International Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 20, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 1224 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY, CON'I'AINI u Drvi-
SION, EMPLOYER and UNITED PAPER WORKERS' OF Aa\IERICA, CIO,
PETITIONER
Case No. Jf-R191.Decided December 20, 19416
Stryker, Tams & Horner, by Mr. Sollon J. Rhode, Jr., of Newark,
N. J., for the Employer. I
Messrs. Samuel L. Rothbard and Anthony Adamo, of Newark, N. J.,
for the Petitioner.
Mr. George W. Brooks, of Washington, D. C., for the Intervenor.
Mr. Melvin J. Welles , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Newark,
New Jersey, on August 19, 1946, before Helen F. Humphrey, hearing
officer. The hearing officer 's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed . At the hearing the
Intervenor and the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the
ground that a contract between them is a bar to an election. The
hearing officer referred this motion to the Board . For reasons stated
in Section III, infra, this motion is hereby granted.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
International Paper Company , Container Division , a New York
corporation, operates a plant at Whippany, New Jersey, at which it
is engaged in the manufacture of fibre shipping containers. We are
concerned solely with their Whippany plant in this proceeding.
During the past year, the Employer used raw materials at its Whip-
pany plant valued at approximately $2,200,000, all of which was
shipped to the plant from points outside the State of New Jersey.
During the same period the Employer shipped from its Whippany
71 N. L . R. B, No. 193.
1224
INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY 1225
plant to points outside the State of New Jersey finished products
valued at approximately $2,100,000 , which represented approximately
55 percent of its total output at that plant.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations , claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Work-
ers, herein caller the Intervenor , is a labor organization affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees
bf the Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer and the Intervenor executed their first collective bar-
gaining agreement in 1943. New contracts were executed thereafter
in 1944 and 1945. The 1945 contract was executed on December 28,
and contained the following provision :
This agreement shall be effected from this date to June 30, 1946,
and from year to year thereafter subject to termination by either
party on any June 30th on thirty days' written notice given prior
to such June 30th.
Either party desiring any change in this agreement at the ex-
piration of same, shall give to the other party thirty days ' notice
in writing prior to such expiration that a change is desired.
Otherwise , this agreement remains in force and effect for another
year.
On November 2, 1945, the Petitioner filed a petition seeking to rep-
resent the employees here involved . The Regional Director refused to
issue a notice of hearing on the ground that the Petitioner 's showing
of interest was insufficient.
On March 25, 1946, the Employer and the Intervenor agreed upon a
"memo attachment ," which was executed on April 22 , 1946, and which
provided for certain wage changes and extended the initial termina-
tion date of the 1945 contract to June 30 , 1947 . In May 1946, the
Petitioner notified the Employer of its claim to representation, and on
June 20, 1946, the petition iui this case was filed. The Intervenor and
the Employer claim that the 1946 agreement is a bar to the present
proceeding.
1226 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
As indicated above, the Petitioner did not file its petition until more
than 10 days after its initial claim to representation. Accordingly,
the original claim to representation is inoperative,' and the filing of
the petition on June 20, 1946, must be considered as the only effective
notice to the Employer of the Petitioner's claim.2
The Petitioner contends that the 1945 contract was prematurely
extended by the 1946 agreement, and the latter is therefore not a bar.
It further asserts that the 1946 agreement was not made in good
faith, but in an attempt to foreclose the employees concerned from
seeking a change in representatives. But the petition in this case
was not filed until after the effective date of the automatic renewal
clause, or Mill B date, of the 1945 contract, and the "premature exten-
tion" doctrine is consequently inapplicable for the reasons set forth
in the recent Greenville case.3 This is so notwithstanding the Peti-
tioner's assertion that the 1946 agreement was executed in bad faith,
for, as we stated in the Greenville case, "having waited until after
... The Mill B date of the . . . [old] contract, the Petitioner may
not rely upon an asserted implication of lack of good faith in the
execution of the . . . [new] agreement."
We find, accordingly, that the 1946 agreement is a bar to a current
determination of representatives. We shall, therefore, dismiss the
petition, without prejudice, however, to the filing of a new petition
a reasonable time before May 31, 1947, the next Mill B date of the
1946 agreement.
ORDER
. IT IS 1IEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifi-
cation of representatives of employees of International Paper Com-
pany, Container Division, Whippany, New Jersey, be, and it hereby
is, dismissed, without prejudice.
1 Matter of General Electric X-ray Corporation, 67 N. L. R. B. 997.
2 Cf Matter of Ste. Genevieve Lime & Quarry Company, 70 N. L. R. B. 1259; Matter of
Fifth Ave Shoe Corporation, 69 N L. R B 400.
3 Matter of Greenville Finishing Company, Inc, 71 N. L. R. B. 436. See also Matter of
Northwestern Publishing Company (WDAN), a corporation , 71 N. L. R. B. 167.