UTD Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 13, 1967

165 N.L.R.B. 346 (N.L.R.B. 1967)

346 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
UTD Corporation (Union-Card Division),'
Employer-Petitioner and United Electrical,
Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE)
UTD Corporation (Union-Card Division) and
United Electrical, Radio & Machine
Workers of America (UE), Petitioner. Cases
1-RM-636 and 1-RC-9340.
June 13, 1967
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
BY CHAIRMAN MCCULLOCH AND MEMBERS FANNING
AND ZAGORIA
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section
9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as
amended, a consolidated hearing was held before
Hearing Officer Robert C. Rosemere of the National
Labor Relations Board. The Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. The Employer-
Petitioner, herein referred to as the Employer, and
the Petitioner in Case 1-RC-9340, herein referred to
as the Union, filed briefs which have been
considered by the Board.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, the Board has delegated its powers in
connection with these cases to a three-member
panel.
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisidiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning 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. The parties are in agreement as to the
appropriateness of a unit of the Employer's
production and maintenance employees. They are in
dispute, however, as to the unit placement of
apprentices, leadmen, and watchmen. The
Employer, contrary to the Union, would include
apprentices and leadmen and exclude watchmen.2
A. Apprentices
The 25 apprentices are high school graduates,
who, during a 4-year program, receive training at
various operations throughout the plant. Most of
their time is devoted to training in production
classifications, during which they actually perform
production operations and are supervised by the
foreman of the production department to which they
are assigned. The apprentices are hourly paid, are
paid for overtime, punch a timeclock, and receive
the same fringe benefits as do the production
employees. Upon completion of the program, the
apprentices are recognized as journeymen
machinists, although they may then be assigned to
duties outside the unit.
The Union would exclude the apprentices on the
ground that they are recruited and trained for
positions "outside of the bargaining unit." However,
the record indicates that the purpose of the program
is to train men who will be capable of performing a
variety of functions throughout the plant, and that
many of the apprentices are assigned to production
classifications upon completion of the program.
Moreover, the Employer has a separate program for
training college graduates for sales and management
positions outside the unit.
We find, therefore, that the interests and
conditions of employment of the apprentices are
similar to those of the unit employees. Although they
have better prospects for advancement with the
Employer than do the employees who have not had
such training, this factor cannot change the
community of interest which the apprentices share
with the production and maintenance employees
during the 4-year training program.3 We shall
accordingly include the apprentices in the unit.4
B. Watchmen
The two watchmen, who are not armed, do not
wear uniforms or badges, and are not authorized to
make arrests, periodically tour the plant during and
after working hours, checking for irregularities and
punching the watchman's clocks as they pass
certain stations. When their tour is completed, they
spend some time at the main gate before beginning
the next tour. In the evening, the watchmen close
and padlock the plant gates, and thereafter
employees entering the plant must be admitted by a
watchman. A watchman must determine whether an
employee leaving the plant with any of the
Employer's materials is authorized to do so, and, if
not, he must report the infraction to the employee's
supervisor. The watchmen do no janitorial or
custodial work.
As it is clear that the watchmen are employed to
enforce against the employees rules to protect the
property of the Employer, we find that they are
' The name of the Employer-Petitioner appears as amended at
the hearing
' In 1953, the Board certified the United Steelworkers of
America, not here involved, as the representative of the
Employer's production and maintenance employees in a unit
which included apprentices and leadmen and excluded
watchmen The Steelworkers lost a decertification election in
1956, and the employees involved have apparently not been
represented since that time
' See General Electrtc Company, 131 NLRB 100, 104-105
' Although the record shows that the 1955 contract entered into
by the Employer and the Steelworkers excluded apprentices, they
were, as noted above, included in the unit by the 1953 Board
certification
165 NLRB No. 48
UTD CORPORATION
guards within the meaning of Section 9(b)(3) of the
Act. Accordingly, we shall exclude the watchmen
from the unit.
C. Leadmen
There are approximately 700 employees in the
production and maintenance unit and 42 admitted
supervisors: 7 second foremen, 17 foremen, 14 head
foremen, 3 superintendents, and a works manager.
There are 35 regular and 2 temporary leadmen.
Leadmen work in departments which include from 4
to 25 employees. They distribute and check the
quality of work, instruct new employees, set up
machinery, and do some production work. If
completed work does not meet the required
standards, the leadman might call this to the
attention of the employee who worked on the
product, and note the defect on an error slip for the
purpose of having a record of pieces that might later
be removed from an order. Leadmen also perform
such routine functions as correcting clock and
contract cards, by which employees record the
amount of time they are at work or on a particular
job, and passing out checks; and a few of them
compute piece rates for incentive workers by
referring to a chart prepared for this purpose.
Although leadmen at present do less production
work than they did formerly, their duties have not
changed significantly since 1953, when they were
included in the unit.
During the day shift, foremen are present in the
production departments. Although foremen are not
present during the night shift, a "night supervisor,"
who the record indicates is a head foreman, is
present, and the day-shift foremen give the night-
shift leadmen detailed instructions concerning the
night operations. Leadmen have told employees who
were away from their machines or talking to return
to work, but they refer to the admitted supervisors
cases of more serious misconduct. Likewise,
employees occasionally come to leadmen with work
problems, and, if routine in nature , such as a
problem with the functioning of a machine, the
leadman disposes of it. More complicated or serious
problems are referred to the foremen. Although
See Corey Brothers , Inc , 162 NLRB 1253, Welsh Farms Ice
Cream, Inc., 161 NLRB 748.
Although employees have come to leadmen and requested
permission to leave work early, and occasionally leadmen have
granted permission, without first seeking approval of a foreman,
the sporadic exercise of such limited authority does not show the
leadmen to be supervisors See Corey Brothers, Inc, supra, fn 12
'An election eligibility list, containing the names and
addresses of all the eligible voters, must be filed by the Employer
347
many leadmen express opinions to the admitted
supervisors concerning an employee's performance,
usually in relation to the Employer's periodic merit
rating system, any recommendations the leadmen
may make are subject to independent investigation,
and, when disagreement occurs, the opinions of the
admitted supervisors prevail. Management
schedules separate periodic meetings for leadmen
and for foremen, although occasionally a foreman
who misses his meeting might then attend a
leadmen's meeting.
It was stipulated at the hearing that leadmen do
not engage in prehire interviewing, and the record
does not show that they have authority to hire,
discharge, suspend, transfer, lay off, recall, promote,
reward, discipline, settle grievances, or effectively
recommend action as to any of these matters.
Although a leadman is paid 20 to 25 cents an hour
more than the highest paid employee in his assigned
department, he receives the same fringe benefits as
do the production employees, punches a timeclock,
is hourly paid, and receives time and a' half for
overtime.
On the basis of the foregoing considerations and
the record as a whole, we find that the leadmen are
not supervisors within the meaning of the Act.
Although they do appear to give some routine
directions pertaining to the functions of the
department to which they are assigned, they do not,
in our opinion, exercise independent judgment so as
to constitute them supervisors within the meaning of
the Act.-5 Therefore, we shall include them in the
unit.
Accordingly, we find that the following employees
constitute a unit appropriate for collective-
bargaining purposes within the meaning of Section
9(b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Athol, Massachusetts, plant, including
apprentices and leadmen, but excluding office
clerical employees, professional employees,
watchmen, guards, and all supervisors as defined in
the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election6 omitted from
publication.]
with the Regional Director for Region 1 within 7 days after the
date of issuance of this Direction of Election The Regional
Director shall make the list available to all the parties to the
election No extension of time to file this list shall be granted by
the Regional Director except in extraordinary circumstances
Failure to comply with this requirement shall be grounds for
setting aside the election whenever proper objections are filed
Excelsior Underwearlnc , 156 NLRB 1236