Lac Chemicals, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 14, 1942

44 N.L.R.B. 1196 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of LAC CHEMICALS , INC. and WAREHOUSE AND DISTRIBU-
TION WORKERS , LOCAL 26, INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN'S AND
WAREHOUSEMEN 'S UNION, C. I. ' O.
Case No. R-4,093.-Decided October 14, 1942
Jurisdiction : industrial alcohol manufacturing Industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives: existence of question: re-
fusal to accord petitioner recognition until certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees , including foreman
of the warehouse denaturing plant and foreman of the fermentation depart-
ment, but excluding the shipping and receiving clerk, office employees, the
plant superintendent , and one employee keeping records of Company 's Govern-
ment business.
Mr. J. E. Simpson, of Los Angeles, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. Leo Gallagher by Mr. Victor Kaplan, of Los Angeles, Calif.,
for the Union.
Mr. TVm. C. Baisinger, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by Warehouse and Distribution Workers,
Local 26, International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, herein called
the Union, alleging that a' question affecting commerce had arisen
concerning' the representation of employees of Lac Chemicals, Inc.,
Culver City, California, herein called the Company, the National
Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice before Guy Farmer, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was
held at Los Angeles, California, on September 21, 1942. The Com-
pany and the Union appeared, participated, and 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
44 N. L. R. B, No 228.
1196
LAC CHEMICALS, INC. 1197
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Lac Chemicals, Inc., is a California corporation engaged at Culver
City, California, in the manufacture and distribution of industrial
alcohol. During the year ending June 30, 1942, the Company pur-
chased raw material valued at $257,677.61, consisting of molasses, steel
containers, wood alcohol, and denaturants. The molasses purchased
from the Pacific Molasses Company, Ltd., f. o. b. San Pedro, Cali-
fornia, amounted in value to $183,069.58 and originated in the Hawaiian
Islands. This item is imported by the Matson Navigation Company,
sold to the Pacific Molasses Company and purchased from the latter
by the Company. Wood alcohol valued at $17,206.30 was purchased
from Wm. S. Gray Company, New York City, and shipped to the
Company from Tennessee. The denaturants, valued at $2,530.40, were
purchased from E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Company, West Virginia.
During the same period finished products,valued at $426,925.17 were
sold. Approximately 16 percent thereof was sold f. o. b. Los Angeles
and San Francisco, California, to the United States Government and
private industries and shipped outside the State of California. At
the present 'time, and for some time past, approximately 90 percent
of the Company's sales is delivered to purchasers at the plant at Culver
City, and the -remaining 10 percent is shipped by the Company to
purchasers outside the State of California.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Warehouse and Distribution Workers, Local 26, International
Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It admits
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
By, letter dated August 4, 1942, the Union requested the Company
to recognize it as the exclusive bargaining representative for the em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate. The Company
refused to recognize the Union until it had been certified by the proper
.agency.
A statement by the Regional Director introduced in evidence, indi-,
cates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees-in
the unit hereinafter found to be appropriate.'
1 The statement of the Regional Director shows that the Union submitted to him 20
application-for-membership cards dated in July and August 1942 and bearing apparently
genuine original signatures , 15 of which are names of persons on the Company's pay roll
of August 18, 1942, which contains 16 names.
At the hearing, the Trial Examiner permitted the Regional Director's statement to be
supplemented as follows . three of the persons whose names appear on the Company's pay
1198 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 National Labor Relations
Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that the appropriate unit should comprise all
employees of the Company, including the shipping and receiving
clerk, the foreman of the warehouse denaturing plant, and the fore-
man of the fermentation department, but excluding office employees,
the plant superintendent, and one employee who keeps records of the
Company's Government business.
The Company desires the further exclusion from the unit of the
shipping and receiving clerk, the foreman of the warehouse denatur-
ing plant, and the foreman of the fermentation department.
The shipping and receiving clerk's duty is to check on materials as
they enter and leave the plant, but he does not perform the actual
physical handling of any shipment. He makes out bills of lading for
shipments and gives orders pertaining to deliveries. Until recently
he had the authority to hire and discharge employees under him, but
now, due to recently adopted Government regulations, the president
of the Company has assumed the sole authority to hire and discharge
employees. The shipping and receiving clerk is a salaried employee
and is responsible only to the president. Inasmuch as his duties are
chiefly supervisory and clerical, he is paid a salary and has until re-
cently had the authority to hire and discharge employees of the Com-
pany, we shall exclude the shipping and receiving clerk from the
appropriate unit.
It appears that the foreman of the warehouse denaturing plant and
the foreman of the fermentation department are both work lig fore-
men, are paid an hourly wage and do not have the power to hire and
discharge but may merely recommend such action. We shall include
them in the unit.
We find that all employees of the Company including the foreman
of the warehouse denaturing plant and the foreman of the fermenta-
tion department, but excluding the shipping and receiving clerk,
office employees, the plant superintendent, and one employee who keeps
records of the Company's Government business, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
roll of August 18, 1942, have since quit , but five new employees have been hired. The Union
'submitted to the Trial Examiner two additional application -for-membership cards which
bear apparently genuine original signatures One of these cards was signed by a new employee
of the Company and the other was signed by the shipping and receiving cleik of the Company.
LAC CHEMICALS, INC.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
1199
We shall direct that the question concerning representation Which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees innthe appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of our 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 8, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is he
DIRECTED that,^as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
lives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Lac Chemicals,
Inc., Culver City, California, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from
the date of this Direction, tinder the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Twenty-first 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 the em-
ployees 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 in the active
military service or training of the United States, or temporarily laid
off, but excluding employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be'represented by
Warehouse and Distribution Workers, Local 26, International Long-
shoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. WM. M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Election.