericals,2 2 warehouse employees,
and 9 business office clerical employees.
I The Employer urged that two separate units were appropriate: a unit of
the servicemen, service clerks, and parts clerk and a separate unit of the
office clerical and warehouse employees.
All employees work under the overall supervision
of the branch manager. The nonsales employees are
all hourly paid, receive the same fringe benefits, and
work approximately the same hours.
The service representatives work under the imme-
diate supervision of a service manager and are
primarily responsible for servicing and maintaining
equipment sold by the Employer. The nature of their
duties necessitates that they spend an overwhelming
proportion of their work hours away from the
Southfield facility servicing equipment at the custom-
er's location.3 The service representatives report
directly to customer locations rather than to the
branch facility. The only time they are regularly
required to report to the Employer's facility is once a
week for approximately an hour to turn in their
paperwork and receive their paychecks. The record
discloses that they may spend an average of 3-5
hours a month in the branch facility working on
equipment. When present at the facility, they do not
report to the business office area, except in the
infrequent instance that they are called in to repair a
piece of equipment there. The service representatives
who work on the electronic equipment sold by the
Employer are required to take courses in basic
electronics, and attend an 8-week course at the
Employer's training center in Niles, Illinois. Service
representatives who service the less sophisticated,
basically mechanical equipment receive approxi-
mately 6 months of on-the-job training. Service
representatives also are authorized to sell mainte-
nance contracts to customers on behalf of the
Employer, and they receive, as a bonus, 9 percent of
the contract price in addition to their other compen-
sation.
The service and parts clericals and warehouse
employees perform their functions in the Employer's
branch facility. As indicated by their titles, their
duties relate directly to the work performed by the
service representatives and include, respectively,
processing service orders, supplying parts, and
shipping and receiving equipment and materials.
The office clerical employees occupy the following
positions: order and billing clerk, accounts receiva-
ble clerk, switchboard operator, and administrative
clerk. All of their work is performed in the business
office located in a separate area of the facility. These
employees are primarily responsible for preparing
purchase orders for incoming goods, processing sales
orders from customers, and billing customers for
2 The parties are in agreement regarding the inclusion of the service and
parts clericals.
3 The shop man, I of the 29 service representatives, performs most of his
work in the repair shop at the branch facility.
230 NLRB No. 36
257
DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
sales and service. The office clericals are under the
direct supervision of the office manager.4
Analogizing the Employer's operations to a small
retail establishment, in which the Board has an
established policy favoring overall units,5 the Acting
Regional Director included the office clerical em-
ployees in the same unit with the service representa-
tives, relying on the fact that all of the nonsales
employees work at or report to the same facility and
share common hours, basic methods of pay, fringe
benefits, and upper-level supervision.
The Employer contends that the Acting Regional
Director erred in including the office clericals in the
same unit with the other employees. We find merit in
the Employer's contentions.
The record discloses that the office clerical employ-
ees receive separate immediate supervision, are
located apart from other employees in the Employ-
er's facility, and have insubstantial contact with the
other employees included in the unit. As indicated,
the service representatives normally do not work at
the Employer's facility and report there only once a
week for a brief period of time. Employee inter-
change between the office clericals and the other
employees is negligible. The only instance of inter-
change occurred approximately 2 years ago when a
service representative transferred into the office
clerical section.
In view of the nature of the Employer's branch
operations described above, we conclude that the
office clerical employees are improperly included
with the other employees. The Acting Regional
Director's reliance on the Board's policy regarding
retail establishments is, in our view, inapplicable
here. The basis for this policy favoring overall units
in retail establishments is the integrated nature of
4 Although the office manager also has responsibility over the ware-
housemen, they have separate immediate supervision.
South Station Liquor Store Inc., d/b/a Berenson Liquor Mart, 223
NLRB 1115(1976).
6 Interstate Supply Company, 117 NLRB 1062 (1957); cf. Charles Bruning
Company, Inc., 126 NLRB 140, 142 (1960), where the Board, in an enterprise
similar to that of the Employer here, found an overall unit appropriate
such operations and the resulting allied work
interests of the employees in such establishments. 6
Such functional integration does not exist here.
Moreover, the office clerical employees in this case
perform distinct traditional office work, apart from
the other employees, and have limited contact with
them.
On the basis of the foregoing and the record as a
whole, we find that the office clerical employees at
the Employer's Southfield branch facility share a
community of interest separate from that of the
service and warehouse employees, and we shall direct
separate elections among employees in the following
units which we find appropriate for the purpose of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act:
UNIT A
All service department employees and warehouse
employees of the Employer employed at its
facility located at 22110 Telegraph Road, South-
field, Michigan, excluding all other employees,
professional employees, confidential employees,
guards and supervisors, as defined in the Act.
UNIT B
All office clerical employees of the Employer
employed at its facility located at 22110 Tele-
graph Road, Southfield, Michigan, excluding all
other employees, professional employees, confi-
dential employees, guards and supervisors, as
defined in the Act.
[Direction of Elections 7 and Excelsior footnote
omitted from publication.]
because of the stipulation of the parties, a situation not existing in the
instant case.
7 As the elections being directed are in units that differ in composition
from the unit originally sought by Petitioner, the Regional Director shall
determine whether Petitioner's showing of interest is sufficient in each unit
before proceeding with the elections therein.
258