Automatic Electric Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 8, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 157 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

III the Matter of AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC COMPANY, EMPLOYER and DIE
AND TOOL MAKERS LODGE No. 113, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
MACHINISTS, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-70.Decided July 8, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, 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.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record '.in this case, the Board finds the following
undisputed facts :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question of representation exists concerning the representation
of employees of the Emplooyer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
In addition to the foregoing findings, the Board, upon the entire
record in this case, makes the following findings with respect to
disputed issues of fact :
The appropriate unit
The Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of all tool designers and tool
designer apprentices employed by the Employer, excluding supervisors
"Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
I The record has been corrected pursuant to the stipulation of the parties filed with the
Board after the hearing.
78 N. L. R. B., No 27.
157
158 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
as defined in the Act. The Employer contends that all the employees
in the requested unit, with the exception of R. N. Berg who is classified
by the Employer as a tool investigator, are professional employees
within the meaning of Section 2 (12) of the Act. It further takes the
position that, because of the provisions of Section 9 (b) (1) of the Act,
the Board should direct a self-determination election among the tool
designers in order to determine whether these employees desire to be
included in the same unit with Berg, the alleged non-professional
employee.
There are 10 tool designers, including one apprentice, who are en-
gaged in making paper designs of piece parts and assemblies for tools,
dies, fixtures, and jigs to be used by the Employer in the mass produc-
tion of electrical communications equipment. The tool designers
occupy a separate room in the Employer's plant and work under the
supervision of the master tool designer.2 Although the Employer
presently requires that its tool designers be high school graduates who
have completed the equivalent of 2 years of technical college training,
several of these employees, including Berg, have qualified for their
positions as a result of previous shop training and experience as ma-
chinists or tool and die makers. Although most of the others in this
category have attended evening trade or technical schools, pursuing
courses such as drafting or metallurgy, none has completed a standard
collegiate course in tool engineering.
Berg, the tool investigator and only employee whose inclusion in the
unit is in issue, is engaged in redesigning tools and performing work as
a tool design "trouble-shooter." Although he does not perform any
supervisory functions within the meaning of the Act, he advises the
other tool designers concerning problems encountered by them in the
performance of their assigned tasks and occasionally, in his "tool
investigations," performs tool design work himself. In addition, he
makes tool cost analyses. He, like the others, is directly responsible to
the master tool designer. The record clearly shows that Berg posses-
ses skills similar to those of the other tool designers and performs work
that is closely related to that performed by the other tool designers.
In view of the foregoing, we are of the opinion that the tool designers,
including the tool investigator, constitute a functionally coherent and
homogeneous group of highly skilled employees who may compose an
appropriate unit.' As we have found that the qualifications of Berg,
the tool investigator, are equivalent to those of the other tool designers,
we find it unnecessary to determine whether the tool designers as a
2 The parties agree that the master tool designer is a supervisor within the meaning of
the amended Act and should be excluded from the appropriate unit.
3 Matter of Marvel-Schebler Carburetor Division, Borg-Warner Corporation, 72 N I.
R. B. 948.
AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC COMPANY 159
group, including Berg, are professional employees within the meaning
of the Act.
We find that all tool designers at the Chicago, Illinois, plant of the
Employer, including the tool investigator, but excluding all super-
visors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, among the em-
ployees in the unit found appropriate above, who were employed dur-
ing the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during
the said pay-roll period because they were ill Or on vacation or tempo-
rarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated
prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike
who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining,
by Die and Tool Makers Lodge No. 113, International Association of
Machinists.