Brown Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 21, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 1199 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of BROWN COMPANY and UNITED MINE 'WORKERS OF
AMERICA, DISTRICT 50
Case No. 1-R-20.46.Decided December 21, 1944
Mr. Alfred Watt, of Berlin, N. H., for the Company.
Messrs. Cecil Crawford and Philip Smith, of Berlin, N. H., for the
Union.
Mr. Julius Kirle, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Mine Workers of
America, District 50, herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Brown Company, Berlin, New Hampshire, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before John J. Coddaire, Jr.,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Berlin, New Hampshire,
on November 21, 1944. The Company and the Union appeared and
participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All
parties 'were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the-Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Brown Company is a Maine corporation with its principal office and
plants at Berlin, New Hampshire, where it is engaged in the manu-
facture and sale of pulp, paper, paper towels, Onco (a material used
in the making of shoes), tubular products, and chemicals. In addition
to one pulp and'two paper mills, the Onco plant, and the tubular prod-
ucts plant, the Company owns and operates a research laboratory
59 N. L. R. B., No. 216.
1199
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1200 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL' LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and experimental paper mill, a hydroelectric and steam-generating
plant, a plant facility railroad, and a retail store. In its manufac-
turing processes, the Company uses pulp wood, sulphur, limestone,
alum, resin, salt, a substitute for latex, pitch, and other materials.
During the period from December 1, 1943, to November 21, 1944,
approximately 77 percent of the materials used was transported to
the Berlin plant from points outside the State of New Hampshire.
The total value of these raw materials was approximately $6,000,000.
During the same period, the Company's sales amounted to $19,000,000,
of which approximately 96 percent represented sales of goods
transported to points outside the State of New Hampshire.
We are concerned here with its retail store located on the Company's
property at Berlin, New Hampshire, which is engaged in the sale of
meats, groceries, hardware, and furniture. While the store accepts
trade from the general public it is operated primarily in the interest
of and caters to employees of the Company. During the year 1943,
the Company purchased-for sale at its retail store merchandise valued
at approximately $190,000, all of which came from sources outside.the
State of New Hampshire. During the same period, the Company sold
at its retail store merchandise valued at approximately $230,000, all of
which were sold to customers within the State of New Hampshire with
the exception of approximately 2 percent of its hardware sales which
was made and shipped to the Company's lumber camps outside the
State.
The Company admits that insofar as its over-all operations are con-
cerned it is engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act, but expresses doubt as to whether or
not it is engaged in interstate commerce in the operation of its retail
store. We find, upon the basis of the facts above set forth, that in
the operation of its retail store the Company is also engaged in com-
merce within, the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.'
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Mine Workers of America, District 50, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's em-
ployees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appro-
priate unit.
1 See Matter of West Virginia Coal and Coke Corporation , Junior Mercantile Stores Divi-
sion, 58 N. L . R. B. 1; Matter of J. L. Brandeis and Sons, 53 N. L. R. B. 352.
BROWN COMPANY 1201
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties are in general agreement that the appropriate unit
should comprise all employees of the Company's retail store, excluding
the office help 8 and the manager. The Company, however, would ex-
clude the departmental supervisors; the. Union would include them.
Departmental Supervisors. The Company employs in its retail
store two departmental supervisors, one of whom is in charge of the
meat and grocery department, the other, the hardware and furniture
department. Both are under the supervision of the store manager
who possesses recommendatory powers affecting the status of the
store employees; the Company does all of its hiring through a central
personnel department. The supervisors do the purchasing and spend
approximately 95 percent of their time selling and arranging stock,
have no authority to extend credit, and are not responsible for
collections and receipts. One supervisor has six employees working
under his direction, the other has three. They have been in the
Company's employ for more than 20 years and receive an average of
$12 per week more than the other store employees .4 Although the
supervisors may make recommendations which are considered by
the store manager, it appears that such recommendations are largely
confined to asking for needed help. We find that the departmental
supervisors do not exercise supervisory authority within our cus-
tomary definition, and we shall, therefore, include them in the unit .r,
We find that all the employees of the Company's retail store,
including departmental supervisors, but excluding the office help,
the manager, and all other supervisory employees with authority to
hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status'of employees, or effectively recommend such action, consti-
tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 10 cards, all of which were
dated in August 1944; and that there are 14 employees in the claimed appropriate unit.
Grace Bouchard and Aurel Roberge.
* The supervisor of the furniture department who, due to lack of business in'that depart-
ment, now works part time in the furniture department anF1 part time in the hardware
department , also receives an average of about $12 per week more than the other store
employees.
See Matter of Sears Roebuck and Co., 53 N. L. R. B. 5.
1202 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth
in the Direction.
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
Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain represents=
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Brown Company,
Berlin, New Hampshire, an election by secret ballot shall, be con-
ducted 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 First Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article
III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work
during the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls,
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, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented
by United Mine Workers of America, District 50, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.