Harnischfeger Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 30, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 325 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of HARNISCIIFEGER CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL
IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 18-RC-378.-Decided September 30, 104.9
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Clarence A..
Meter, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing 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 [Members Houston, Reynolds, 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 em-
ployees 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 following employees of the Employer constitute a unit.
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's:
Escanaba, Michigan, plant, excluding office clerical employees, watch--
men, and all supervisors as defined in the Act.'
'The Petitioner would include the foreman's clerk in the unit : the Employer would
exclude this employee, contending that his work is like that of the office clerical employees.
The foreman's clerk, an hourly paid employee, keeps a progress record of work in the shop,
including material cards, labor cards, and route cards. This information is used for cost
accounting purposes. He performs this clerical work, which constitutes 85 percent of
his time, at a desk located in the production department of the plant. The remainder of
his time is spent doing errands and occasional physical tasks about the plant. We find
nothing here that suggests departing front our usual rule of including factory clericals
in the same unit with production and maintenance employees. Accordingly, we will'
include the foreman's clerk in the unit. See Matter of Chrysler Corporation, 76 N. L. R. B_
55 ; Matter of Welding Shipyards Inc., 81 N. L. R. B. 936; Matter of Clayton Mark d Co.,
76 N. L. R. B. 230.
Both the Petitioner and the Employer would include the three group leaders in the unit-
However, from the record, the three employees presently so classified have authority to
gd N. L. R. B., No. 42. 325
867351-50-vol. 86-22
326 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
5. The Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that
the instant representation proceeding is premature. If this motion is
denied, the Employer requests that the election be postponed until at
least October or November of 1949. The record discloses that the
Escanaba Truck Crane Plant is a new plant and has been in operation
since January 1949. The Employer testified that it had approximately
80 employees at the time of the hearing, and it expected its full com-
plement of approximately 200 employees to be reached between
October 15 and November 30 of 1949. However, this expected expan-
sion is contingent upon business conditions. As the record discloses
that the present complement is a representative and substantial
segment of the working force which will be eventually employed, and
as an election directed at this time in any case will not be held until
October, we deny the motion of the Employer. We shall direct that an
election for the unit found appropriate be conducted within the cus-
tomary period?
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 (late 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 em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of col-
lective bargaining, by International Union, United Automobile, Air-
craft & Agricultural Implement Workers of America, CIO.
fire, and at least one has exercised this authority . Each directs a number of employees
and receives a pay differential of 5 to 10 cents per hour over the employees whose work he
directs. The employees at present classified in this category will eventually be classified
as foremen when conditions in the plant so warrant . Thus, while employees classified as
group leaders in the future will undoubtedly have less supervisory authority, we find that
those now so classified are supervisors within the meaning of the Act. For such reason,
we shall exclude the three employees at present classified as group leaders from the unit
found appropriate.
2 Matter of Ford Motor Company, Canton Forge Plant, Canton, Ohio , 80 N. L. R. B.
1094 ; Matter of American Enka Corporation ( Lowland ), 80 N. L . R. B. 298 ; Matter of
Norway Needlecraft Corporation, 75 N . L. R. B. 738.