Mid-States Gummed Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 1, 1938

5 N.L.R.B. 7 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter Of MID-STATES GUMMED PAPER COMPANY and INT'L
BROTHERHOOD OF PULP, SULPHIDE AND PAPER MILL WORKERS, CHI-
CAGO, LOCAL 332
Case No. R-483.-Decided February 1, 1938
Gummed Paper ilanufactrcr•rng-Investrpattiorr, of Representatives: controversy
concerning representation of employees • rival organizations ; refusal by employer
to recognize petitioning union as exclusive representative ; substantial doubt
as to majority status-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargainting: production
and maintenance employees ; no controversy as to-Election, Ordered
Mr. Stephen M. Reynolds, for the Board.
Pope dl Ballard, by Mr. Merrill Shepard, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Company.
Mr. Raymond Leon, of New York City, for the Brotherhood.
Mr. David L. Tressler, of Chicago, Ill., for the Association.
Mr. Victor A. Pascal, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 4, 1937, International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite
and Paper Mill Workers, Local 332,1 herein called the Brotherhood,
filed with the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago,
Illinois) a petition, and on November 20, 1937, an amended petition,
both alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concern-
ing the representation of employees of Mid-States Gummed Paper
Co.,2 Chicago, Illinois, herein called the Company, and requesting an
investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
the Act. On November 24, 1937, 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 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and
1 The title of the Brotherhood was corrected by motion made during the hearing
2Tlie stipulation , prepared by the Company and received in evidence, recites its name
as "Co." and not " Company" as stated in the petition
7
8 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On November 26, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon
the Brotherhood, and upon The Mid-States Gummed Paper Company
Employees Association, Inc., herein called the Association, a labor
organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the
investigation. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on Decem-
ber 2, 1937, at Chicago, Illinois, before Herbert Wenzel, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company,
and the Association were represented by counsel and the Brotherhood
by its representative and all participated in the hearing. Full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and to cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties.
During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several
rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds
that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company is a Delaware corporation maintaining it factory and
warehouse in Chicago, and sales offices in New York, Cleveland, St.
Louis, and San Francisco. Its chief business is that of coating paper
and fabric with glue or a similar material and the distribution of
these products in the form of cloth and paper tape and paper in flat
sheet form.
Its purchases of raw materials, for the period from January 1, 1937
to September 30, 1937, amounted to approximately $1,500,000, 89 per
cent of which were received by it from points outside the State of
Illinois. During the same period, its sales were in excess of $2,000,000,
72.2 per cent of which were shipped to points outside the State of
Illinois.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill
Workers, Local 332, is a labor organization affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, admitting to its membership all
production and maintenance employees of the . Company, excluding
clerical and supervisory employees.
The Mid -States Gummed Paper Employees Association , Inc., is a
labor organization which does not appear to be affiliated with any
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 9
other organization. It admits to its membership laborers employed
by the Company at hourly wages, who have not the power to hire
and discharge other employees.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On about September 27, 1937, a committee of representatives of
the Brotherhood met with Ferdinand W. Humphner, vice president
of the Company in charge of manufacturing, and stated to him that
the Brotherhood represented employees of the Company and that
they desired to negotiate an agreement with the Company. They
left the proposed agreement with him, and, at Mr. Humphner's
request, the meeting was adjourned until October 1, 1937. On that
day, he refused to bargain with this committee, stating that another
organization claimed to represent employees in the Company's fac-
tory and that he did not know which of the two organizations was
the bargaining agent of a majority of these employees.
The Association does not appear to have attempted to bargain on
behalf of employees of the Company.
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 the operations of the Company
described in Section I, above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation 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
In its petition, the Brotherhood stated that the appropriate bar-
gaining unit is the "production employees, excluding clerical and
supervisory." At the hearing, it amended this statement by alleging
that it also represented the maintenance employees.
Neither the Association nor the Company presented any evidence
as to the bargaining unit they deemed appropriate.
We find that the production and maintenance employees of the
Company, excluding clerical and supervisory employees, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that
said 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.
10 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The evidence indicates that, on December 2, 1937, there were 192
employees of the Company in the unit which we have found to be
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The financial secretary of the Brotherhood testified that it had
141 members. However, the record does not establish either that
all of these members were employed by the Company or that they
were in the appropriate unit. Nor was evidence presented as to the
number of employees which the Association claims to represent.
As the record does not contain satisfactory evidence that a major-
ity of the employees in the unit which we have found to be appro-
priate desire to be represented by either the Brotherhood, the Asso-
ciation, or by neither, we find that an election by secret ballot is
necessary to resolve the question concerning representation.
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 question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Mid-States Gummed Paper Co., Chicago,
Illinois, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and
(7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The production and maintenance employees of the Company,
excluding clerical and supervisory employees, 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 Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series I, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board to
ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Mid-States Gummed Paper Co., Chicago, Illinois, an election
by secret ballot shall be conducted within fifteen (15) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of
the Regional Director 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 the
production and maintenance employees of the Company who were
employed on October 4, 1937, excluding those who have since quit or
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 11
been discharged for cause and excluding clerical and supervisory
employees, to determine whether they desire to be represented by the
International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Work-
ers, Local 332, or The Mid-States Gummed Paper Employees Associa-
tion, Inc., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
MR. DONALD WAKEFIELD SMITH took no part in the consideration
of the above Decision and Direction of Election.