Robert Gair Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 19, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 1466 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter Of ROBERT GAIR COMPANY, INC., NATICK BOX AND BOARD
DIVISION and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF PAPER MAKERS, AFL
Case No. 1-R--2.588.-Decided December 19, 1945
Rathbone, Perry, Kelley, and Drye, by Mr. Roderick T. Clarke, of
New York City; and Mr. L. B. Mose, of New York City, for the
Company.
Mr. John R. Jones, of Boston, Mass., for the Union.
Miss Helen Hart, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of Paper
Makers, AFL, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affect-
ing commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees
of Robert Gair Company, Inc., Natick Box and Board Division, Natick,
Massachusetts, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before John W. Coddaire, Jr., Trial Examiner. The hearing was held
at Boston, Massachusetts, on August 23, 1945. The Company 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.
All parties were afforded an 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
Robert Gair Company, Inc., a Delaware corporation, is engaged in
the manufacture and sale of paper board, corrugated and solid fibre
shipping containers, and folding boxes. It operates 14 plants through-
out the United States ; the Natick Box and Board Division, located
64 N. L. R. B., No. 239.
1466
ROBERT GAIR COMPANY, INC. 1467
at Natick, Massachusetts, is the only plant involved in this proceeding.
From January 1, 1945, to June 30, 1945, the Company purchased
$177,830 worth of raw materials for its box shop at the Natick plant,
of which $2,447 worth was shipped from points outside the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts ; and it sold $221,997 worth of finished
products, of which $36,830 worth was transported outside the Com-
monwealth. During the same period, the Company also purchased
raw materials for the Natick plant's board mill, valued at $216,000, of
which about $18,000 worth was obtained from points outside the Com-
monwealth, and its sales of paper board amounted to approximately
$280,000, of which about $31,000 worth was shipped to points outside
Massachusetts.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization 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 certain 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 Union contends that the following unit is appropriate : all pro-
duction and maintenance employees in the Natick board mill , includ-
ing the machine tenders, and the head of the shipping and receiving
department , but excluding research employees , sales employees, office
and clerical employees , executives and all other supervisory employees.
The Company is in agreement with the Union as to the scope of the
' The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 45 union authorization cards and
that the names of all persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Company ' s pay roll
of August 1, 1945, which contained the names of 56 employees in the alleged appropriate
unit.
1468 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
unit but it would exclude the machine tenders and the head of the ship-
ping and receiving department from the unit as supervisory employees.
The board mill, one of the two main divisions of the Company's
Natick plant,' has one paper making machine. Six men operate this
machine on each of the Company's three shifts. A machine tender is
in charge of the operation of the paper making machine on each shift
and the Company classifies each of these three machine tenders as
working foremen. The operators and the machine tenders change
shifts every week. The machine tenders are directly under the mill
superintendent; the machine tenders working during the two shifts
on which he is absent are in charge of the operation of the mill. Ma-
-chine tenders are salaried employees and they receive a higher com-
pensation than the other production and maintenance employees who
are paid on an hourly basis. On the two shifts during which the super-
intendent is not present, machine tenders may temporarily suspend
an employee or take other appropriate disciplinary action. They may
effectively recommend to the superintendent the hiring, discharge, or
promotion of employees. Machine tenders, we conclude, possess sufli-
•cient indicia of supervisory authority to warrant their exclusion from
the unit.
The head of the shipping and receiving department directs the work
•of four men in that department. Although this employee performs
'solve manual work at the present time, prior to the war, when there
were seven employees in this department, he did no manual work at
all. This employee receives 15 percent more in wages than the men
whom he directs; he is paid a salary, while they are compensated on
an hourly basis. He has the power to grant time off to the men under
him and he has the power effectively to recommend to the plant super-
intendent the hire or discharge of these men. We are of the opinion
that the head of the shipping and receiving department is vested with
sufficient supervisory authority to warrant his exclusion from the unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees engaged
in the board mill of the Company's Natick, Massachusetts, plant,
excluding research employees, sales employees, office and clerical
employees, executives, the machine tenders, the head of the shipping
and receiving department, and all other supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, 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.
2 The other main division of the Natick plant is the box shop The employees working
there are presently represented by International Printing Piessmen and Assistants Union
of North America , AFL, pursuant to a Board ceitification in an earlier proceeding See
.55 N. L R B. 184.
ROBERT GAIR COMPANY, INC:
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
1469
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the
employees 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 Relations 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 Robert Gair Com-
pany, Inc., Natick Box and Board Division, Natick, Massachusetts, an_
election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not
later than sixty (60),days from the date of this Direction, under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the First.
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
nn Section ITT, 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
aimed 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
represented by International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, AFL,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.