Radio Corp. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 17, 1951

96 N.L.R.B. 889 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 889
and if an understanding is reached, embody such understanding
in a signed agreement. The bargaining unit is:
All of our employees at our packing shed operations at
or in the vicinity of Tolleson, Arizona, with the exception
of supervisors as defined in the Act.
All our employees are free to become or remain members of the
above-named union or any other labor organization, or to refrain
from such affiliation, except to the extent that such right may be
affected by an agreement requiring membership in a labor organiza-
tion as a condition of employment as authorized in Section 8 (a) (3)
of the Act as guaranteed in Section 7 thereof. We will not dis-
criminate in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term
or condition of employment against any employee because of his
membership in or activity on behalf of such labor organization
--------------------------------
----------- (Employer)--
(Representative) (Title)
This notice must remain posted for 60 days from the date hereof,
and must not be altered, defaced or covered by any other material.
RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA, RCA VICTOR DIVISION, CAMDEN, NEW
JERSEY, PLANT and LOCAL 241, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TECH-
NICAL ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS AND DRAFTSMEN'S UNIONS, A. F. L.,1
PETITIONER. Case No'. 4-RiC-1098. October 17,1951
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Harold Kowal,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of all the employees at the
Employer's plant who are classified as timekeepers. The Employer
1 The names of the parties appear as amended at the hearing.
96 NLRB No. 130.
890 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and the Intervenor, Local 103, International Union of Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers, CIO, contend that the timekeepers by
themselves do not constitute an appropriate unit, and that the petition
should therefore be dismissed. At the present time, the Employer's
technical employees are represented by the Petitioner; the production
and maintenance employees, and a small portion of the plant clerical
employees, are represented by the Intervenor; and the office clerical
employees, as well as the majority of the plant clerical employees,
including the timekeepers, are unrepresented.
The Employer employs about 9,500 employees, of whom about 50
are classified as timekeepers. The timekeepers collect the information
necessary to determine the pay of the hourly paid production and
maintenance employees. They are stationed on the production floors
of the various manufacturing buildings of the Employer and are in
close daily contact with the production employees. Most of them
work the same ,shift hours as the production employees. The time-
keepers keep labor vouchers which show the number of pieces to be
produced under a particular shop order, the operations to be per-
formed, and the rates to be paid. They issue those vouchers to opera-
tors, who, upon completing the work called for on the vouchers, have
them approved by their supervisors and return them to the timekeepers.
.From the approved vouchers, the timekeepers compute the earned
hours of each employee. These data are routed to key-punch opera-
-tors, who compute the employees' earnings from them. The tabulating
equipment operators prepare reports and summaries of the hourly
employees' earnings from the key-punched cards. Functions similar
to those of the timekeepers are performed by the stenographic clerks
A and B, who collect the information necessary to determine the pay
of the salaried employees.
The timekeepers, like most other clerical employees, are salaried,
and share the same vacation, sickness, and hospitalization benefits as
do the other salaried employees of the Employer. Their benefits differ
from those accorded the hourly rated employees.
• The timekeepers are supervised by a head timekeeper and his four
assistants. They report, however, to the accounting division of the
production line department 2 to which they are assigned.
- The only educational requirement for obtaining a timekeeper's posi-
tion is a high school education. Timekeepers can and do get promoted
-to 'other jobs in the accounting division. They also get transferred to
'other clerical positions in the plant.
On the basis of the foregoing, and the entire record, we find that
-the unit requested by the Petitioner is inappropriate. As the employ-
s The Employer's manufacturing operations are divided among three production-line
departments : the engineering products department, the home instruments department,
and the component parts- department'.
HUNTSVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 891
tes requested by the Petitioner constitute only a segment of tha Em-
ployer's unrepresented plant clerical employees,3 to grant them a
:separate unit would require that we give controlling effect to the extent
of the Petitioner's organization among such plant clerical employees.
The Act, as amended, precludes a finding on this basis alone.`' More-
over, it appears that there are certain clerical employees, such as the
.stenographic clerks A and B, who are not sought to be included in the
unit although they perform functions similar to those of the requested
employees. We shall therefore dismiss the petition.
Order
Upon the entire record in this case, the National Labor Relations
Board hereby orders that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
3It is now well settled that timekeepers engaged in the normal functions of their
classification, like those involved herein, are in fact plant clerical employees. Arcade
Manufacturing Division of Rockwell Manufacturing Company, 96 NLRB 116; Goodman
Manufacturing Company, 93 NLRB 1001; Wilson Athletic Goods Mfg. Co. Inc., 93 NLRB
No. 90; Westclox, Division of General Time Instruments Corporation, 82 NLRB 198 ;
It. 0. Canfield Company, 76 NLRB 606; Northwest Engineering Company, 73 NLRB 40.
To the extent that Chase Aircraft Company, Inc., 91 NLRB 288, contains language which
appears to be inconsistent with existing Board policy respecting timekeepers, it is
hereby overruled.
4 Section 9 (e) (5). See Westclox, Division of General Time Instruments Corpora-
•tion, supra.
14UNTSVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, PETITIONER and TEXTILE
WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA , CIO. Case No. 10-RM 77. October
17, 1951
Decision and Certification of Representatives
Pursuant to a Stipulation for Certification upon Consent Election
entered into by the Employer and the Union' on June 25, 1951, an
election by secret ballot was conducted on July 10, 1951, under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Tenth
Region. At the conclusion of the election, the parties were furnished
a tally of ballots, which shows that of approximately 1,397 eligible
voters, 1,388 cast ballots. Of the ballots cast, 844 were in favor of,
and 540 against, the Union, 2 were challenged, and 2 were void.
On July 16, 1951, the Employer filed objections to the election.
On August 17, 1951, the Regional Director issued a report on elec-
tion, objections to election, and recommendations to the Board, in
which he recommended that the objections be overruled and that the
Board certify the Union.
' The Union Is acting in its own behalf as well as in behalf of its affiliated Local 38,
which has members within the appropriate unit.
96 NLRB No. 127