Hulburd, Warren & Chandler

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 16, 1943

50 N.L.R.B. 675 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of HuLBURD , WARREN & CHANDLER and COMMERCIAL
TELEGRAPHERS ' UNION, WESTERN BROKER DIVISION , A. F. OF L.
Case No. R-5411.-Decided June 16, 1943
Gardner, Carton c Douglas , by Mr. William J. Nealon, of Chicago,
I11.; for the Company.
Mr. W. L . Allen, of Washington , D. C., and Mr. John B. Alcorn,
of Detroit, Mich ., for the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Commercial Telegraphers' Union,
Western Broker Division, herein called the Union, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Hulburd, Warren & Chandler, Chicago, Illinois, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Russell Packard, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at Chicago, Illinois, on May 24,
1943.' The Company and the Union appeared and participated in the
hearing and all parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the. issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Hulburd, Warren & Chandler is a partnership with its principal
place of business at Chicago, Illinois. The Company maintains offices
at Chicago, Battle Creek, Bay City, Kalamazoo, Flint, Lansing, Grand
Rapids,, Madison, Kankakee, Kentland, and Toledo, where it is en=
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675
676' DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR REiLATIO\S BOARD
gaged in buying and selling commodities and securities. The Com-
pany is a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, New York Produce
Exchange, Toledo Board of Trade, Winnipeg Grain Exchange, New
York Stock Exchange, New York Curb Exchange, Detroit Stock Ex-
change, Chicago Stock Exchange, and Chicago Mercantile. Exchange.
During 1942 the Company's brokerage of grain futures was 59,000,000
bushels, 48 percent of which involved interstate transactions. During
the same period the-Company's transactions in `securities exceeded
750,000 shares, a substantial portion of which resulted in interstate
delivery of the certificates of stock. The Company admits that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
III. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Commercial Telegraphers' Union, Western Broker Division, is a
labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION -
On April 5, 1943, the Union, claiming to represent a majority of the
telegraphers employed by the Company, asked the Company for
recognition as exclusive collective bargaining representative of such
employees. The Company refused this request until such, time as the''
Union was certified by the Board.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges that all telegraphers at all offices of the Company
constitute a single appropriate unit. The Company contends that the'
telegraphers at each of the 11 named offices constitute separate units.
The Company employs telegraphers at each of its offices.'' "All of the
telegraphers involved transmit and receive market intelligence, orders,
price quotations, market change flashes,, and trade news over private
wires of the Company. The work of the telegraphers at each of the
offices is similar. In support of its contention, the Company points
out that the telegraphers at its various offices are paid on different wage
scales, that the offices are widely separated geographically, and that the
telegraphers are not iliterchanged between offices. The Union's organi-.
' The Regional Dii ector reported that the Union presented 12, membership application
cards bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names appear on the Com-
pany's pay ioll of May 3, 1943 There are 15 employees in the appropriate unit.
HULBURD, WARREN & CHANDLER 677
zation has progressed on a system-wide basis. The Company's ac-
counting is organized on a system-wide basis, the pay rolls for its.
various offices are made up at Chicago, and all personnel records are
kept at that office. There is no history of collective bargaining either
on an individual office or on a system-wide basis. Under all the cir--
cumstances we find that asystem-wide unit of telegraphers is appro--
priate.
;The Company has an employee at its Chicago office classified by it
as wire' chief. The Company and the Union agreed'at the hearing that
the wire chief should be included in the unit. The record indicates,
that the wire chief spends most of his time performing clerical and
supervisory duties. He hires telegraphers for the Chicago office and
some of the branch offices, has the authority to discharge telegraphers
and supervises all the employees in the wire room at Chicago. We find
that the wire chief is a supervisory employee, and we shall exclude him
from the unit.
We find that all telegraphers at all offices of the Company, excluding
the wire chief at Chicago, constitute a single unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We- shall direct that the question concerning representation, which
has arisen be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
The Company employs a person at its Chicago office designated by
it as a relief operator. The relief operator has worked for the Com-
pany 2 hours each day during the past 6 years. The Union requests
that he be deemed eligible to vote in the election, while the Company
contends that inasmuch as the relief operator has regular employment
in another job, he should be deemed ineligible to vote. There is no
indication that the relief operator works on any different basis than
full-time employees as to duties or other conditions of employment.
Employees who do sufficient work to give them an interest in the con-
ditions of employment also have a sufficient interest in the outcome to
entitle them to vote in an election. We believe this principle to be no
less applicable in the case of regular part-time employees who also
happen to have regular employment elsewhere, for this circumstance,
alone, can neither destroy nor reduce the interest which such employees
would otherwise have to participate in the selection of a bargaining
representative? We, therefore, find that the relief operator employed
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678 - ,DEOISiFom OFF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
by the Company at' its Chicago office should be eligible to vote in the
election. -
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, aS part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Hulburd, Warren &
Chandler, Chicago, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from
the date of this Direction, under'the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Thirteenth-Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article '
III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this
Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and
including employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre-
sent themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine'whether or not
they desire to be represented by Commercial Telegraphers' Union,
Western Broker Division, affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
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