Commercial Solvents Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 19, 1941

35 N.L.R.B. 554 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter Of COMMERCIAL SOLVENTS CORPORATION and AMERICAN
FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-2871.-Decided September 19, 1941
Jurisdiction : warehousing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal of Company to accord union recognition ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees at the Company's
Newark warehouse, excluding, supervisory and clerical employees ; clerical
employees excluded over Company's objection since work is dissimilar from
remaining employees; watchman included since work is not so dissimilar.
Wickes, Riddell, Bloomer ctr Jacobi, by Mr. Hiland Hall of New
York City, for the Company.
Mr. Samuel R. Isard, of Newark, N. J., for the Union.
Mr. Marvin C. Wahl of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 13, 1941, American Federation of Labor, herein called
the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Second Region
(New York City) a petition alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Commercial Solvents Corporation, Newark, New Jersey, 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 July 28,
1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
acting pursuant 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
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice.
On August 1, 1941, 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 held on August 12,
35 N L. R. B., No. 123.
554
COMMERCIAL SOLVENTS CORPORATION 555
1941, at New York City, before Louis Newman, the Trial Examiner
duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company was
represented by counsel and the Union by its representative; both
parties participated in 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 made various rulings on motions
and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has
reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no preju-
dicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. On
August 26, 1941, the Company filed a brief which the Board has
considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Commercial Solvents Corporation, a Maryland corporation, is en-
gaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of chemical products.
The Company maintains its principal office in New York City, and
operates factories in California, Illinois, Indiana, and Louisiana. It
also maintains and operates a warehouse at Newark, New Jersey, with
which this proceeding is concerned, where butanol, butyl acetate, ethyl
acetate, acetone, methanol, pure and denatured alcohol, and other chem-
ical products are received, stored, and distributed. In addition, small
quantities of alcohol are denatured at this warehouse. During the
6 months preceding the hearing, practically all the chemical products
received by the Company at its Newark warehouse were shipped from
points outside the State of New Jersey. The goods thus received were
valued at more than $600,000. During the same period, approximately
65 per cent of the chemical products, valued at more than $375,000,
were distributed from the warehouse to places outside the State of
New Jersey. The Company concedes that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
American Federation of Labor is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company states that a question concerning representation has
arisen by reason of the Company's refusal to recognize the Union as
the collective bargaining representative for its employees at the
Newark warehouse.
556 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
4
There was introduced in evidence a statement of the Regional Direc-
tor from which it appears that the Union has substantial representa-
tion among the employees of the Company in the unit hereinafter
found to be appropriate.,
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation of
the Company's employees.
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 Union contends that all the Company's employees at its Newark
warehouse; except supervisory and clerical employees, constitute an
appropriate unit. The Company agrees to the exclusion of the super-
visory employees, but claims that the clerical employees should be
included in the appropriate unit .2
At the date of the hearing, the Company employed 11 persons at its
Newark warehouse, which it classified as follows : three "warehouse-
men," three "laborers," two "watchmen," two "steno-clerks," and one
"clerk." The so-called warehousemen and laborers do substantially
similar work, receiving and loading merchandise, storing, removing
from storage, and loading for delivery. Warehousemen have the ad-
ditional duties of keeping inventories of drums and records of the tax-
paid alcohol, and signing bills of lading. These records are turned
over to the clerical staff by the warehousemen. The watchmen per-
form duties usual to that type of employment, except that occasionally
they ascertain that shipments which are called for after regular ware-
house hours are delivered to the truckmen for whom they are intended.
The clerical employees 3 devote all of their time to performing office
The statement shows that the Union submitted to the Regional Director seven mem-
bership application cards dated between May 7 and May 12 , 1941, bearing signatures which
appeared to be genuine . Five of the persons who signed the cards were employed by the
Company on June 27 , 1941, and were employed within the alleged appropriate unit At the
date of the hearing, the Company employed eight persons within the claimed unit.
2 At the hearing the Company's counsel argued that if the Board should exclude clerical
employees as requested by the Union, the watchmen should also be excluded. This con-
tention is restated in the Company 's brief„wherein it is also argued that inasmuch as only
11 persons , excluding the supervisory employee, are employed at the warehouse, all these
employees should be included in a single bargaining unit
3 It appears that the steno -clerks are women, and the clerk is a man.
COMMERCIAL SOLVENTS CORPORATION , 557
,vork. They do not go into the warehouse, nor do they undertake any
of the duties performed by the warehousemen, laborers, or watchmen.
The work of the clerical employees is sufficiently dissimilar from
that of the remaining employees to justify their exclusion from the
appropriate unit. The work of the watchmen is not so dissimilar, and
under the circumstances herein presented, the watchmen will be in-
cluded. We find, accordingly, that all employees of the Company
at its Newark warehouse, excluding supervisory and clerical employees,
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.
W. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Company can best be resolved by an
election by secret ballot. While the parties agree that in the event
of an election eligibility to vote be determined by Company's Exhibit
No. 1, which bears the names of the persons employed at the Newark
warehouse at the date of the hearing, we find no compelling reason
to depart from our usual practice. Accordingly, we shall direct that
those eligible to vote in the election shall be the employees within the
appropriate unit who were employed by the Company during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election,
subject to such limitations and additions as are 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 Commercial Solvents Corporation, Newark,
New Jersey, within the meaning of Section 9 ((,,) and Section 2 (6)
and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees of the Company at its Newark warehouse, exclud-
ing supervisory and clerical employees, 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 National Labor Relations Act,
558 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of the 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 Commercial Solvents Corporation, Newark, New Jersey, an elec-
tion 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 Second
Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations
Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among all employees of the Company at its Newark warehouse
who were employed by the Company during the pay-roll period imme-
diately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including
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 supervisory
and clerical employees and employees who have since quit or been
discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by American Federation of Labor for the purposes of
collective bargaining.