Allstate Insurance Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 21, 1971

191 N.L.R.B. 339 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY 339
Allstate Insurance Company' and International Broth-
erhood of Electrical Workers, Local Union 108,
AFL-CIO,' Petitioner. Case 12-RC-3753
June 21, 1971
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND KENNEDY
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer Norman E. Jacobs. By
direction of the Regional Director for Region 12, this
case was transferred to the National Labor Relations
Board for decision. Thereafter, the Employer filed a
brief, a supplemental brief, and a request for oral argu-
ment.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act,
the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel.
The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. The
Hearing Officer deferred ruling on a motion to dismiss
because the petition does not constitute a demand and
on a request to incorporate the transcript in Cases 12-
RC-2792, 2886, and 2889, reported at 171 NLRB No.
29. The motion to dismiss is hereby denied as without
merit, and the request to incorporate the prior tran-
script is hereby denied as the instant hearing ade-
quately presents the facts and issues in this case. In
addition, Respondent's request for oral argument is
hereby denied as the record and briefs adequately
present the issues and positions of the parties.
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 labor organization involved claims to repre-
sent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning
the representation of certain employees of the Em-
ployer within the meaning of Sections 9(c)(1) and 2(6)
and (7) of the Act.
4. Allstate Insurance Company, is a, multiple line
insurance company and writes-life, accident,and healthy,
and casualty insurance; including automobile, fire,, ex-
tended coverage' and homeowner policies. The Coin- -
pany, with its home office in Northbrook, Illinois, is
organizationally, divided into zones, the zones into re-
gions, the.'regions-.into divisions; and the division into
districts. A district-consists of two.or more.sales-•loca-
tions-.
The Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of all insurance
agents within District 10 of the Employer's-.Florida
region. The Employer contends that the Florida region
is the minimum appropriate unit and that there is no
basis for establishing an appropriate unit on a district
level. In a prior case involving Allstate's Florida region,
Case 12-RC-2792, et al., reported at 171 NLRB No.
29, the Board found that a district or group of districts
formed the basis for an appropriate bargaining unit. We
find that the record herein reaffirms our decision in that
case.
Although Allstate agents operated out of sales loca-
tions rather than a single district office, several sales
locations or agents are grouped together to form a
district. A district sales manager supervises and guides
the agents within his district. District sales managers
do not have the authority to make the final managerial
decisions, but their recommendations and actions are
an important part of the managerial decision chain.
Normally a district sales manager would do recruiting
in his area whenever agents are needed for his particu-
lar district. He screens applicants that come to him for
a job. He would play a similar initial role with respect
to transfers. District sales managers personally see all
but the most experienced agents at least once a week
and in many cases more often, and play an important
role in instructing agents under them in ways to im-
prove sales and in implementation of company policy.
Thus, district sales managers, as found in the previous
case, are clothed with sufficient authority over normal
incidents of the employment relationship to warrant
the finding that districts are units presumptively appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
Additionally, we find, as was found in the prior case,
that a district has sufficient geographic coherence to
form the basis of an appropriate bargaining unit. Al-
though districts may overlap one another and agents in
one district may operate to some extent in other dis-
tricts, a district may be geographically defined in that
it is a grouping of fixed sales locations.
The Employer further contends that districts are not
stable and substantial changes have been made in Dis-
trict 10, the district sought by the Petitioner. However,
we found in the,,prior case, "While the Company does
have a history of continuous reorganization and expan-
sion,, a close scrutiny of 'the facts indicates that, in fact,
such realignments and other administrative changes do
not demonstrate instability or a deficiency in the inde-
pendence of a district office." We,.so find here.'
The Employer, in our opinion, has raised no fact or
issue warranting reversal or modification,of our prior
decision. Therefore, we finds. in accord with-our prior
' Employer's name appears•aa mended_at'the hearing:
3 P'etitioner's name appears°,aaamendedat the heanng.
' In its supplemental brief the Employer cites an additional change of the
same character within,District 10_ Assuming this to be true, our decision
herein would not be altered.
191 NLRB- No., 555
340 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
decision, that the following employees of the Employer pany, excluding all claim adjusters, clerical work-
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec- ers, supervisors within the meaning of the Act, and
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9(c) of all other employees.
the Act:
All insurance agents within - District 10 of the [Direction of Election4 omitted from publication.]
Florida Region of the Allstate Insurance Com-
the names and addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the
In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the opportunity to Employer with the Regional Director for Region 12 within 7 days of the
be informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all date of this Decision and Direction of Election The Regional Director shall
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their ad- make the list available to all parties to the election. No extension of time
dresses which maybe used to communicate with them. Excelsior Underwear to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in extraordi-
Inc., 156 NLRB 1236; N.L.R.B. v. Wyman-Gordon Co., 394 U.S 759. nary circumstances. Failure to comply with this requirement shall be
Accordingly, it is hereby directed that an election eligibility list, containing grounds for setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed