Continental Can Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 29, 1953

105 N.L.R.B. 210 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
recordist , boom man, set designer , and animation employees,
but excluding cameramen, assistant cameramen , film editors,
assistant film editors , the truckdriver, office clericals, com-
missary employees , sales personnel , producers , directors,
and all other supervisors as defined in the Act.
Group (b): All cameramen and assistant cameramen, ex-
cluding all other employees and all supervisors as defined in
the Act.
Group (c): All film editors and assistant film editors, ex-
cluding all other employees and all supervisors as defined in
the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC. and AMALGAMATED
LITHOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 36, C.I.O., Peti-
tioner. Case No. 36-RC-917. May 29, 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 Robert J.
Wiener, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with this
case to a three-member panel [Members Murdock, Styles,
and Peterson].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent
certain employees of the Employer.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to sever a unit of lithographic
employees employed at the Employer's Portland, Oregon, plant
from an existing unit of production and maintenance employees
at that plant. The Intervenor, which currently represents the
production and maintenance employees, opposes serverance
on the ground that the functions and working conditions of the
lithographic employees are so closely related to those of other
production employees that the proposed unit is inappropriate.
The Employer contends that severance should not be per-
mitted in view of the small number of persons in the unit,
but otherwise takes no position as to its appropriateness.
1 International Association of Machinists, District Lodges Nos. 63 and 1432, AFL, intervened
on the basis of a current contractual interest
105 NLRB No. 29
CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY , INC. Z 1 1
The Portland plant is engaged in the manufacture of metal
containers . The containers are fabricated from sheets of tin
plate. At the outset of the fabrication process the sheets of
tin plate are coated with enamel to prevent corrosion, some
of these sheets are then lithographed at the same time. These
coating and lithographing operations are performed on two
adjacent production lines. Each line contains a feeder machine,
a coater machine , and an oven through which an endless belt
moves. In addition 1 of the lines , hereinafter referred to as
the lithographic line , contains a 2-color lithographic press,
which is placed between the feeder machine and the coater
machine. This line operates on 3 shifts , but the press is used
only on the first shift . Hereinafter the operation involving the
use of the lithographic press will be called the lithographic
operation , the other operation , whether on the same line or
the adjacent line, will be referred to as the coating operation.
For the coating operation , an employee classified as a coater
feeds sheets of tin plate into the feeder machine from which they
are carried automatically into the coater machine , also operated
by the coater , where they are coated with enamel . From there
the sheets move automatically onto an endless belt, which
carries them through the oven where they are dried. At the
other end of the oven an employee classified as a stripper
is stationed whose duty it is to remove the coated sheets
from the conveyer belt and stack them.
In the lithographic operation , an employee classified as a
press feeder operator or an apprentice press feeder operator
feeds sheets of tin plate into the feeder machine . The sheets
are carried through the press , which is operated by a litho-
graphic press operator and which prints the desired impres-
sion on the sheet . From the press they are carried through
the coater machine , also operated by the lithographic press
operator , which covers the printed surface with a protec-
tive varnish . The sheets then travel through the oven in the
same way as in the coating operation and are taken off and
stacked at the other end again by a stripper . During this
entire operation the lithographic press operator serves as a
group leader for the other 2 employees on the line. The
Employer presently employs only 1 press operator and 1
press feeder operator . These are the only 2 employees that
the Petitioner seeks to include in its unit, although it indicated
in its brief that it would also be willing to represent the
stripper who works on the lithographic line should the Board
find he belongs in the lithographic unit.
The present pressman served 2 years of a4-year apprentice-
ship at the Employer's Oakland , California , plant before being
transferred to the instant plant and his present job . For the
first several months that he was at the Portland plant, a re-
tired lithographer was employed to advise him and help him
become proficient at his job. As the only employee at the
plant possessing lithographic skills, he is responsible for
21Z DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the operation of the press and performs all the usual duties
connected with its actual operation.2
The press feeder operator , in addition to supplying the
feeder machine, assists the press operator in the performance
of his duties . The present feeder operator was selected on the
basis of his aptitude for lithographic work . The press operator
teaches him the fundamentals of the operation of the press and
trains him to perform various tasks relating 'to the operation
of the press . The feeder is sufficiently acquainted with the
operation of the press so that he can watch it while the press
operator is away and shut it off if anything goes wrong. In
addition , the feeder assists the press operator in operating the
coater machine.
All the strippers on both lines are unskilled . They remove
tin plate sheets as they come out of the oven and stack them.
In addition, they perform various cleanup and maintenance
duties around the lines , including , in the case of the stripper
on the lithographic line, greasing and oiling the press. Such
functions , however , involve no skill or special training.
The press operator , press feeder operator , coaters, and
strippers are all under the immediate supervision of the
foreman and assistant foreman of the production department.
However, it appears from the record that neither the foreman
nor his assistant is qualified to give the press operator
technical supervision , and he reports directly to the plant
manager on matters pertaining to the technical operation of the
press . The press operator is himself classified as a leadman
and in this capacity directs the work of the feeder and stripper
who work on his line. However, such direction is merely
routine and does not constitute him a supervisor within the
meaning of the Act.
There is no interchange between the employees engaged in
the lithographic operation and the other employees. It is
clear from the entire record that this operation is not so
closely integrated with the rest of the production process as
to preclude the severance of the employees sought by the
Petitioner.'
The Board has frequently permitted units of lithographic
employees to be severed from production and maintenance
units in plants in the same industry as the instant plant,
where the employees involved had skills and duties similar
to those of the employees sought in the instant case." Such
units have included press operators and feeders, while ex-
cluding coaters and strippers having the same functions as the
coaters and strippers in the instant case . We see no reason
to depart from this pattern.
We reject the Employer's contention that we should not
permit severance because of the small number of employees
2 However, he exercises none of the skills assoc,ated with the photographic and platemaking
aspects of lithography, nor does the record indicate that he possesses these skills.
3Bond Crown & Cork Co., 83 NLRB 638.
4Heektn Can Company, 89 NLRB 717 and 97 NLRB 783; Continental Can Company, Inc.,
91 NLRB 500
CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC. 213
in the unit. The Board has frequently found that two employees
may constitute an appropriate unit.'
Accordingly, we find that lithographic press operators and
lithographic press feeder operators employed by the Employer
at its Portland , Oregon , plant, excluding coaters, strippers,
guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other
employees , may, if they so desire , constitute an appropriate
unit for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of the Act.
If a majority vote for the Petitioner they will be taken to
have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate
unit, and the Regional Director conducting the election directed
herein is instructed to issue a certification of representatives
to the Petitioner for such unit, which the Board, under such
circumstances , finds to be appropriate for purposes of collec-
tive bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor,
the Board finds the existing unit to be appropriate and the
Regional Director will issue a certification of results of
election to such effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
Member Peterson , concurring:
Under the circumstances of this case , I agree with my
colleagues that the press operator and press feeder operator
may, if they so desire , constitute a'separate appropriate unit
despite the history of bargaining on the more inclusive produc-
tion and maintenance unit basis.
The plant here involved began operations in June 1950. The
first collective-bargaining contract between the Employer and
the Intervenor , which won a consent election in September
1950, was executed in December 1950. It was not until April
or May 1952 that the first of the two lithographic employees
here sought to be severed from the overall units was hired. At
that time, the Petitioner filed a decertification petition as to
the lithographic workers , which was dismissed by the Regional
Director on the ground that the unit was inappropriate, ap-
parently because it contained only one employee.
In view of the less than 3-year history of bargaining on the
broader basis , the fact that no lithographic craft employees
were employed until 1952 and therefore had no opportunity
to seek separate representation when the overall unit was
established , and the fact that at the very outset of their em-
ployment they sought to maintain their separate identity by
filing a decertification petition , I am of the opinion that these
craftsmen should be allowed to form a separate unit if they
so desire . I believe the considerations favoring freedom of
choice for the craftsmen are sufficiently persuasive here to
outweigh the short history of bargaining, and accordingly I
concur in directing a self-determination election among
them.6
5 Kentucky Synthetic Rubber Corporation , 95 NLRB 453.
6See my dissent in W. C Hamilton and Sons, 104 NLRB 627.