Chrysler Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 9, 1948

76 N.L.R.B. 55 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In The Matter of CHRYSLER CORPORATION , EMPLOYER and INTERNA-
TIONAL UNION , UNITED AUTOMOBILE , AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL
IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA (UAW-CIO), PETITIONER
Case No. 7-R- 2602.Decided February 9,1948
Rath,bone, Perry, Kelley and Drye, by Mr. T. R. Iserman, of New
York City, for the Employer.
Mr. Maurice Sugar, by Mr. Jack N. Tucker, of Detroit, Mich., for
the Petitioner.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Detroit,
Michigan, on July 17 and 18, 1947, before Jerome H. Brooks, hearing
officer. 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 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 the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Chrysler Corporation, a Delaware corporation having its general
offices in Detroit, Michigan, is engaged in the manufacture of auto-
mobiles and automobile parts and accessories, at plants located in the
States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and California. This proceeding
is concerned only with the Dodge Main plant, located in Detroit,
Michigan. Annually, the Employer purchases raw materials and
finished parts valued in excess of $250,000,000, of which approximately
45 percent is shipped to its Michigan plants from points located out-
The Employer's motion, made after the close of the hearing, to correct the transcript of
the hearing, is hereby granted
*Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Gray.
76 N. L R. B., No. 10.
55
56 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
side the State. Before the war, the Employer sold and delivered to
purchasers who resided outside the State, approximately 75 percent
of the finished products manufactured in its Michigan plants.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
weaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS ; THE DETERMINATION OF 11EPRESENTATIVES
The Petitioner requests a unit of all office and clerical employees
in the Dodge Main plant, including employees in the timekeeping de-
partment, telephone and telegraph operators, mail clerks, desk heads,
and messengers, but excluding yardmasters, pattern trouble men and
pattern engineers, staff men, special assignment men, confidential
clerks and secretaries to executives and supervisors, professional em-
ployees, supervisors, and all employees in the departments listed in
Schedule A, attached hereto.
The Employer contends that a single unit is inappropriate, alleg-
ing that the duties, location, and working conditions of the office and
clerical employees require that at least five separate bargaining units
be established, consisting respectively of such employees in (1) the
Accounting Division, (2) the Sales Division, (3) the office depart-
ments of the Planning Division, (4) the manufacturing divisions, and
(5) a number of smaller office and miscellaneous divisions and depart-
ments. It agrees to the exclusion from all units of those employees
whom the Petitioner seeks to exclude from its proposed single unit.
But it would also exclude from any unit employees in the timekeeping
department, telephone and telegraph operators, mail clerks, desk
heads, and messengers. In the alternative, the Employer suggests a
separate unit for the timekeeping department employees.
The Dodge Main plant, where the Employer manufactures Dodge
passenger cars and automobile and truck parts, is spread over 63 acres
CHRYSLER CORPORATION 57
of ground and occupies 81 buildings. It employs approximately
23,000 employees, of whom more than 500 are office and clerical work-
ers whom the Petitioner now seeks to represent.' The large majority
of clerical employees are in 3 divisions of the plant, Accounting, Sales,
and Planning, located in the factory office building and in the main
office building adjoining it.
The Accounting Division is divided into departments, such as book-
keeping, cost, invoice audit, billing, comptometer, pay roll, and com-
pany work order. Here the employees are clerks, typists, bookkeep-
ers, pricers, checkers, file clerks, and comptometer and addressograph
operators. As indicated by the names of the departments in the
division, these employees perform the usual clerical work necessary
for the operations carried on throughout the plant. The-Accounting
Division also employs timekeepers and checkers, telephone operators,
and mail clerks, whose duties are discussed below. This division is
supervised by the factory auditor, who reports to the general factory
auditor in the office of the comptroller of the corporation at Highland
Park.
The Sales Division is in charge of selling Dodge trucks, which the
Employer manufactures at another plant, and Dodge passenger cars.
It directs the activities of sales offices located throughout the country.
The various departments in the division maintain records and files of
dealer agreements, allocations, completed sales, and advertising and
distribution correspondence. Employed in the division are file clerks,
typists, stenographers, dictaphone operators, a messenger, a telegraph
operator, and a group of desk heads. The duties of the telegraph
operator and the desk heads are discussed below. The head of the
Sales Division reports to the corporation's vice president in charge
of sales.
The Planning Division correlates information concerning materials
required for production throughout the plant, plans methods for
obtaining the -materials, both from other Chrysler manufacturing
units and from outside vendors, and maintains constant inventories
of materials on hand and used. It is divided into 13 departments,
of which 4 are located in the.office buildings, and 9 have employees
both in the office buildings and in the factories. In the 4 office depart-
nments are clerks, typists, stenographers, posting machine operators,
messengers, drivers, schedule and follow-up men, and engineering
2 The Petitioner is presently the certified bargaining representative of the Employer's
production and maintenance employees in a multi -plant unit including Dodge Main.
Matter of Chrysler Corporation, 17 N. L. R . B. 737. In a separate unit, it also represents
tool, the, and fixtuic engineers in Dodge Main Matter of Chrysler Corporation, 55
N L It B 1039
58 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
specifications men.• The remaining 9 departments of the Planning
Division are charged with the duty of physically receiving and han-
dling incoming material, storing it, and moving it to the manufac-
turing departments or from department to department as needed.
Most of the employees in these 9 departments are hourly rated manual
workers; in addition, there are clerks who record the movement of
material. Some of these clerks work in the office buildings as salaried
employees, others work in the factories on an hourly pay basis. The
supervisor in charge of this division reports to the general works
manager.
Throughout Dodge Main there are a number of smaller non-pro-
ductive divisions and departments, such as plant engineering. In-
spection, master mechanics, traffic, central pattern, and courtesy, each
of which employs a few clerical employees, consisting of clerks, typists,
stenographers, and follow-up men, of whom some are salaried office
workers and others are hourly paid factory clerks.4
Finally, there are a small number of clerks employed in manufac-
turing departments throughout the plant. These are hourly paid
factory clerks who work with the production employees under su-
pervision of production foremen.
The clerical employees in the office buildings are salaried, whereas,
clerks working in the factories generally are hourly rated, either be-
cause they are part of manufacturing departments or because, although
employed by the larger clerical divisions, they are assigned to produc-
tion departments. The hourly paid clerks work under conditions
comparable to those of production employees.'
As previously stated, the Employer contends that there should be
at least five separate units instead of a single unit. It argues that
the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, requires the Board to
exercise its discretion in favor of the separate units. Apparently, it
concedes that a single unit would have been appropriate under the Act
before its amendment.5 The principal criterion used by the Board in
grouping employees for bargaining purposes has been community of
interest. The Board has generally held that employees with similar
3 The specifications men read analysis reports and record changes in manufacturing
plans.
4Included in the Master Mechanics ' Division is a group of engineering record clerks
who are part of a unit of tool, die and fixture engineers established by the Board in
Matter of Chrysler Corporation , 55 N. L R B 1039 , and who are presently represented by
the Petitioner. In accordance with an agreement of the parties, we shall exclude them
from the unit hereinafter found appropriate.
5In Matter of Chrysler Corporation, Chrysler Motor Division, 52 N. L R B. 239, the
Board established a single unit of office and cleiical employees in another plant of the
Employer similar to Dodge Main In this proceeding , the parties stipulated that the
duties of the office employees in Dodge Main are comparable to those of corresponding
employees in the Chrysler Motor Division.
CHRYSLER CORPORATION 59
interests shall be placed in the same bargaining unit. The recent
amendments to the Act have not changed this rule of decision, except
to emphasize the distinctiveness of craft employees, professional em-
ployees, and guards. None of the employees involved in this proceed-
ing comes within the latter three classifications.
It would be impractical to put Accounting Division typists in one
unit and Sales Division typists in another unit. All typists in the
office, regardless of the department in which they work, have the same
interests and should therefore be placed in the same unit. If the Em-
ployer's contention were accepted, the Board would logically have to
set up as many units as there are departments in a plant, in addition
to craft, professional, and guard units. Labor relations under such a
system would become so unwieldy as to be unmanageable. We believe
that all office and clerical employees in the Employer's Dodge Main
plant should be placed in a single unit, excluding, however, factory
clerks and employees in the timekeeping, department for the reasons
stated hereinafter.
Factory Clerks: In many of the factory departments, there are fac-
tory clerks who work under the supervision of production foremen and
are generally hourly paid, as are production workers. Also working
within the factory departments are employees of the timekeeping
department, which is part of the Accounting Division. The employees
of the timekeeping department-timekeepers, checkers, and counters-
have their headquarters in the factory office building. However, they
are assigned to factory departments and perform practically all their
work in those departments. Like the production workers, they are
hourly paid. Timekeepers distribute time cards at the time clocks be-
fore employees ring in, collect then at the end of the day, compute the
time each employee worked, deduct time for lateness, allocate time
worked in each classification, check on whether employees who have
rung in are actually at work, and see to it that employees are working
in their proper classifications. Checkers assist the timekeepers, and
counters weigh, count, and ship stock. Checkers and counters are also
paid on an hourly basis.
In recent cases,° the Board has unanimously held that both factory
clerks and timekeepers belong in the same unit with production and
maintenance employees. We perceive no reason for departing from
that rule in this case. Accordingly, we shall exclude factory clerks and
the employees in the timekeeping department from the office and cleri-
cal unit. We shall, however, establish a separate voting group for
6 See Matter of Ai t Metal Construction Company, 75 N L . R B. 80 ( and cases cited
therein ) and Hatter of Noithwest Engineering Company , 73 N L. R. B. 40 ( and cases
cited therein).
60, DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
these employees. If they vote for the Petitioner in the election directed
hereinafter, they will be deemed included in the existing production
and maintenance unit, and the Petitioner, which now represents the
Employers production and maintenance employees at the Dodge Main
plant, may bargain for them as part of this unit.
The parties are in disagreement with respect to the following cate-
gories of employees, whom the Petitioner would include and the
Employer would exclude :
Telephone and Telegraph operators.The telephone and telegraph
operators perform the duties usual to employees in their category. The
Employer contends that they are "confidential" employees and should
therefore be excluded from any unit. We have rejected a similar con-
tention in previous cases.' Accordingly, we shall include telephone
and telegraph operators in the unit.
Mail clerks.-Mail clerks collect, sort, and distribute incoming, out-
going, and interplant correspondence, sealed and unsealed. The
Employer would exclude them as "confidential" employees, because the
material they handle pertains to confidential financial and, occasion-
ally, -labor relations matters. We have considered and rejected a
similar contention in another representation proceeding involving
office and clerical employees in this Employer's John B plant." We
shall include mail clerks in the unit.
Desk heads.-In the Distribution Department of the Sales Division
are 13 desk heads, who correspond with Dodge automobile dealers and
handle orders and allocations of cars for the dealers. The Employer
urges that they be excluded as supervisors. Each desk head has an
assistant whose work he directs, telling him when and how to answer
correspondence. The desk heads have no authority to grant raises, but
the Employer follows their recommendations with respect to wage
changes or other matters pertaining to the status of the assistant-desk
heads. In view of these facts, we are of the opinion that desk heads
are supervisors within the meaning of Section 2 (11) of the amended
Act, and we shall therefore exclude them from the unit."
Messengers.-The Employer would exclude two messenger girls
who escort visitors to the various offices and departments in the plant,
because their work is unlike that of usual office employees. They are
employed in the courtesy department, one of the small miscellaneous
Matter of Chrysler Corporation, 58 N L R B. 239 ; Matter of Armour and Company,
54 N L R B 1462
8 Matter of Chrysler Corporation , 76 N L R 13 50
In its brief the Employer for the first time urged that assistant desk heads also be
excluded because they are in closer contact with the Employer's customers than other
employees in the unit . We do not consider this fact of such significance as to warrant the
separation of these employees from the other office and clerical employees We shall
therefore include assistant desk heads in the unit
CHRYSLER CORPORATION 61
non-productive departments, and work in a reception room with a
receptionist and her assistant. We shall include the messengers in
the unit.io
We find that all office and clerical employees employed by the em-
ployer in its Dodge Main plant," including telephone and telegraph
operators, mail clerks, assistant desk heads, and messengers, but exclud-
ing yardmasters, pattern trouble men and pattern engineers, staff men,
special assignment men, confidential clerks and secretaries to executives
and supervisors, professional employees, courtesy drivers, engineering
record clerks in the Master Mechanics' Division, desk heads, factory
clerks, all employees in the timekeeping department, all employees in
departments listed in "Schedule A," attached hereto, and all other
supervisors as defined in the amended Act, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
We shall direct that separate elections be held among :
(a) Employees in the unit found appropriate above.
(b) Factory clerks and timekeeping department employees in
the Employer's Dodge Main plant, including, but not limited to.
employees in these classifications in the departments listed in
"Schedule B," attached here to,12 but excluding all supervisors as
defined in the amended Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Chrysler Corporation, Detroit,
Michigan, separate elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early
as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this
Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Seventh Region, Detroit, Michigan, and subject to Sections
203,61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 5, among the employees in the appropriate unit and the
voting group described in Section IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but
10 'Ilieie me also in the department foul coui tesy drivers, who dove executives between
the %arious plants Both parties agree to exclude the courtesy drivers fioin any unit
We shall exclude them
11 This includes the office clerks of the Planning Division who are assigned for duty in the
Pressed Steel Division.
11 The record is not clear as to whether or not any factory clerks are employed in a
number of smaller non -productive departments throughout the Dodge Main plant.
62 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 any employees on strike who are not entitled to
reinstatement , to determine in each group whether or not they desire
to be represented by International Union, United Automobile, Air-
craft and Agricultural Workers of America (UAW-CIO), for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
SCHEDULE A
#4. Labor Relations #17. Service Garage
#7. Superintendence #24. Plant Protection
#8. Employment #313. Statistical
#9. Time Study and Budget #314. Drive Away Cashier
#14. Safety #316. Secretary
#25A. Matrons #326. Works Administration
#506. By-Products (Education and Ap-
#509. Restaurants prentice)
Transportation #339. Staff Master Mechanic
#340. Personnel ( Welfare and
Mutual Aid)
#345. Purchasing
#420. Engineering
#426. Truck Production Con-
tract
Regional Sales
Fargo
Cyclewald
#612A. Cooperative Advertis-
ing 13
13 The employees in the departments listed in this column, although located at Dodge
Main, constitute subsections of, and are responsible to, divisions of the Highland Park
plant, which is otherwise separate from Dodge Main.
CHRYSLER CORPORATION
SCHEDULE B
63
Accounting Division #99. Body Trim and As-
Timekeeping Department sembly
Planning Division #101. Cylinder
#19A. Dodge Main Stores #102. Lathe
#19B. Pressed Steel Stores #103. Small Parts
#19C. Foundry Stores #104. Bolt and Stud
#20A. Dodge Main Receiv- #106. Automatic Screw Ma-
ing chine
#20B. Pressed Steel Receiv- #107. Transmission
ing and Shipping #108. Can and Crankshaft
#21. Dodge Main Shipping #109. Cleaning
#43. Waste Material #111. Piston Rods
#56. Material Handling #114. Heat Treat
#72. Square Shears #120. Motor Assembly
Manufacturing Divisions #122. Chassis Assembly
#90. Enamel #123. Final Assembly
#91. Body Finish #126. Wiring
#93. Sheet Metal Paint