Merry Brothers Brick and Tile Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 27, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1548 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of MERRY BROTHERS BRICK AND TILE CO. and UNITED
STONE AND ALLIED PRODUCTS WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 10-R-1632.-Decided December 27, 1945
Messrs. W. M. Fulcher and Kenneth H. Merry, of Augusta, Ga.,
for the Company.
Mr. Sam H. Scott, of Winston-Salem, N. C., and Messes. Ben L.
Widenhouse and Moody Howard, of Augusta, Ga., for the Union.
Mr. Donald B. Brady, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Stone and Allied Products
Workers of America, CIO, herein called the Union, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Merry Brothers Brick and Tile Co., Augusta, Georgia,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before William V.
George, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Augusta, Georgia,
on August 16, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and par-
ticipated. All parties 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 hear-
ing 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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Merry Brothers Brick and Tile Co. is a Georgia corporation en-
gaged at its plants in Augusta, Georgia, in the manufacture, sale, and
distribution of brick and tile products. During the year ending July
1945, the Company purchased raw materials consisting principally of
coal and amounting to more than $120,000, all of which came from
sources outside the State of Georgia. During the same period the
Company sold finished products valued, at more than $500,000, of
64 N. L. R. B., No. 252.
1548
MERRY BROTHERS BRICK AND TILE CO. 1549
which more than 66 percent was shipped to points outside the State
of Georgia.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Stone and Allied Products Workers of America is a labor
organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
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 its employees until the Union
has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees 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 Company has a main office in the city of Augusta and operates
two plants and a clay mine which are located outside the city limits.
The mine furnishes clay for use at both plants which are identical in
operation.
The Union alleges in its petition, as amended during the hearing,
that the Company's employees at "all of the plants and the mine lo-
cated in Richmond County, near Augusta, Georgia, excluding execu-
tives, technical, sales, office and clerical employees, watchmen, and
supervisory employees" constitute an appropriate unit. The Com-
pany generally agrees to the appropriateness of the proposed unit
but desires to exclude from the unit certain women employees whom
it considers to be temporary employees. The Company anticipates an
early replacement of these women by more efficient workers when
they become available. Inasmuch as these women are admittedly full--
time employees, engaged in production work similar to that per-
formed by others in the unit, we do not regard the contingency that
they may be replaced at some indefinite future date as justifying
their exclusion. Accordingly, we shall include them in the unit.2
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 116 cards of which 88 bore
names appearing on the Company's pay roll of July 19, 1945 There are approximately
282 persons in the appropriate unit.
2 See Matter of The Ohio Oil Company, 60 N. L. R. B 418 at 422 ; Matter of National
Rose Sprinq & ifotthess Company, 58 N L R. B 1180.
1550 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that all employees of the Company at its plants and clay
mine located in Richmond County, near Augusta, Georgia, but ex-
cluding executives, technical, sales, clerical and office employees,
watchmen, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, 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 em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion 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 Rela-
tions 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 Merry Brothers
Brick and Tile Co., Augusta, Georgia, an election by secret ballot
shall ba conducted as early as possible, but not later than sixty (60)
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director .for the Tenth 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 preced-
ing 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 United Stone and Allied Products Workers of America,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining.
3 The parties are agreed that the "foreman over women 's crew" and "Drier attendant
foremen " are not supervisory employees within the meaning of our usual definition.