Phillips & Buttorff Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 23, 1957

118 N.L.R.B. 800 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

800 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Phillips & Buttorff Corporation ' and Stove Mounters ' Interna-
tional Union of North America , AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No.
10-RC-3842. July 23,19J7
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before H. Stephan Gordon, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Rodgers, Bean, and Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the 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 of production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's stove factory. The Employer agrees that
such a unit is appropriate. However, the placement of certain job
classifications is in dispute.
The Petitioner would include the inspectors;, the Employer takes
no position. The inspectors, who work on the production floor under
the direct supervision of the chief inspector, check the quality of prod-
ucts on the assembly line and decide whether they are acceptable.
Inspectors are hourly paid and have the same employment conditions
and benefits as the production employees. They do not have .the
authority to hire or discharge employees` or give them pay raises, or
effectively to recommend such action; nor have they the authority to
administer discipline. Inspectors may stop a job' when. the product is
unsatisfactory, and may, make recommendations regarding the work
performance of individual employees, but any subsequent action taken
is up to the foremen, who make their own independent investigation
and determination with respect to personnel action. We shall include
inspectors in the unit. Hickory Chair Company, 116 NLRB 1105,
1107.
The Petitioner would exclude load board operators as supervisors;
the Employer would include them as plant clerical 'employees.'' Load
board operators work on the production floor under the separate
1 The Employer's name appears as amended at the hearing.
118 NLRB No. 99.
PFIILLIPS & BUTTORFF CORPORATION 801
supervision of the production and control supervisor. They do no
production work. They receive a work schedule made up by the fore-
man and the production and control supervisor, determine whether
the necessary equipment is available, determine the sequence in which
the various jobs are to be performed, and issue job assignments to the
production employees. If there is any question as to which employee
'is to perform which job, they consult with the production foreman.
Load board operators have no authority to hire or discharge employees,
or effectively to recommend such action ; nor have they authority to
grant time off. If they discover that an employee's work is badly
done, they take the matter up with the production foreman, who, alone,
is authorized to take corrective action. Like the production workers,
they are hourly paid, and they enjoy the same benefits. We find that
load board operators are not supervisors, and shall include them in the
unit as plant clerical employees. See Western Gear Works, 98 NLRB
80, 83-84.
The Petitioner would exclude schedulers and followup men as su-
pervisors; the Employer takes no position. Schedulers and followup
men are in the production and control department, but they work
throughout the plant. In accordance with previously prepared plans,
they detail breakdowns of'the schedules and daily runs, detail some
-of the daily items to the departmental foremen, and check to see that
everything is moving on time. Where work is behind schedule, they
request the foremen to call for overtime work or additional help.
They have authority to instruct production employees as to the
performance of their duties, but their exercise of judgment is limited
to the utilization of parts and machinery rather than the work
performance of production employees. They have no authority to hire,
discharge, or discipline employees. Although they may recommend
discharge, the departmental foremen make their own independent
investigations. Schedulers and followup men are. hourly paid, but
receive substantially more than production employees. Their work
requires some special training and a photographic memory. We find
that the schedulers and followup men are not supervisors, and shall
include them in the unit as plant clerical employees. George A. Fuller
Company, 78 NLRB 207, 208-209; Continental Can Company, 116
NLRB 1202,1203 (general line assembly scheduler).
The Petitioner would exclude plant accounting clerks as office cler-
ical employees; the Employer takes no position. The plant accounting
clerks spend half their time on the production floor, picking up job
tickets and picking up and returning timecards. They spend the
rest of their time in the accounting office tabulating and assembling
these data, which they then forward to the Employer's downtown
office. We shall include them in the unit as plant clerical employees.
450553-58-vol. 118-52
802 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Westinghouse Electric Corporation, 89 NLRB 8, 16; General Electric
Company, 105 NLRB 921, 922-923.
We find the following unit to be appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Nash-
ville, Tennessee, plant, including inspectors, load board operators,
schedulers and followup men, and plant accounting clerks, but ex-
cluding office clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and
supervisors as defiined in the Act.
5. By August or September 1957, the Employer expects to increase
its working force by 10 percent and to set up a new department.
Since the present personnel complement is a substantial proportion of
the anticipated working force, and since there is no evidence that the
employees to be hired will possess any new skills, in accordance with
our usual practice we shall direct an immediate election. Packard-
Bell Company, Service Division, 102 NLRB 1399.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
G. F. Lasater and Local 47, Chauffeurs , Teamsters & Helpers, Af-
filiate of International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner.
Case No. 16-RC-1991. July 23,1957
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND CERTIFICATION
OF REPRESENTATIVES
Pursuant to a Decision and Direction of Election issued herein on
February 11, 1957,1 an election by secret ballot was -conducted on
March 2, 1957, under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for the Sixteenth Region, among the employees in the unit
found appropriate by the Board. Following the election a tally of
ballots was furnished the parties. The tally shows that of approxi-
mately 23 eligible voters, 12 voted for the Petitioner, and 11 voted
against the Petitioner. No ballots were challenged, and there were
no void ballots.
Thereafter, the Employer timely filed four objections to the elec-
tion. In accordance with the Board's Rules and Regulations, the
Regional Director caused an investigation to be made of the issues
raised by the objections, and on March 25, 1957, issued and served on
the parties his report on objections to the election, in which he recom-
mended that all the Employer's objections be overruled and that the
Petitioner be certified as the collective-bargaining representative of
1 117 NLRB 348.
118 NLRB No. 96.