The Schauer Machine Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 29, 1949

82 N.L.R.B. 490 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of THE SCHAUER MACHINE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
LOCAL UNION #1061 OF THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-340.-Decided March 29, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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.*
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 named below claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of machine tools
and electrical equipment at its 2 plants in Cincinnati, Ohio. Plant 1
employs approximately 26 persons, while Plant 2, about 3 miles dis-
tant, employs approximately 30 persons. While there is almost no
interchange of employees, the 2 plants are under the same general
supervision and their functions are highly integrated. At the hear-
ing the Employer stated its intention to move all production in Plant
2 into Plant 1 within the following 30 days, using Plant 2 as a ware-
house. While the change might result in a slight reduction in the
number of production employees, it would not materially affect the
nature or scope of the Employer's operations.
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production employees at the Em-
ployer's two Cincinnati plants, including the shipping clerk and the
'Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray.
82 N. L. R. B., No. 58.
490
THE SCHAUER MACHINE, COMPANY 491
stock clerk, but excluding office clerical employees, professional em-
ployees, time-study men, maintenance employees, working supervisors,
guards, foremen, and other supervisors. The Employer does not
oppose the two-plant unit, and takes no affirmative position regarding
the unit placement of any employees, but awaits the Board's determina-
tion based on facts adduced at the hearing, on the following employees :
the shipping clerk, the stock clerk, maintenance employees, and work-
ing supervisors.,'
The shipping clerk works in the shipping department at Plant 1,
under the supervision of the plant superintendent. He signs bills of
lading, prepares receiving reports, packs and unpacks materials, checks
shipments against orders, records their weights, addresses them, and
arranges for their transportation. While he has two helpers to aid
him with the manual portion of his work, he has no power to hire or
discharge them, or effectively to recommend the same. The shipping
clerk is a factory clerical employee. The stock clerk is under the super-
vision of the personnel director and the controller of materials. He
works in the stock department, located in the center of the production
lines of Plant 1. He issues materials on orders from the personnel
director's office and notifies that office as to his inventory requirements.
Approximately 60 percent of his work is manual in nature, and the
remainder is clerical. He is listed on the factory pay roll. We shall
include the shipping clerk and the stock clerk as factory clerks in the
production unit .2
The maintenance employees concerned are three porters, two of
whom work at Plant 1, and the third at Plant 2. These employees, who
are under the supervision of the plant superintendent, clean the offices,"
the production areas, and the machines at the two plants. They also
haul castings, carry lumber, help in crating large machines, and work
in the shipping department once a month during rush periods. They
perform no assembly-line work. In the absence of any cogent reason
for their separate treatment, we shall include the maintenance em-
ployees in the production Unit .4
Working supervisors direct the work of 3 to 20 employees in their
respective Plant 2 departments, known as the stator-winding, grinder
assembly, rectifier unit, and battery booster departments. They are
hourly paid employees and work under the supervision of the plant
superintendent and his assistant. Working supervisors spend from
I The Petitioner seeks the exclusion of "first-aid personnel ." As there are no employees
of that description at the Employer's plant, we shall make no unit determination as to
these categories.
2 Matter of General Electric Company, 80 N. L . R. B. 174.
1 The main office is located in Plant 1. There is also one, small office, in Plant 2, which
is used by the assistant plant superintendent.
4 Matter of Goodall Company, 80 N. L . R. B. 562.
492 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
75 to 90 percent of their time in performing the same sort of tasks
as the employees they direct; the rest of the time they instruct their
crews, remove production bottlenecks, and make final tests and adjust-
ments on equipment at the end of the production lines. They spend
up to an hour a day keeping and checking inventories and time cards.
They receive a wage differential of 10 to 15 cents an hour more than
the employees within their departments. They have no power to hire
or discharge employees, or effectively to recommend a change in status.
Those powers are exercised by the plant superintendent and the f ore-
men, who make their own separate investigations based on the verbal
work reports of the working supervisors. Upon the instant record,
we are of the opinion that working supervisors are not supervisors
within the meaning of the Act, and we shall therefore include them in
the appropriate unit."
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's Plant 1 and Plant 2, in Cincinnati, Ohio, including the ship-
ping clerk, the stockroom clerk, and working supervisors, but
excluding office clerical employees, time-study men, guards, foremen,
and other supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.
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-Series 5, as amended, among
the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered
4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees
who did not work during said pay-roll 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 reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding em-
ployees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective
bargaining, by Local Union #1061 of the International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, AFL.
Cf. Matter of Sampsel Time Control, Inc., 80 N. L. R. B. 1250.