Bremner Bros.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 13, 1942

39 N.L.R.B. 763 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of BREMNE'I2 BROS. and FACTORY BAKERS' UNION, LOCAL
No. 100, OF THE BAKERY AND CONFECTIONERY WORKERS' INTER-
NATIONAL UNION (A. F. L.)
Case No. R-3494.Decided March 13, 194.
Jurisdiction : baking industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : refusal
of Company to accord union recognition until certified by the Board ;
election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : employees in the packers and
wrappers, packets, icing, sugar wafer, packing porters, baking, warehouse,
and shipping departments, including working foremen but excluding other
supervisory employees and those employed in the delivery, garage, and- sales
departments ; agreement as to ; the engine room employees, the office force,
and watchmen excluded notwithstanding Company's request for their
inclusion.
Lord, Bissell ct Kadyk, by Mr. Russell Greenacre, of Chicago, Ill.,
for the Company.
Messrs. Gilbert Mann and Frank Salerno, of Chicago, Ill., for
the Union.
Mr. Raymond J. Heilman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 13, 1942, Factory Bakers' Union, Local No. 100, of
Bakery and Confectionery Workers' International Union, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, herein called the Union,
filed with the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago,
Illinois) a petition alleging that a question affecting commerce had
arisen concerning the representation of employees of Bremner Bros.,
Chicago, Illinois, herein called the Company, and requesting an in-
vestigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
the Act. On January 21, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board,
herein called the Board, 'acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the
39 N. L. R. B., No. 145.
763
764 - DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Director to conduct it
and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On January 22,,1942, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
the Union. Pursuant to notice a hearing was heid on January 29,
1942, at Chicago, Illinois, before Robert P. Drake, the Trial Exam-
iner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company
and the Union were represented and participated in the hearing.
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and -cross-examine wit-
nesses, and to introduce evidence-bearing on the issues was afforded
both parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner
made rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evi-
dence. The Board has reviewed 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
0
i I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Bremner Bros. is an Illinois corporation, having its place of busi-
ness at Chicago, Illinois, where it is engaged in the manufacture and
sale of biscuits and crackers. Since 1939 it has used raw materials
amounting in value to about $250,000 per year, approximately 11
percent of which represented purchases made outside the State of
Illinois. During the same period its total sales have amounted
annually to about $750,000, of which about 22.2 percent represented
shipments to points outside the State of Illinois.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Factory Bakers' Union, Local No. 100, of the Bakery and Confec-
tionery Workers' International Union, is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has declined to recognize the Union as the exclusive
representative of its employees without certification by the Board.
BREMNER BROS. 765,
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence
at the hearing, shows that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit herein found to be 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 parties are agreed that the employees of the Company in the
packers and wrappers, packets, icing, sugar wafer, packing porters,
baking, warehouse, and shipping departments, including working
foremen, should be included in the appropriate unit, and that other
supervisory employees and those employed in the delivery, garage,
and sales departments should be excluded. The Union desires also
that the engine-room employees, the office force, and watchmen be
excluded. The Company asks to have. these classes of employees
included.
The engine-room employees are engaged in maintenance and re-
pair work and, operate the oven-firing equipment. The office force,
which appears together with supervisory employees on a separate
p'ay 'roll, includes a switchboard operator, stenographers, billers,
bookkeepers, and clerks. The, watchmen perform the usual duties
incident to their employment. We shall exclude these classes of
employees.
We find that the employees of the Company in the packers and
wrappers, packets, icing, sugar wafer, packing porters, baking, ware-
house, and shipping departments, including working foremen, but
excluding other supervisory employees and those employed in the
delivery, garage, and sales departments, the engine-room employees,
the office force, and watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining, and that said unit will insure
i The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted to him 58 signed application
forms, bearing apparently genuine original signatures and dated between September 5 and
October 22 , 1941, of which 50 appear to be those of persons whose names were on the
Company's pay roll of November 19, 1941. In its petition the Union alleges that there are
155 employees in the unit claimed by it to be appropriate.
766 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-
organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise will effectuate
the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret
ballot. In accordance with pur usual practice, we shall direct that
the employees of the Company eligible to vote in the election shall be
those who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, subject
to the limitations and additions hereinafter set forth in the Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Bremner Bros., Chicago, Illinois, within
the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The employees of the Company in the packers and wrappers,
packets, icing, sugar wafer, packing porters, baking, warehouse, and
shipping departments, including working foremen, but excluding
other supervisory employees and those employed in the delivery,
garage, and sales departments, the engine-room employees, the office
force, and watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
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 Re-
lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Bremner Bros., Chicago, Illinois, 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 of Election, under the direction
and supervision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth 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,
9
BREMNER BROS. 767
among the employees of the Company in the packers and wrappers,
packets, icing, sugar wafer, packing porters, baking, warehouse, and
shipping departments, including working foremen, and employees
who did not work during such pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the
United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding other supervis-
ory employees and those employed in the delivery, garage, and sales
departments, the engine-room employees, the employees of the office
force, watchmen, and employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause, to determine twhether or, not they desire to be
represented by Factory Bakers' Union, Local No. 100, of the Bakery
and Confectionery Workers' International Union, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILLI5 took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
448105-42-vol. 39-50
In the Matter of BREMNER BROS. and FACTORY BAKERS' UNION, LOCAL
No. 100, OF THE BAKERY AND CONFECTIONERY WORKERS' INTERNA-'
TIONAL UNION (A. F. L.)
Case No. R-3194
AMENDMENT
TO
DIRECTION OF ELECTION,
March 27, 1942
On March 13, 1942, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Election in the
above-entitled proceeding.'
The Board hereby amends the Direction of Election by inserting
in the 'second paragraph thereof, immediately following the word
"departments" and immediately preceding the word "including," the
words "who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election."
1 39 N. L R. B. 763.
39 N. L. R. B., No 145a.
768