Quigley Industries, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 16, 1969

180 N.L.R.B. 486 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

486 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Quigley Industries, Inc. and United Steelworkers of
America, AFL-CIO-CLC, Petitioner. Case
7-RC-9464
December 16, 1969
DECISION AND DIRECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS
FANNING AND ZAGORIA
Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon
consent election , executed June 6, 1969 , an election
by secret ballot was conducted on June 25, 1969,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional
Director for Region 7, among the employees in the
appropriate unit. Upon conclusion of the balloting,
the parties were furnished a tally of ballots, which
showed that of approximately 28 eligible voters, 13
cast valid ballots for, and 11 against , the Petitioner,
and 2 cast challenged ballots. The challenged ballots
were sufficient in number to affect the results of the
election.
After an investigation , the Regional Director
ordered a hearing to resolve the factual issues raised
by the challenges . A hearing was held and, on
August 29, 1969, the Hearing Officer issued his
report on challenged ballots, in which he
recommended that two challenges be overruled.
Thereafter, the Petitioner filed timely exceptions to
the Hearing Officer' s report and a supporting brief,
and the Employer filed an answering brief.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a
three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the rulings made by the
Hearing Officer at the hearing and finds that no
prejudicial error was committed . The rulings are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds that:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming
to represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists
concerning the representation of certain employees
of the Employer , within the meaning of Sections
9(c)(1) and 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. In accordance with the stipulation of the
parties, we find that the following employees of the
Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9(b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees
employed by the Employer at its Farmington,
Michigan plant located at 30966 Grand River,
including truckdrivers and tool and die employees;
180 NLRB No. 37
but excluding all office clerical employees,
professional employees, guards and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
5. The Board has considered the Petitioner's
exception to the Hearing Officer's recommendation
that the challenge to the ballot of Benjamin Raymo
be overruled, as well as the Employer's brief in
support of the Hearing Officer' s recommendation.'
Benjamin Raymo has been employed by the
Employer since 1956. In 1965, he retired from his
position as a full-time wire and stick welder but
continued to work for the Employer on an irregular
basis . In January 1969 he was put on a regular work
schedule whereby he worked Tuesdays and Fridays
(or Wednesday and Friday if he had a doctor's
appointment on Tuesday) from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
He was put on this schedule so that his work could
be coordinated with that of other employees. Raymo
does the same work as other wire and stick welders,
keeps the same hours as the majority of the other
employees and punches a timeclock. The record
establishes that he worked at least 16 hours per
week for 14 of the first 28 weeks of 1969, and that
he was on sick leave for the other 14 weeks (the
weeks ending February 8 through May 10) due to a
back injury.
Raymo works only until his earnings reach the
maximum permitted by the Social Security Act and,
as a part-time employee, he is not eligible for the
fringe benefits received by those employees who
work 40 hours or more per week.
The Petitioner contends that because Raymo so
restricts his hours and because he does not share in
the same program of benefits as do full-time
employees, he does not share a community of
interest with the other employees sufficient to
warrant his voting in the election.
We recently held that:
[E]mployees who are otherwise within the
appropriate unit will not henceforth be excluded
and found ineligible to participate in a
Board-conducted election solely for the reason
that they limit their working time and earnings so
as not to decrease their social security annuity...
Holiday Inns of America, 'Inc., 176 NLRB No. 124.
It has long been established that a part-time
employee who does not participate in his Employer's
program of fringe benefits will not, for those reasons
alone, be excluded from a bargaining unit. The
Vindicator Printing Co., 146 NLRB 871, 878; Dow
Jones & Co., 142 NLRB 421, 429. We see no
reason to modify this rule in the instant case merely
because Raymo 's reason for working part-time is to
avoid earning more than the maximum allowable
under the Social Security Act. Despite the fact that
he is a social security annuitant , he shares a
'In the absence of exceptions , we adopt pro forma. the Hearing Officer's
recommendation that the challenge to the ballot of Blame Ott be
overruled.
QUIGLEY INDUSTRIES, INC.
significant community of interest with the rest of the
unit; this is especially true in view of the close
functional relationship between his work and that of
the other employees.
In accordance with the findings herein, the
challenge to the ballot of Benjamin Raymo is hereby
overruled, and we shall direct that his ballot,
together with the ballot of Blaine Ott, be opened
and counted.
DIRECTION
487
It is hereby directed that the Regional Director
for Region 7 shall, within 10 days from the date of
this Decision and Direction, open and count the
ballots of Benjamin Raymo and Blaine Ott, and
thereafter prepare and cause to be served upon the
parties a revised tally of ballots, including therein
the count of said ballots; and take such further steps
as may be necessary in accordance with the Board's
Rules and Regulations.