Gillette Safety Razor Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsFeb 20, 1946

65 N.L.R.B. 1286 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, A. F. L. Case No. 1-R-2715.Decided February 20, 1946 Messrs. John T. Noonan and Henry L. Mason, Jr., both of Boston, Mass. , for the Company. Mr. Anthony J. DeAndrade, of Boston, Mass., for the Union. Mr. Conrad A. Wickham, Jr., of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America, A. F. L., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Gillette Safety Razor Company, Bos- ton, Massachusetts, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Leo J. Halloran, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Boston, Massachusetts, on December 17, 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 opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Gillette Safety Razor Company is a Delaware corporation with its principal office and place of business located in South Boston, Massachusetts. The Company also has plants in foreign countries. 65 N. L. R. B., No. 217. 1286 GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY 1287 It is engaged in the manufacture of razor blades, razor holders, shaving cream , strops, surgical knives, and carpet knives. The principal raw materials used by, the Company at its South Boston plant are various and sundry metals, oils, papers, and wood; of which about 60 percent, to a value aggregating more than $2,000,000, is purchased annually outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Approximately 90 per- cent of the finished products manufactured by the Company at its South Boston plant, to a value in excess of $10,000,000 annually, is shipped to points outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the National Labor Relations Act. 11. '1IIE OllC.. NIZ.\'17ON INVOL\1:1) International Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America is a labor organization affiliated with the American Fed- eration of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. TIIE 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. 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.' We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean- ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 1V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union claims that all pressmen and press assistants in the printing pressroom of the Company at its South Boston plant, in- cluding the foreman and the assistant foreman, but excluding office and clerical employees and executives, constitute an appropriate unit.2 The Company contends that only a plant-wide unit is appropriate, and further, that even were a craft unit deemed proper, the foreman should not be included therein. There has been no collective bargaining history at the Company's plant involved herein.3 The Company employs approximately 2,700 'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 10 membership application cards There are approximately 16 employees in the alleged appropriate unit. 8 Although the petition referred to employees In the pressroom , the parties agreed that the reference was to the room in the Company's paper-printing department in which the paper-printing presses are located B Almost simultaneously herewith , the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders (A. F I. ), filed a petition In Case No . 1-R-2721, seeking a unit of all bindery employees In the Company's paper-printing department. 1288 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD employees in the 60 departments which make up its plant. One of these departments is the paper-printing department, which consists of the printing pressroom and the bindery. The printing pressroom is located in a room adjacent to the bindery and separate and apart from the production departments of the Company. It houses several types of printing presses which are employed in printing approxi- mately one-quarter of the printed matter used by the Company in connection with its business. It is admitted that this work could be discontinued without materially affecting the production of the Com- pany. Engaged in operating these presses and in performing tasks incidental thereto are the employees sought by the Union, viz, the cylinder pressmen and job pressmen. We have previously held that printing pressmen and their assistants constitute a well-defined group which follows established craft lines in the printing industry' Accordingly, we find that the pressmen sought herein may function together for collective bargaining pur- poses. There remains for consideration the question as to whether or not the foreman and assistant foreman should be included in the unit. The foreman in reality acts in the capacity of a general foreman, although he is not so entitled on the Company's records. He is the managing head of the paper-printing department and, as such, is in direct charge of both the printing pressroom and the bindery. His authority over the activities of the department and the employees therein is complete. He is responsible for the maintenance of all departmental records, and he consults frequently with other depart- ment heads concerning the printing requirements of the business. In addition, he performs no manual work and is on a salary basis. We are of the opinion that he is clearly clothed with managerial authority, and shall therefore exclude him from the unit.5 The Union also seeks to include the assistant foreman, while the Company takes no position as to this employee. He normally works along with the other pressmen and like the pressmen is paid on an hourly basis. He assumes authority over the activities of the depart- ment only occasionally in the absence of the foreman . He is thus the type of employee who is traditionally included in the same unit with pressmen and their assistants in the printing trades.6 Accordingly, we shall include the assistant foreman in the unit. We find that all job pressmen and cylinder pressmen in the printing pressroom of the Company at its South Boston plant, including the assistant foreman, but excluding office and clerical employees, execu- 4 Matter of H L. Ruggles & Company, 58 N. L. R. B 308 S See Matter of Country Life Press Corporation , 51 N. L R B. 1362 ; Matter of Chicago Rotopr,nt Company, 45 N L. R. B 1263. 6 See Matter of W. F. Hall Printing Co , 51 N. L. R. B. 640. GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY 1289 tives, and the foreman in charge of the paper-printing department, constitute 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 employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. 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 represen- tatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Gillette Safety Razor Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 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 super- vision of the Regional Director for the First Region, acting in the matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among 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 determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Inter- national Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Union of North America, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining. v MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.