Bulldog Electric Products Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 4, 1951

96 N.L.R.B. 642 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

642 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Order - -
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
BULLDOG ELECTRIC PRODUCTS COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHER-
HOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. -7-RC-
1384. October 4,1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before James A. Harley,
hearing officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and
Reynolds].
Upon the entire record in this ease, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) andSection2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of technical employees,
including, among others, various kinds of draftsmen, a laboratory
technician, a model maker, copywriters, estimators, a blueprint opera-
tor, production planners, and methods engineers. The Employer
contends that the unit is inappropriate because of a lack of homo-
geneity in its composition. It bases this contention on the fact that
a' little less than one-half of the employees in the proposed unit are
draftsmen, that other employees in the unit do not have drafting
training or experience, and that even among themselves the drafts-
men are not interchangeable. It further argues that an appropriate
unit should include office and clerical employees and should exclude
certain classifications of employees discussed hereinafter. Finally,
the Employer asserts that the Petitioner is an inappropriate bargain-
ing agent because it already represents the Employer's production
and maintenance employees, and technical personnel are not eligible
for membership in the Petitioner.
96 NLRB No. 85.
BULLDOG ELECTRIC PRODUCTS COMPANY 643
The Board has repeatedly held that a unit of technical employees
is appropriate.' The Petitioner's proposed unit is no more diverse
in its composition than other technical units which the Board has
found appropriate? The proposed unit is not inappropriate because
it does not include office and clerical employees. It is now well set-
tled that office and clerical employees may not be joined in a single
unit with technical employees where any party objects to such group-
ing.3 Accordingly, we find that, with the modifications indicated
hereinafter, the proposed unit is appropriate.
The Employer's arguments addressed to the right of the Petitioner
to represent these employees are also without merit. There is no
statutory limitation on the right of a union to represent technical
employees because it already represents the same employer's produc-
tion and maintenance employees under a contract which excludes
technical employees from its coverage.' Nor is the Petitioner dis-
qualified to act as statutory representative of the technical employees,
even assuming arguendo that the Petitioner's constitution does not
admit such employees to membership, in the absence of evidence that
the Petitioner will not adequately represent them.5
Although the proposed unit in broad outline is -appropriate, we
shall exclude the following as nontechnical employees : 6
Follow-up man (sales service) : Handles all incoming calls and
correspondence from customers and field engineers relative to prod-
ucts on order. Handles sales correspondence with customers and
keeps abreast of production orders in the shop.
Perpetual inventory working supervisor: Directs factory em-
ployees who count and record quantities of stock in the parts stock
room. Handles the details required for keeping accurate records.
Production planner: Responsible for scheduling and following up
orders in the shop.
Art layout man in the advertising and promotion department:
Prepares and arranges art layouts for sketches, pictures, or diagrams
used to illustrate company products in catalogues, bulletins, and gen-
eral literature.
Advertising copywriter in the advertising and promotion depart-
ment: Writes copy for all advertising layouts for catalogues, bulle-
tins and engineering data sheets.
The Employer employs six students in technical classifications
under an arrangement with the University of Detroit whereby the
' E. g., F. W. Sickles Company, 81 NLRB 390.
IF. W. Sickles Company, supra.
3 'Willard Storage Battery Company , 94 NLRB 1423.
' Of. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, 81 NLRB 584; Detroit Harvester Company,
79 NLRB 1316.
" Federated Publications, Inc., 74 NLRB 1054.
6 The Timken -Detroit Aale Company, 95 NLRB 736.
644 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
students attend school and work in the shop at alternate intervals of
3 months. The students do not receive the same rate of pay as regular
employees, nor do they receive the benefits accorded to the latter, such
as insurance coverage and vacation rights. Unlike the regular em-
ployees, the students are advanced at regular intervals to more re-
sponsible jobs. At the completion of their combined classroom and
on-the-job training, the students receive degrees in electrical engineer-
ing. It as apparent that the students do not have the same interest in
terms and conditions of employment as do regular employees. We
shall, therefore, -contrary to the contention of the Petitioner, exclude
them from the unit.
The Employer would exclude methods engineers as managerial, su-
pervisory, and confidential employees. These employees determine
methods of performing operations and work area layouts necessary for
fabrication, assembly, or other manufacturing processes. They also
determine standards of production through the application of either
method-time-measurement analyses or accepted time-study techniques.
The requirements for the position include only a high school education
and specialized training in MTM and time-study techniques. Several
former production and maintenance employees were promoted to the
position of methods engineers after taking an 11-week course in ap-
plicable techniques. We find that the methods engineers are technical
employees?
We reject the Employer's contention that they are either supervisory,
managerial, or confidential employees. The methods engineers have no
subordinates. They do instruct foremen in th6 proper method of per-
forming operations and in the application of standards to work under
their supervision, but they do not supervise them or the rank and.file
in the statutory sense. Although the work of the methods engineers
is extremely important to the Employer in controlling costs, that
factor does not make them managerial employees, as the Employer
argues. In the event of a grievance by the Union concerning a work
standard established by the Employer, the foreman asks the methods
engineer to check the job and give him the facts. This limited partici-
pation in the grievance procedure is not sufficient to constitute the
methods engineers either managerial or confidential employees.,, We
find that the methods engineers are not supervisory, managerial, or
confidential employees. As technical employees, we shall include them
in the unit.
The Employer has six junior estimators and six senior estimators
in its sales engineering and service,department. The Employer con-
tends that estimators, senior and junior, should be excluded as mana-
7 Cf. Florence Stove Company, 94 NLRB 1434.
8 Florence Stove Company, supra; F. W. Sickles Company, 81 NLRB 390.
SEAMPRUFE, INC. 645
gerial employees. The estimators analyze orders submitted by field
engineers and customers and fix the price to be charged. The calcula-
tions made by the estimators are substantially final. In making their
calculations, they have to exercise discretion and judgment. As it
appears that the estimators may establish prices and thus commit the
Employer financially to third persons, we find that they are managerial
employees and shall, therefore, exclude them from the unit.°
We find that all technical employees at the Employer's plant in
Detroit, Michigan, including draftsmen detailers, draftsmen I and II,
model makers,10 laboratory technicians, blueprint and photostat oper-
ators,- special engineering order bill of material writers and cost
clerks, bill of material and routing engineers, engineering
detail checkers, methods engineers, tool and die draftsmen, and tool
inspector trouble-shooters, but excluding material writer and cost
clerks, art layout men, copywriters, estimators, follow-up men (sales
service), perpetual inventory working supervisors, production plan-
ners, students receiving training under arrangement with the Uni-
versity of Detroit, and supervisors, as defined in the Act, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
11 The Electric Controller S Manufacturing Company, 69 NLRB 1242.
so Delta Manufacturing Division, Rockwell Manufacturing Company , 89 NLRB 1434.
nDelta Manufacturing Division, Rockwell Manufacturing Company, supra.
SEAMPRUFE , INC. and LOCAL 234, INTERNATIONAL LADIES' GARMENT
WORKERS' UNION, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 41-RCi-1130. Octo-
ber 4,1951
Decision and Certification of Representatives
On April 27, 1951 , pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon
consent election, executed by the Employer, Local 234, International
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, AFL, herein called the ILGWU,
and the Seamprufe Employees' Association (of Easton), herein called
the Association, ai election by secret ballot was conducted among the
employees of the stipulated unit under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Fourth Region. Upon the comple-
tion of the election, a tally of ballots was issued and duly served by
the Regional Director upon the parties.
96 NLRB No. 92.
974176-52-vol. 96-42