Southern Aid Society of Virginia, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 9, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 780 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of SOUTHERN AID SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA, INC.' and UNITED
OFFICE & PROFESSIONAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, LOCAL 179
Case No. 5-R-1797.-Decided November 9, 1945
Messrs. Norman C. Flippen and J. T. Carter, both of Richmond,
Va., for the Company.
Messrs . Boudin, Cohn and Glickstein , by Miss Belle Seligman, of
New York City ; and Mr. Nicholas Chase, of Philadelphia , Pa., for the
Union.
Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Office & Professional
Workers of America, CIO, Local 179, herein called the Union, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Southern Aid Society of Virginia, Inc.,
Richmond, Virginia, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Herman Goldberg, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held
at Richmond, Virginia, on July 26,1945. The Company and the Union
appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rul-
ings made at the.hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with
the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Southern Aid Society of Virginia, Inc., a Virginia corporation with
its principal office located at Richmond, Virginia, is engaged in writing
1 At the hearing, all formal papers in this proceeding were amended to set forth the
correct name of the Company as it appears above.
64 N. L. R. B., No. 137.
780
SOUTHERN AID SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA, INC. 781
industrial, life, and ordinary insurance, as well as sick benefit in-
surance..It is duly licensed to conduct its business operations in the
State of Virginia and the District of Columbia. The Company's
business is managed and directed by its executive committee which is
located at the home office in Richmond. The committee determines
terms and conditions of the various policies of insurance which the
Company issues, and passes upon applications, loans, and claims, as
well as other matters pertaining to the conduct of the Company's busi-
ness. On May 31, 1945, the Company had in force 81,439 policies hav-
ing a face value of $9,156,686.58 and a premium income of $70,942.99.
The policies in the Company's Virginia offices numbered 74,945, hav-
ing a face value of $8,064,355.08 and a premium income of $637,218.42;
the policies in its Washington, D. C., office numbered 6,494, having a
face value of $1,092,331.50 and a premium income of $71,824.57. On
May 31, 1945, the gross assets of the Company totaled $1,526,364.77
and consisted of cash, bank deposits, realty bonds, stocks loans, in-
terest, rents, real estate,. and uncollected and deferred premiums.
Among these assets were real estate mortgages, policies, loans, and real
estate located in the District of Columbia, and city and/or county
bonds of sub-divisions of the States of North Carolina, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Alabama, and New Jersey. In addition, the Company pur-
chased small amounts of advertising in papers circulated in the State
of Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Contrary to the Company's contention, we find that it is engaged in
commdree within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.2
II. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Office & Professional Workers of America, Local 179, is a
labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organiza-
tions, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board.
The Company contends that the Union is not entitled to certifica-
tion as the representative of these employees because the Union was
sponsored by supervisory personnel of 'the Company. The record in-
dicates that, prior to November 1944, the Union admitted to member-
ship both supervisory and non-supervisory employees of the Company.
However, since that time, it has eliminated the Company's supervisory
personnel from its ranks and has confined its organizational activities
2 See Matter of The Life Insurance Company of Virginia , 57 N. L. R. B. 279.
782 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to non-supervisory workers. Furthermore, the Union has, since No-
vember 1944, obtained new designations from its members which were
offered in support of the petition herein,3 and no evidence was adduced
which indicates that these designations were obtained through the
assistance of supervisory personnel.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act .4
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS
In its amended petition, the Union sought a unit comprised of all
agents, home office clerical employees and district office clerical em-
ployees, excluding directors, executive officers, general field superin-
tendents, traveling superintendents, assistant district superintendents,
and home office department heads (except for certain exceptions here-
inafter discussed) ; in the alternative, the Union is willing to repre-
sent the above employees in two units, one comprised of the Company's
agents and the other of the Company's clerical employees. The Com-
pany contends that the unit sought by the Union in its amended peti-
tion is inappropriate. It asserts that (a) agents and clerical em-
ployees should not be included within the same unit, (b) Virginia and
Washington, D. C., employees should not be commingled within the
same unit, and (c) certain clerical employees sought by the Union
are supervisory or confidential workers and should, therefore, be
excluded.5
The activities of the Company are conducted through its home office,
14 district offices, and 3 independent agencies. Direction of the Com-
pany's activities rests with its officers and Board of Directors, consti-
tuting its executive staff, who are located at the home office. The cleri-
3 A statement of a Field Examiner for the Board , introduced into evidence at the hearing,
and a statement of the Trial Examiner made% at the hearing , indicate that the Union
submitted 85 designations dated between July 11 and July 17 , 1 945, signed by persons
appearing on the Company's pay roll of July 25 , 1945 , and that, on that date , the Company
employed approximately 164 employees The following chart , summarizing the above
statements with respect to the Union ' s designations , indicates that the Union represents
a substantial number of employees in each of the units hereinafter found appropriate.
Unit
Agent's Unit--------------------------------------------------------
Clerical Unit--------------------------------------------------------
No designation as to occupation -------------------------------------
N umber
employed
therein
121
44
Number of des-
ignations sub-
mitted by
the Union
5S
26
1
4 See Matter of Toledo Stamping & Manufacturing Co , 56 N. L R. B. 1291.
5 The Company contends that the Board is confined solely to passing upon the appro-
priateness of the unit set out in the amended petition , and may either adopt it or reject
it without change. We find no merit in this contention See Section 9 (b) of the Act ;
Matter of Spicer Manufacturing Corporation , 55 N. L. R. B. 1491.
SOUTHERN AID SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA, INC. 783
cal staff of the home office acts as a conduit between the policy making
group and the field, which is composed of the district offices and
agencies. The district offices contain several agents and clerks and
are the centers of the Company's activities within given areas. The
Company's independent agencies are comprised of single agents oper-
ating within smaller areas.
All agents, whether engaged in Virginia or in the District of Colum-
bia, perform substantially identical work. They collect all debits,
turn over to the proper authorities all premiums collected, canvass
for and write new applications for insurance, and, occasionally assist
in the payment of sick claims. They are required to fill out and file
reports and may be assisted in these activities by district office clerks.
They are hired and trained by the district superintendent and the trav-
eling superintendent and are paid on a commission basis, work their
own hours, are required to post bonds, and to own automobiles, which
they use in connection with this work. In contrast to this, the Com-
pany's clerical employees, both at its home office and in the districts,
are unbonded salaried workers who perform their duties in offices on
a fixed working day schedule. We are of the opinion that the dis-
similarity in the duties and working conditions of these two groups
is such that the inclusion of agents and clerical employees in the same
unit is not warranted. We shall, therefore, establish separate units
of agents and clericals.` No valid reason has been advanced for sep-
arating employees who work in the District of Columbia from those
who work in Virginia. Accordingly, we shall not make any dis-
tinction with respect to the Company's employees based upon this
circumstance.
As previously indicated, the Company seeks the exclusion of certain
clerical employees on the ground that they are either supervisory or
confidential workers, or both. We shall now discuss the status of these
employees to ascertain whether or not they should be included in the
clerical unit.
District clerks: The Company contends that these employees are
both supervisory and confidential. The record indicates that district
clerks are located in the district offices where they perform routine
clerical duties such as checking agents' reports, preparing home office
reports, and handling correspondence between the district and the
home offices. In addition, they assist the district superintendent with
the various details involved in the management of an office, and run
the office in his absence. Occasionally, some of them may be permitted
to sell ordinary insurance. Although they are required to report
employee irregularities to the district superintendents, they have no.
authority to make recommendations affecting the status of their fellow
employees. Under these circumstances, we are of the opinion that
'784 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
they are neither supervisory nor confidential employees and we shall
include them.
Miscellaneous clericals: The record indicates that, in the normal
course of their duties, Lillie F. Byrd and Ruth L. Allen, secretaries to
the Secretary-Manager; Ruth S. Brown and Evelyn N. Perkins, secre-
taries to the Assistant Secretary-111anager; and Bessie Stewart, assist-
ant to the Head Bookkeeper, have access to confidential matters
pertaining to labor relations, whereas Letitia W. Wyatt, Eleanor E.
Howlett, Sarah E. Smith, Maggie B. James, and Mildred M. Lang-
horne, secretaries, do not have such access., We shall exclude those
first named, as confidential employees, and shall include the remainder.
L. F. Byrd, Fannie James, and L. E. Ragland are classified by the
Company as Home Office Department Heads, and, according to it,
are supervisory employees. Byrd is the assistant bookkeeper at the
home office. He correlates and makes entries of all incoming reports,
funds, and disbursements, and performs the general duties of a book-
keeper. In addition, he makes all company bank deposits. As part
of his duties, he has charge of the contracts between the Company,
and its agents, and has access to company records containing the wage
payments to employees. During the rare absences of the head book-
keeper, he assumes the duties of that employee. However, he has no
power to hire or discharge, although he can make suggestions to his
,superior with respect to employees assigned to assisting him in his
,clerical duties. We are of the opinion that the power to make such
-suggestions and the fact that there are relatively few occasions when
he acts as head of the bookkeeping department are not sufficient to
warrant a finding that he is a supervisory employee. Moreover, since
the records with which he deals do not pertain directly to the labor
:relations policies of the Company, we find that he is not a confidential
.employee. We shall include him. Fannie James assists Byrd in his
duties. We shall also include her. L. E. Ragland is head of the
-claims and record department. As such, he has charge of all corre-
spondence of the Company, including matters containing confidential
information pertaining to labor relations. Under these circumstances,
-we shall exclude him as a confidential employee.
We find the following groups of employees of the Company con-
stitute units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
-within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act;
Wyatt takes dictation from the Secretary-Manager and Mrs. James of the bookkeeping
-department, pertaining to death claims. Howlett and Smith are secretaries to the Com-
pany's auditor, and their work is confined to pay-roll records. Maggie James is the secre-
tary to the head bookkeeper, and her duties are also confined to pay-roll records.
Langhorne is the secretary to the manager of agency accounts, and her duties are confined .
-to matters pertaining to these accounts.
SOUTHERN AID SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA, INC. 785
1. All agents of the Company in the District of Columbia and the
State of Virginia, excluding home office clerical employees, district
office clerical employees, district supervisors, assistant district super-
visors, traveling district supervisors, and all other employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recomend such action.
2. All clerical employees of the Company, including district clerks,
Letitia W. Wyatt, Eleanor E. Howard, Sarah E. Smith, Maggie B.
James, Mildred M. Langhorne, L. F. Byrd, and Fannie James, but
excluding Lillie F. Byrd, Ruth L. Allen, Ruth S. Brown, Evelyn N.
'Perkins, Bessie Stewart, L. E. Ragland, agents, directors, executive
officers, general field superintendents, traveling superintendents, dis-
trict superintendents, assistant district superintendents, home office
department heads (except those specifically included), and all other
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis-
cipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or ef-
fectively recommend such-action.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by elections by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate units who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elections herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Southern Aid
Society of Virginia, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, elections by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty
(60) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Fifth Region, acting in
this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among employees in the units found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
670417-46--vol 64 51
786 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarly laid off, and including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls,
but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date
of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented by United Office & Professional Workers of America, Local
179, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.