Fleming & Sons, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 9, 1946

67 N.L.R.B. 1312 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of FLEMING & SONS, INC. and CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL
ORGANIZATIONS
Case No. 16-B-1618.-Decided May 9, 1946
San wels, Brown, Herman et Scott, by Mr. John M. Scott, of
Ft. Worth, Tex., and Mr. Harry Knearem, of Dallas, Tex., for the
Company.
Mr. W. Don E'llinger, of Dallas, Tex., for the Union.
Mr. Arthur Christopher, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Congress of Industrial Organizations,
herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Fleming &
Sons, Inc., Dallas, Texas, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice before Louis R. Mercado, Trial Examiner. The hearing
was held at Dallas, Texas, on March 7, 1946. 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 opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
A I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Fleming & Sons, Inc., is a Texas corporation with its office and
plant located at Dallas, Texas. It is engaged in the manufacture of
paper and paper products. During the last 6 months of 1945 the
Company purchased raw materials in excess of $100,000, approxi-
mately 12 percent of which represented shipments to its plant from
67 N. L. R. B., No. 173.
1312
FLEMING & SONS, INC. 1313
points outside the State of Texas. During the same period the Com-
pany manufactured finished products valued in excess of $100,000,
approximately 35 percent of which represented shipments to points
outside the State of Texas.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
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 grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain 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
employees 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 contends that the appropriate unit should include all
the Company's production, maintenance, and shipping room em-
ployees, excluding clerical, technical, and supervisory employees. The
Company contends that its employees should constitute four appro-
priate units, as follows: (1) the employees engaged in the paper-mak-
ing process and the dock workers; (2) the paper box manufacturing
employees; (3) the wallpaper manufacturing employees; and (4) the
boiler room, maintenance and shipping room employees. In the alter-
native, the Company states that the paper box and wallpaper manufac-
turing employees could together constitute one appropriate unit, re-
ducing the number of units to three. There is no history of collective
bargaining at the Company's plant.
The Company manufactures paper box cartons, wallpaper, and
about 50 kinds of commercial boxboard paper. Its operations are
conducted within a single area, its plant consisting of several struc-
1 The Union has waived any right to object to any election which may be held in the
instant proceeding on the basis of any of the acts alleged up to the date of this hearing
as unfair labor practices in Case No . 1G-C-1322.
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 145 cards, and that, of these
cards, 120 bore the names of employees listed on the Company's pay roll of January 12,
1946. There are approximately 241 employees in the appropriate unit.
692148-46-vol 67-84
1314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tures, adjacent to one another with passageways connecting the build-
ings. Although there are a few separate features involved within the
Company's operations, such as separate supervisors for each depart-
ment, with only a slight interchange of personnel, the record reveals
that all the Company's operations are conducted as a single, inte-
grated enterprise. Thus, the waste paper used in the paper-making
process arrives at the Company's plant where it is made into finished
paper on the Company's Number 3 or Number 4 paper machines.
Twenty percent of the product of the Number 3 paper machine is
passed along to the paper box operation where it is manufactured
into boxes,-' whereas the product of the Number 4 machine goes to the
Walright operation where it is made into wallpaper. The remainder
of the output of the Number 3 machine is sold commercially. The
shipping department handles the sale of all paper products made by
the several departments. Power for all operations is furnished by
the single power plant. The same maintenance crew and bull gang
serve the entire plant. A single timekeeper prepares the pay roll of
all employees and delivers the checks to the proper supervisors for
distribution. All applicants for employment are interviewed by a
single company representative who, in the event he determines that
the applicant is suitable for employment in one of the operations,
refers the applicant to the supervisor of that department. Although
production and maintenance employees in some of the departments
work on 3 shifts, whereas others work on 1 shift, all are hourly paid
and, except for the few mechanics and 12 or 13 skilled paper-making
employees, all are either unskilled or semi-skilled. The foregoing
facts, therefore, reveal that a plant-wide unit is appropriate.
We find that all maintenance, production, and shipping employees
of the Company at its Dallas, Texas, plant, excluding clerical and
technical 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, consti-
tute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
3 On occasion, the box manufacturing operations have been forced to close down tempo-
rarily because the Number 3 paper machine had ceased functioning.
FLEMING & SONS, INC.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
1315
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, 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 Fleming & Sons,
Inc., Dallas, Texas, an election 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 Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tions 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were em-
ployed 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 determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Congress
of Industrial Organizations for the purposes of collective bargaining.