Heintz Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 17, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 1521 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

HEINTZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1521
Director conducting the elections directed herein shall, in the event
a bargaining agent is selected in the latter unit, issue a certification
of representatives to the bargaining agent so selected.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
HEINTZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1 and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF
AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
HEINTZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY, PETITIONER and UNITED STEEL-
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO.2 Cases Nos. 4-RC-1583 and 4-RM-104.
October 17, 1952
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon separate petitions duly filed by the Employer and the CIO
under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consoli-
dated hearing was held before Fred C. Krivonos, hearing officer. The
hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed .3
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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer 4
1 The name of the Employer appears as corrected at the hearing.
' Herein called CIO
' The Employer 's and Intervenor 's requests for oral argument are hereby denied, as the
record and briefs filed herein, in our opinion , adequately present the issues and positions
of the parties
d Heintz Employees' Union, herein called the Intervenor , was permitted to intervene on
the basis of a contract with the Employer covering employees in the proposed bargaining
unit.
On July 3, 1952 , after the close of the hearing , Local 98, International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers , AFL, hereinafter called IBEW, filed a "Motion to Reopen Record and
Permit Intervention " It asks the Board to reopen the record to enable it to establish
that its proposed unit of electricians is appropriate.
The hearing had commenced on June 4, 1952 , and was completed on June 9, 1952. On
June 27 , 1952 , the IBEW filed a petition and submitted authorization cards signed by
more than 30 percent of the employees in the proposed unit , all of which were dated
June 6, 1952 On July 2, 1952, the Fourth Regional Office of the Board advised the IBEW
that the instant proceeding was pending before the Board. The IBEW asserts that it
was not notified and had no previous knowledge of the present proceedings.
As the IBEW acquired a sufficient representative status before the close of the hearing
and had not been previously notified of the instant proceeding, we hereby grant the motion
of the IBEW to the following extent• As the question of the appropriateness of the unit
sought by the IBEW was not raised at the hearing , it is impossible to resolve this question
100 NLRB No. 248.
1522 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
3. A 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.
4. The Employer and the Intervenor contend that, in view of the
24-year history of collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis and
the similarity of working conditions and benefits for all employees, the
only appropriate unit is one embracing generally all employees, ex-
cluding guards, supervisors, professional or technical employees, con-
fidential employees, and management employees. The CIO agrees
that the unit should be plant-wide, but, in addition to the foregoing
exclusions, would exclude the departments and categories discussed
below, except as noted.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution
of metal products at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The record indi-
cates that its establishment consists of a large number of buildings
occupying an area about 2,000 feet long and 700 feet wide.
Office and o fflce clerical employees. Many of the departments dis-
cussed below contain various types of office and office clerical
employees who have heretofore been covered by the contract between
the Employer and the Intervenor. Despite this bargaining history,
and the alleged similarity between the working conditions of these
employees and the production employees, we will, in accordance with
our usual practice, exclude from the unit hereinafter found appro-
priate all employees who are found below to be office or office clerical
employees .5
Accounting department. The department is concerned with billing,
payroll details, cost records, and general accounting work. All
employees are paid on a salary basis. This department is located in
the same building as the executive offices. The cost clerks and junior
cost clerks spend about 20 to 25 percent of their time in the shop, get-
ting data from which they compute the cost of articles produced. The
junior cost clerks also check the quantity of the overruns on orders.
The o fce machine operator runs a printing press which prints the Em-
ployer's business forms. The remainder of the employees in the de-
partment such as accountants, billing clerks, payroll clerks, cost anal-
ysis clerks, bookkeeping machine operators, etc., perform regular
on the basis of the present record . We shall administratively advise the Regional Director
for the Fourth Region to conduct a further hearing as expeditiously as possible for the
purpose of determining the appropriateness of the IBEW ' s proposed unit. However, we
shall not delay the present election , but shall permit the employees in the alleged electri-
cians' craft unit to vote in the election herein directed , upon the condition that their
ballots be impounded . If we later determine that an electricians ' unit is inappropriate,
we shall direct that they be opened and counted . United Boat Service Corporation, 55
NLRB 671; McCarthy Chemical Company , 86 NLRB 14; See General Electric Company,
89 NLRB 726 ; See also Sampsel Time Control, Inc., 80 NLRB 1250, and Boeing Airplane
Company , 86 NLRB 368.
Louisv,lle Transit Co , 94 NLRB 20. . ,
ITEINTZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1523
accounting functions. We find that all the accounting department
employees are office and office clerical employees.
Purchasing department. This department, which is located apart
from the plant, receives bids, purchases material, and places orders.
The expediters, who have had previous shop experience, report to
the office each morning, but otherwise spend their time outside the
plant contacting suppliers within a 50-mile radius of the plant. The
buyers and assistant buyers check with the suppliers on the progress
of deliveries. They frequently discuss the need for materials with
the production supervisors and occasionally discuss these matters
with rank-and-file production employees. The typist, stenographer,
and secretary in the department have no contact with the production
workers. The employees in this department do not have a sufficient
community of interest with the production and maintenance employees
to warrant their inclusion in the proposed unit. Accordingly, we
shall exclude them.
Personnel department. This department is concerned with inter-
viewing, selecting, placing, and transferring employees. It also
arranges indoctrination and safety programs and is responsible for
the insurance programs, janitor service, and plant protection service.
Some employees in the department are paid on an hourly basis, while
others are paid on a salary basis. The interviewers interview appli-
cants for production and clerical jobs,, and show new employees to
their place of work. The female interviewer also serves as counselor
for the clerical force in the office. The private investigator makes in-
vestigations pertaining to employees, to determine, for example,
whether an employee is entitled to sick leave, or to verify the informa-
tion given in an application for employment. The editor publishes
the plant newspaper and takes ,charge of recreation and athletic pro-
grams for shop and office personnel. The masseur is available for
the use of executive personnel only. The treasurer of the credit union
grants loans to shop, clerical, and executive employees. The employee
counselor arranges the indoctrination programs for office and shop em-
ployees. The personnel clerks perform routine clerical duties. There
is one secretary in the department. We believe that the interests of
the foregoing employees are not sufficiently identified with the pro-
duction and maintenance employees to warrant their inclusion in
the unit. Although the Employer's registered nurses, who are part
of the personnel department, come into daily contact with employees
included in the unit, we will, in accordance with our practice, exclude
the nurses as professional employees e
Timekeepers and safety inspectors are also attached to the personnel
department for administrative purposes, but they work exclusively in
Florence Stove Company, 94 NLRB 1434.
227260-53-vol. 100-97
1524 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the plant. The timekeepers accumulate time records of the produc-
tion employees and send this data to the accounting department. The
safety inspectors instruct production employees on how safely to op-
erate the equipment, and make reports to the safety engineer, which
may result in disciplinary action when there had been an infraction
of the safety rules. The reports, however, are merely objective state-
ments of fact and are unaccompanied by any recommendations. In
our opinion, the timekeepers and safety inspectors have a sufficient
community of interest with the production employees to warrant their
inclusion.7
The janitors clean the executive and shop offices, washrooms, and
locker rooms. The matrons are rest room attendants and the dis-
pensary attendants are assigned to the dispensary. In accordance
with the agreement of the parties with regard to these three categories
of employees, and on the record as a whole, we believe they should
be included in the unit, because the character of their work and the
nature of their employment is closely allied to that of the other main-
tenance employees.8
Telephone department. The Employer's telephone department is
housed in a special building. The telephone operators perform the
usual duties of their classification. We are of the opinion that their
interests are more closely allied to the office and office clerical em-
ployees than to the production and maintenance employees,9 and we
will therefore exclude them.
Mail room. The mail room employees are located in the main office
building and are supervised by the office manager. The Petitioner
seeks to include the expediter and to exclude the other mail room em-
ployees. These employees receive all incoming mail, sort it, and
deliver it to the Employer's plant and offices. They also collect, stamp,
and bag all outgoing mail and give it to the truck driver to take to the
post office. The expediter and the general office clerk appear to per-
form the same duties. They spend the largest part of their time de-
livering mail to the offices and production or shop departments. The
supervisor is merely a more experienced employee who spends most
of her time in the mail room assisting the other employees, but occa-
sionally makes deliveries of mail within the Employer's establishment.
We will exclude all the employees in the mail room as office employees io
Reception and travel department. The one employee in this depart-
ment receives visitors, arranges appointments for them, and conducts
them through the plant. He also makes travel arrangements for all
9 Trn8con Steel Company, 95 NLRB 1005 (timekeepers ) ; see J. C. Abercrombie Company,
58 NLRB 1013, 1018 ( safety inspectors).
8 Sparkletts Drinking Water Corporation , 97 NLRB No. 138.
u Mergenthaler Linotype Company, 89 NLRB 686; American Locomotive Company, 92
NLRB 115.
10 Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, 100 NLRB No. 147.
HEINTZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1525
employees, particularly in connection with vacation plans. We shall
exclude him from the unit as an office employee."
Sales department. The sales assistants, junior salesmen, and secre-
taries in this department perform clerical and secretarial duties in
connection with sales. The secretaries also go into the shop occa-
sionally to inform production personnel of changes in production
schedules. The other employees, as part of their duties, make pro-
duction reports to customers, on the basis of information obtained
from shop employees. We find that they lack sufficient community
of interest with the production and maintenance employees to war-
rant their inclusion.
The general office clerks in the executive department.12 These
employees perform routine clerical duties such as messenger work
and answering of telephones. The other employees in this depart-
ment consist of executive personnel. They are supervised by the office
manager and spend only about 20 percent of their time in the plant.
The rest of their time is spent in the executive department. We find
that their duties are closely related to those of office clerical employees,
and we shall, therefore, exclude them from the unit.
Factory clericals. The Employer employs in its production de-
partments clerical employees variously classified as shop office clerks,
receiving clerks, attendants, storeroom clerks, stores clerk, production
clerks, press efficiency clerk, material clerks and general office clerks
in the material control department, and the chief office clerk in the
jobbing department. In addition, typists are employed in the jobbing
and Second Street departments and the toolroom; secretaries are
employed in the inspection, cold extrusion, and specialty departments;
and a stenographer is employed in the Second Street department.
All these employees have been included in the bargaining unit since
1928. They are under the supervision of production supervisors.
They work, for the most part, at desks or in small offices which are
located in the production area, and are engaged in compiling and
keeping production records and reports and in performing other
clerical duties related to production and maintenance operations.
During the course of their work, all these categories of employees have
frequent contact with the production workers.
The foregoing plant typists, secretaries, and stenographers perform
the usual duties of their classification, and are located in, and super-
vised by the heads of, their respective production departments.
From the foregoing, and the record as a whole, it appears that the
functions and employment interests of these categories of employees
are closely allied to those of the production and maintenance em-
11 Sellers Manufacturing Company, Inc., 93 NLRB 202.
"This department is also referred to in the record as the "Administrative Department."
1526 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees. In accordance with our customary policy, we find that these
employees are factory clericals and we shall therefore include them
in the unit 13
Welding school instructors. These hourly paid employees do regu-
lar welding work, and, in addition, demonstrate their techniques to
both old and new employees. While the instructors make progress
reports, as a result of which an employee may be transferred to another
department or terminated from employment, it appears that such
reports are merely objective statements of accomplishment unaccom-
panied by any recommendation. We are satisfied that these instruc-
tors possess none of the indicia of supervisors, and we shall, therefore,
include them in the unit 14
Laboratory department. The CIO desires to include the laboratory
assistant handyman and welder, and to exclude the technicians and
the stenographer, in this department.
Although the technicians are salaried, while the laboratory assist-
ants are hourly paid, there appears to be no substantial difference in
their duties. The record indicates that neither group is required to
have any special educational qualifications, but they receive their
training on the job. They perform routine tests of materials and are
not engaged in research activities. We find they are not technical
employees, and we will include them.15
The welder makes welds of laboratory materials for testing pur-
poses. The handyman does cleanup work and other odd jobs in the
laboratory. The stenographer performs the usual duties of her classi-
fication. These employees spend all their time in the laboratory. As
their interests are similar to those of the technicians and laboratory
assistants, we shall include them in the unit.
Engineering, tool engineering, plant engineering, estimating, tool
estimating, and rate departments. The draftsmen and designers in
the engineering department prepare plans and blue prints for pro-
duction purposes. Although these employees are not required to have
any special training, most of them have supplemented their previous
shop experience with courses of study. The blue print operators and
blue print clerks in the engineering department operate the blue print-
ing machines, and the record indicates that their work is intimately
related to that of the draftsmen.
The tool designers and engineers in the tool engineering depart-
ment design tools and dies. The plant layout men in the plant en-
gineering department determine efficient production methods and
economical ways of laying out production lines in order to increase
ra J. P . Stevens ct Co., Inc., 93 NLRB 1513 ; Truscon Steed Company, 95 NLRB 1005.
14 Rockwood Pottery, 89 NLRB 1349 , 1352; The Electric Auto -Lite Company, 76 NLRB
1189, 1193.
10 Commercial Solvents Corporation, 80 NLRB 277.
HEINTZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1527
production. They spend most of their time in the shop. The esti-
mators and process engineers in the estimating department study
detailed blue prints and estimate the cost of production. The process
engineers and estimators in the tool estimating department are en-
gaged in the same type of work except that they are concerned exclu-
sively with estimating prices of tools. The time-study men in the
rate department spend over half their time in the plant, timing the
operations, as a result of which piece-rate standards are established,
but they do not work on any of the machines. They also recommend
changes in methods of operation.
All the foregoing employees are paid on a salary basis. We find
that they are technical employees 16 It is established Board policy
to exclude technical employees from production and maintenance
units, where their placement is in issue, even in the face of a contrary
bargaining history 17 Accordingly, we shall exclude them.
Each of these departments employs typists, stenographers, and
secretaries, who do typing or stenographic work for the other em-
ployees in the department. As the employees in these classifications
are office clericals, we will exclude them.
Draftsmen and designers in the Second Street department. - Al-
though these draftsmen and designers work in production depart-
ments, we find that they are technical employees, and we shall,
therefore, exclude them from the unit."'
Draftsman in cold extrusion department. Although this employee
is classified as a draftsman and is a salaried employee, the record
indicates that he in fact performs the duties of a tool and die maker.
We find that this employee is not a technical employee but, rather,
that he is a skilled craftsman. Accordingly, we find that he has a
sufficient community of interest with the production employees to
warrant his inclusion,19 and we shall include him.
Accordingly, we find that all production and maintenance employees
of the Employer, with the following specific inclusions and exclusions,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
Inclusions: Factory clericals (including shop office clerks, receiving
clerks, attendants, storeroom clerks, stores clerk, - production clerks,
press efficiency clerk, material clerks and general office clerks in the
1e Welding Shipyards , Inc., 81 NLRB 936, 941 ( draftsmen and blue 'print operators) ;
J. P. Stevens d Co., Inc., supra ( designers ) ; F. W. Sickles Company, 81 NLRB 390 (layout
employees , methods engineers, and production engineers included in technical unit) ; Efco
Manufacturing, Inc., 97 NLRB 263 (time study employees ) ; Republic Steel Corporation,
94 NLRB 1294, 1298 ( estimators).
17 Lockheed Aircraft Corporation , supra.
is Although the duties of these employees are not stated in the record, we infer that
their work is comparable to that of the draftsmen and designers in the , engineering
department.
19 Century-American Corporation, 79 NLRB 43.
1 ra28 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
material control department, chief office clerk in the jobbing depart-
ment), the typists in the jobbing, toolroom, and Second Street de-
partments, the secretaries in the inspection, cold extrusion, and
specialty departments, the stenographer in the Second Street depart-
ment, and the safety inspectors, timekeepers, draftsman in the cold
extrusion department, welding school instructors, janitors, matrons,
dispensary attendants, and all employees in the laboratory department.
Ea clueions : All employees in the administrative, sales , purchasing,
accounting, mail room, reception and travel, telephone, rate, engineer-
ing, tool engineering, plant engineering, estimating and tool estimating
departments, draftsmen and designers in the Second Street depart
ment, confidential, professional, and technical employees, guards, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
DUVAL SULPHUR & POTASH COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
Mn,NEMILL AND SMELTER WORKERS ( IND.) FOR ITSELF AND ON BE-
HALF OF ITS CARLSBAD POTASH WORKERS LOCAL 415, PETITIONER
DUVAL SULPHUR & POTASH COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIAITON
OF MACHINISTS , AFL, PETITIONER. Cases Nos . 33-RC-390 and
33-RC-391. October 17,195e
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Alan Bruce, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings inade at
the hearing are free from prejudical error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its power in connection with
these cases to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Styles, and
Peterson].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
Act.
2. The labor organizations involved' claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
s In, addition to the two Petitioners , herein respectively called Mine Mill and IAM,
Carlsbad Metal Trades Council, AFL, herein called the Intervenor, was permitted to inter-
vene in Case No. 33-RC-390, upon the basis of an adequate showing of interest. Mine
Min was permitted to intervene in Case No. 33-RC-391.
100 NLRB No. 255.