Chrysler Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 9, 1948

76 N.L.R.B. 50 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

III 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-2601.-Decided February 9, 1948
Rathbone , Perry, Kelley and Drye , by Mr. T. R. Iserman, of New
York City, for the Employer.
Mr. Maurice Subar, 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 16, 1947, before Jerome H. Brooks, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial 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 Chairman Herzog and Board Members Murdock
and Gray.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following : -
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. 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 pro-
ceeding is concerned only with the John R plant, located in Detroit,
Michigan. Annually the Employer purchases raw materials and
finished parts valued in excess of $250,000,000, of which approxi-
mately 45 percent is shipped to its Michigan plants from points lo-
cated outside the State. Before the war, the Employer sold and de-
livered to purchasers who resided outside the State, approximately 75
percent of the finished products manufactured in its Michigan plants.
76 N. L. R. B., No. 9.
50
CHRYSLER CORPORATION 51
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. Ti-FE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit or
units.
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.
1V. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
The Petitioner seeks three separate units consisting of (a) em-
ployees in the Photographic department , ( b) employees in the Office
Equipment department, and (c) employees in the Central Mailing,
Central Files, Stationery, Stationery Production , and Advertising
Stock departments . The Petitioner would exclude , from each unit,
confidential clerks and secretaries to executives and supervisors, group
leaders , foremen and all other supervisoors. The Employer contends
that the units requested are inappropriate because ( a) the employees
involved allegedly are confidential employees , and (b ) the Petitioner
already represents the Employer 's production employees. In the
alternative , the Employer urges that, in addition to separate units for
Photographic and Office Equipment department employees , separate
units should also be established for Central Mailing and Central Files
department employees . There is no dispute as to the categories of
employees to be included in, and excluded from, the proposed units.
The John R plant furnishes clerical and other services to the Em-
ployer 's central offices and 14 operational plants in Detroit, Michigan.
All operations within the plant are supervised by a single plant super-
intendent . The following are the departments involved in this
proceeding :
Central Mailing Department , in which incoming , outgoing, and
interplant correspondence , sealed and unsealed, is collected , sorted,
and distributed among the various plants . Material handled in the
department consists of letters , orders, price bulletins , statistical re-
781902-48-vol. 7G 5
52 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ports, credit ratings, advertising material, and, occasionally, written
matter relating to labor relations. Executives may, and sometimes
do, transmit confidential matter by direct mail, rather than through
the Central Mailing department. Employed in this department are
mail sorters, postal clerks, a typist, a messenger, and truck drivers.'
Central Files Department, in which financial reports, pay-roll rec-
ords, production records, correspondence, and other records pertain-
ing to the Employer's business, including completed labor relations
matters, are filed and stored. Employed in this department are file
clerks, a vault custodian, and a stock handler.
Stationery Department, which orders and distributes stationery
items and printed forms, including production and accounting forms,
and advance publicity material, which may reveal new products,
prices, and sales policies. Employed in this department are stockmen,
follow-up clerks, general clerks, a filing clerk, a junior auditor, a
fan-fold operator, a forms specifier, a Sunstrand machine operator,
and a typist.'
Stationery Production Department, where record cards relating to
warehouse and distribution operations are produced, addressograph
plates are made and maintained, and general mailing material, such as
publicity matter, dealer agreements, price lists, and parts specifica-
tions, are inserted in mechanically addressed envelopes. Employed
here are multilith operators, multilith typists, addressograph opera-
tors, file clerks, mail binders, and a proof reader.
Advertising Stock Department, in which price lists, and publicity
and advertising literature are stored and shipped to dealers. Em-
ployed in this department are stockmen and a file clerk.
Photographic Department, where photographs of products and
photostats of fornnllas, contracts, and correspondence are made. This
department employs photographers, a reproduction operator, a photo
printer, a photostat operator, a laboratory assistant, and several clerks
who assist the operators.
Office Equipment Department, which has the responsibility of re-
pairing all kinds of office machinery The employees in this depart-
ment are mechanics and their necessary assistants.3
'The truck drivers drive small panel trucks to and from the several plants , gathering
and disci ibutmg incoming and outgoing mail. Both parties agree to their inclusion in the
unit
' There are also within the department two courtesy drivers , who drive executives
between the various plants Both parties agree to exclude these courtesy drivers from
the unit we shall exclude them
3In addition to the seven departments described above, there are three other depart-
ments, Chrysler Motors Magazine, which employs only editors and magazine writers,
Central Service, an executive department consisting of executives and their confidential
secretaries , and Power house and Maintenance . Both parties agree to exclude the
employees in these three departments from all units
CHRYSLER CORPORATION 53
As stated above, the Employer contends that the employees whom
the Petitioner seeks to include in its proposed units are confidential
employees and hence must be excluded from any bargaining unit.
We do not agree that they are confidential employees within the Board's
definition 4 Although a large number of these employees handle busi-
ness and financial records of the Employer, including some labor rela-
tions records, all of them act in a relatively routine minor clerical
capacity. None of them acts in a confidential capacity to any execu-
tive active in the field of labor relations:5 Accordingly, we find that
the employees included in the units found appropriate hereinafter
are not confidential employees.
The further contention of the Employer that clerical employees may
not be represented by the Petitioner because the Petitioner already
represents production employees is also without merit.6
The Employer asserts, finally, that separate units should be estab-
lished for the employees in the Central Mailing and Central Files
departments, respectively. We perceive no reason for separating the
clerical employees ni these departments from each other and from the
clerical employees in the other three related departments. All these
employees have essentially the same skills and work in the same build-
ing, under similar working conditions. Accordingly, we shall include
the employees in the Central Mailing, Central Files, Stationery, Sta-
tionery Production, and Advertising Stock departments in a single
unit.
We find that each of the following units in the Employer's John R
plant, excluding from each unit confidential clerks and secretaries to
executives and supervisors, group leaders, foremen, and all other
supervisors as defined in the amended Act, is appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act :
It. All employees in the Photographic department.
2. All employees in the Office Equipment department.
3. All employees in the Central Mailing, Central Files, Sta-
tionery, Stationery Production and Advertising Stock depart-
nients, excluding courtesy drivers. -
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Chrysler Corporation, Detroit,
"Matter of Ford Motor Company, 66 N L. R. B. 1317
5It is noted that the Petitioner agrees to the exclusion of all - confidential clerks and
secretaries to executives and supervisors
6 See Matter of Armour and Company, 49 N L. R. B G88 and 54 N L R B. 1005, enf d
N L R B N Armour and Company, 154 F (2d) 570 (C C A 10).
54 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Michigan, a separate election 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 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 each of the units found appro-
priate 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 the said pay-roll period because
1 hey were ill or on vacation or temporarily 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 any
employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
in each unit whether or not they desire to be represented by Interna-
tional Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Imple-
ment Workers of America (UAW-CIO), for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
MEMBER GRAY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision
and Direction of Elections.