Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.Download PDFNational Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsSep 22, 194458 N.L.R.B. 472 (N.L.R.B. 1944) Copy Citation In the • Matter Of FEDERAL TELEPHONE AND RADIO CORPORATION and METROPOLITAN CHAPTER No. 31, INTERNATIONAL FEDLRATION OF ARCHITECTS, ENGINEERS, CHEMISTS AND TECHNICIANS, C. I., O. Case No. 2-B-4662.-Decided September V9,1944 Mr. Charles D. Hilles, Jr., of New York City, and Mr. H. H. Burrell, of Newark, N. J., for the Company. Messrs. Leider, Witt & Cammer, by Mess?^. Nathan Witt and S. Rosenwein, both of New York City, and Mr. Martin Cooper, of New York City, for the Union. Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ORDER STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon an amended petition duly filed by Metropolitan Chapter No; 31, International Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists' and Technicians, C. I. 0., herein called-the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation, Newark, New Jersey,- herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Martin I . Rose, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at New York City on July 13 and August 17, 1944. The Company and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evi- dence 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 an 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 Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation, a Delaware corpora- tion operating more than 35 plants in Newark, New Jersey, and its environs, is engaged in the manufacture, experimentation, sale, and distribution of communication equipment and related products. Dur- 58 N. L. R. B., No. 90. 472 FEDERAL TELEPHONE AND RADIO CORPORATION 473 ing the yearly period immediately preceding May 18, 1944, the Com- pany purchased for use in its operations at the afore-mentioned plants materials valued at more than $50,000, approximately 50 percent of which was shipped to these plants from points outside the State of New Jersey. During the same period the value of the finished prod- ucts manufactured at said plants amounted to more than $1,00,000, of which approximately 90 percent was shipped to points outside the State of New Jersey. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. - II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Metropolitan Chapter No. 31, International Federation of Archi- tects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians, is a labor organization affiliated-with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT The Company and the Union are agreed upon the propriety of a unit consisting of certain of the f-)rmer's non-supervisory and non- confidential salaried employees. They are further agreed that other non-supervisory and non-confidential salaried employees possessing more than usual skill should be permitted to express a preference as to whether-or not they desire to be represented as part of a general group of the Company's non-supervisory and non-confidential salaried employees.' However, disagreement exists between them with respect to the, scope of the unit. The Union seeks to confine its proposed unit solely to employees engaged in the Company's Radio Division, includ- ing those employees who, although not administratively part of the Radio Divisi-)n, work primarily for it. The Company contends that the unit should be company-wide in scope.2 The Company was formed in November 1942 as the result of a merger of International Telephone and Radio Manufacturing Company and' Federal Telegraph Company. It consists of two productive divisions, known as the Telephone and Radio Divisions,,' and several non- productive departments performing services for the Company as a whole. The productive divisions are headed by vice presidents. ' At the hearing, by stipulation, the Company and the Union enumerated those classi- fications of sa aried employees and certain named salaried employees who are engaged in either a supervisory or confidential capacity, and would, therefore, be exclud:d from either voting group The stipulation also listed those more highly skilled classifications of non- scp-rvsory and non-confidential salaried employees which would constitute the second voting group. 2 Both the Company and the Union agree that the employees of the experimental laboratory maintained by the Company in New York City are not involved in this proceeding. a After the merger, International Telephone and Radio Manufacturing Company became known as the Company's Telephone Division , and Federal Telegraph Company as its Radio Division - - 474 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR 'RELATIONS BOARD These divisions are divided .into several "product lines" which are under the supervision of product line managers and produce the vari- ous items manufactured by the Company. Several of the departments are known collectively as the General Service Departments and they are all under the common supervision of an assistant vice president. Others are included within another group headed by the comptroller of the Company, and still others have separate supervision. The General Service Departments merit special consideration, since the Union desires to include many of the employees of these depart- ments within its proposed unit. These departments provide the tele- graph, telephone, mail, transp9rtation, printing, plant protection, and other services for the Company as a whole. Since the operations of the Company are presently divided among more than 35 plants, the employees of these General Service Departments are,-of necessity, widely scattered.4 All, however, are responsible to their own super- visors who are, in turn, responsible to the assistant vice president in charge of the General Service Departments. They are not subject to the instruction, control, or discipline of supervisors of the productive divisions, although they work in close proximity to the employees in these divisions, and, in some instances, provide services solely for one or the other of these divisions. The assigned places of work of these employees are subject to change at the discretion of the Company, and thus they may be working at one time for one productive division, and' at another time, for the other productive division. It is equally true that the services of these employees are, in many instances, utilized by' both productive divisions simultaneously. While, superficially, each of these divisions and departments pos- sesses some indica of autonomy, the Company's functional operations are closely integrated. Thus, the Company, under a centralized policy-making body, maintains a central hiring and personnel depart- ment as well as a central industrial relations department. The pay- roll department, under the comptroller's supervision, prepares a single pay roll for the salaried employees, divided according to plant sites, and not in accordance with divisional or departmental lines. The policies of the Company with respect to salaries, holidays, vacations, and overtime pay are company-wide in scope, all employees are in- cluded within the same pension plan, and all have access to the"sanne sick benefit plan. Furthermore, there is frequent collaboration, con- sultation, and common application of effort by engineers, draftsmen, and other technical employees in connection with production and ex- perimentation without regard to divisional lines. Committees formed of employees of both productive divisions fix company-wide standards "The Company is currently in the process of building a plant which will house all of its operations. This plant is, at the present time, only partially completed 5 Tcus, a plant housing employees of both the Telephone and Radio Divisions uses services provided by the General Service Departments in common. FEDERAL TELEPHONE AND RADIO CORPORATION 475 for various phases of production, and expediters are shifted across divisional lines to meet production problems wherever they arise. There is substantial interchange of personnel between the productive divisions and between each division and the General Service Depart- ments e Moreover, finished products of one productive division are necessary for the completion of. products manufactured by the other.? Apart from the functional integration of the Company's productive divisions and the various departments servicing these divisions, the Company's history of collective bargaining lends further support to its contention that only company-wide units of its employees are appropriate. The Company presently recognizes a labor organiz:I- tion as the collective bargaining agent of its hourly paid production and maintenance employees, and another labor organization as the representative of its drivers. Both labor organizations have executed contracts with the Company covering the employees whom they re- spectively represent on the basis of company-wide units. In view of the foregoing faits, we are of the opinion that a unit of the Company's Lion-supervisory, non-confidential salaried em- ployees which is not company-wide in scope is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION Since, as indicated in Section III, above, the bargaining unit which the Union seeks is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bar- gaining, we find that no question affecting commerce has arisen con- cerning the representation of employees of the Company in an appro- priate unit. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the amended petition. ORDER Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the amended petition for inves- tigation and certification of representatives of employees of Federal Telephone and Ridio Corporation, Newark, New Jersey, filed by Metropolitan Chapter No. 31, Inter-national Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians, C. I. 0., be, and it hereby is, dismissed. The Company mtioduced into evidence a list of approximately 120 employees who were transfeued with'n the past 12 months f,om one productive d.vision to another, fiom a General Service Department to a productive division , and from a productive division to a Geneial Service Department -"The Company cited many such examples . Among other sp_ciflc instances , the Intelin Product Line, which is in the Telephone nivis'on, supplits coaxial cable to the Radio Equip ment Product Line of the Radio Division , quartz crystals manufactured in the Crystal Product Line of the Radio Division will be utiLzed in the manufacture of telephone filters which are produced in tha Telephone Division , and vacuum tubes produced by the Vacuum Tube Product Line in the Radio Division are used in the manufacture of telephone receivers and carriers produced by the Telephone Division. E Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation