Kearney & Treacker Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 12, 1958

121 N.L.R.B. 817 (N.L.R.B. 1958)

EEARNEY & 'REC K R CORPORATION 8-17
allow employees with less seniority to continue to work Under this
layoff policy, these voluntary laid-off employees may return to work
at any time after giving the Employer a week's notice, without any
change in their previous status We find that these, employees are
temporarily laid off within the Board's meaning of the teim, and,
therefore, are eligible to vote in the election.3
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication ]
a See Stretch-Pew Cc , 118 NLRB 1359
a
Kearney & Trecker Corporation and Technical Engineers Asso-
ciation (Independent), Petitioner. Case No 13-RC-5912 Sep-
tember 12,1958_
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Gerald S
Patterson, 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 [Members Rodgers, Jenkins, and
Fanning] I
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 S`ection
( ( Si () (9 e)1) andecton 26 and 7) of the Act
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees of the Employer-in
technical positions, including tool designers, subsupervisor of tool
design, application leadmen, process planners,' standards engineers,
time-study men, draftsmen, apprentice draftsmen`, process engineers,'
methods planners, machine tool procurement engineer, methods en-
gineers, and methods engineer trainees It was stipulated that an
employees in these classifications be included in the unit
At the hearing and in its brief, the Employer contended thet there
were. certain additional technical employees who must be included in
any unit found by the Board to be appropriate The Petitioner took
the position that these additional categories should be excluded All
19t NLRB No-107 (e -
487926-59-vol 121-53
818 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees involved are salaried. The classifications in dispute are
considered below : 1
Sales correspondents, special machinery: 2 These employees per-
form work generally similar to that of the sales correspondents in the
Servo division, whom the parties agree to exclude, apparently on the
basis that they are professional employees. However, the special
machinery correspondents demonstrate machinery not as complicated
as the Servo machinery, and unlike the Servo correspondents, they
are not required to have a college engineering degree or its equivalent.
Their work involves interpreting to customers engineering layouts of
special and heavy duty machinery, and estimating prospective sav-
ings. We find they are not professional employees as asserted by
Petitioner; we include them in the unit as technical employees.3
Export sales correspondent: This employee handles company cor-
respondence with foreign customers and dealers. Unlike the other
sales correspondents, he spends most of his time at a desk, answering
inquiries and making simple quotations. Occasionally he attends ex-
hibits where foreign machine tools are displayed. Although his job
description calls for a high school diploma and a year or so of tech-
nical training, it appears that he has had substantially less training
than the other sales correspondents, and his salary range is appre-
ciably lower. We find, accordingly, that his work is primarily clerical,
and exclude him from the unit .4
The Petitioner would exclude, and the Employer include, certain
employees who service machinery after it has been sold and installed.
These employees * adj ust and demonstrate machines, teaching cus-
tomers their proper use. The servicemen and service trainees are
required to have had scientific courses in high school, plus additional
courses in mathematics and electricity in night or vocational school.
The service engineers are one step above servicemen. They are re-
quired to possess, through education and experience, a broad knowl-
edge of mechanical engineering, although a formal engineering degree
is not necessary. Both the servicemen and service engineers spend
much of their time away from the plant. The field service engineers
occupy the highest step in the progression. About 75 percent of their
time is spent in the field, demonstrating and checking the more com-
plex Servo-type machines. These employees have had considerable
experience in mechanics, hydraulics, and electronics, and deal directly
with technically trained people in customers' plants. We do not agree
I As both parties in their briefs contend that the methods clerk and the technical
clerk are clericals and should be excluded, we exclude them.
2 At the hearing, the correspondents , Servo machinery sales, appeared to be a disputed
category. However, in its brief, the Employer stated that it did not seek to add the
employees in this subclassification- to the unit sought by Petitioner. They are accordingly
excluded.
s See Combustion Engineering, Inc., 117 NLRB 1589.
• See Chicago Railway Equipment Company, 85 NLRB 586, 587.
KEARNEY & TRECKER CORPORATION 819
with the Petitioner's contention that the foregoing employees should
be excluded as machinists. The classifications involved are in a direct
line of progression involving varying degrees of technical skill. We
find that all these employees are properly embraced in the technical
unit.5
Cost clerk, senior; cost accountant, junior: The cost clerk checks
invoices for distribution of charges to proper accounts, and prepares
reports from accounts payable. The work of the cost accountant is
similar, except that he performs more complex tasks, including com-
puting standard costs, analyzing cost of sales, and reviewing reports.
It is clear that both of'these employees perform work normally as-
signed to cost accountants, a classification -which the Board custo-
marily terms clerical. We therefore exclude them from the technical
unit .6
Tabulating technician: The main job of this employee is to wire
permanent panels for IBM machines, which requires him to work
with mathematical and algebraic formulae. He also designs cards,
forms, and reports for use with the machines. Although the job title
is comparatively new in the Employer's plant, the employee currently
filling it has worked with IBM machines for 13 years, and has at-
tended several IBM wiring schools. As it is clear that his work re-
quires a high degree of technical skill, we include him in the unit'
Tabulating machine operators: These employees operate IBM ma-
chines after they have been wired by the tabulating technician. The
more experienced operators can and do wire the less complicated
"temporary" machines, but spend only a small fraction of each day
in wiring. Their main job is to process labor tickets, look up sum-
maries, and feed cards to the machines. As we find that the work of
these employees is essentially routine, we exclude them as clericals.8
Subsupervisor, tabulating: This employee performs all the above
jobs on occasion, but is primarily responsible for distributing work
and checking inventories. We find that he also is a clerical employee,
and exclude him.
Advertising assistant: This employee, formerly a metal tool de-
signer, works closely with technical employees in the preparation of
parts manuals and other scientific literature. As he is necessarily a
trained draftsman, and must understand technical data in order to
translate it into ratios and specifications useful to customers, we find
him to be a technical employee,' and include him.
5 See Titeflem, Inc., 103 NLRB 223, 225.
6 Peninsular Metal Products Corporation, 116 NLRB 452, 453-54.
v Cf. General Insurance Company of America , 108 NLRB 80 , where employees who
spend over half their time operating the machines were excluded as office clericals.
8 General Insurance Company of America, supra.
8 See Sperry Gyroscope Company, 106 NLRB 721, 723.
'820 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
' Repair parts analysts : These employees process orders for parts.
Their job is to determine which parts a customer wants, and see to it
that the correct parts are shipped. Although their work involves some
technical -skill in determining customers' precise needs, the record
shows that about one third of their time is spent in writing orders, and
about one fifth in expediting emergency requests. We find the work
of these employees to be primarily clerical rather than technical, and
therefore exclude them.
Project engineer: This employee is assigned to the manufacturing
division, studies the routing of component parts, and assists in pre-
paring detailed job instruction cards. In conjunction with other de-
partments, he recommends tooling, operational, and sequence changes
to facilitate production, and makes detailed analyses and reports of
the layout of specific areas. He is required to have a knowledge of
production planning and routing as could be acquired in 4 years of
high school, plus the equivalent of 2 years of night or vocational
school. The Petitioner contends that his work is primarily clerical.
However, it appears from the record that the project engineer' s func-
tions are not materially different in technical nature from those per-
formed by methods planners and process engineers , who the parties
agree are technical employees. We accordingly include this employee
in the unit.10
Assistant traffic manager : This employee has a broad knowledge
of freight rates , shipping department procedures, and traffic require-
ments. He audits freight bills, handles shipping arrangements, and
prepares loss damage and overcharge claims. He is licensed to appear
before the Interstate Commerce Commission on matters pertaining
to shipping rates and classifications . We agree with the Petitioner
that his work is primarily clerical, and we therefore exclude him.11
Load planners: 12 These employees analyze master manufacturing
schedules, assigning proper loads to each machine by releasing load
orders at the proper time. To' effectuate efficient load. allocation, they
refer to past production and manpower records, as well as to forecasts
-for future sales. They have authority to deviate from regular routings
when quantities vary, or when method changes are necessary to meet
'production schedules. A high school education, plus 2 years of evening
courses in -production, routing, and loading. are required for, this job.
-We believe the duties and interests of these employees,are more nearly
plant clerical than technical; and- accordingly exclude them. • ,
10 Le Rot Division , Westinghouse Airbrake Co, 113 NLRB 271. -
11 Eljer Co , 108 NLRB 1417, 1422
>z In its brief, the Petitioner dealt with load planners, expediters, order planners, ant
the production scheduling analyst as one group, contending that all fall into the category
of expediter. As it appears that the functions of each are significantly different, we
treat them separately. - '
KEARNEY & TRECKER CORPORATION 821
Expediters: Junior and senior expediters follow individual parts
through the production process, attempting to eliminate delays. This
job requires continual reference to shortage lists, blueprints, and time,
and assembly- schedules. Educational requirements are.4 years of high
school, plus additional training in blueprint reading and vocational,
subjects. The Board has in the past found such expediters to be plant
clericals. Accordingly, we exclude them.13
Order planners, junior and senior: These employees review blue-
prints and specifications to determine which parts will be required-in
manufacturing-the Company's various products. This information
is forwarded to the scheduling section for order and manufacture, and
to the assembly department for later coordination. The order plan-,
ners must have a knowledge of both metallurgy and manufacturing
processes, as they frequently are required to substitute one metal for
another in order to meet production schedules. We find order plan- I
ners are properly included in the technical unit."
Load , and schedule analyst : This employee coordinates the time
aspects of the production process. 'Working with the foremen; he
analyzes machine orders, loads and schedules the assembly floor, and
advises whether delivery requirements set by the sales department can
be met. He also determines the manner in which machines are to be
assembled, tested, and shipped. The employee now holding this job
classification worked as an expediter for 11 years. The skill and
responsibilities of the load and schedule analyst indicate that ,he is
a technical employee, and we include him in the unit 15
Commercial photographer and his two assistants: These employees
take photographs 'of machinery and new products for engineering,
sales, and other departments. Their work requires the use of press
cameras, movie cameras, a stereotype camera, photo micrographic
camera, and several polaroid cameras. They develop and process their
work in a completely equipped dark room. The commercial photog-
rapher has had 10 years' experience in the photographic field. It was
stipulated that the job qualifications and duties of the assistants are
generally similar. We find that the interests of these employees are
closely allied with those of other .technical employees, and include
them in the unit 16
Editor and reporter: This employee is responsible for the Em-
ployers monthly newspaper. His job consists primarily of gathering,
writing, and editing news stories. As we find his interests are diverse
from those of the technical employees, we exclude the editor and
reporter.
l3 La Pointe Machine Tool Co., 109 NLRB 514, 517.
14 See Reeves Instrument Corp., 117 NLRB 21, 22,
is See Copeland Refrigeration Corp., 118 NLRB 1364, 1366.
10 Fairbanks , Morse & Company, 117 NLRB 1449, 1454.
822 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Buyer-general; buyers-special: The buyer-general - purchases elec-
trical equipment and operating supplies; the buyers-special purchase
castings, forgings, and smaller machine parts. These employees inter-
view prospective customers and suppliers, "and effectuate purchases.
They have authority to cancel an order if the vendor does not meet
a scheduled delivery date, and may place the order with an alternate
company. Although they must have technical knowledge in the per-
formance of their duties, we find the buyer-general and buyers-special
to be managerial employees. We therefore exclude them.14
Accordingly, we find the following employees constitute a unit
appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All technical employees at the Employer's Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
plant, including tool designers, subsupervisor of tool design, process
planners, application leadmen, standards engineers, time-study men,
draftsmen, apprentice draftsmen, process engineers, methods planners,
machine tool procurement engineer, methods engineers, methods
engineer trainees, advertising assistant, commercial photographer and
assistants, servicemen, service trainees, service engineers, field service
engineers, sales correspondents-special machinery, special machine
estimator, project engineer, order planners, load and schedule analyst,
and tabulating technician, but excluding sales correspondents-servo
machinery sales, export sales correspondent, repair parts analysts,
load planners, expediters, assistant traffic manager, editor and re-
porter, methods clerk, technical clerk, cost clerk, cost accountant,
tabulating machine operators, subsupervisor tabulating, buyer-
general, buyers-special, and all other employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted- from publication.]
17 Maok Trucks, Inc., 116 NLRB 1576, 1578.
Brezner Tanning Corporation and Leather Workers International
Union of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner and Amalgamated
Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, AFL-
CIO. Case No. 1-RC-51920. September 1$,1958 ,
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION, DIRECTION, AND ORDER
Pursuant to a Decision - and Direction of Election issued on
February 17, 1958,1 an election by secret ballot was conducted on
March 6, 1958, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
1 Unpublished.
121 NLRB No. 109.