Walter Kidde & Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 9, 1971

191 N.L.R.B. 10 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

10 ^ DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Weber Aircraft, Division of Walter Kidde & Company,
Inc. and Office and Professional Employees Interna-
tional Union , Local 277, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case
16-RC-5635
June 9, 1971
DECISION ON REVIEW
BY MEMBERS FANNING, JENKINS, AND KENNEDY
On March 26, 1971, the Regional Director for Re-
gion 16 issued his Decision and Direction of Election
in the above-entitled proceeding in which he rejected as
inappropriate the Petitioner's request for a residual
unit of office clerical and technical employees at the
Employer's Gainesville, Texas, plant. However, 'he
found appropriate a unit of office clerical employees,
and he found appropriate a voting group of three plant
clerical employees for the purpose of determining
whether they wished to be added to the Intervenor's'
existing unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees, or to remain unrepresented. Thereafter, the
Petitioner filed a timely Request for Review of the
Regional Director's Decision on the ground that he
erroneously failed to place the Petitioner on the ballot
for the election in the voting group of plant clericals in
order that they may have the option of being repre-
sented by the Petitioner as a residual unit. The Em-
ployer filed opposition thereto. The Employer also filed
a Request for Review of the Regional Director's Deci-
sion insofar as he found the requested office clerical
employees not to be confidential employees.
On April 16, 1971, the National Labor Relations
Board by telegraphic order denied the Employer's Re-
quest for Review, granted the Petitoner's Request for
Review, and stayed the elections pending decision on
review. By telegraphic order dated April 19, the Board
authorized the Regional Director to proceed with the
election in the office clerical unit.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to
a three-member panel.
The Board has considered the entire record in this
case with respect to the issues under review and makes
the following findings:
' Cook County Lodge No. 2377, International Association of Machinists
and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO.
The Regional Director found to be plant clerical
employees a file clerk and two clerk typists in the mis-
cellaneous department at the Employer's Gainesville
plant. They work in the general production area and,
like the production and maintenance employees, work
from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and they punch the same time-
clock as, the production and maintenance employees.
The record indicates that aside from the office clerical
employees found to be a separate appropriate unit,
these three plant clerical employees constitute, a residue
of unrepresented employees who have been excluded
from the Intervenor's production and maintenance
unit.
The Regional Director rejected the Petitioner's re-
quest for a residual unit of plant and office clerical
employees because of the Board's established policy,
absent the parties' agreement, of not joining plant cleri-
cal and office clerical employees in the same unit. He
also concluded that the plant clerical employees are not
accretions to the Intervenor's existing unit. However,
as above indicated, in view of the close community of
interest which the plant clerical employees share with
the represented production and maintenance em-
ployees, he treated the Intervenor as a cross-petitioner
and directed a self-determined election to ascertain
their desires as to inclusion in the Intervenor's existing
unit.
The Peitioner's sole contention is that the plant cleri-
cal employees constitute a residual unrepresented
group and that it is therefore entitled to participate in
the election directed for them.
As Board precedent supports the Petitioner's conten-
tion, we find that the unrepresented plant clerical em-
ployees may, if they wish to be represented by the
Petitioner, constitute an appropriate residual unit.' The
Regional Director shall -therefore include the Peti-
tioner's name on the ballot.
Accordingly, the case is remanded to the Regional
Director for Region 16 for the purpose of conducting
an election in the voting group of plant clerical em-
ployees pursuant to his Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion, as modified herein, except that the eligibility pay-
roll period therefor shall be the date immediately
preceding the date of issuance.
' Armstrong Rubber Company, 144 NLRB 1115, Remington Rand Divi-
sion of Sperry Rand Corporation, 120 NLRB 1294, 1295; North American
Aviation, Inc., 120 NLRB 1155, 1158, Pennsalt Chemicals Corporation, 119
NLRB 128, 129; Yale and Towne Manufacturing Company, 112 NLRB
1268
191 NLRB No. 12