Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 9, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 90 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

90 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Direction
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Reade Manufacturing Com-
pany, Inc., Lakehurst, New Jersey, it is hereby directed that the Re-
gional Director for the Fourth Region shall, pursuant to the Rules
and Regulations of the Board, within ten (10) days from the date of
this Direction, open and count the challenged ballots of Nils Erikson
and Percy Jackson, and thereafter prepare and cause to be served
upon the parties a revised tally of ballots, including therein the, count
of these challenged ballots.
SOCONY-VACUUM OIL COMPANY, INCORPORATED 1 and PEGASUS CLERICAL
ASSOCIATION, PETITIONER . Case No. 1-RC-2621. July 9, 1952
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 Leo J. Halloran, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed 2
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 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 em-
ployees of the Employer.3
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.
The Intervenor contends that a contract between it and the Em-
ployer is a bar to this proceeding. This contract was executed on
January 12, 1950, for a term of 1 year, and from year to year there-
after, in the absence of 60 days' notice to terminate, modify,,aLgend, or
supplement. In the absence of such notice, the contract was auto-
matically renewed in January 1951. On November 7 and 10, 1951,
the Intervenor notified the Employer of its desire to modify, amend,
1 The caption is amended to reflect the correct name of the Employer.
' The hearing officer referred to the Board the Intervenor 's motion to dismiss the, peti-
tion herein. For the reasons set forth hereinafter , this motion is hereby denied.
, New England Petroleum Labor Organization , herein called the Intervenor , was per-
mitted to intervene on the basis of a claimed contractual interest.
100 NLRB No. 22.
SOCONY-VACUUM OIL COMPANY, INCORPORATED 91
and supplement the then existing contract. No further agreement has
been executed by the Intervenor and the Employer. The Petitioner
notified the Employer of its claim to majority representation on Janu-
ary 3, 1952, and the petition herein was filed on January 28, 1952.
Contrary to the contention of the Intervenor, we; find that its notice
to the Employer, although not indicating a desire to terminate the
1950 contract, nevertheless effectively forestalled its automatic
renewal.' We find, accordingly, that the 1950 contract is not a bar
to a present determination of representatives. As there is no other
agreement in existence which might constitute a bar, the Intervenor's
contention that the petition should be dismissed because it was filed
more than 10 days after the Petitioner's initial majority claim is with-
out merit.'
4. Following a consent election, the Intervenor was certified on May
7, 1947, as the representative of a unit of accounting and clerical
employees, and has since executed contracts with the Employer cover-
ing that unit. The Petitioner seeks a unit coextensive with the certified
and contract unit, and the Employer agrees that such a unit is ap-
propriate. The Intervenor would, however, exclude from that unit
credit men, credit clerks, the assistant divisional statistician, and dis-
patchers, all of whom have previously been included in the unit, on
the ground that they are supervisors, and on the further ground that
the credit men and credit clerks are confidential employees.
On the basis of reports submitted by salesmen and, in certain cases,
reports and credit references from other sources, the credit men
determine whether credit is to be extended to wholesale customers and,
within certain limits's the amount of such credit. They also attempt
to collect delinquent accounts by correspondence, telephone, and per-
sonal contact. In addition to routine clerical duties, the credit clerks
have similar authorities and duties with respect to retail customers.
There is no evidence that either the credit men or the credit clerks
possess any of the indicia of supervisory authority as enumerated in
Section 2 (11) of the amended Act ; we find accordingly that they are
not supervisors within the meaning of the Act. Nor is there evidence
that they have access to information pertaining to the Employer's
general labor relations policies or collective bargaining negotiations;
we find therefore that they are not confidential employees, in the sense
that the Board uses that term.? In view of their limited authority to
extend credit to the Employer's customers, we also find that they are
4 Peters Sausage Company, 95 NLRB 740. Contrary to the Intervenor 's contention, it
is therefore immaterial that the petition was filed after the anniversary date of the 1950
contract. See Standard-Thomson Corporation , 88 NLRB 1229.
6 Armstrong Cork Company , 80 NLRB 859.
The limit of the credit men's authority is determined by the credit manager, who is
also responsible for making decisions which fall outside the normal routine.
7 Truscon Steel Company, 95 NLRB 1005.
92 DECISIONS OF, NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
not managerial employees.8 Accordingly, we shall include the credit
men and the credit clerks in the unit.
In addition to his clerical duties, the assistant divisional statistician
prepares certain special statistical reports. Only geneval clerical
experience is required for the position, and the present incumbent is
not a trained statisticians There is no evidence that he directs the
work of any employees or that he possesses any of the other statutory
indicia of supervisory authority. In the absence of the divisional
statistician, the assistant divisional statistician assumes his statistical
duties; however, the divisional statistician's supervisory duties are
assumed by the administrative assistant to the head of the department.
Under these circumstances, we find that the assistant divisional statis-
tician is not a supervisor within the meaning of the Act, and we shall
therefore include him in the unit.
The duties of the dispatchers are to arrange deliveries of the Em-
ployer's products in such a manner as to minimize the cost of such
deliveries. As orders are received by the Employer's bulk stations,
they are entered on dispatch cards. When deliveries are to be made,
the dispatchers pull the cards, combine the orders into loads for
each of the Employer's delivery trucks, and determine the order in
which the deliveries will be made. They either hand the delivery
instructions to the drivers in person, or place such instructions in a
dispatch box, where they are picked up by the drivers. In combining
orders into loads and determining order of delivery, the dispatchers
follow established company routine, based primarily on local geog-
raphy. Their assignment of loads and routes to drivers also follows
established routine.10
In the case of a question concerning delivery, or a breakdown or
other emergency on the road, the drivers are required to call the dis-
patchers for further instructions. In routine situations, the dispatch-
ers issue such instructions in accord with company policy; in other
situations, the dispatchers secure instructions from the station agent
or other supervisor, and transmit such instructions to the driver. The
dispatchers may on occasion make reports to the station agent or other
supervisor concerning a driver's apparent inability to perform his
duties; action following such reports is, however, taken by, the, super-
visor only after an independent investigation.
The Intervenor bases its contention that the dispatchers are super-
visors primarily on the fact that they give instructions to the drivers.
Such duties are, however, insufficient to confer supervisory status on
" See Southern California Edison Company, Ltd., 63 NLRB 756, 759-760.
6 No contention is made that this employee is a 'professional employee.
10 The Employer maintains a permanent schedule of truck assignments , and drivers
are usually kept on the routes with which they are most familiar . In the event a
driver objects to an assignment , the matter is referred to the station agent for settlement.
WASHINGTON MILLS 93
an employee when, as here, they are merely routine and do not
require the exercise of independent judgment, and, moreover, when
they are concerned primarily with equipment rather than personnel li
As the dispatchers possess none of the other statutory indicia of
supervisory authority,12 we find that they are not supervisors within
the meaning of the Act. In view of the bargaining history and the
essentially clerical nature of their duties, me shall include the dis-
patchers in the unit Y8
On the basis of the foregoing and the entire record, we find that all
accounting and clerical employees in the operating, accounting, and
marketing departments of the Employer's New England division, in-
cluding credit men, credit clerks, the assistant divisional statistician,
and dispatchers, but excluding secretaries to management, industrial
relations employees, confidential payroll clerks, salesmen, auditors,
cost analysts, marketing. real estate and cost clerks, real estate repre-
sentatives, tax agents, field claims and safety investigators and ad-
justors, marketing and staff assistants, professional employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sea
tion 9 (b) of the Act 14
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
n The Baltimore Transit Company , 92 NLRB 1260 ; Zone Oil Trucking Corp.,
91 NLRB 541.
12 Although there is testimony that certain dispatchers have on occasion granted time
or and determined whether overtime should be worked , it appears that in such instances
the dispatchers assumed to exercise authority which they did not in fact possess. See
American Finishing Company, 86 NLRB 412.
is The Baltimore Transit Company, supra ; Zone Oil Trucking Corp ., supra.
14 This is substantially the certified and contract unit noted above.
WASHINGTON MILLS and TEXTILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO. Case
No. 34-CA-286. July 10, 1952
Decision and Order
On December 27, 1951, Trial Examiner Max M. Goldman issued
his Intermediate Report in this proceeding, finding that the Respond-
ent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair labor practices
and recommending that it cease and desist therefrom and take certain
affirmative action, as set forth in the copy of the Intermediate Report
attached hereto.. The Trial Examiner also found that the Respondent
hado engaged1 Certain ether unfair labor practices and recom-
100 NLRB No. 25.