Kent Plastics Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 18, 1970

183 N.L.R.B. 612 (N.L.R.B. 1970)

612 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Kent Plastics Corp ., and Laborers ' International
Union of North America , Local Union 561,
AFL-CIO, Petitioner . Case 25-RC-4268
June 18, 1970
DECISION AND ORDER
By MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN , AND JENKINS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held on February 9, 1970, before
Frederick G. Winkler, Hearing Officer of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board.' The Employer and
the Petitioner have each filed briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connec-
tion with this case to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings and finds that they are free from prejudicial
error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and it will effectuate the
policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to
represent certain employees of the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning the representation of certain employees of
the Employer within the meaning of Section
9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
The Employer, a manufacturer of molded plastic
products, operates two plants, known as the Fulton
Street plant and the Grove Street plant, in Evans-
ville, Indiana. The Petitioner seeks a unit of the
production and maintenance employees at the
Grove Street plant only. The Employer, agreeing as
to the composition of the unit, contends that the
single-plant unit sought by the Petitioner is inap-
propriate, and that a two-plant unit comprising the
employees of both the Grove Street and the Fulton
Street plants is the only appropriate unit . There is
no bargaining history for the employees here in is-
sue.
The Grove Street plant, with 160 employees, and
the Fulton Street plant, with 400 employees, are
five blocks apart. The Fulton Street plant houses
the Employer's main office, which is the headquar-
ters for its administrative and managerial functions,
including personnel, bookkeeping, shipping,
payroll, purchasing, sales , production scheduling,
' The Employer's and the Petitioner 's names appear as amended at the
hearing
183 NLRB No. 71
engineering and research, hiring, and switchboard
operations. There is one nurse for both plants.
Wages, hours, shift differential pay, shifts, vaca-
tions, grievance processing, suggestion programs,
probationary periods, Christmas bonuses, overtime
premiums, insurance and retirement programs, and
other benefits and conditions of employment are
uniform. A single safety committee checks safety at
both plants. Basic employee supervision for both
plants emanates from the Fulton Street plant, and
separate supervisory authority at the Grove Street
plant appears minimal, as evidenced by the fact
that the Grove Street foreman may give only oral
reprimands, while written reprimands for em-
ployees at both plants must originate at the Fulton
Street plant. Equipment common to both plants in-
cludes trucks, forklifts, testing machines, and tool-
and-die department. Both plants use plastic raw
materials and process the same orders for the same
customers. Job skills at both plants are substantially
similar. Of approximately 22 job classifications, 18
are common to both plants.
On the other hand, the Grove Street plant
processes more than 80 percent of its product,
using extrusion and vacuum forming processes, and
produces large sheets which are shipped directly to
customers, whereas the Fulton Street plant uses in-
jection molding operations and performs work on
smaller parts. In view of these differences, the
Grove Street plant has its own production control,
tool engineering, and process engineering depart-
ments. For the past 13 years there has been a sin-
gle-plant seniority system for each plant, save with
respect to a group currently numbering 150 em-
ployees, hired before December 1, 1956, which has
always been on a two-plant seniority basis. A vice
president is in overall charge of both plants. Below
him are a production manager, who manages the
Fulton Street plant, and a coordinator, who
manages the Grove Street plant. Below the coor-
dinator are foremen engaged in immediate and in-
termediate and, as indicated above, apparently
minor supervision. During 1968 and 1969 there ap-
pears to have been 70 to 75 temporary transfers of
employees between the two plants for periods of a
week or more in duration, and in 1969 there ap-
pears to have been only 1 such transfer from the
Grove Street plant to the Fulton Street plant. There
is occasional interchange of service personnel
between the plants on a day-to-day basis.
In these circumstances, including the geographi-
cal proximity of the Employer's plants, its
managerial , administrative , and functional integra-
tion, its centralized control of labor relations, hir-
ing, and supervision; the close community of in-
terests of its employees at both plants, as evidenced
KENT PLASTICS CORP. 613
by their similar skills and virtually identical benefits
and conditions of employment; the similar materi-
als, equipment, and facilities used by both plants,
and the collaboration of these plants in joint
production for various common customers; and
notwithstanding variances in engineering,
processing, and equipment required by certain
production differences, we find insufficient warrant
for a single-plant unit confined to the employees at
the Grove Street plant.'
As the Petitioner does not desire to participate in
an election in a unit different from the one which it
requested, we shall dismiss the instant petition.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition herein be,
and the same hereby is, dismissed in its entirety.
0 The Kendall Company, 181 NLRB No 177, Mid-West Abrasive Com-
pany, 145 NLRB 1665, Barber-Colman Company, 130 NLRB 478, compare
The Black and Decker Manufacturing Company, 147 NLRB 825, Dixie Belle
Mills, Inc , 139 NLRB 629