Wisconsin Motor Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 29, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 975 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

WISCONSIN MOTOR CORPORATION 975
circumstances finds to be appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
WISCONSIN MOTOR CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED
AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT, AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS
OF AMERICA (UAW'' -CIO), PETITIONER. Case No. 13-RC-2603.
August 29,1952
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Saei'on 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before William D. Boetticher, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
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 Houston and Murdock].
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 organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Einployer.
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 Petitioner seeks to add to the production and maintenance
unit which it now represents it group of timekeepers and shop clerical
employees.2 The Employer contends that these employees are actually
office clerical employees, with no community of interest with the pro-
duction and maintenance employees; and that they cannot therefore
properly be included in the production and maintenance unit.
The Employer is-engaged at its plant at West Allis, Wisconsin, in
the manufacture of internal combustion air-cooled engines. Its pro-
duction and maintenance employees are currently represented by the
Petitioner and its Local 283. Its office employees are unrepresented.
The 17 employees involved in this' proceeding include 7 shop clerks,
2 stock clerks, and 8 time'clerks. Three of the shop clerks, referred
1 At the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the
unit sought was inappropriate For the reasons set forth below, the motion is hereby
denied
' The Petitioner originally requested a separate unit of these employees. At the lu-ar-
lrig, however , it stated that it preferred to add them to the established unit
100 NLRB No 150.
976 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to as production control clerks, work in an office in the machine shop
section of the plant. They maintain coordination between the pro-
duction control department of the main office and the machine shop,
receive all production orders and copies of all receipts of rough ma-
terial, and make a list of parts to be machined. Approximately 15
percent of their time is spent in the main office or going to and from
the main office. Their immediate supervisor also supervises truckers,
stock chasers, and various other employees in the production and main-
tenance unit; he has no jurisdiction over production control employees
in the main office. Two shop clerks work in an office on the assembly
floor. They maintain coordination with the sales, specifications, and
engineering departments, and furnish all necessary information for
the building schedule. One of them spends approximately 15 percent
of his time, and the other between 25 and 30 percent of his time, in
the main office or going to and from the main office, where a desk is
reserved for their use. They are under the supervision of the assembly
floor foreman. A shop clerk and 2 stock clerks work in an office in
the finished stores stockroom. They keep records of material received
and disbursed. Their duties occasionally take them to the main office.
They are under the supervision of the stockroom foreman, who also
supervises stockroom employees in the production and maintenance
unit. Occasionally production and maintenance employees substi-
tute for the clerks. A shop clerk, called a traffic dispatcher, works
in an office in the shipping department. He contacts trucking com-
panies and railroads to arrange for pickup service. He works closely
with the traffic manager in the sales department in the main office, and
spends approximately 30 percent of his time between the 2 offices.-
He is under the supervision of the shipping room foreman , who also
supervises hourly paid shipping office clerks and other shipping de-
partment employees in the production and maintenance unit.
The eight timekeepers are part of the payroll department. Six of
them work in the machine shop area of the plant; the other two work
in the main office. They compute hours and rates for the employees.
They are supervised by a supervisor in the payroll department, who
is under the office manager . There is some interchange of personnel
between the time clerks and other salaried clerks in the payroll de-
partment.
These 17 employees, like employees in the Employer's main office,
and unlike the production and maintenance employees, are paid on a
salary basis; furthermore, they share with other salaried employees
certain rights and privileges different from those accorded to the pro-
duction and maintenance employees.3 The Employer contends that,
because of these circumstances and the similarity between the work
$ The differences involve such matters as hours of work, overtime pay, pensions, sick
benefits, Christmas bonuses, vacation rights, access to the main office, use of parking lots,
and recreational programs.
WISCONSIN MOTOR CORPORATION 977-
of this group and that done in the main office, they should be classified
as office clericals4 The shop clerks and stock clerks, however, all work
in production areas of the plant, in close proximity to production and
maintenance employees, and under the same immediate supervision.
We therefore find that they are plant clericals, and that, as such, they
have substantial interests in common with the production and main-
tenance employees. As it is the policy of the Board to group plant
clericals with production and maintenance employees for collective
bargaining purposes,5 we shall4accord these employees an opportunity
through an election to express their desires as to whether or not they
should be added to the established production and maintenance unit
represented by the Petitioner.6
The time clerks, on the other hand, partake more of the nature of
office clericals. Two of them actually work in the main office; and all
of them are interchangeable with other employees in the payroll de-
partment. We believe, therefore, that they are more closely allied in
interest with the office employees than with the production and main-
tenance employees. We shall therefore exclude them from the voting
group 7
Accordingly, we shall direct an election in the following voting
group:
All plant clericals employed at the Employer's plant at West Al-
lis, Wisconsin, including shop clerks (production control clerks) in
the machine shop, shop clerks on the assembly floor, the shop clerk
and stock clerks in the stockroom, and the shop clerk (traffic dis-
patcher) in the shipping department, but excluding time clerks and
all supervisors as defined in the Act.
If a majority of the employees in the above voting group vote for
the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be
included in the production and maintenance unit currently repre-
sented by the Petitioner, and the Regional Director shall issue a certifi-
cate of results of election to such effect.
5. At the hearing, the Petitioner requested that eligibility to vote
be determined as of the date of the hearing. As there appears to be no
reason for departing from the Board's usual practice in this respect,
we shall adhere to the usual provision for determining eligibility .s
,[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
4 The Employer asserts that in a prior representation proceeding ( Case No. 13-RC-
1453 ), the Board recognized that these employees were office clericals . That case, how-
ever , involved a consent election in an agreed unit of office employees . The Board, there-
fore, had no evidence before it as to the duties of the employees involved , and made no
findings as to their status.
5 Waterous Company, 92 NLRB 76.
6 Foster Wheeler Corporation , 94 NLRB 211.
I United States Gypsum Company, 92 NLRB 18.
8 American Shuffleboard Company, 85 NLRB 51.