RCA Service Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 29, 1952

98 N.L.R.B. 417 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

RCA SERVICE COMPANY, INC. 417
but excluding executives, administrative employees, confidential em-
ployees, professional employees, office clerical employees, salesmen,'
watchmen, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
If the employees in group 1 select a bargaining representative differ-
ent from that selected by the employees in group 2, the Board finds that
the group 1 employees constitute a separate appropriate unit; and if,
in these circumstances, the employees in group 2 also select a bargain-
ing agent, the Board finds that the employees in group 2 also consti-
tute an appropriate unit. If the employees in the two groups select,
the same bargaining agent, the Board finds that together they con-
stitute an appropriate unit. The Regional Director conducting the
elections directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of repre-
sentatives to the union or unions in the unit or units which may result
from the elections. If either group selects no bargaining agent, the
Regional Director shall issue a certificate of results of elections to such
effect.
Next of Direction of Elections omitted from publication 'in this
volume.] '
would include these In addition the Employer has some part -time employees who are
on call and work occasionally , but with no regularity . We include in the unit, and find
eligible to vote , all regular part -time employees . See Illinois Bell Telephone Company,
95 NLRB 913.
8 The Employer has 60 outside salesmen who have no assigned hours of work They have
never been included in the unit. We agree with the parties that they are properly
excluded.
RCA SERVICE COMPANY, INC. and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL UNION 1481, AFL,' PETITIONER.
Case No. 6-RC-930. February 29, 1952
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 William A. McGowan, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.2
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-mem-
ber panel [Members Houston, Murdock, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
' Herein called the IBEW.
The Office Employees International Union, Local 33, AFL, was permitted to intervene
on the basis of its showing of interest among the employees involved herein.
98 NLRB No. 62.
418 DECISIONS ,OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.3
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 f
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent all office and clerical employees
-at the Employer's South Pittsburgh Branch on 5121 Clairton Boule-
vard, excluding district and home office clerical and office employees,
branch manager's secretary, stockmen, sales employees, trainees,
traveling auditors, technical employees, professional employees,
guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act. While the
parties stipulated to the composition of the unit, the Employer and the
Intervenor contend that the appropriate unit should be Nation-wide
or, at the least, district-wide in order to promote stability of labor
relations for the office and clerical employees of all branches who have
common interests and working conditions and are centrally controlled.
There is no history of collective bargaining with respect to the office
and clerical employees of the South Pittsburgh Branch.
The Employer's 5 consumer product division, which is involved in
this proceeding, consists Qf 10 districts and 112 subordinate branches
that have technical as well as office employees. Although the admin-
istration is centralized in the home office in Gloucester, New Jersey,
which sets over-all labor and personnel policies, each branch has its
own manager and operates as an independent entity apart from the
Employer's other branches. Generally, hiring is done at the local
branch level. Although there is fairly frequent interchange of tech-
nicaf employees, transfers of office and clerical employees are restricted
to key individuals and are limited to 1 or 2 a month for all of the
Employer's branches.
Local 1430 of the IBEW has a contract with the Employer which
covers the office and clerical employees in eight branches of the New
York district, and six and two of the branches respectively of the New
Jersey and New England districts. The IBEW has also been the con-
tractual representative of the technical employees in all of the Em-
ployer's branches since 1943. The Office Employees International
8 The Employer does not agree that Local 1481 of the IBEW is a labor organization
within the meaning of the Act, and both the Employer and the Intervenor contend that
Local 1481 cannot represent the office and clerical employees sought herein on the ground
that it has no such jurisdiction . We find no merit in these contentions as Local 1481 is
willing to represent these employees and the record shows that it exists for the purpose
of dealing with employers with respect to the wages , hours, and other conditions of
employment . Fox DeLuxe Foods, Inc., 96 NLRB 1132; Balboa Pacific Corporation, 88
NLRB 1505. Accordingly, the Employer' s motion to dismiss the petition because of
Local 1481' s lack of jurisdiction is hereby denied.
* There is no contention that any of the contracts referred to infra constitute a bar to
`this proceeding.
The Employer is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Radio Corporation of America.
RCA SERVICE COMPANY, INC. 419
Union's contract, which originally covered only the office and clerical
employees at the Employer's Hollywood, California, branch, when it
was entered into in August 1951, provides for the inclusion of office and
clerical employees at additional branches as they are recognized by the
Employer. As a result of the victory of various Office Employees
Locals in separate consent elections for the office and clerical employees
at the Boston, Milwaukee, Chicago South Side, and Detroit East
branches, these employees have since been brought under the same
contract.6
It is clear from the foregoing that there has been no Nation-wide
or district-wide bargaining between the Employer and either the
IBEW or the Office Employees International Union for the office and
clerical employees. Although the IBEW represents technical em-
ployees on a Nation-wide basis, we do not regard that pattern as con-
trolling with respect to the office and clerical employees, who have been
bargained for through multibranch units which do not correspond to
any functional or administrative sector of the Employer's operations.
The IBEW contract unit covering office and 'clerical employees, for
example, does not include all the branches in the three districts to
which it extends. And the Office Employees' contract unit, which
has so far developed on a piecemeal basis, is composed of widely
scattered branches.
Under all these circumstances, including the lack of substantial in-
terchange of office and clerical employees between branches, the exist-
ence of a degree of local autonomy, and the fact that there is nothing
in the bargaining history of the Employer's branches which militates
against the establishment of units on a branch-wide basis, we conclude
that a unit confined to the office and clerical employees of the South
Pittsburgh branch is appropriate.? We find, therefore, that all office
and clerical employees at the Employer's South Pittsburgh branch on
5121 Clairton Boulevard, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but excluding
district and home office clerical and office employees, branch manager's
secretary, stockmen, sales employees, trainees, traveling auditors,
technical employees, professional employees, guards, watchmen, and
supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
9 Two consent elections for San Francisco and Oakland , California , which had not yet
been conducted at the time of the hearing , were recently won by Locals of the Office
Employees International Union and will apparently come under this contract.
4 Holland Furnace Company , 95 NLRB 1339; Associated Transport, Inc., 93 NLRB 1564.
Cf RCA Service Company, Inc., 94 NLRB 1122.