Mergenthaler Linotype Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 21, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 686 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of MERGENTITALER LINOTYPE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE , AIRCRAFT AND AGRI-
CULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS ' OF AMERICA , CIO AND ITS LOCAL.
770, PETITIONER
Case No. 2-RC-1486.-Decided April 21, 1950
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.
Reynolds and Styles].
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 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 appropriate unit :
In December 1948, following a Board-directed election,2 the Peti-
tioner was certified as representative of the production and mainte-
nance employees in the Employer's Brooklyn, New York, plant.
Thereafter, the Petitioner and Employer executed a contract effective
February 7, 1949, for an initial term to September 30, 1950, covering
these employees. In this proceeding, the Petitioner seeks to add the
I The hearing officer referred to the Board the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition
on the ground that the unit requested by the Petitioner was inappropriate . For reasons
given in section 4 , infra, this motion is hereby denied.
2 Mergenthaler Linotype Company, 80 NLRB 132 . The employees involved in this case
were excluded by agreement from the unit found appropriate in that proceeding.
89 NLRB No. 90.
686
MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY 687
plant clerical employees at the Brooklyn plant to its production and
maintenance unit, or, in the alternative, to represent the plant clerical
employees in a separate unit. The Employer disputes generally the
appropriateness of the Petitioner's request, and also disagrees specifi-
cally as to the inclusion of certain employees whom the Petitioner
seeks to represent. As we have held that plant clerical employees
should be placed in the same unit with production. and maintenance
employees,3 we shall direct an election to determine whether the Em-
ployer's plant clerical employees desire to be included in the produc-
tion and maintenance unit that the Petitioner now represents.
The Petitioner and the Employer agree that production order clerks,
parts stockroom clerks, parts inspection clerks, packing and shipping
clerks, special and general shop clerks, matrix clerks in the matrix
stockroom, matrix order review clerks, matrix inspection clerks, and
clerks in the matrix order department (other than analysis clerks),
should be included in any unit that may be found to be appropriate.
They also agree that all the employees in the executive offices, clerks,
secretaries, and messengers in the personnel department, clerks in the
engineering department (other than the stenographer to the plant en-
gineer), the secretary to the vice president and general works mana-
ger, executives and all supervisors should be excluded. They disagree
as to the following employees whom the Petitioner seeks to include,
but whom the Employer would exclude as confidential employees, as
supervisors, or as office rather than plant clerical employees.
Analysis clerks in the matrix order department: These clerks ex-
amine, analyze, verify, correct, and approve customers' orders of
matrices before they are scheduled for production or shipment from
stock. They check the order against the Company's records to deter-
mine whether the customer is ordering the proper item for the par-
ticular machine, and make any necessary corrections and amendments.
After approval by the analysis clerks, the orders pass to the factory
clerks to be filled. They also check prices and work in collaboration
with the billing and supplies departments, which are part of the
executive office.
At the first hearing in this case 4 the Employer contended that these
clerks should be excluded from the requested unit on the ground that
they performed a customer function, and were, therefore, closely re-
3Elastie Stop Nut Corporation of America, 87 NLRB 1532; lVatson-Flagg Machine
Co., 83 NLRB 734; General Petroleum Corporation, 83 NLRB 514. See also Chrysler
Corporation , 76 NLRB 55 and cases cited therein.
' The first hearing was held on December 13 and 14, 1949. On March 1, 1950, the Board
granted the Employer's motion to reopen the record, and remanded this proceeding to the
Regional Director for the purpose of taking additional evidence as to the Employer ' s recent
administrative changes.
688 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
lated to the executive branch of its business. The reopened record
discloses that, since the original hearing, the Employer has taken cer-
tain steps in effectuating a reorganization of its administrative set-up,
under which it has transferred the customer's service functions of the
analysis clerks, and the personnel performing these functions, from
its matrix order department to.its newly reorganized and combined
order department.5 It thus appears that the analysis clerks are pres-
ently under the general supervision of a vice president in charge of
the newly organized order department of the Employer, and are a part
of the Employer's executive and office force, enjoying the same hours
of work and the same rates of pay as the other office employees rather
than the hours and rates of the plant clerical employees. In view
of the entire record, we find that the analysis clerks are office clerical
employees, who may not appropriately be included in the production
and maintenance unit. We shall exclude them from the voting group
hereinafter set forth.
Clerks in the matrix superintendent's office: The Employer con-
tends that the two clerks in the office of the matrix superintendent
should be excluded from the unit as confidential employees. It ap-
pears that the matrix superintendent spends some time processing
grievances of the employees in the matrix factory, a principal de-
partment of the Employer's plant. He is also a member of the man-
agement staff that participates in formulating the Employer's labor
relations policies. The two clerks occupy desks in the large room
used by the superintendent as his office, and serve as his secretaries.
Although it does not appear that they spend much time handling labor
relations matter, as they act in a confidential capacity to a person
exercising managerial functions in the field of labor relations, we find
that they are confidential employees and shall exclude them.'
Clerks in the plant superintendent's ogee: There are two clerks
in the plant superintendent's office, one of whom is his secretary and
the other a clerk-messenger. The Employer's witness testified that
the plant superintendent is one of the officials who participates in the
formulation of the Employer's labor relations policies. The record
does not disclose what portion of her time the secretary may spend in
handling matters relating to labor relations. However, in view of her
confidential relationship to the plant superintendent, we shall exclude
her as a confidential employee.7 As the record does not disclose that
" At the earlier hearing , the Employer 's witness testified that administrative reorganiza-
tion was contemplated . At the second hearing evidence was introduced to the effect that
the Employer ' s overseas and machine order departments were merged with its general
supplies order department into a single departmental group to which the customer services
theretofore performed by the analysis clerks of the matrix order department was added.
W. K. B. H., Inc., 81 NLRB 63.
7 Minneapolis -Moline Company, 85 NLRB 597.
MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY 68-9)
the clerk-messenger acts in a confidential capacity to any manage-
ment official, we shall include him.
Stenographer to the plant engineer (maintenance superintendent)
In the office of the plant engineer there is a stenographer whom the
Employer would exclude as a confidential employee. This employee,
was formerly secretary to the captain of the guards, an office which,
has recently been merged with that of plant engineer, and at present
she acts as secretary to the person who occupies this position. In this.
capacity she keeps the records and photographs of all employees, and.
arranges for new employees to be photographed. She informs the
municipal and Federal law enforcement authorities as to any thefts.
occurring in the plant, of other minor violations. She works the same
hours, under the same terms and conditions, and enjoys the same bene-
fits and privileges as the production and maintenance employees. As.
she has no contact with matters relating to the Employer's labor rela-
tions policies, we find that she is not a confidential employee within
the meaning of the Board's definition. Nor do we believe that she
may be deemed to be a guard merely because she does secretarial work
for the captain of the guards. We shall include her in the voting:
group.
Telephone operators: The Employer has two telephone operators
who work in a small room on one of the floors where the Employer'si
executive offices are located. One of these, as chief operator, is in
charge of the switchboard and checks and approves all telephone bills.
and telephone calls. She also supervises the work of the operator
with whom she works, and makes periodic merit ratings for her. The
chief operator reports to the personnel manager, who in turn is under
the director of industrial relations, a management official in the ex-
ecutive offices. Some of the telephone operators' conditions of em-
ployment are the same as those of the production and maintenance,
employees. Thus, they punch a time clock and received the recent
wage increase which was given to the production and maintenance
employees." However, telephone operators are commonly included
in units of office rather than plant clerical employees.9 The record
does not disclose that these telephone operators are more closely as-
sociated with either the production and maintenance or plant clerical
employees than with the executive office employees. For this reason,,
and in view of their work situs and supervision, we believe that their
interests are more closely related to those of the office clerical employ-
' The telephone operators were formerly under the general supervision of the works man-
ager. The Employer has recently transferred them to the supervision of its executive offices.
See, for example , Southern Alkali Corporation, 84 NLRB 120 ; Chrysler Corporation, 7S
NLRB 55; Smith Paper, Incorporated, 76 NLRB 1222.
690 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ees than to those of the production and maintenance employees. We
shall therefore exclude them from the plant clerical voting group here-
inafter set forth 10
Clerk and matron in the medical department: The Employer con-
tends that the clerk and the matron in the medical department should
be excluded from the voting group because they are supervised by
the doctor who presently reports to the industrial relations director,
who is admittedly an official of the Employer's executive offices. The
clerk performs typing duties and takes care of the medical files. The
matron takes care of the room set aside by the Employer for female
employees who become ill during working time. Both of these em-
ployees work the same hours and enjoy the -same benefits and privi-
leges as the production and maintenance employees. Neither of
them shares the privileges of the office employees. In view of the
entire record, we believe that the interests of the clerk and matron
of the Employer's medical department are more closely aligned with
those of the Employer's production and maintenance employees than
with those of the office clerical employees. We shall include them
in the plant clerical voting group 11
Cleric in the cafeteria: The clerk in the Employer's cafeteria makes
and keeps an inventory of food supplies, keeps a record of the daily
sales, receives telephone messages for her supervisor, and occasionally
assists the cashier. She reports to the cafeteria supervisor who for-
merly reported to the works manager but now reports to the industrial
relations director. All the other cafeteria employees are now part
of the production and maintenance unit. The. cafeteria clerk works
the same hours and enjoys the same benefits and advantages as the
production and maintenance employees and does not share the benefits
and special privileges of the office employees. We shall include the
cafeteria clerk.
Clerics in the purchasing department: The Employer would ex-
clude the clerks in the purchasing department on the ground that
this department is appropriately a part of the executive offices. Two
clerks work in the purchasing department under the immediate su-
pervision of the Employer's purchaser, who reports to the works
manager. These clerks punch a time clock, work the same hours,
and share the same benefits as the production and maintenance em-
ployees, but do not enjoy the privileges of the office clerical em-
ployees. We find that the clerks in the purchasing department are
properly included in the voting group of factory clerical employees 12
10 See Minneapolis -Moline Company, supra.
11 See Wilson d Co., Inc., 81 NLRB 504.
31 See decisions cited in footnote 3. '
MERGENTHALER LINOTYPE COMPANY 691.
We shall direct an election among all plant clerical employees at
the Employer's Brooklyn, New York, plant, including production
order clerks, parts stockroom clerks, parts inspection clerks, packing
and shipping clerks, special and general shop clerks, matrix clerks
in the matrix stockroom, matrix order review clerks, matrix inspec-
tion clerks, matrix order clerks, the clerk-messenger in the plant su-
perintendent's office, the stenographer to the plant engineer, clerk
and matron in the medical department, clerk in the cafeteria, and
the clerks in the purchasing department, but excluding all office cleri-
cal employees,13 clerks, messengers, and secretaries in the personnel
departments, clerks in the engineering department, secretary to the
vice president and general works manager, the clerks in the matrix
superintendent's office, the secretary in the plant superintendent's
office, telephone operators, executives, and all other supervisors as
defined in the Act. If a majority of the employees voting cast bal-
lots for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to be part of the production and maintenance unit, and the
Petitioner may bargain for these employees as part of such unit.
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
voting group described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said payroll 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 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 and its Local 770.
11 Excluding , among other office clerical employees , the analysis clerks formerly in the
matrix order department.
S A9227-51-vol. 89----45