The Whitney Blake Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 8, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 491 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of THE WHITNEY BLAKE COMPANY and UNITED
ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 1-R-2805.-Decided March 8, 1946
Mr. Joseph S. Whitside, Jr., of New Haven , Conn ., for the
Company.
Mr. Vincent J. Romeo, of New Haven , Conn ., for the U. E.
Mr. Samuel M. Maynard, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America, CIO, herein called the U. E., alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of The Whitney Blake Company, Hamden, Connecticut,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Robert E.
Greene, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at New Haven, Con-
necticut, on January 29, 1946. The Company and the U. E. appeared
and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce
evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded 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
The Whitney Blake Company is a Connecticut corporation, having
its principal place of business and plant located in Hamden, Con-
66 N. L. R. B., No. 62.
491
492 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
necticut, and is engaged in the manufacture of communication wire,
cable, and flexible cord. Its principal raw materials, valued in excess
of $1,000,000, consists of copper, rubber and cotton yarns; approxi-
mately 50 percent of these raw materials is purchased from points
outside the State of Connecticut. The Company's finished products,
95 percent of which is shipped to points outside the State of Connec-
ticut, are valued in excess of $5,000,000 per annum.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act,
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, is a
labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organ-
izations , admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about December 5, 1945, the U. E. advised the Company
that it represented a majority of its employees, and informed the
Company that it had petitioned the Board. The Company has re-
fused to grant recognition to the U. E. as the exclusive bargaining
agent of certain of its employees until the U. E. has been certified
by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the U. E. represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The U. E. and the Company agree on a unit consisting of all
production and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding
guards, nurses, main office employees, executives, foremen and any
other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
i The Field Examiner 's report showed that the U. E submitted 179 application for
membership cards, and that of the applications submitted , the date groups were as
follows : March to May 1945-46, June to August 1945-11, October to December 1945
-122. No check of cards was made since the Company failed to submit a pay roll,
though requested . Several other labor organizations were requested in writing to submit
repiesentation evidence , if any, but failed to do so
There are approximately 450 employees in the appropriate unit.
THE WHITNEY BLAKE COMPANY 493
ployees, or effectively recommend such action.2 However, the parties
are in dispute as to the inclusion or exclusion of so-called factory
clericals, consisting of the categories discussed below.
Tool crib attendant-The Company would exclude its one tool
crib attendant, contending that her duties are more in the nature of
clerical than production or maintenance. Her duties consist of main-
taining a perpetual inventory, initiating requisitions, and handing
out and checking in small tools to and from employees. She works
in the tool crib, a wired off enclosure in the machine shop, and is
subject, for the most part, to the supervision of the machine shop
foreman, and in a small part, to the comptroller as regards inventory.
She is paid on an hourly basis rather than by salary as the office
employees generally are paid and her daily contacts are with pro-
duction rather than with office employees. She is employed 5 days
per week and on the sixth day when the Company operates, her
functions, except for record keeping, are performed by a man con-
cededly within the unit. Likewise, during the second and third
shifts, the tool crib is operated by other men under the charge of
the foreman. In addition to the small tool crib, the Company has
a warehouse where larger tools, such as chain twists, are kept. This
storeroom is run by a man concededly within the unit who performs
functions identical with those performed by the tool crib attendant,
except that the tools controlled by him are larger and heavier. The
tool crib attendant performs both clerical and manual labor; she
does not possess any supervisory authority; her responsibilities are
not managerial; she performs her duties in the plant under working
conditions similar to those of production and maintenance employees,
and should be included as a factory clerical.3 Accordingly, in ac-
cordance with our practice, we shall include the tool crib attendant
in the appropriate unit .4
Production checkers-The Company would exclude three produc-
tion checkers, who are in fact piece-work counters, from the unit
on the grounds that their duties are clerical in nature and that their
duties are such as would raise a question of divided loyalty if they
were included in the unit. They count and record the production
of certain operators working on piece-work or incentive plan, thereby
determining, to some extent, the pay of the operators; they are paid
on an hourly basis and supervised by the foreman of the cord set
department. Although their duties are predominantly clerical in
nature, we are of the opinion that they are sufficiently identifiable
2 At the hearing , the U. E. and the Company arrived at such an agreement
3 Factory clerks were included in a maintenance and production unit in Matter of
Rockford Screw Products Co, 62 N. L. It. B. 1430
4 flatter of Ideal Roller & Manufaeturtnp Company, Inc , 60 N L R B. 1105,
Matter of Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company , 33 N L R. B, 15 ; Matter of
Wheeler Shipbuilding Corporation , 56 N L. R. B. 1351.
494 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
with those of production and maintenance employees to warrant
their inclusion in the unit.5 We are of the opinion that their work
is of a routine nature, not involving the exercise of managerial
discretion, that they have no supervisory authority and that their
work does not involve confidential matters pertaining to labor re-
lations. "Furthermore, we attach no weight to the implication that
membership in a union is incompatible with faithful performance
of duty." 6 We shall therefore include the production checkers.
Inspectors-The Company would exclude the class of inspectors,
including inspectors (3), inspector-testers (20-25), tank-testers (10),
and cord set and final inspectors, on the divided loyalty theory and
the fact that they exercise great control over the quality of the Com-
pany's product. The inspectors travel from department to depart-
ment checking on specifications and reporting to the chief inspector.
The tank-testers are concerned with under-water testing of wire and
report to the chief inspector. The inspector-tester, by means of visual
inspection and/or electrical spark tester, detects flaws or bad spots
in wire, repairs such defects and retests, and reports to the foreman.
The cord set and final inspectors, through electrical and visual in-
spection, examine and test for shorts and appearance prior to ship-
ment. These inspectors exercise no supervisory control over the
employees whose work they inspect, being concerned solely with the
quality of the products manufactured. "Their primary function
is to subject to scrutiny the product, not the worker," 7 and they
do not constitute management. These employees work throughout
the plant in close proximity to production and maintenance em-
ployees and under substantially similar working conditions and in
some cases actually repair defects. As in other cases involving
similar employees, we are of the opinion that these inspectors, ex-
cluding chief inspectors, are properly included in an appropriate
unit of maintenance and production employees."
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company, including tool crib attendants, production checkers, in-
spectors, inspector-testers, tank-testers, cord set and final inspectors,
but excluding nurses, guards, executives, foremen, and all or any
5 Matter of Rockford Screw Products Co., supra; Matter of National Carbon Com-
pany, Inc., 61 N . L. R. B. 457; Matter of The Glidden Company, Southern Pine Chemt-
Cal Division and Nelio Resin Processing Corporation , 61 N. L. R. B. 297.
6 Matter of Detroit Aluminum and Brass Corporation , 61 N. L R B. 1415
7 7 Matter of Vulcan Mold and Iron Company , 62 N. L. R . B. 1219.
$ Matter of Ideal Roller & Manufacturing Company, Inc., supra ; Matter of The
Dayton Rubber Manufacturing Company, 57 N. L. R. B. 388 ; Matter of General Cable
Corporation, 60 N. L. R. B. 1177 ; Matter of Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, 57
N. L. R. B . 115; Matter of Vulcan Mold and Iron Co, supra ; Matter of General
Cigar Co, Inc., 64 N. L, It. B. 300; cf. Matter of Felten Corpot ation, 59 N. L It. B
468; Matter of General Cable Corporation, 62 N L. It. B. 437; Matter of Westinghouse
Air Brake Company, 64 N. L. It. B. 547, Matter of A148-Chalmers Manufacturing Com-
pany, 61 N. L. It. B. 631.
THE WHITNEY BLAKE COMPANY 495
other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, dis-
charge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section -9 (c) of the National Labor Re-
lations 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-
ti-ves for the purposes of collective bargaining with The Whitney
Blake Company, Hamden, Connecticut, an election by secret ballot
shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the First 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 Regulations,
among employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above,
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately pieced-
ing the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily 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 Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.