American Lithofold Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 4, 1954

107 N.L.R.B. 1061 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

AMERICAN LITHOFOLD CORPORATION 1061
AMERICAN LITHOFOLD CORPORATION and LOCAL 13, OF-
FICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, AFL, Peti-
tioner. Case No. 14-RC-2314. February 4, 1954
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before William F. Trent,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made atthe hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent cer-
tain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce 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.
4. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and
distribution of business forms at its principal office and place
of business located at 500 Bittner Street, St Louis, Missouri.
The plant is composed of the following departments: Sales
department, pressroom department, bindery department,
paper-handling department, plate department, office personnel
department, maintenance department, and shipping department.
The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of all office
clericals, plate-department clerks, pricing clerks, labor (and)
control clerks, production and scheduling clerks, production-
planning clerks, inventory record clerks, pressroom time-
keepers, and bindery room timekeepers, excluding all
production and maintenance, managerial, and professional em-
ployees, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the
Act. The Petitioner intends that the unit description herein
include 27 job classifications. Of this number, the Employer
objects to the inclusion of 13 classifications held by employees
hereinafter discussed on the ground that they are supervisory,
managerial , confidential, and/or technical.
As to the remaining 14 employees' classifications inthe unit
sought by the Petitioner, the Employer expresses no opinion,
but relies on Board determination as to the appropriateness of
the unit. The unit requested appears to be an office clerical
unit which the Board has often found appropriate for bargain-
ing purposes. It is composed primarily of employees in the
main office which is located on the second floor. Three em-
ployees work outside the general office: two employees who
work in the plant as timekeepers in the bindery room and press -
room, and a switchboard operator located on the first floor.
In the absence of objection to their inclusion and of evidence
that they do not have interests in common with office clerical
employees, we shall include them in the unit found appropriate.
107 NLRB No. 224.
1062 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On the list of employees sought by the Petitioner is the name
of John McBride who is stated to be an employee of the St.
Louis Terminal Warehouse . He is furnished to the Employer
by St . Louis Terminal Warehouse and works inthe Employer's
main office . The record contains no further evidence concern-
ing him, and no objection is raised to his inclusion in the unit.
As the record is inadequate to determine whether McBride
is an employee of the Employer , we shall not determine his
unit placement now but shall permit him to vote subject to chal-
lenge in the election directed hereinafter.
The 13 employees whom the Employer seeks to exclude all
work in the main office except Norma McPherson , who works
in the personnel office, and Anita Boeckstiegel , who works in
the sales office. Both these offices are located on the first
floor . The office manager supervises all the 13 employees;
the 2 employees located on the first floor are also supervised
by the heads of their departments . The 13 employees whose
inclusion in the unit is disputed are the following:
Arnold Crawley is internal auditor and traffic manager; he
has been with the Employer from 3 to 5 months and is a
salaried employee. He decides the records to be audited and
has the responsibility for preparing the audit . In handling the
traffic duties of the Employer , he designates the carrier and
the manner of shipment of goods. At present he assigns and
directs the work of 2 employees, and the Employer intends
that he shall assume the further responsibility for personnel
in general accounting , cost accounting , cashier , payroll,
accounts receivable , and accounts payable. Although the re-
cord does not show the specific extent of his present super-
visory duties in relation to the 2 employees , in view of his
total functions and the fact that he will have charge of several
groups of employees , we find that his interests are more close-
ly allied with management than withthe employees sought here-
in. Accordingly , we shall exclude him from the unit.
Warren McGinnis is the purchasing agent for the Company
and makes purchases without prior approval . He has control
of all inventory records and estimates the Employer ' s require -
ment of paper , chipboard , and cores . He supervises two em-
ployees to whom he assigns work and directs their performance;
he has the authority to transfer them from one job to another.
We find this individual is a supervisor as defined in the Act.
As he has authority effectively to pledge the credit of the
Employer , we find that he is also a managerial employee. t
For these reasons, we shall exclude McGinnis from the unit.
William Quain and James R. Truetken . Quain writes accept-
ance of all orders. This involves checking the requirement
for materials as well as the copy against the specifications.
He has the responsibility of purchasing all outside bindery
work necessary to complete an order , which cannot be accom-
l East Coast Fisheries, Inc., 97 NLRB 1261.
AMERICAN LITHOFOLD CORPORATION 1063
pushed in the Employer ' s bindery , as well as of purchasing
office equipment which the Employer sells . Purchase orders
sometimes amount to $ 5,000 , $ 10,000 , or $15 , 000 per month.
He supervises a typist, but the record does not show the extent
of such supervision . Truetken has the responsibility of insuring
that the correct copy gets down to the plateroom for printing
the order . In connection with this responsibility , he purchases
all art work , outside typesetting , and rubber plates. Present
purchases , without prior approval , are between $ 3,500 and
$5,000 per month , but in the past have been as high as
$20,000 per month . Asitisclearthatthese employees , William
Quain and James R. Truetken , can effectively bind the Em-
ployer ' s credit in the regular course of their work , we find,
in accordance with the Board ' s established practice , that they
are managerial employees?
Joseph Fosage schedules the orders on the various presses
to insure efficient operation and to meet delivery dates. He
maintains records of stock tab forms and estimates the amount
of inventory to be kept on hand . He does the necessary clerical
work in connection with press schedules , and has the authority
to revise , if necessary , the schedule ofworkin the pressroom,
bindery room, and delivery room, thereby changing the work
schedule of several hundred employees . Until a short time ago
he supervised one clerk . As he does not exercise supervi-
sory, managerial , or confidential functions , and we find he has
interests allied with office clerical employees , we include
Fosage in the unit.3
Lambert Raterman ' s present job is production planning and
layout . He has the responsibility of reviewing all orders as
they are received by the Employer in the St. Louis office. He
does the press layout , checks the specifications, and deter-
mines whether the copy can be more economically run on the
litho or letterpress. He is qualified tomake this determination
due to his many years ' experience and the fact that he has held
a number of other jobs in various departments with the Em-
ployer . He was at one time acting foreman of the bindery de-
partment and acting assistant in the kollator department. The
selection of the press affects the price of the job to the
Employer . His choice , during slack periods, may determine
the employees to be retained by the Employer . Regularly,
his determination affects labor costs, plate cost , and, con-
sequently , the Employer ' s profit . We believe because of the
responsibilities exercised by Raterman that he is amanagerial
employee and we shall exclude him from the unit.4
2 Titeflex, Inc., 103 NLRB 223; Florence Stove Company, 98 NLRB 16.
3 Willard Storage Battery Company, 94 NLRB 1423; Automatic Electric Company, 78 NLRB
1057.
4Member Murdock disagrees with the conclusion that Raterman is a managerial employee
and would find he has sufficient interests in common with office and clerical employees to be
included in such a unit.
1064 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Robert Coughlin has the responsibility of furnishing the
bindery department foreman with the standard number of labor
hours required to produce a given order . He has been re-
quested by management to study and review bindery department
operations and recommend and establish standards to be used
for pricing purposes . He performs the duties of Raterman,
Truetken, Fosage, and Quain when they are ill or on vacation.
We find that he is neither a confidential nor managerial em-
ployee and shall include him in the unit.
Mrs. Norma McPherson is secretary and assistant to the
personnel director who aids in formulating and effectuating
labor policies . She assists in analyzing contract proposals,
composing counterproposals , typing contract drafts and notes
relative to grievances and settlements , and performs various
other personnel work. We find her duties to be confidential
and shall exclude her from the unit.'
Mary Laskiwitz has the title of cashier . She maintains all
cash records of the Employer which include transfer of funds,
loan balances , accounts receivable records, and commission
records of all the salesmen . At the present time she has no
supervisory duties, but has had in the recent past . Occasionally
she substitutes for McPherson in writing up labor formulating
conferences . The Board has frequently held that the fact an
employee has access to financial and business data does not
render one a confidential employee .6The record does not dis-
close that this employee assists with labor relations matters
other than on a substitute basis. In the absence of evidence
that she regularly assists one who formulates or effectuates
general labor relations policy, we find that she is not a confi-
dential employee. Accordingly, we shall include her in the unit.
Anita Boeckstiegel is the secretary to a vice president of
the Company who is in charge of the St. Louis sales office and
has the responsibility for formulating and issuing pricing
policies of the Employer. She works in an office separate
from other employees, maintains a file of salemen ' s accounts,
and has access to conference reports and stockholders' minutes.
At times she may substitute for McPhersonwhen she is absent.
In the ordinary course of her work, however, Boeckstiegel
does not handle confidential information involving general labor
relations policy. We find that she is not a confidential employee
and shall include her in the unit.?
Henry Schwan and Helen Luehrmann. Schwan is the general
bookkeeper of the Employer. He prepares the general ledger
and the financial reports of the Company, and does the general
bookkeeping. He is not a certified public accountant, but is a
graduate of the St. Louis University Accounting School. He is
s Electrol, Inc., 93 NLRB 740; Minnesota and Ontario Paper Co., 92 NLRB 711; Detroit
Harvester Co., 79 NLRB 1316.
6See Miller Electric Company, 103 NLRB 1492 and cases cited herein; Ohio Steel Foundry
Co., 92 NLRB 683.
7 Electrol Inc., supra; Minnesota and Ontario Paper Co., supra.
AMERICAN LITHOFOLD CORPORATION 1065
constantly kept informed as to any possible increase that may
result from collective - bargaining negotiations in order that he
may set aside an account to cover possible retroactive pay.
Luehrmann prepares the factory and hourly paid office payroll,
handles bonds, and makes insurance deductions . During the
preparation of the payroll , a day or two each week , she has 1 or
2 employees assigned to assist her. The personnel director is
constantly in touch with her with respect to overtime and pre-
mium requirements under the bargaining contracts , and finds
it necessary to inform her of anticipated retroactive pay and
other benefits which will arise on the making of a new con-
tract so she can make provision for such requirements. She
prepares timesheets and provides space to post possible re-
troactive wage changes . She has access to memoranda or di-
rectives sent to the executives concerning labor policy. From
these facts we conclude Schwan and Luehrmann are confiden-
tial employees and we shall exclude them from the unit 8
Mrs. Lucy Appel is the assistant secretary and the assistant
treasurer of the Employer . She is also secretary to the secre-
tary-controller of the Employer who participates in formulating
and effectuating the Employer ' s general labor policy. We find her
to be a confidential employee' and an official of the Employer,10
and shall exclude her from the unit.
We find that the following employees of the Employer con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All office clerical employees at the Employer ' s St. Louis,
Missouri , plant, including Robert Coughlin, the cashier (Mary
Laskiwitz ), the secretary to the vice president in charge of the
St. Louis sales office (Anita Boeckstiegel ), scheduling clerk
or expediter ( Joseph Fosage ), but excluding the internal auditor
(Arnold Crawley ), purchasing agents ( Warren McGinnis,
William Quain, James R. Truetken ), production planner (Lam-
bert Raterman ), the general bookkeeper ( Henry Schwan), and
the payroll clerk (Helen Luehrmann ), secretary and assistant
to the personnel director ( Mrs. Norma McPherson), the assist-
ant secretary and assistant treasurer (Mrs. Lucy Appel), and
all other confidential, technical , administrative , and pro-
fessional employees , production and maintenance employees,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted frgm publication.]
Member Rodgers took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.
8Member Murdock disagrees with the conclusion that Schwan and Luehrmann are con-
fidential employees as they do not formulate or effectuate general labor relations policy
or assist anyone who does.
9 Star Brush Manufacturing Co , 100 NLRB 679.
10Gulf States Telephone Company, 101 NLRB 270.