Caribe Plastics Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 10, 1953

107 N.L.R.B. 7 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

CARIBE PLASTICS CORP. 7
CARIBE PLASTICS CORP. and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, Petitioner . Case No. 24-
RC-607. November 10, 1953
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Vincent M.
Rotolo, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. United Packinghouse Workers of America, CIO, the Peti-
tioner, and its Local 912, Union de Trabajadores de Plasticos
de San Lorenzo; and Confederacion General de Trabajadores de
Puerto Rico, also known as Organizacion Obrera Insular, the
Intervenor, and its Local, La Union Local de Trabajadores de
la Industria de Plasticos de San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, also
known as, and hereinafter referred to as, Local GGT-001, are
labor organizations, claiming to represent certain employees
of the Employer.
3. On April 2, 1952, the Employer and the Intervenor nego-
tiated a union-shop contract covering employees at the Em-
ployer's manufacturing plant at San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. The
contract, effective from January 30, 1952, to January 30, 1954,
was signed by representatives of the International and of Local
GGT -001. We are administratively advised that, at the time the
contract was executed and for more than a year prior thereto,
Local GGT-001 was not in compliance with the filing re-
quirements of Section 9 of the Act; and that Local CGT-001 did
not achieve compliance until July 31, 1953, more than a year
after the contract was executed and more than 3 weeks after
the instant petition was filed.
Section 8 (a) (3) of the Act, as amended in October 1951, re-
quires, with respect to union-shop contracts, that a labor or-
ganization must have "at the time the agreement was made or
within the preceding 12 months received from the Board no-
tice of compliance with section 9 (f), (g), and (h) . . ." The
Intervenor's Local CGT-001, which was a party to the con-
tract, was not in compliance during the period required by the
statute, nor at the time the petition was filed. i The contract is
therefore not a bar. 2
iThe Board's recent decision in New Idea, Division Avco Manufacturing Corporation, 106
NLRB 1104, is not applicable to the facts in the instant case. In New Idea, the Board in its
discretion held that a temporary lapse of compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act
at the time of the contract was madebecause of administrative delays, followed by subsequent
compliance before the representation petition was filed, did not vitiate the contract as a bar
to an immediate determination of representatives In the instant case, Local CGT-001 was
not in compliance during any significant period prior to the filing of the instant petition.
2 Ward Baking Company, 101 NLRB 419
107 NLRB No. 2.
8 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Accordingly , we find that a question affecting commerce ex-
ists concerning the representation of employees of the Em-
ployers , within the meaning of Section 9 ( c) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the Act.'
4. The parties agree, and we find, that all production and
maintenance employees at the Employer's plastic jewelry and
novelties manufacturing plant, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, in-
cluding direct jewelry operators and direct factory workers,
but excluding indirect jewelry operators and office employees,
watchmen, guards , doll and toy supervisors , direct supervi-
sors , and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
3Because we find the contract no bar for the reason stated, it is not necessary for us to
consider other evidence introduced with respect to this isue.
CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC., BETNER DIVISION
and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, Peti-
tioner. Case No. 16-RC-1283. November 10, 1953
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, hearings were held on May 6 and on
July 30, 1953, before Marvin L. Smith, hearing officer. The
hearing officer ' s rulings made at the respective hearings are
free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 1
Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent cer-
tain employees of the Employer.
3. The Intervenor contends that its notice to renew its con-
tract with the Employer was not timely served on the Employer
and that the contract was therefore automatically renewed and
is a bar to this proceeding. The Petitioner asserts that the
Employer and the Intervenor by their conduct waived any de-
fect that there may have been in the service of the notice, and
t The hearing officer correctly denied the Petitioner 's motion , made at the first hearing,
that Paris Printing Specialties and Paper Products Union 574, International Printing Press-
men and Assistants ' Union of North America, AFL, hereinafter called the Intervenor, be
denied a place on the ballot in the election hereinafter directed , on the ground, in substance,
that the latter was not currently in compliance with the filing requirements of Section 9 of the
Act. The fact of compliance by a labor organization which is required to comply is a matter
for administrative determination and is not litigable by the parties . Moreover , we are ad-
ministratively satisfied that the Intervenor is in compliance . Swift & Company , 94 NLRB 917.
The Intervenor's motion to dismiss the petition on the ground of contract bar is denied for
reasons stated below.
107 NLRB No. 3.