Erving Paper Mills

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 21, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1509 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of ERVING PAPER MILLS and INTERNATIONAL BROTIIER-
11001) OF PAPER MAKERS, AFL
Case No. 1-R-2471.Decided December 21, 1945
Mr. Jay Walter Mead, of Athol, Mass., for the Company.
Mr. John R. Jones, of Boston, Mass., for the Union.
Mr. Jack Mantel , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
d
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Paper
Makers, AFL, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of Erving Paper Mills, Erving, Massachusetts, herein called the Com-
pany, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropri-
ate hearing upon due notice before Leo J. Halloran, Trial Examiner.
The hearing was held at Greenfield, Massachusetts, on July 2, 1945.
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
Erving Paper Mills, a Massachusetts corporation, has its principal
office and place of business in Erving, Massachusetts, where it is
engaged in the manufacture and conversion of paper. The Company
also operates a plant at Orange, Massachusetts. The principal raw
i The Company filed a brief togethei with a request for certain rulings and findings. We
have considered the brief and hereby deny the request except as hereinafter indicated.
64 N. L. R. B., No. 246.
1509
1510 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
materials used by the Company are pulp, paper, and coal, of which
more than 95 percent is shipped to its plants from points outside the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In excess of $300,000 is expended
annually for raw materials. The annual gross sales of the Company's
finished products amount to approximately $2,000,000, of which about
15 percent represents shipments to points outside the Commonwealth.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, 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 its employees until the Union
has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit,
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. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all the production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Company's Erving plant, including watchmen, inspec-
tors, the cafeteria-production employee, finishing, shipping, and
handling employees, but excluding executives, administrative, sales,
research, office and clerical employees, and supervisory employees.
The Company is in accord with the composition of such a unit, but
contends that the employees at both the Erving and Orange plants
constitute an appropriate unit. The parties are also in dispute con-
cerning a chef, whom the Company would include in the unit and
the Union would exclude.
The Company's Erving and Orange plants are located 41/2 miles
apart. At the Erving plant, the Company manufactures, finishes,
and ships paper. The operations at the Orange plant are confined to
finishing, warehousing, and shipping; there is no paper manufactured
2 The Board agent reported that the union submitted 54 application cards and that there
were 106 employees at the Erving plant within the unit alleged to be appropriate The rec-
ord shows that there are 25 employees within the unit at the Orange plant.
ERVING PAPER MILLS 1511
at Orange. The Company maintains its office for both plants at
Erving. Most of the warehousing operations are carried on at the
Orange plant, and every week the Erving warehousemen spend some
time at Orange. The record also indicates that 40 percent of the
finishing employees at Orange are available for frequent transfer to
the Erving plant where they engage in similar duties; in some in-
stances the Orange finishers work there from 1- to 2-month periods
before returning to the Orange plant. The maintenance men sta-
tioned at Erving perform all maintenance work for both plants.
Some of the Orange employees also work overtime at the Erving plant
after finishing their shift at Orange. A single pay roll is maintained
for both plants.
The Union contends that it has limited its organization to em-
ployees of the Erving plant, because it has no jurisdiction over the
finishers and other employees at Orange, asserting that it has obtained
permission from the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and
Paper Workers, to organize such employees at the Erving plant only.
On the other hand, the Union stated that it would be willing to or-
ganize the employees at Orange, but that those employees have shown
no inclination to be organized. Although the Board customarily ac-
knowledges jurisdictional agreements between labor organizations,
the degree of integration between the operations at the Erving and
Orange plants, particularly the interchange of employees, is so sub-
stantial as to preclude a finding that a unit confined to the Erving
plant is appropriate .3 We are of the opinion, therefore, that the em-
ployees at both the Erving and Orange plants together constitute an
appropriate unit'
The Company seeks to include the chef, who cooks simple meals and
serves food in the Company's cafeteria adjoining the manufacturing
mill. The parties agreed to include the part-time cafeteria cashier
because she spends 50 percent of her time as a regular production
employee. The chef, however, spends all of his time in the cafeteria,
performing no other duties. It is clear that his duties are sufficiently
different from the work performed by the production and mainte-
nance employees to warrant his exclusion from the unit. Accord-
ingly, we shall exclude the chef.5
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Com-
pany's Erving and Orange plants, including watchmen, inspectors,
' See Matter of the Brown Paper Mill Company, Inc., 58 N L R B. 283.
4 Cf. Matter of Riegel Paper Corporation , 63 N. L. R B. 538, wherein the Board found
appropriate a unit limited to one of the Company's four plants, in accordance with the
Union ' s extent of organization However, in that case , there was no showing of integration
and interchange of employees as is present herein.
6 See Matter of The Champion Papcr and Fibre Company, 63 N. L. R B 445.
1512 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the cafeteria-production employee, finishing,s shipping, and han-
dling employees, but excluding the chef, executives, administrative,
sales, research, office and clerical employees, and all supervisory em-
ployees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
'otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or 'effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REI'RESEN T_1TIVES
The Company urges that its employees presently absent on mili-
tary leave should be permitted to vote by mail. The record indl-
•cates that the employees in the armed services receive regular com-
pensation, that the Company maintains their current addresses, and
that at the time of the hearing, there were 28 such employees on the
pay roll out of approximately 130 employees in the unit herein found
appropriate. There are presented here no problems of overlapping
bargaining units, contraction of wartime operations, or conflicting
reemployment rights of servicemen. We are of the opinion that the
facts in this case do not differ substantially from those in the Matter
of South West Pennsylvania Pipe Lines.7 Accordingly, we shall
grant the Company's request.
We will direct that the question concerning representation be re-
solved by an election by secret ballot among employees in the appro-
priate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of the election herein, subject to the limitations and
additions set forth in the Direction. In this case, the Regional Di-
rector is authorized to mail ballots to employees within the appro-
priate unit on military leave, provided one or more of the parties
hereto, within seven (7) days from the issuance of the Direction of
Election, files with the Regional Director a list containing the names,
most recent addresses, and work classifications of such employees. The
Regional Director shall open and count the ballots cast by mail by
employees on military leave, provided, that such ballots must be re-
turned to and received at the Regional Office within thirty (30) days
6 The Company contended that the finishing employees are not eligible to membership in
the Union . We find it unnecessary to determine the exact extent of the Union ' s constitu-
tional jurisdiction concerning the finishers inasmuch as there is no showing that the Union
will not accord adequate representation to such employees . See Matter of Wilson & Co.,
Inc., 61 N. L. R B. 617; Matter .of Virginia Smelting Company , 60 N. L. R. B. 616; and
Matter of Platter Boat Works , 59 N. L . R r, 292.
1 64 N. L. R. B. 1384, decided December 13, 1945.
ERVING PAPER MILLS 1513,
from the date they are mailed to the employees by the Regional
Director."
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 representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Erving Paper Mills,
Erving, Massachusetts, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted
as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60) 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, Section
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 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 deter-
mine whether or not they desire-to be represented by International
Brotherhood of Paper Makers, AFL, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
B A free interchange between the interested parties of information on the addresses and'
work categories of the employees to be voted by mail will be necessary in order to avoid
challenges and post-election objections Accordingly, the Board will make available to all
interested parties any information of this nature furnished it by any other party. In the
event that the parties should send the absentee voters any information or literature bearing
directly or indirectly on the pending election, copies of all such documents should be simul-
taneously filed with the Regional Office for inspection by or transmittal to the other parties.
However, acceptance or transmittal of such literature by the Board's office is not to be con-
strued as conferring immunity on the filing party in the event that objections are later
Interposed concerning its content . The usual principles will apply.