Gillette Safety Razor Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsFeb 28, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 138 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY and INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BOOKBINDERS , A. F. L. Case No. 1-R-27,Â°21.Decided Febrecary 28, 1946 Messrs. John T. Noonan and Henry L. Mason, Jr., both of Boston, Mass., for the Company. Messrs. John Connelly and John Barry, both 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 Brotherhood of Book- binders, 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, Boston, 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 oppor- tunity 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. 66 N. L. R. B., No. 6. 138 GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY 139 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 Boston plant are various and sundry metals, oils, paper, and wood, of which about 60 percent, ,to a value aggregating more than $2,000,000, is purchased annually outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Approxi- mately 90 percent of the finished products manufactured by the Com- pany at its 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 meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. IL THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED International Brotherhood of Bookbinders is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, 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. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hearing, 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 meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union claims that all bindery employees in the paper printing department of the Company at its South Boston plant, excluding office and clerical employees, executives, and foremen, constitute an appropriate Unit .2 The Company contends that only a plant-wide unit is appropriate. There has been no collective bargaining history at the Company's plant involved herein.3 The Company employs approximately 2700 employees in the 60 departments which make up this plant. One 1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted seven membership applica- tion cards. There are approximately nine employees in the alleged appropriate unit. 9 The unit petitioned for was amended at the hearing as shown above. 0 Almost simultaneously herewith, the International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union of North America (A. F. L.) filed a petition in Case No. 1-R-2715 seeking a unit of pressmen and press assistants in the Company's painting press room. 140 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD of its departments is the paper-printing department, which consists of the printing pressroom and the bindery. The bindery is located in a room adjacent to the printing pressroom, but separate and apart from the production departments of the Company. It houses various types of machines necessary to place the printed and prepared paper in final form for use by the Company in connection with its business. Engaged in operating these machines and in performing tasks inci- dental thereto are the employees sought by the Union, viz, 2 paper cutters, 1 gumming machine operator, 2 bench workers, 1 cutter and creaser, and 3 general workers. All these employees are engaged primarily in bindery work and constitute the only employees in the plant within the jurisdiction of the Union. It is admitted that the bindery work could be discontinued without materially affecting the production of the Company. We have previously held that employees such as those here involved constitute a well-defined craft group .4 Accordingly, we find that all bindery employees in the paper printing department of the Company at its South Boston plant, excluding office and clerical employees, executives, the foremen, and all other supervisory employees 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 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 Re- lations 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 Gillette Safety 6 See Matter of Curt Teich & Company, 63 N. L. R. B . 177; Matter of Western Tablet & Stationary Company, 31 N. L. R. B. 597. Cf. Matter of John S. Swift & Co, Inc., 61 N. L. R. B. 586; and Matter of Sharp & Dohme, Inc., 56 N. L. It. B. 1471. GILLETTE SAFETY RAZOR COMPANY 141 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 this 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 repre- sented by International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining. . MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.