St. Regis Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsApr 27, 1953

104 N.L.R.B. 411 (N.L.R.B. 1953)

ST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY 411 discloses that the soda fountain manager participates with the store manager and assistant store manager, whom the parties agree are supervisory personnel, in the Employer's store bonus plan. We shall, therefore, exclude soda fountain managers from the units as supervisory employees. Cigar managers: They are responsible for the operation of the cigar department in each store. They sell, maintain ade- quate merchandise, and train the cigar clerk in their store. There appears to be 1 cigar manager and 1 cigar clerk in each store, who work on alternative shifts which usually overlap about 3 or 4 hours. In the absence of the cigar manager, the store manager assigns any one of the other clerks to perform his duties. The cigar managers do not participate in the store bonus plan with the store manager, the assistant store manager, and the soda fountain manager, who are supervisory personnel. As the record does not clearly establish that cigar managers are supervisors as defined in the Act, we shall include them in the units. We find that the following employees of the Employer con- stitute separate units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All soda, drug, and cigar sales employees, porters, and cigar managers, at each of the Employer' s stores in Elizabeth, Plainfield, Bayonne, and New Brunswick, New Jersey, but ex- cluding registered pharmacists, store managers, assistant store managers, soda fountain managers, and all other super- visors as defined in the Act. Text of Direction of Elections" omitted from publication., "The Regional Director for the Fourth Region is hereby authorized and directed to conduct the election in Case No. 2-RC-5478 (4-RC- 1872). ST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY I and INTERNATIONAL ASSOC I- ATION OF MACHINISTS, AFL, Petitioner ST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF PAPER MAKERS, AFL; INTERNA- TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF PULP, SULPHITE & PAPER MILL WORKERS, AFL, Joint Petitioners ST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL, Peti- tioner. Cases Nos. 10-RC-2199, 10-RC-2207, 10-RC-2208, 10-RC-2209, 10-RC-2210, 10-RC-2217, and 10-RC-2212. April 27, 1953 DECISION, ORDER , AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held i The names of the Employer and the Petitioner in Cases Nos. 10-RC-2207 to 10-RC-2210. inclusive, and 10-RC-2217, appear as amended at the hearing. 104 NLRB No. 55. 412 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD before Charles M. Paschal, Jr., hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.' Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with these cases to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock]. Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean- ing of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the mean- ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner in Case No. 10-RC-2199, the International Association of Machinists, AFL, herein called the IAM, seeks to represent a unit composed of all maintenance department employees, including maintenance men, maintenance helpers, and maintenance oilers employed at the Employer's Eastport, Florida, plant. In Case No. 10-RC-2217, International Brother- Hood of Paper Makers, AFL, and International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite & Paper Mill Workers, AFL, the Joint Peti- tioners, seek a plantwide production and maintenance unit at the same plant, including truckdrivers, wood checkers, storeroom clerks, assistant storekeepers, laboratory assistants, routine chemists, shipping clerks, and production clerks, with cus- tomary exclusions. In the alternative, and only in the event that the Board should determine that craft units maybe appropriate at the Eastport plant, the Joint Petitioners request that, instead of the broad maintenance unit sought by the IAM, the Board should establish the craft, or "craft-like," units of (a) mill- wrights and mobile equipment mechanics, (b) pipefitters, (c) painters, and (d) oilers requested in Cases Nos. 10-RC-2207, 10-RC-2208, 10-RC-2209, and 10-RC-2210, respectively. The Petitioner in Case No. 10-RC-2212, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL, herein called the IBEW, seeks a single unit composed of all electrical depart- ment and powerhouse employees, including leadermen. The Intervenor, United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America, Millwrights & Machinery Erectors, Local Union No. 2411, herein called Local 2411, seeks a unit composed of mill- wrights, carpenters, and oilers. The Employer agrees generally that the plantwide unit requested by the Joint Petitioners is appropriate, but asserts that its maintenance department em- ployees, and electrical department and powerhouse employees should be established in two separate units, respectively, as re - quested by the IAM and the IBEW. However, the Employer, while not objecting to the overall unit sought by the Joint Peti- 2After the close of the hearing, the Employer filed a motion with the Boardto supplement and correct the transcript in various respects. As the additional evidence proffered bythe Employer would not add anything of significance to the record, the motion is hereby denied McKesson )v, Robbins. Inc., 88 NLRB 93. ST REGIS PAPER COMPANY 413 tioners, requests that the Board define such unit in terms of the Joint Petitioners ' work jurisdiction , designating the respective labor organization that should bargain for the several categories of employees requested in Case No . 10-RC-2217 . The Em- ployer opposes the unit requested by Local 2411 , asserting that it employs no individuals classified as millwrights and car- penters. The Employer manufactures kraft board and paper from southern pine timber at its recently constructed plant at East- port, near Jacksonville , Florida . This plant, which commenced operations on December 31, 1952, is an integrated pulp and paper mill , occupying an area of about 200 acres and consisting of a number of buildings . For administrative purposes , the plant is organized into several departments including , among others, the papermill , pulpmill, maintenance and repair , laboratory and powerhouse , electrical , engineering , storeroom , and yard departments . General supervision of the plant is vested in the resident manager, and under him the general superintendent, who is in direct charge of operations. The latter official, in turn, has under him the several heads, or superintendents, of the aforementioned departments and their subordinate foremen, or supervisors . There are approximately 307 production and maintenance employees at the Eastport plant. The Employer ' s mechanical maintenance work is performed by the 39 employees in the maintenance and repair department. These employees are classified as maintenance men, mainte- nance men oilers , and maintenance helpers . They work under the maintenance superintendent , or master mechanic, the latter's assistant , and two maintenance foremen, performing all maintenance and repair work on plant buildings , machinery, pipelines , and equipment . Although the Employer has no formal apprentice training program, it expects to establish a progres - sion schedule under which an employee would be hired initially as a helper , then later advance to oiler, and afterwards to maintenance man upon completion of the necessary on-the-job training and as job vacancies occur . The Employer does not classify its maintenance men in accordance with individual craft skills . Although some are skilled in individual trades, they were hired initially because of their basic craft skill as well as their ability to perform the work of one or more other trades . Consequently , maintenance men on all four shifts are assigned any available work and are expected to perform various maintenance tasks, including work normally performed by millwrights , carpenters , pipefitters , and welders . All re- ceive the same rate of pay and have the same employee benefits and general working conditions as the other hourly paid plant employees. It is apparent that the millwrights , carpenters , and oilers sought by Local 2411, as well as the millwrights and mobile equipment mechanics, pipefitters , painters , and oilers , sought to be represented separately by the Joint Petitioners in their alternate petitions , do not constitute identifiable , homogeneous groups having sufficient interests apart from the other main- tenance employees to warrant their establishment as separate 4 14 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD bargaining units .' Accordingly, we shall dismiss the petitions filed by the Joint Petitioners in Cases Nos. 10-RC-2207 to 2210, inclusive. It is evident, however, that the maintenance employees sought by the IAM compose a homogeneous, readily identifiable, and functionally coherent group with distinct interests which are sufficient, in the absence of a bargaining history on a broader basis, to justify their establishment as a separate unit." As indicated above, the IBEW seeks to join both the electrical department and the powerhouse employees in a single unit. The 28 powerhouse employees work under the supervision of the powerhouse superintendent and his assistant. They are classi- fied as turbine operators, auxiliary operators, utility men, power and bark boiler firemen, water tenders (power), recov- ery water tenders, instrumentmen, maintenance man - power- house, maintenance helper - powerhouse, and softener oper- ators and powerplant testers . They perform the customary duties associated with their respective classifications, all being concerned solely with the operation and maintenance of the instruments, machinery, and equipment located in the power- plant and recovery building. The electrical department, headed by the electrical super- intendent, consists of 12 first-class electricians, 1 electronic repairman, and 1 electrician helper. They are separately quartered in the electrical shop, which is not connected with the powerhouse. Electricians perform all plant electrical in- stallations and maintenance work. First-class electricians must have completed at least a 4-year apprenticeship, or must have obtained comparable experience, before they are hired. There is no interchange between the electrical department and the powerhouse employees. Infrequently, however, first-class electricians perform "stand-by" duties, as a safety precaution, in the powerhouse while turbines are being started. For the most part , the pay schedules for the 2 groups are different. It is, clear that the powerhouse and the electrical department employees sought to be represented by the IBEW in a single unit in fact constitute two distinct departments engaged in different functions' and employing different skills. In these circumstances, we find that they may not be joined for purposes of collective bargaining .' However, as the electrical department employees constitute an identifiable, skilled, homogeneous craft group, we shall establish them as a separate voting group . 6 Because the powerhouse employees constitute a traditional , distinctive, ' 90. B. Andrews Company, 96 NLRB 150 , and cases cited therein. 4Armstrong Cork Company. 80 NLRB 1328 ; St. Regis Paper Company, 84 NLRB 454. 5See Rex Paper Company, 83 NLRB 265. 6 The Brush Beryllium Company , 96 NLRB 1383, and cases cited therein. ST. REGIS PAPER COMPANY 415 homogeneous departmental group such as we customarily ac- cord an opportunity for separate representation, we shall like- wise establish them as a separate voting group.T There remains for consideration the Employer's request that the Board should define the plantwide unit sought by the Joint Petitioners in terms of the work jurisdiction of these two labor organizations, designating which organization should bargain for the several categories jointly requested by them. The Board has held that its sole function in a representation proceeding is to ascertain and certify the bargaining representative, if any, that has been designated by the employees in the appropriate unit, and not to direct, instruct, or limit that representative as to the manner in which it is to exercise its bargaining agency.$ The Employer's request is therefore hereby denied. As the maintenance, electrical department, and powerhouse employees also may appropriately be represented as a part of the plantwide unit requested by the Joint Petitioners, we shall make no final unit determinations at this time. Accordingly, we shall direct that separate elections be conducted among the following groups of employees at the Employer's Eastport, Florida, plant, excluding from each voting group all office clerical and professional employees, guards, and all super- visors as defined in the Act: (a) All maintenance department employees, including main- tenance men, maintenance helpers, and maintenance oilers. (b) All electrical department employees. (c) All powerhouse employees. (d) All production employees, including plant clerical em- ployees,9 truckdrivers, and hourly paid laboratory employees, but excluding all employees in groups (a), (b), and (c). If a majority of the employees in voting groups (a), (b), or (c) vote for the labor organization seeking their representation apart from the production employees, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the elections herein is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to such labor organizations for such unit or units, which the Board under such circumstances finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. In the event a majority in any of the voting groups (a) to (c) vote for the Joint Petitioners, they will be taken to have indi- T Ford Motor Company, Aircraft Engine Division, 96 NLRB 1075, and cases cited therein. As the Employer does not presently employ any individuals in the classifications of elec- trical leadermen and instrument leadermen , and has no definite expectation of employing them, we shall make no determination concerning the unit placement of these classifications. Cities Service Refining Corporation, 94 NLRB 1634. s General Aniline & Film Corporation, Ansco Division, 89 NLRB 467. See also The Plumb- ing Contractors Association of Baltimore , Maryland , Inc., et al. , 93 NLRB 1081. 9 As the wood checkers, or scalers, spend 75 percent of their time at the wood shack, or gate, measuring incoming wood for the purpose of determining its cubic placement, which data is transmitted to the office for cost purposes , we find that they are essentially plant clerical employees and shall include them in the unit . See Potlatch Forests , Inc., 80 NLRB 613, 617; United States Gypsum Compamy, 81 NLRB 344, 346; and Northern Redwood Lumber Company, 88 NLRB 277. 416 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD cated their desire to be represented by such Unions, and if a majority in group (d) likewise vote for such Unions, the Regional Director is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the Joint Petitioners for a plantwide production and mainte- nance unit, including therein the employees in anyone or more of groups (a) to (c) in which a majority has voted for such Union, which unit the Board, under such circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. ORDER IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions in Cases Nos. 10-RC-2207, 10-RC- 2208, 10-RC-2209, and 10-RC-2210 be, and they hereby are, dismissed. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication. I NATIONAL CARBON DIVISION, UNION CARBIDE AND CARBON CORPORATION AND NATIONAL CARBON COMPANY, INC. and LOCAL 85, UNITED GAS, COKE AND CHEMICAL WORKERS, CIO. Case No. 3-CA-177. NOTICE TO SHOW CAUSE On August 22, 1952, the Board issued its Decision and Order in the above-entitled case.' Upon reconsideration on its own motion, it appears to the Board that said Decision and Order should be amended in the manner set forth in the proposed Amendment to Decision and Order, attached hereto. Please take notice that unless on or before May 11, 1953, proper cause to the contrary is shown, the National Labor Re- lations Board will issue as an Amendment to Decision and Order, the proposed amendment attached hereto. 1100 NLRB 689. PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO DECISION AND ORDER The second paragraph of the Decision and Order herein (100 NLRB 689), is hereby deleted. In place thereof the following is hereby substituted: The Board has reviewed the rulings for the Trial Ex- aminer made at the hearing and finds that no prejudicial error was committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed.' 1 As noted in the Intermediate Report, the Respondent moved, at the outset of the hear- ing, that the complaint be dismissed . This motion , which the Trial Examiner denied, was predicated upon the fact that the initial charges were filed by the Union at a time when its parent organization , the CIO, was not in compliance with the provisions of Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act. However, the CIO was in compliance at the time the complaint issued . See Dant & Russell , Ltd., 73 S. Ct. 375. 104 NLRB No. 80.