Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 10, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 584 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of CHICAGO PNEUMATIC TOOL COllIPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, LOCAL LODGE No. 335,
PETITIONER
Case Nos. 6-RC-96 and 6-RC-97.-Decided February 10, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a hearing was held before J. God-
frey Butler, hearing 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
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 organization involved claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
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 a unit composed of all time-study men,
and a unit composed of all employees of the factory time department,
at the Employer's Franklin, Pennsylvania, plant. In the alternative,
it would represent the employees in the above categories as a unit, or
it would merge these employees into a single unit with the production
and maintenance employees whom it currently represents at the Em-
ployer's Franklin, Pennsylvania, plant.' The Employer contends
that these employees are confidential employees and should not be
represented by the same union which represents the production em-
ployees because they fix the rates of incentive pay of 92 percent of
the production employees and handle the records from which pay is
* Reynolds, Murdock, and Gray.
I The Employer and the Petitioner have bargained collectively since 1935 for the pro-
duction and maintenance employees pursuant to a recognition agreement.
81 N. L. R. B., No. 101.
584
CHICAGO PNEUMATIC TOOL COMPANY 585
computed and compile and keep the records which form the basis
for future rate determinations.
The proposed unit of time-study employees
The time-study men make time studies of the operations and from
these studies create standard data and formulae for possible manu-
facturing processes in the plant, for contracts, and for rates of incen-
tive pay. In order to perform their work, the time-study men must
have a knowledge and judgment of the manufacturing process, equip-
ment, and materials, sufficient to enable them to create the standard
data and formulae and to apply them to the Employer's operations as
a whole, and to the operations of a particular project, or the perform-
ance of a particular employee. They check and correct all types of
contracts, including incentive pay contracts with the employees on
specific projects, and generally perform all duties usually required of
this type of employee. Although the formulae and standard data
which the time-study men create are used by management in apprais-
ing the merits of a particular grievance as well as in labor relations
negotiations, they take no active part in the settlement of such griev-
ances or in such negotiations. We, therefore, conclude that they are
not confidential employees 2 We reject the Employer's contention that
time-study men should not be represented by the same labor organiza-
tion that is currently representing its production employees, as the
choice of the bargaining representative rests upon the desires of the
employees.3 From the foregoing, we find that no substantial com-
munity of interest exists between the time-study men and the pro-
duction and maintenance employees which would warrant their inclu-
sion in the production and maintenance unit., Nor are they appro-
priately a part of a group of time-department employees whose
interests, as appears below, are more closely aligned to those of the
production and maintenance employees. Because the time-study men
are a distinct and functionally homogeneous group, we find that they
more appropriately constitute a separate unit for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining.5
We find that all time-study men and assistant time-study men
employed at the Employer's Franklin, Pennsylvania, plant, excluding
' Matter of American Window G lass Company , 77 N L. R B. 1030.
3 Matter of Detroit Harvester Company, 79 N. L R. B 1316.
While Board Member Gray would dismiss the petition with respect to the time-study
men for the reasons set forth in his dissenting opinion in the Detroit Harvester Co. case,
he considers himself bound by the holding of the majority in that case.
* Matter of John Deere Dubuque Tractor Company, 72 N. L R. B. 656
5Matter of Ford Motor Company, 66 N. L. it. B. 1317 ; Matter of Westinghouse Electric
Corp., 74 N. L. it. B. 94.
586 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
supervisors and all other employees of the Employer, constitute a
separate unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
The proposed unit of factory time-department employees
The employees of the factory time department, composed of time
clerks, timekeepers, typists, and comptometer operators, are located
in an office at one end of the main machine and assembly shop of the
plant where they are under the direct supervision of the chief time-
keeper and under the ultimate supervision of the plant manager.
These employees service the time clocks, handle all time cards of salary
and hourly rated employees, and generally perform the usual duties
of timekeeping department employees.
The Board has repeatedly held that employees in a factory time
department, whose work bring them into daily and close contact with
the production and maintenance employees, belong in the same unit
with such production and maintenance employees.6 We have here-
tofore rejected the contention that timekeepers such as these are con-
fidential employees.7 Furthermore, we reject the Employer's conten-
tion here, as in the Art Metal Construction Company case, supra, as
to the impropriety of the same union representing timekeepers and
production employees. For the reasons stated in the latter decision,
we perceive no conflict between self-organization for the purposes of
collective bargaining and the faithful performance of duty. How-
ever, inasmuch as the employees in the time department have not
been included in the production and maintenance unit currently rep-
resented by the Petitioner, we shall, in addition to directing an elec-
tion in the unit of time-study employees, direct that a separate elec-
tion be held in the voting group consisting of the time-department
employees, excluding supervisors, to determine whether they desire
to be included in the existing production and maintenance unit.
Accordingly, we shall make no unit finding with respect to the time-
department employees pending the outcome of the election among
these employees. If such employees select the Petitioner as their
bargaining representative, they will be taken to have indicated their
desire to be included in the existing unit of production and main-
tenance employees and the Petitioner may bargain for them as part
of such unit.
U Matter of Art Metal Construction Company, 75 N. L. R. B . 80; Matter of Chrysler Corp.,
76 N. L . R. B. 55; Matter of Bryant Heater Co., 77 N. L. R. B. 744.
7 Matter of H. 0. Canfield Company , 76 N. L. R. B. 606 and cases cited therein.
CHICAGO PNEUMATIC TOOL COMPANY
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
587
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, separate elec-
tions by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not
later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which
this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5,
as amended, among the employees in the voting group and in the unit,
respectively, found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above,
who were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did
not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who
have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired
or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding
employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of
collective bargaining, by International Association of Machinists,
Local Lodge No. 335.