Elastic Stop Nut Corp. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 30, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1532 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of ELASTIC STOP NUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA, EM-
PLOYER and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT
AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, UAW-CIO,
LOCAL 726, PETITIONER
Case No . 2-RC-1315.-Decided December 30, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Lloyd S.
Greenidge, 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
Houston and Murdock].
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. The question concerning representation :
For a number of years the Petitioner, and before that an independ-
ent union, represented the Employer's production and maintenance
employees. The Petitioner now seeks to represent certain employees
previously excluded from the production and maintenance unit.
The contract between the Petitioner and the Employer expired in
July 1949, after the Petitioner had given timely notice of a desire to
modify it. At the time of the hearing, bargaining negotiations were
in progress. The contract, therefore, contrary to the contention of the
Employer, does not constitute a bar to the instant petition.
Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
87 NLRB No. 165.
1532
ELASTIC STOP NUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA 1533
The Petitioner is the certified bargaining representative of the Em-
ployer's production and maintenance employees." It now. seeks to
represent certain additional employees, described in its amended peti-
tion as "timekeepers and factory clericals." The Employer had
refused, prior to the hearing, to furnish the Petitioner with a classified
list of its employees, but it appeared at the hearing that the Employer
has no employees classified as timekeepers. Clerical employees, classi-
fied by the Employer as chief accounting clerks and accounting clerks,
perform the timekeeping functions in addition to their other clerical
duties. At the hearing, the Petitioner expressed its desire to repre-
sent these clerks and other factory clericals either in a separate unit
or as part of the production and maintenance unit, whichever the
Board might deem more appropriate. The Employer objects to the
Petitioner representing any factory clericals, whether in a separate
unit or in the unit with the production and maintenance employees.
All the employees now sought by the Petitioner were excluded by
stipulation of the parties from the unit previously found appropriate
by the Board. Thus the question of their representation has never been
litigated before the Board.
There are approximately 20 factory clerical employees in the group
now sought by the Petitioner, of whom 2 are classified as chief account-
ing clerks,' 3 as accounting clerks, 9 as general clerks, and 6 as
principal clerks 3
The chief accounting clerks and accounting clerks.
The two chief accounting clerks and the three accounting clerks
sought by the Petitioner work under separate supervision from an
office near the production floor. They punch the same time clock and
work the same hours as the production employees. Most of their
working time is spent on the production floor. Some of these em-
ployees copy production cards; others check these cards for arith-
metical correctness and for the correctness of the wage rates listed
thereon; one of them weighs and notes the'number of units produced;
and all of them spend a small portion of their time performing time-
keeping duties. They can make only minor adjustments on the pro-
duction cards,' which do not affect the amount of an employee's pay.
1 Elastic Stop Nut Corporation, 2-R-4500 and 2-R-4514; Elastic Stop Nut Corporation,
63 NLRB 1398.
2 It is not contended that any individuals in the proposed unit are supervisors, nor do
any of them appear to have supervisory authority.
3 Some of the Employer ' s office clerical employees have the same titles. However, as
the Petitioner does not seek the office clerical employees , and as we generally exclude such
employees from a production and maintenance unit , they will not be included in the voting
group hereinafter found appropriate.
1534 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Any serious error on a card must be reported to the supervisor. for ad-.
justment. The Employer objects to representation of these accounting
clerks by the Petitioner, on the ground that they are confidential em-
ployees. It is apparent, however, from the facts set forth above, that
these chief accounting clerks and accounting clerks do not deal with
confidential data or exercise independent judgment which can affect
the employees' pay.4
The principal clerks
The six principal clerks sought by the Petitioner work as produc-
tion schedulers and expediters. Four of them are attached to depart-
ments of Employer's plant where they are in constant contact with
the production employees. The other two are attached to the Pro-
duction Control Office, but also spend a large part of their time on
the production floor. The principal function of all these employees
is to route and expedite production. They work under the same super-
visor, who supervises no one else and who is, in turn, responsible to
the plant manager.
The general clerks
Of the nine general clerks sought by the Petitioner, two work in
the shipping department; one in the inspection department, one in
the screw machine department; and five in the Production Control
Office. The general clerks in the shipping, inspection, and screw
machine departments perform clerical work for, and under the super-
vision of, the foremen of their respective departments. It does not
appear from the record who supervises the general clerks in the Pro-
duction Control Office. The general clerks in that office do clerical
work connected with the expediting and scheduling of production.
Work similar to that done by all the general clerks sought by the
Petitioner is performed also by employees already included in the
production and maintenance unit.
It appears from the foregoing that the work done by the factory
clerical employees sought by the Petitioner is closely connected with
the ,work of the production employees already represented by the Peti-
tioner. Thus, all the employees now sought spend a large part of
their time on the production floor, and their work is closely inte-
grated with the production process. In view of these circumstances,
we find that, although these factory clerical employees enjoy greater
vacation, sick leave, and severance pay benefits than do the produc-
tion and maintenance employees, their interests are sufficiently closely
allied to those of the production and maintenance employees to include
4 Art Metal Construction Company, 75 NLRB 80.
ELASTIC STOP NUT CORPORATION OF AMERICA 1535
them in a unit of production and maintenance employees if they so
desire.5
We shall therefore direct an election among the factory clerical em-
ployees at the Employer's Union, New Jersey, plant, including chief
accounting clerks and accounting clerks, principal clerks, and gen-
eral clerks, but excluding all other employees and supervisors.' If
a majority of the employees voting cast ballots for the Petitioner, they
will be taken to have indicated their desire to be a part of the produc-
tion and maintenance unit, and the Petitioner may bargain for such
employees as-part of the existing unit.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses 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
supervision 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 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 deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of
collective bargaining, by International Union, United Automobile,
Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW-
CIO, Local 726.
"Watson Flagg Machine Co ., 83 NLRB 734 . General Petroleum Corporation , 83 NLRB
514; Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., 81 NLRB 584.
° The Employer contends that the Petitioner 's showing of interest is inadequate. The
showing of interest in a matter of administrative determination not litigable by the
parties. Lion Oil Company , 76 NLRB 565 . In the instant case, the Board is administra-
tively satisfied that the Petitioner has made a sufficient interest showing.