Kroehler Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 5, 1940

27 N.L.R.B. 1209 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of KROEHLER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, PLANT No. 4
and UPHOLSTERERS AND ALLIED CRAFTS, LOCAL UNION No. 37-OF
UPHOLSTERERS ' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA
Case No. R-00,56 .-Decided November 5, 1940
Jurisdiction : furniture manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal to accord recognition to union and request that certification be obtained ;
election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all production employees at one
of Company's plants employed in the upholstering, sewing and cutting, and
cotton departments, with specified inclusions and exclusions.
A unit limited to production workers doing upholstery work is appropriate
and the exclusion from the unit of other production workers of the Company
who work essentially with wood and metals is justified because such workers
require different skills, use different materials, are not eligible 'for member-
ship in the union, are being organized by another union.
In view of the unsuccessful results of organization and bargaining by the
petitioning union on a basis of a unit more extensive than- the one alleged
and the intervention of a substantial period since the attempt to organize and
bargain on such basis. held there is no history of collective bargaining be-
tween the Company and the union which would establish the appropriateness
of a collective bargaining unit more extensive than the one alleged.
The exclusion from a bargaining unit of production workers of all non-
production workers is proper where successful organization among them has
never been achieved and the union does not now admit them to membership
or desire to represent them.
Mr. Charles F. McErlean, for the Board.
Mr. Joseph M. Jacobs, of Chicago, Ill., for the Union.
Lederer, Livingston, Kahn, Adler, and Adsit, by Mr. Harrj H. Kahn,
of Chicago, Ill., for the Company.
Mr. Louis S. Penfield, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On April 9, 1940, Upholsterers and Allied Crafts, Local Union
No. 37 of Upholsterers' International Union of North America,'-
1 Incorrectly designated in the caption and some of the formal papers as "Upholsterers'
International of North America, Local No. 37."
27 N. L. R. B, No. 199.
1209
1210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
herein -called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the
Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition alleging that a ques-
tion affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of
employees of Kroehler Manufacturing Company, Kankakee, Illinois,
herein called the Company, employed in thq Company's Plant No. 4
at Kankakee, Illinois, and requesting an investigation and certifica-
tion of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the, National
Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On August
23 the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board,
acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section
3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series
2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice.
On September 4 the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
and on September 9 an order of continuance of hearing, copies of each
of which were duly served upon the Company and upon the' Union.
Pursuant to notice a hearing was held on September 13 and 16 before
Charles F. McErlean, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the
Board. The Board, the Company, and the Union appeared and were
represented by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full op-
portunity to be heard to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence hearing on the issues was afforded all parties.
During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made various
rulings on motions and on the admission of evidence. The Board
has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no
prejudicial errors were committed. These rulings are hereby 'af-
firmed. The Company and the Union have submitted to the Board
briefs in support of their respective positions.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes-the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Kroehler Manufacturing Company, the Company herein, is an
'Illinois corporation, with its general offices at Naperville, Illinois.
It is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of uphol-
stered and other types of furniture. In connection with its business
the Company operates plants at Kankakee, Illinois; Naperville, Illi-
nois; Binghamton, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; Dallas, Texas;
Inglewood, California; and San Francisco, California.
KROEHLER MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1211
This proceeding' involves employees of the Company's two plants
at Kankakee,2 herein referred to as Plant 3 and Plant 4, respectively.
At Plant 3 the Company manufactures dining and bedroom furni-
ture; at Plant 4 upholstered furniture of various types. In the year
1939 the respondent used in the course of production at these plants
approximately $998,000 worth of raw materials consisting, chiefly of
lumber, cover fabrics, spring wire, palm fibre, cotton linters, cotton
sheetings, and burlap, of which 90 per cent in value were shipped to
the Kankakee plants from outside the State of Illinois. During the
same year products valued at approximately $1,773,000 were pro-
duced at these plants, 80 per cent in value of which were shipped
from the plants to points outside the State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in interstate commerce,
,within the meaning of the Act. -
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Upholsterers and Allied Crafts, Local Union No. 37 of the Up-
holsterers' International Union of North America, the Union herein,
is a local of Upholsterers' International Union of North America,
herein called the International, a labor organization affiliated with
American Federation of Labor. It admits to membership persons
employed by the Company in the upholstering, sewing and cutting,
and cotton departments of the Company's Plant 4 at Kankakee.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In January 1940 the Union requested the Company to meet and
negotiate with the Union as the statutory representative of persons
employed by the Company at Plant 4. The Company refused and
refuses to recognize and otherwise bargain collectively with the
Union as the statutory representative of any of its employees unless
and until the Union is certified as such representative by the Board.
At the hearing tho Trial Examiner read into the record a report
prepared by himself showing that the Union represents a substantial
number of employees in the collective bargaining unit hereinafter
found to be appropriates
2 The Company 's two plants at Kankakee are 'located partly in Kankakee and partly in
an adjoining town, Bradley , Illinois . These plants are at times referred to in the record
as the Bradley plants
3 The Trial Examiner reported that prior to the hearing the Union and the Company
submitted and he examined the union dues payment ledger book and the Company pay roll
of 'September 6, 1940 ; that the pay roll contains the names of 205 persons « ithin this unit ;
that the dues payment ledger books of the Union for the years 1939-40 with no entries
made later than April 18, 1940, contain the names of 130 persons in this unit ; that 105
of the 130 names on the ledger books are names of persons on the Company pay roll of
September 6, 1940.
1212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question has arisen concerning, representation of
employees of the Company.
IV. THE • EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
'We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with employees of the Company de-
scribed in Section I above has a close, intimate, and substantial re-
lation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that all production employees in Plant 4 at
Kankakee employed in the upholstering, sewing- and cutting, and
cotton departments 4 excluding persons employed in the cabinet room,
mill room No. 3, mill room No. 4, and the spring-manufacturing
department, and further excluding foremen and supervisors, ship-
ping-room employees, truck drivers, maintenance employees, elevator
operators, janitors, engineers, firemen, -powerhouse employees, and
clerical employees, constitute a unit appropriate for collective bar-
gaining. _ The Union also would exclude from its proposed unit all
persons employed at Plant 3 or at any other of the Company's plants.
The, Company disputes this contention and asserts that either a unit
comprising all production and maintenance employees at Plants 3
and 4 or one comprising all production and maintenance employees
at- the Kankakee, Naperville, Cleveland, and Binghamton plants of
the Company, is appropriate, and that the history of collective bar-
gaining between the Company and its employees precludes any other
unit being found appropriate.
The -production employees at Plant 4 may be divided into two
groups, those engaged at upholstery and allied work in the upholstery,
sewing and cutting, and cotton departments, and those engaged in
wood-working and spring manufacturing in the cabinet and mill
rooms and the spring-manufacturing department. Those engaged in
upholstery work cover with various materials the wooden frames.and
4 Employees in these departments whom the Union seeks to include in the unit are further
classified by the Union as follows ( 1) upholstering employees on suite lines 1 to 6; up-
holstering employees on odd chairs lines 7 to 9 inclusive, service employees, sofa-bed em-
ployees, repairmen, inspectors, dispatchers; (2) sewing and cutting division employees
consisting of markers, cutters, side sewers, cushion sewers, cushion fillers, cushion closers,
cover inspectors, spring-room gals, panel coverers, and in general all employees on ma-
chine lines 1 and 2 and suite lines 1 and 2 and in general all employees employed in the
panel -push room ; and (3 ) all employees in the cotton department
KROEIILER MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1213
springs of unfinished pieces of upholstered furniture, and their work
includes marking, cutting, tacking, assembling, and otherwise working
on or in connection with various fabrics, cotton, and similar materials.
On the other hand the employees in the cabinet and mill rooms and
spring-manufacturing department make the aforesaid frames and
springs by cutting, shaping, assembling, and otherwise processing
wood and metals. In addition to -working with and using different
kinds of materials, employees in the two groups require different
kinds of skill, use different types of machines, and seldom, if ever,
transfer their employment from one group to the other. The
employees at Plant 3 are engaged exclusively in the production of
dining and bedroom furniture made entirely from wood by processes
similar to those used by employees in the mill and cabinet rooms at
Plant" 4. Production employees at the Naperville, Cleveland, and
Binghamton plants are engaged in work similar to that performed
in Plants 3 and 4. .
_ The Union as collective bargaining representative of the Company's
employees has never succeeded in securing from the Company a col-
lective labor contract dealing with the wages, hours, or working con-
ditions of any employees of the Company. At the time of its forma-
tion as a labor organization in 1934, and for at least 2 years thereafter,
the Union admitted to membership and sought to represent for col-
lective bargaining purposes only those employees of the Company in
the unit it now alleges to be appropriate. In 1937 the Union expanded
the classes of employees admitted to membership in its organization
and-in accordance therewith attempted to organize and bargain on
behalf of all production and maintenance employees at Plants 3 and
4. This attempt was unsuccessful. In April 1938 the International,
acting for the Union, among other labor organizations, and pursuant
to an agreement between the International and the Company, appeared
on the ballot 'in -an election conducted by the Board among all the
production and maintenance employees at the Company's Kankakee,
Cleveland, Naperville, and Binghamton plants, to determine whether
such employees desired to be represented by the International as their
statutory representative. The employees voted against such repre-
sentation and attempts to bargain collectively on the basis of a four-
city plant unit were thereafter abandoned. In July 1938 the Union
unsuccessfully sought to secure from the Company a collective labor
contract covering all production and maintenance employees at Plants
3, and 4. Thereafter the Union abandoned its efforts to bargain col-
lectively for such employees as a unit. In October 1939 -the- Inter-
hational issued a charter to Furniture Workers and Allied Crafts,
Local 235, of the Upholsterers' International Union of North America,
with jurisdiction in production employees of the.Company in
1214 DECISIONS - OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Plant 3and in 'the cabinet and mill rooms and spring-manufacturing
department of Plant 4, and at all times since then the Union has
limited its membership to employees of the Company at Plant 4 in
the upholstering, sewing and cutting, and cotton departments, whom
it now seeks to represent.
In view of the unsuccessful results of organization and bargaining
by the Union on a basis more extensive than the unit it here alleges to
be appropriate, and the fact that a substantial period of time has
intervened since organization or bargaining on such basis, there has
been no history of collective bargaining between the Company and its
employees which would establish the appropriateness of a collective
bargaining unit more extensive than the one here alleged.
The unit alleged as appropriate by the Union is essentially one com-
prising production workers doing upholstering and allied work, and
would exclude, among other employees of the Company, those produc-
tion workers at both Plants 3 and 4 who work essentially on woods
and metals. Because, as above mentioned, there are differences in
the skill required and the materials and machines used by workers
in the two groups, because the wood and metal workers are being or-
ganized by another union, and because under present membership
eligibility rules the Union limits its membership to upholstery and
allied craft workers, and no other labor organization here claims that
a unit more inclusive than one so limited is appropriate for collective
bargaining, we are of the opinion that it is proper in this case to,dif-
ferentiate between the production employees at Plant 4 who are en-
gaged in upholstering and allied work and the other production
employees in Plants 3 and 4 engaged in wood and metal work, for
purposes of collective bargaining representation. Such differentiation
is in accord with a pattern of organization we have frequently found
appropriate within the furniture manufacturing industry.5
The shipping-room employees, -truck drivers, maintenance em-
ployees, elevator operators, janitors, engineers, firemen, and power-
house employees, whom the Union would not include with employees
in the unit it alleges to be appropriate, are all non-production workers.
Although the Union at one time sought to organize some of these
workers, successful organization of the workers was never achieved,
and as above indicated the Union does not now admit them to mem-
bership or desire to represent them for purposes of collective bargain-
ing. A unit limited to production workers alone may be appropriate
and under the circumstances here involved we think it is appropriate.6
5 Matter of Burton-Dime Corporation and Mattress , Sprinq & Bedding Workers Local 185
of Upholsterers International Union of North America, affiliated with the A. F of L,
21 N L R B 289
6Cf Matter of Quaker Oats Company and United Cereal Workers, Local No.' 633
(C. 1 0.), 24 N. L R B. 589 , and cases cited in footnote 3 thereof.
KROEHLER MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1215
Foremen and supervisors appropriately may be excluded from the
alleged unit under our usual rule. Clerical employees are likewise
excluded, no contrary circumstances appearing which would warrant
a departure from our usual rule.71
We find that all the production employees of the Company in Plant
4 at Kankakee employed in the upholstering, sewing and cutting, and
cotton departments, excluding persons employed in the cabinet room,
mill room No. 3, mill room No. 4, and spring-manufacturing depart-
ment, and further excluding foremen and supervisors, shipping-room
employees, truck drivers, maintenance employees, elevator operators,
janitors, engineers, firemen, poNNerhouse employees, and clerical em-
ployees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining, and that such unit will insure to employees of the Company
the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective
bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question which has arisen concerning representa-
tion of employees of the Company within the unit which we have
found to be appropriate can best be resolved by an election by secret
ballot. Those employees in the appropriate unit who were employed
by the Company during the pay-roll period next preceding the date
of the Direction of Election shall be eligible to vote, subject to such
limitations and additions as are set forth in the Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire,
record in the case the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A queston affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Kroehler Manufacturing Company em-
ployed at its Plaiit 4 at Kankakee, ,Illinois, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) Iaiud (7) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act.
2. All production employees, of! the Company in its Plant 4 at Kanka-
kee, Illinois, employed in the upholstering, sewing and cutting, and
cotton departments, excluding persons employed in the -cabinet room,
mill room No. 3, mill room No.'4, and spring-manufacturing depart-
ment, and further excluding foremen and supervisors, shipping-room
employees, truck drivers, maintenance employees, elevator operators,
janitors, engineers, firemen, powerhouse employees, and clerical em-
?Matter of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and United Electrical and Radio Worl,ers
of America, 3 N. L R B 835 ; Matter of Atlantic Basra Iron Works and Industrial Union
of Marine and Shipbuuldvig Worl.eis of America , local No 11, 5 N L R B 402
1216 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
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, 49 Stat . 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as a part of the investigation authorized by the
Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining with Kroehler Manufacturing Company, Kankakee, Illinois,
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
of Election , under the direction and supervision of the Regional Direc-
tor for the Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9,
of said Rules and Regulations, among all production employees of
the Company in its Plant 4 at Kankakee , Illinois , employed in the
upholstering, sewing and cutting, and cotton departments, whose names
appear on the pay roll of the Company during the pay-roll period
next preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including em-
ployees not on that pay roll because they were ill or on vacation, and
those who were then or have since been temporarily laid off , but ex-
cluding those on said pay roll who have since quit or been discharged
for cause and further excluding persons employed in the cabinet room,
mill room No . 3, mill room No. 4, and the spring -manufacturing de-
partment , foremen and supervisors , shipping -room employees, truck
drivers, maintenance employees , elevator operators , janitors, engineers,
firemen, powerhouse employees , and clerical employees, to determine
whether or not they desire to be represented by Upholsterers and
Allied Crafts , Local Union No. 37 of Upholsterers ' International Union
of North America for purposes of collective bargaining.