Chrysler Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 3, 1949

85 N.L.R.B. 523 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of AMPLEX MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A DIVISION OF
CHRYSLER CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION,
UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 7-RC-524.-Decided August 3,1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Cecil Pearl,
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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members
Reynolds and Gray].
Upon the entire record in this case, the'Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all office and clerical
employees employed in the office of the Employer, excluding engineers,
sales engineers, technicians, executives, supervisors, and all other em-
ployees now represented by a union. The Employer takes no position
as to the appropriateness of the unit, but agrees with the Petitioner to
the exclusion of certain employees, stipulating that there are no em
ployees sought by the Petitioner in the following departments : De-
partment A 15, Medical ; Department A 19, Stores ; Department A 20,
Receiving; Department A 42, Plant Protection; Department A 25,
Janitor; Department A 27, Inspection; Department A 31, Tool Room;
Department A 34, Tool Cribs; Department A 36, Laboratory; De-
partment A 40, Boiler House; Department A 41, Electricians; De-
partment A 45, Mill Wrights; and all production departments.
85 N. L. R. B., No. 90.
523
,524 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The parties disagree, however, concerning the inclusion and exclu-
sion of the following employees whom the Petitioner seeks to include
and the Employer to exclude :
The Employer. employs two telephone operators in Department
A 920. These operators operate the plant switchboard and perform
the usual duties associated with such operation. In addition, they act
as receptionists. The Employer asserts that these switchboard oper-
ators should be excluded from the unit, because in the performance of
their duties they may overhear conversations containing confidential
labor relations information. These employees, however, do not act in
:a confidential capacity to persons exercising managerial functions in
the labor relations field; we shall include then in the unit?
The Employer also contends that the driver in Department A 10
should be excluded from the unit because, as a chauffeur, his duties
place him in a position to overhear discussions between the Employer's
-officers relative to confidential labor matters, and because he may also
be required to transport and deliver confidential papers relating to
labor matters. The record discloses that while he may sometimes
deliver confidential papers, he does not acquaint himself with their
contents, and that his principal duties consist of driving visitors and
'customers to and from the plant: He is carried on the office pay roll,
and has not been included in the production and maintenance unit.
It is clear that this employee's duties do not bring him within the
-category of employees which the Board considers as confidential, and
we shall therefore include him within the unit.2
The Employer also seeks the exclusion of the secretaries to the heads
.of departments A 32, A 38, A 920 and A 10, on the ground that if the
Petitioner is certified and secures a contract these employees may type
:answers to grievances. The record discloses that the department heads
'for whom these employees act as secretaries do not formulate or effect-
uate the Employer's general labor relations policies. We find that
these secretaries are not confidential employees within our customary
definition, and shall include them in the U111 t.3
The Petitioner wishes to include the employee, Julia A. Miller, who
sometimes takes dictation from the Employer's president. The record
reveals that Mrs. Miller spends approximately 25 percent of her time
taking dictation from the sales engineer and that she also files copies
of order acknowledgments and collects previous correspondence on
out-of-town orders. She has only occasionally taken dictation from
1 Matter of Smith Paper, Inc ., 76 N. L . R. B. 1222.
2 See footnote 1, supra.
3 Matter of Electrica l Controller and Manufacturing Company , 69 N. L. R. B. 1242 ;
Matter of Ford Motor Company ( Chicago Branch ), 66 N. L. R, B. 1317; Matter of Chrysler
Corporation, 84 N. L. R. B. 516.
AMPLEX MANUFACTURING COMPANY 525
the Employer's president, and the record indicates that none of that
dictation dealt with labor matters. We shall include her in the unit.'
Sought to be excluded by the Employer are two group leaders in
Department A 920. These employees, James M. Fitzpatrick and Eve-
lyn McNamara, assign work to employees who work in the section
with them, but do not have the authority to hire or discharge these
,employees or to make effective recommendations concerning their
-status. As their duties appear to be primarily of a routine nature
which do not call for the exercise of independent judgment, we find
that these group leaders are not supervisors within the meaning of
the Act. We shall include them in the unit.'
We find that all office and clerical employees employed in the office
,of the Company, including telephone operators of Department A 920,
:secretaries to department heads in Departments A. 32, A 38, A 920,
and A 10, the driver in Department A 10, the stenographer Julia A.
Miller, and the group leaders in Department A 920,e but excluding
confidential clerks and secretaries to executives, namely C. Reynolds
and J. Truelsh, secretaries to the president, R. Schmitt and K. Koehler,
employees in the Labor Relations, Personnel and Time Study Depart-
ments, and M. Buchan, secretary to the assistant to the president,
engineers, sales engineers, technicians, executives, all other employees,
and all supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec-
tion 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, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
' Cf. Matter of Dayton , Price and Co . Ltd., 73 N . L. R. B. 149.
6 Matter of Ohio Power Company , 80 N. L. It . B. 1334.
6 James M. Fitzpatrick and Evelyn McNamara.
526 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated 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 bargain-
ing, by International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agri-
cultural Implement Workers of America, CIO.