Owens-Illinois Glass Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 4, 1943

53 N.L.R.B. 1114 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS COMPANY and OWENS-ILLI-
NOIS GLASS WORKERS UNION , AFFILIATED WITH DISTRICT 50, UNITED
MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA
In the Matter Of OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS COMPANY and GLASS BOTTLE
BLOWERS ASSOCIATION OF U. S. AND CANADA, A. F. OF L.
Cases Nos. 14-R-783 and 14-R--806 respectively. Decided December
4,1943
Mr. James M. Guiher, of Clarksburg, W. Va., Mr. A. J. Martin,
of Toledo, Ohio, Messrs. Floyd Flexon and W. W. Wood, both of
Alton, Ill., for the Company.
Messrs. Jack Battuello and Jule Sanks, of Alton, Ill., for the
U. M. W.
Mr. Gish A. Johnson, of East Alton, Ill., and Mr. Newton Black,
of Alton, Ill., for the Bottle Blowers.
Mr. W. 0. Hayes, of Alton, Ill., for the Intervenors.
Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
,DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon amended and original petitions filed by Owens-Illinois Glass
Workers Union, affiliated with District 50, United Mine Workers of
America, herein called the U. M. W.,'and Glass Bottle Blowers Asso-
ciation of U. S. and Canada, A. F. of L., herein called the Bottle
Blowers, alleging that questions affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Owens-Illinois Glass Com-
pany, Alton, Illinois, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate consolidated hearing
upon due notice before Charles I. Hackler, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on November 2, 1943. The
Company, the U. M. W., the Bottle' Blowers, the Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners of America, and American Federation of
Labor and various affiliated organizations herein collectively called
53 N. L . R. B., No. 205.
1114
OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS COMPANY 1115
the Intervenors,' appeared, participated, and were afforded full op-
portunity 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. All parties were afforded the 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
r
Owens-Illinois Glass Company, an Ohio corporation, has its prin-
cipal place of business at Toledo, Ohio, and has, in addition to others,
11 plants engaged in the manufacture and distribution of glass con-
tainers. Of the plants so engaged, plant No. 7, located at Alton,
Illinois, is the only plant involved in the present proceeding. During
the calendar year 1942, the Company purchased for use at its said
Alton, Illinois, plant, raw materials exceeding $100,000 in value, of
which more than 50 percent was obtained from points outside the
State of Illinois. During the same period, the Company manufac-
tured and shipped from this plant finished products exceeding $100,000
in value, of which more than 50 percent was shipped to points out-
side the State of Illinois. The Company admits that it is engaged
in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Owens-Illinois Glass Workers Union is a labor organization af-
filiated with District 50, United Mine Workers of America, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
Glass Bottle Blowers Association of U. S. and Canada is a labor
organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admit-
ting to membership employees of the Company.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men and Helpers; International Union of Operating Engineers, Local
Union No. 41; International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship-
builders and Helpers of America; Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers
International Union, Local No. 8; United Brotherhood of Painters and
'In addition to the general appearance covering the Carpenters and affiliated organiza-
tions in the A. F. of L., separate appearances were entered on behalf of the International
Brotherhood of Boilermakers , Iron Shipbuilders and Helpers of America and International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 649. A representative of these unions announced
at the hearing that the sole purpose of their intervention, in these proceedings was to
request the Board , in view of a jurisdictional dispute with the Bottle Blowers, to place
"American Federation of Labor and its affiliated International Unions" on the ballot in any
plant -wide election that might be ordered.
1116 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Decorators of America; Pipefitters Local Union No. 553; United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local 377; and
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 649, are
labor organizations affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On October 13, 1943, the U. M. W., claiming majority representation
of the Company's employees at its No. 7 plant at Alton, Illinois, re-
quested in writing that the Company arrange a conference for the
purposes of collective bargaining but received no reply from the Com-
pany. In addition thereto, the U. M. W. filed upon the same date its
present petition for investigation and certification of representatives.
On or about October 20, 1943, a representative of the Bottle Blowers
orally requested of the Company's' plant manager that the Company
recognize the Bottle Blowers as exclusive bargaining representative
for all employees of the Company not under contract at its No. 7 Alton,
Illinois plant. The Company's plant manager declined to grant the
Bottle Blowers' request for recognition until after disposition of
the petition previously filed with the Board by the U. M. W.
A statement of the Trial Examiner, introduced in evidence at the
hearing, indicates the Bottle Blowers and the U. M. W. represent a
substantial number of employees 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 U. M. W., the Bottle Blowers, and the Company agree that the
appropriate unit should be limited to the employees of the Company's
No. 7 plant at Alton, Illinois, and that all hourly paid employees at
this plant, excluding plant superintendent, department heads, shift
foremen and assistant shift foremen, and automatic operators and
apprentices, mould makers, and tank foremen presently under contract
or the subject of collective bargaining negotiations,3 belong within
2 The Trial Examiner reported that the Bottle Blowers submitted evidence of representa-
tion in the form of 573 designations of which 502 , dated between February and October
1943, including 14 undated , bore the apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names
appear on the Company's pay roll of October 15, 1943, containing 2,030 names within
the claimed appropriate unit.
The Trial Examiner further reported that the U M W. had submitted 779 designations
of which 592, dated between November 1941 and October 1943, including 57 undated, bore
the apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names appear on the said pay roll
containing 2,030 names within the claimed appropriate unit.
a The Company , a member of the Glass Bottle Manufacturers , has had for several years
contracts with a, labor organization known as American Flint Glass Workers Union of
OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS COMPANY 1117
the appropriate unit. The only dispute concerns the question of
including hourly paid office clerks and hourly paid employees gen-
erally known as crew leaders. The Company and the Bottle Blowers
would include both hourly paid office clerks and crew leaders 4 The
U. M. W., on the other hand, while seeking to include hourly paid
factory _clerks ,5 would exclude office clerks and crew leaders from the
appropriate unit. The intervening A. F. of L. craft unions do not
seek separate craft units or offer any contention as to the appropri-
ateness of a unit upon a plant-wide basis.
With respect to the issue of including or excluding hourly paid
office clerks from the appropriate unit, it appears that the Company
employs in its main office 74 hourly paid clerks including typists,
stenographers, comptometer operators, and accounting department
employees, who work under the supervision of the Service Manager
and Plant Auditor. The duties performed by the hourly paid office
clerks are substantially the same as those of 65 salaried office clerks
whom all parties agree should be excluded from the appropriate unit.
In addition to the hourly paid clerks in the main office, the Com-
pany also employs a total of 22 hourly paid clerks and 1 typist in its
History and Specifications Department, which department keeps rec-
ords and compiles data concerning customers' specifications for bottles
in relation to the actual bottles produced. The clerks in this 'depart-
ment work in a glassed-in office space located on the production floor
of the factory. They do routine typing, filing, and the tabulation
of information concerning the bottles that have been produced. Their
duties do not require them to go into production departments to secure
data and apparently their work is strictly of a record-keeping nature.
In addition thereto, it appears that they are under the supervisor of
the History and Specifications Department as distinguished from the
production departments located on the same floor.
We are of the opinion and find, in accordance with our usual cus-
tom with respect to units of production employees, that the hourly
North America , covering mould makers and tank foremen in the mould repair department
of the plant herein involved . The last of these contracts expired by its terms on August
31, 1943, and a new contract is now under negotiation . In addition thereto, the Company
has had annual contractual relations with the Bottle Blowers and is under a present
existing contract with this union covering automatic operators in the forming department
in this and other plants of the Company . No contention was made at the hearing that
either contract was a bar to the present proceeding . All parties , including the Bottle
Blowers and the U . M. W., and the Intervenors , agreed that the employees whom the
Bottle Blowers and the Flint Glass Workers Union either have under contract or for whom
they are presently bargaining , should be excluded from the appropiate unit.
' The term crew leader is used to designate not only employees having this particular
title but also employees having substantially similar duties and known under various
classifications. Among the latter are "planning foremen" whom the Company and the
Bottle Blowers consider the same as crew leaders, and therefore seek their inclusion within
the appropriate unit.
5 All parties are agreed that the one to three hourly paid factory clerks on the pay roll
in each of the production and maintenance departments should be included within the
appropriate unit.
559015-44-vol. 53-72
1118 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
paid office employees both in the main office and in the History and
Specifications Department do not have sufficient interests in common
with the production employees to be included with the latter in the
same unit. We shall, accordingly, exclude all office clerical employees
but include factory hourly paid clerical employees within the appro-'
priate unit.6 _
There remains for consideration the question of including or ex-
cluding from the appropriate unit certain employees in the several
production departments of the plant known to the workers as "crew
leaders." The evidence shows that there are about 100 employees
popularly known as crew leaders, of whom 72 appear on the pay roll
of October 15, 1943, as inspectors in the packing department. Four
others appear on the pay roll as "planning foremen" in the Warehouse
and Shipping department, while the remainder are apparently scat-
tered throughout the various departments. All such crew leaders are
hourly paid and receive 15 to 20 cents per hour more than the men who
work under them. The credible evidence discloses that these crew
leaders spend between 20 and 50 percent of their time working with
the crews, the remainder of their time being spent in supervising the
workers on the crews and keeping written records relating to bottle
defects and liaison work with other departments. While they have
no power to hire or discharge, they have the duty to report the
quality of work or any infraction of rules observed by them to the
shift foremen:
The Company and the Bottle Blowers contend that crew leaders are
under no duty to make recommendations to the shift foremen and state
that any such recommendations would not of necessity result in action
by the foremen. On the other hand, the testimony of all ordinary
witnesses together with that of Lowell McCracken, a' planning fore-
man who appeared as a witness for the Bottle Blowers, clearly demon-
strates that crew leaders have transferred employees from one crew
to another, have authorized specific employees to work overtime, have
told employees not to report for work on the crews to which they were
assigned, and generally are regarded by employees as having the
power of effective recommendation." Moreover, while crew leaders
are' eligible to membership in the Bottle Blowers, the U. M. W. ex-
cludes them and in fact has none among its membership. We are of
the opinion, and find, that since crew leaders can effectively recom-
mend employees for transfer and have the authority to report em-
ployees for disciplinary action, they are supervisory employees within
6 See Matter of Chemical Construction Company, 50 N. L R. B 223.
4 Crew leaders do not, however , make recommendations as to the penalties which should
be applied for the rule infractions reported by them to the shift foremen
The evidence discloses that regardless of any duty , crew leaders may recommend the
transfer of crew members to other jobs.
OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS COMPANY 1119
our customary definition.9 We shall, accordingly, exclude crew leaders
from the appropriate unit.
We find that all hourly paid employees of the Company's No. 7
plant at Alton, Illinois, including factory clerks, but excluding all
office clerks; automatic operators, apprentices and learners presently
or formerly under contract,10 mould makers and tank foremen for
whom American Flint Glass Workers Union is bargaining; the plant
superintendent, department heads, shift foremen, assistant shift fore-
men, crew leaders (including inspectors in the Packing Department
and planning foremen in the Warehouse and Shipping Department),
and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote,
discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em-
ployees or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
As previously stated, the intervening A. F. of L. unions have
appeared for the sole purpose of requesting that they be included on
the ballot in any election under the group designation of "American
Federation of Labor and Its Affiliated International Unions." On
the other hand, it appears that, aside from the Carpenters and the
Boilermakers, which unions offered only a meager showing of mem-
bership,11 none of the intervenors furnished any evidence of represen-
tation, although all were served with notice of the hearing. The
request for the group designation is, moreover, opposed by the Bottle
Blowers, which asks that its name be the only A. F. of L. choice to
appear on the ballot. In view of the de minimie showing of the inter-
venors, we shall not accord them a place on the ballot in the election
hereinafter referred to.12
See Matter of Food Machinery Corpm ation , 41 N. L R B 1428; Matter of Pass and
Seymour, Inc ., 51 N. L. R. B. 1135 See also Matter of Owens-Illinois Glass Company,
25 N. L . it. B. 92, 101, wherein the Board found that the present company waFA responsible
for the anti -union activity of supervisors known as "boss packers" in its Fairmont, West
Virginia , plant In this connection , Flexon , plant manager of the plant involved in this
proceeding , testified that the term " crew leaders" had arisen in recent years and replaced
the earlier designation of "boss packets" Furthermore , the Bottle Blowers took the
position, undisputed by the Company , that so-called "crew leaders" covered by Bottle
Blowers contracts at other plants of the Company have substantially the same powers
as the crew leaders involved in this case
1o While learners and apprentices to automatic operators are not included under the
present contract between the Company and the Bottle Blowers, all parties agreed that
learners and apprentices should be excluded from the present bargaining unit
"The Carpenters furnished evidence that it represented 8 employees out of a total of
267 within its claimed craft jurisdiction
The Boilermakers offered evidence that it represented 3 employees out of 19 claimed
within its jurisdiction
12 See Matter of Ken had Tube and Lamp Corporation , 42 N. L. it. B. 1235.
1120 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Bottle Blowers requests that it appear on the ballot as "Bottle
Blowers Association of the U. S. and Canada, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor." The United Mine Workers requests
that it appear on the ballot as "Owens-Illinois Glass Workers Union,
District 50, U. M. W. of A." These requests are hereby granted.13
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the 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 National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, it is hereby
DIRE irED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Owens-Illinois
Glass Company, Alton, 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, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Fourteenth 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
the employees 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
temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of
the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding any 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 they desire to be represented by Owens-Illinois
Glass Workers Union, District 50, U. M. W. of A., or by Glass Bottle
Blowers Association of the U. S. and Canada, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by neither.
13 The Company suggests that the U . M. W.'s reference to the name of the Company as
part of its title should not be permitted as the official designation of the Union upon
the ballot in the election hereinafter directed . However , in the absence of circumstances,
from which confusion might arise as to the identity of a particular union, the Board has
generally permitted labor organizations to appear on the ballot under such names as they
may choose to adopt. The suggestion of the Company is, therefore , dismissed as without
merit.