Cozier Wood Package Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 15, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 862 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of COZIER WOOD PACKAGE COMPANY and UNITED
FURNITURE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No . 10-R-1666 .-Decided March 15, 1946
Mr. Charles F. Harding, of Cheraw, S. C., for the Company.
Mr. D. H. Woodell, of Sumter, S. C., for the Union.
Mr. Bernard Goldberg, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Furniture Workers of Amer-
ica, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Cozier Wood Package Company, Cheraw, South Carolina, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board on January
23, 1946, conducted a pre-hearing election pursuant to Article III,
Section 3,1 of the Board's Rules and Regulations, among employees
of the Company in the alleged appropriate unit, to determine whether
or not they desired to be represented by the Union for the purposes
of collective bargaining.
At the close of the election a Tally of Ballots was furnished the
parties. The Tally shows that there were approximately 198 eligible
voters and 159 of these eligible voters cast valid ballots, of which 127
were for the Union, 20 were against, and 12 were challenged.
Thereafter, pursuant to Article III, Section 10,2 of the Rules and
Regulations, the Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice before Albert D. Maynard, Trial Examiner. The hearing
a By amendment of November 27, 1945, this Section of the Rules now permits the con-
duct of a secret ballot of employees prior to hearing in cases which present no substan.
tial issues.
a As amended November 27, 1945, this Section provides that in instances of pre -hearing
elections, all issues , including issues with respect to the conduct of the election or con-
duct affecting the election results and issues raised by challenged ballots, shall be heard
at the subsequent hearing.
66 N. L . R. B., No. 106.
862
COZIER WOOD PACKAGE COMPANY 863
was held at Cheraw, South Carolina, on February 1, 1946. The Com-
pany 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 opportunity
to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF TACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY
Cozier Wood Package Company, an Ohio corporation having its
principal office and place of business in Cleveland, Ohio, operates four
manufacturing plants, two in Ohio, one in Michigan, and one in South
Carolina. This proceeding is concerned only with the South Carolina
plant which is located in Cheraw and is engaged in the manufacture,
sale, and distribution of wooden crates for use principally by manu-
facturers of stoves, washing machines, and refrigerators in the pack-
ing and shipping of their products. During the 1945 calendar year,
the Company purchased approximately $25,000 worth of raw mate-
rials for use in the operations of the Cheraw plant; of these purchases,
about 55 percent was shipped to the plant from sources outside the
State of South Carolina. During the same period, the Company sold
approximately $50,000 worth of finished products from the same
plant; of the sales, about 95 percent was shipped out of the State.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Furniture Workers of America, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to recognize the Union as the collective
bargaining representative of its employees in the alleged appropriate
unit.
We find that a question affiecting 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.
864 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all production and maintenance employ-
ees, including firemen, watchmen, and sawmill employees, but ex-
cluding office and clerical employees and supervisors .3 The Company
objects to the inclusion of maintenance employees, firemen, watchmen,
and sawmill employees in the unit, but otherwise agrees to its com-
position.
The disagreement between the parties is reflected in the 12 ballots
which were challenged by the Company. At the hearing, the Com-
pany withdrew its challenge to the ballot of Benjamin Franklin
Johnson,4 admitting that Johnson was a production employee and
eligible to participate in the election. Of the other 11 challenged
ballots, 2 were cast by sawmill workers who, so far as appears from
the record, are not employees of the Company but of a separate cor-
poration, Cozier Lumber Manufacturing Company. Accordingly, we
shall exclude them from the unit and sustain the challenges to their
ballots.
The remaining challenged ballots were cast by various categories
of maintenance workers, including firemen, watchmen, carpenters,6
and saw filers. The Company objects to the inclusion of these em-
ployees in the unit on the ground that they must function at all times
for the proper protection of plant property and equipment and that
if the maintenance workers were included in the same unit with pro-
duction employees a strike by the latter would involve the former,
leaving plant property and equipment unprotected.
The Board customarily includes maintenance workers in the same
unit with production workers because these two groups of employees
have a community of interest which can be most effectively repre-
sented in a single bargaining unit. The reasons urged by the
Company for departing from this rule in the present case are not
persuasive.6 In a number of cases, the Board has rejected a similar
argument for excluding powerhouse employees and watchmen from
a production and maintenance unit.' In accord with our customary
8 The election was held among employees in this alleged appropriate unit. •
4 Johnson's name was incorrectly listed on the challenged ballot as Johnson B.
Franklin.
b The votes of two of the carpenters were challenged on the ground that they are tem-
porary employees . The issue raised by these challenges involves a question of eligibility
to vote in the election and not one of inclusion in or exclusion from the unit. Inasmuch
as the results of the election cannot be altered by counting these challenged ballots, we
find it unnecessary to determine whether the votes of these temporary carpenters should
be opened and counted.
6It is interesting to note that the Union' s representative at the hearing indicated that
the Union would be willing to incorporate a provision in any collective bargaining agree-
ment guaranteeing the Company the services of its maintenance employees in the event
that the balance of the employees were called out on strike.
9 Matter of The French Oil Mill Machinery Company, 65 N. L. R. B. 164; Matter of
The Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company, 63 N. L. R. B. 1451.
COZIER WOOD PACKAGE COMPANY 865
practice, we shall include the maintenance employees, including fire-
men, watchmen, carpenters, and saw filers in the unit. The Company's
challenges to the ballots of employees in these categories are therefore
overruled.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company at its Cheraw, South Carolina, plant, including firemen,
watchmen, carpenters, and saw filers, but excluding sawmill employ-
ees, office and clerical employees, and all supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such ac-
tion, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The results of the election held previous to the hearing show that
the Union has secured a majority of the valid votes cast and that the
challenged ballots are insufficient in number to affect the results of
the election. Under these circumstances, we shall not direct that the
challenged ballots be opened and counted but instead we shall certify
the Union as the collective bargaining representative of the employees
in the appropriate unit.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Sections 9 and 10, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Furniture Workers of America,
C. 1. 0., has been designated and selected by a majority of all produc-
tion and maintenance employees of Cozier Wood Package Company,
Cheraw, South Carolina, including firemen, watchmen, carpenters,
and saw filers, but excluding sawmill employees, office and clerical
employees, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, as their
representative for the purposes of collective bargaining and that pur-
suant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organization is the exclu-
sive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective
bargaining with respect to rates of pay. wages, hours of employment,
and other conditions of employment.
686572--46-56