Teamsters Local 340 and Town of Sabattus, No. 82-UD-02, affirmed by Board decision No. 82-A-01. STATE OF MAINE MAINE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Case No. 82-UD-02 [Issued: July 27, 1981] ______________________________ ) TEAMSTERS LOCAL UNION NO. 48 ) ) and ) UNIT DETERMINATION REPORT ) TOWN OF SABATTUS ) ______________________________) This is a unit determination proceeding, initialed on June 22, 1981 when Teamsters Local 48 filed a petition for unit determination. As a result of the filing of the petition, a unit determination hearing was held pursuant to 26 M.R.S.A. 966 on July 23, 1981 in Augusta, Maine. Present at the hearing was Walter J. Stilphen, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 48. Also present as witnesses were Richard Pinard, Patrol Sergeant for the Town of Sabattus, and Bryan Doyle, Patrolman for the Town. No representatives or witnesses were present on behalf of the Town. Subsequent to the hearing Peter Garcia, attorney for the Town of Sabattus, telephoned the hearing examiner to state the Town's position with regard to the unit determination petition. Local 48 seeks by its petition formation of a bargaining unit composed of the Patrol Sergeants and Patrolmen employed by the Town of Sabattus. The Town objects to inclusion of the Patrol Sergeant in the unit on the ground that he functions as an Assistant Chief and therefore is a managerial employee. The hearing examiner finds pursuant to 26 M.R.S.A. 966 that a bargaining unit composed of the Patrol Sergeants and Patrolmen employed by the Town is appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. The Town of Sabattus is a "public employer" as defined in 26 M.R.S.A. 962(7). The Patrol Sergeant is not a "confidential" Assistant Chief excluded from the definition of "public employee" by 26 M.R.S.A. 962(6)(C) or by any other subsection of Section 962(6). The test for determining whether an employee is a Section 962(6)(C) managerial employee is whether "the employee is permanently involved in collective bargaining matters on behalf of the public employer or [whether] the duties performed by the employee involve the formulation, determination and effectuation of the employer's employee relations policies." Waterville Police Department and Teamsters Local 48, [-1-] ____________________________________________________________________________________ MLRB Report of Appellate Review at 3 (Oct. 4, 1978) [78-A-06]. Testimony at the hearing shows that the Patrol Sergeant is not permanently involved in collective bargain- ing matters or in formulating and effectuating the Town's labor relations policies; for example, the Patrol Sergeant does not have the authority to hire or fire employ- ees or set the Department schedules. There is no evidence that the Patrol Sergeant is elected by popular vote, appointed to office pursuant to statute or resolution, is a department or division head, or falls within any other of the exclusionary categories set forth in Section 962(6). The fact that the Patrol Sergeant is second in command does not by itself mean that the employee is a "managerial" employee excluded from collective bar- gaining rights. The purpose of the labor relations statute is to provide employees the right to join labor organizations and be represented in collective bargain- ing, and the Section 962(6) exclusions "must be held to mean what [they] declare plainly." Maine Office of Employee Relations v. Maine Labor Relations Board, Docket No. CV-77-135 (Kennebec Cty. Super. Ct. (Oct. 10, 1980). The Patrol Ser- geant does not fall within any of these exclusions, and accordingly must be held to be a "public employee" eligible for inclusion in a bargaining unit. Since the Patrol Sergeant shares a clear and identifiable community of interest with the Patrolman, the hearing examiner concludes that inclusion of both positions in the same bargaining unit is appropriate. The description of the bargaining unit is: All Patrol Sergeants and Patrolmen employed by the Town of Sabattus. Dated at Augusta, Maine, this 27th day of July, 1981. MAINE LABOR RELATIONS BOARD /s/______________________________ Wayne W. Whitney, Jr. Hearing Examiner -2- ____________________________________________________________________________________