Amalgamated Leather Companies, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 31, 1940

27 N.L.R.B. 1166 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of AMALGAMATED LEATHER COMPANIES, INC. and INTER-
NATIONAL FUR & LEATHER WORKERS UNION, AFFILIATED WITH THE
C. I. O. -
Case No. R-2104.-Decided October 31,1940
Jurisdiction : leather manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: con-
flicting claims of rival representatives ; representative which has not partici-
pated in proceedings not accorded a place on ballot; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all piece workers and production
and maintenance employees, excluding clerical, office, and executive employees.
truck drivers, watchmen, foremen, floorladies, apprentices, and others in a
supervisory capacity.
Logan and Duffy, by Mr. C. Edward Duffy, of Wilmington, Del.,
for the Company.
Isserman, Isserman and Kapelsohn, by Mr. Sol D. Kapelsohn, of
Newark, N. J., and Mr. Louis L. Redding, of Wilmington , Del., for
the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF' THE CASE
On August 27, 1940, Local 201 of International Fur & Leather
Workers Union, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional'
Director for the Fourth Region (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) a
petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Amalgamated Leather
Companies, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware, herein called the Company,
and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives
pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49
Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On September 20, 1940, the Na-
tional-Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pur-
suant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
27 N L. R. B., No. 190
1166
AMALGAMATED LEATHER COMPANIES, INC. 1167
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice.
On October 3, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing, copies of which were 'duly served upon the Company, the Union,
and Alco Industrial Union, herein called Aldo. Pursuant to notice
a hearing was held on October 14, 1940, at Wilmington, Delaware,
before Samuel G. Zack, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the
Board. The Company and the Union were represented by counsel
and participated in the hearing. Alco did not appear at the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all
parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner
granted motions by the Union to amend its petition as to certain
formal matters. During the course of the bearing the Trial Examiner
made several rulings on other motions and on objections to the ad-
mission of evidence. The Board has reviewed all the rulings of the
Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed.
The rulings are hereby affirmed. -
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
- FINDINGS OF FACT
l I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Amalgamated Leather Companies, Inc., is engaged in the leather
business at Wilmington, Delaware. During 1939 the Company pur-
chased raw materials valued at approximately $1,000,000, ' approxi-
mately 90 per cent of which were shipped to it from points outside
the State of Delaware. During the same period the Company sold
finished products valued at approximately $2,500,000, approximately
95 per cent of which were shipped by it to points outside the State
of Delaware. The Company employs approximately 800 employees.
It admits that it is engaged in interstate commerce.
H. THE ORGANIZATION-INVOLVED
Local 201 of International Fur & Leather Workers Union is a
labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organ-
izations. It admits to membership all piece workers and production
and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding clerical, office,
and executive employees, truck drivers, watchmen, foremen, floor-
ladies, apprentices, and all others in a supervisory capacity.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Union and Alco each requested the Company to bargain with
it as the exclusive representative of the employees of the Company.
1168 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Company refused to bargain with either the Union or Alco
stating that it doubted that either represented a majority and, fur-
ther, that it desired a certification by the Board. A statement of
the Trial Examiner introduced in evidence shows that the Union
represents a substantial number of the employees in the unit which
it alleges is appropriate.'
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of.the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
.arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the Union agreed at the hearing that the ap-
propriate unit should consist of all piece workers and production
and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding clerical, office,
and executive employees, truck drivers, watchmen, foremen, floor-
ladies, apprentices, and others in a supervisory capacity. We see no
reason for departing from such unit.
We find that all piece workers and production and maintenance
employees of the Company, excluding. clerical, office, and executive
-employees, -truck drivers, watchmen, foremen, floorladies, apprentices,
and others in a supervisory capacity, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining and that said unit will insure
to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the
policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Union seeks to be certified on the basis of the record. The Com-
pany introduced in evidence its pay roll of August 23, 1940. This
list' shows that the Company at that time employed approximately
700 employees in the appropriate unit. In support of its claim of
majority representation, the Union produced applications for member-
'Our discussion of the representation claims of the Union are set forth in Section VI,
below. Alco offered no evidence of its right to represent the Company 's employees to the
Regional Director or the Trial Examiner.
AMALGAMATED LEATHER COMPANIES, INC. 1169
ship in the Union signed by 540 of the approximately 700 employees
in the appropriate unit. The Company objected to these applications
serving.as a basis for the certification of the Union without an election.
Under these circumstances, we believe that the question concerning
representation can best be resolved by means of an election by secret
ballot.2
The Company requested that Alco be placed on the ballot in the event
the Board directed an election. As pointed out above, although,Alco
was served with notice of the hearing in this proceeding, it did not
appear. Nor is there any evidence in the record tending to show that
Alco has a substantial membership among the -employees, in the unit.
Under these circumstances, we shall not accord Alco a place on the
ballot.
The Union urged that the pay roll of August 23, 1940, be used as
a basis for determining eligibility to vote in the event the Board directed
an election. The Company, on the other hand, suggested that the
pay roll immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Election
be used for this purpose. The Union stated in support of its request
to use the August 23, 1940, pay roll that employees have been laid
off by the Company since that time. A representative of the Company
testified that although lay-offs have occurred; the employees laid off
would return to work when the Company's operations increased. No
reason appears why the pay roll immediately preceding the date of
our Direction of Election herein should not be used, inasmuch as the
usual direction-includes as persons eligible to participate in 'the election
employees who were then or -have since been temporarily laid off. It
is apparent that such a direction will make adequate provision for the
employees laid-off by the Company for lack of business.
We shall direct that the employees of the Company eligible to vote
in the election shall be those in the appropriate unit who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the
Direction of Election herein, including employees who did not work
during ,such pay-roll period because they were ill or oii vacation and
employees who were then or have since been temporarily laid off, but
excluding those who have since quit or been discharged for cause.
The Union requested that in the event the Board direct an election
it appear on the ballot as "International Fur & Leather Workers Union
of the. United States and Canada, and Local 201, CIO." The request
is hereby granted.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
2 See Matter of Armour & Company and United Packinghouse Workers, Local Industrial
Union No. 13 of Packinghouse Workers Organizing Committee , affiliated with CIO, 13
N L. R. B. 567.
323428-42-vol 27-75
1170 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Amalgamated Leather Companies, Inc.,
Wilmington, Delaware, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and
Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All piece workers and production and maintenance employees
of the Company, excluding clerical, office, and executive employees,
truck drivers, watchmen, foremen, floorladies, apprentices, and others
in'a supervisory capacity, constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b)'
of the National Labor Relations Act.
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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as -amended, it is
hereby
DmEarED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Amalgamated Leather Companies, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware,
an election by secret ballot shall be conducted 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
Fourth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor
Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules
and Regulations, among all piece workers and production and mainte-
nance employees of the Company who were employed during the
pay,-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, in-
cluding employees who did not work during such pay-roll period
because they were ill or on vacation and employees who were then
or have since been temporarily laid off, but excluding clerical, office,
and executive employees, truck- drivers, watchmen, foremen, floor-
ladies, apprentices, others in a supervisory capacity, and employees
who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented by International Fur & Leather
Workers Union of the United States and Canada, and Local 201, CIO,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.