The H. Neuer Glass Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 10, 1937

4 N.L.R.B. 65 (N.L.R.B. 1937)

0
In the Matter of THE H. NEuER GLASS COMPANY and FEDERATION OF
FLAT GLASS WORKERS OF AMERICA
Case No. R-269.Decided November 10, 1937
Glass Products Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy con-
cerning representation of employees : refusal by employer to recognize petition-
ing union as bargaining agency ; prior strike caused by such refusal-Unit Ap-
propriate for Collective Bargainting: production and maintenance employees;
wage, hour, and occupational differences ; history- of collective bargaining with
employer-Representatives: proof of choice: petition authorizing petitioning
union to bargain collectively on behalf of signers-Certification of Representa-
tives: upon proof of majority representation.
Mr. William J. Perricelli, for the Board.
Mr. James L. Magrish, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. Edward Lamb, of Toledo, Ohio, for the Glass Workers Union.
Mr. Ellsworth Bundy, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Glaziers Local.
Mr. Harry A. Sellery, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 29, 1937, Federation of Flat Glass Workers of America,
herein called the Glass Workers Union, filed with the Regional Di-
rector for the Ninth Region (Cincinnati, Ohio) a petition alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The H. Neuer Glass Company, Cincinnati,
Ohio, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and
certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9,(c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On
July 9, 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 Regula-
tions-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized
the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice.
On August 2, 1937, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear-
ing to be held at Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 9, 1937, copies of which
65
66 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
were duly served upon the Company, the Glass Workers Union, the
Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of America,
Glaziers Local No. 387, herein called the Glaziers Local, and the
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stablemen, and
Helpers of America, Local No. 100, herein called the Brotherhood of
Teamsters. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on August 9,
1937, before Fred A. Hughes, the Trial Examiner duly designated
by the Board. The Board, the Glass Workers Union, and the Com-
pany were represented by counsel, and the Glaziers Local was repre-
sented by its business agent. All participated in the hearing. The
Brotherhood of Teamsters, although duly served with a copy of the
notice of hearing, did not appear at nor participate in the hearing.,
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine wit-
nesses, and to introduce evidence on the issues was afforded all parties
present at the hearing. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling on a
motion by the Company to dismiss the petition for lack of juris-
diction. The motion is hereby denied.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial' Examiner on
objections to the admission of evidence made during-the course of
the hearing 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
1. THE COMPANY AND ITS BUSINESS
The H . Neuer Glass Company, an Ohio corporation incorporated
on March 2 , 1909, and having its only office and plant located in
Cincinnati , Ohio, is engaged in a country-wide business of glass-
jobbing; selling , and glazing of plate and window glass, and the pro-
duction of mirrors, furniture glass tops , and glass for art furniture.
The Company purchases all glass used by it from one glass manu-
facturer , Libbey-Owens -Ford Glass ' Company, of Toledo, Ohio, and
such purchases , totalling approximately 15,000 square feet of plate
glass and 45,000 square feet of window glass per month , are delivered
to the Company 's plant by motor carrier. The Libbey-Owens-Ford
Glass Company has two plants in Ohio and one in Illinois manufac-
turing, grinding , and polishing plate and safety glass , and one in
West Virginia and one ' in Louisiana manufacturing window glass.2
'Other materials , amounting to approximately ten per cent of the total
-purchases , are obtained outside Ohio and include pigment and lacquer
i The employees of the Company over whom the Brotherhood of Teamsters have juris-
diction were not in the unit alleged in the petition to be appropriate for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
2 Board's Exhibit No. 3E.
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 67
from Pennsylvania, silver nitrate from Pennsylvania and Missouri,
rouge from New York, and mirror frames from Illinois. The bulk
of the Company's business is glass-jobbing, about 50 per cent of which
also involves glazing. Approximately 20 per cent of the glass pur-
chased is used in the production of mirrors. The Company operates
four trucks for local hauling and these trucks make trips at frequent
intervals across the Ohio River to nearby parts of Kentucky; ship-
ments to other places are made by motor carriers. One of such car-
riers has solicited sales for and made deliveries of the Company's
products in Indiana. During the period from January 1 to June 30,
1937, between 36 and 37 per cent of the Company's products were
sold in states other than Ohio. Two of its six salesmen operate in
Kentucky and Indiana.
Excluding office workers and salesmen, the Company ordinarily
employs approximately 45 employees, the actual number thereof
fluctuating in accordance with the volume of the Company's business.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Federation of Flat Glass Workers of America, Local Union No.
43, is a labor organization, affiliated with the Committee for Indus-
trial Organization. It admits to membership employees in the pro-
duction and maintenance departments of the Company's plant, but
no glazier employed by the Company is a member thereof.
Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators, and Paperhangers of Amer-
ica, Glaziers Local No. 387, is a labor organization, admitting only
glaziers among the Company's employees to membership. It is affili-
ated with the American Federation of Labor.
. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stablemen,
and Helpers of America, Local No. 100, is a labor organization, affili-
ated with the American Federation of Labor. The only member
thereof employed by the Company is its truck driver.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
In June and July 1937, there was a three-week strike of the Com-
pany's production and maintenance employees. During such strike
the products shipped by the Company from its plant were from
stock previously produced therein. Certain types of production, such
as the manufacture of framed mirrors, were completely stopped by
the strike. This strike had been called because of the Company's
refusal to bargain collectively with its production and maintenance
employees. The grounds for such refusal were stated to be a lack of
evidence that the Glass Workers Union represented a majority of the
production and maintenance employees and also an inability on the
part of the Company to bargain with two unions not affiliated with
68 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the same labor organization. At the end of three weeks the striking
employees returned to work pending the outcome of this proceeding.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of The H. Neuer Glass Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION ON
COMMERCE
We have previously discussed the strike which compelled the Com-
pany substantially to cease production in its plant.
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, 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 has led
and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing com-
merce and the,free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The petition of the Glass Workers Union alleged that the appro-
priate bargaining unit consisted of the 45 employees engaged in the
processing and manufacturing of mirrors and excluding glaziers,
truck drivers, and office workers. At the commencement of the hear-
ing an organizer for the Glass Workers Union likewise excluded the
glaziers from his union's claims to representation, although at the,
conclusion of the hearing he asserted its jurisdiction over such
workers. With the exception of the glaziers the Company's pro-
duction and maintenance employees receive, as an average, wages
ranging from $21.60 to $30.00 per week and work nine and one-half,
hours per day for five days a week and five hours on Saturdays.
They are all employed inside the Company's plant.
No question has been raised' as to the propriety of limiting the
unit to the Company's production and maintenance employees. The
only question is whether, in accordance with the claim made by the
Glass Workers Union at the close of the hearing, the glaziers shall be
included in the combination with the Company's other production
and maintenance employees.
The Glaziers Local has had a closed shop contract with the Com-
pany for 24 years. The glaziers employed by the Company receive
a wage of $1.55 per hour, and work eight hours per • day and 40
hours per week when work is available. Their work is principally
performed outside the plant, although when circumstances require
'they are employed inside the plant, at times at work other than glaz-
ing. Whatever work the glaziers perform, however, they receive
the same wage. At the hearing there was uncontradicted testimony
that glazing requires a degree of skill higher than that of the other
production and maintenance employees. It is significant that the
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 69
strike previously mentioned did not include the office workers, the
salesmen, the truck driver, nor the glaziers.
We conclude that in these circumstances the glaziers may prop-
erly be regarded as a separate bargaining unit.
No claim was made that supervisory employees should be in-
cluded with the production and maintenance employees. In accord-
ance with our usual practice, therefore, we hereby exclude super-
visory employees from the combination of the Company's other
production and maintenance employees.
In order to insure to employees of the Company the full benefit
of their right to self-organization and collective bargaining, and
otherwise to effectuate the policies of the Act, we find that the
production and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding
supervisory employees, office workers, salesmen, glaziers, and truck
drivers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing there was introduced into evidence a petition $
signed a few days before the hearing by 37 of the Company's 45
production and maintenance employees authorizing the Glass Work-
ers Union to represent them for the purpose of negotiating a con-
tract with the Company. All signatures on such petition were veri-
fied by two witnesses. The signers thereof include no office workers,
salesmen, glaziers, or truck drivers. Accordingly, we find that the
Glass Workers Union has been designated and selected by a majority
of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representative for
the purposes of collective bargaining. The Glass Workers Union is,
therefore, by virtue of Section 9 (a) of the Act, the exclusive repre-
sentative for such purposes of all of the employees in such unit, and
we will so certify it.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact, the Board makes
the following conclusions of law :
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of The H. Neuer Glass Company, within the
meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
2. All the production and maintenance employees of The H. Neuer
Glass Company, excluding supervisory employees, office workers,
salesmen, glaziers, and truck drivers, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
8 Petitioner 's Exhibit No. 1.
70 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of Na-
tional Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as
amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Federation of Flat Glass Workers of
America, Local No. 43, has been designated and selected by a majority
of the production and maintenance employees of The H. , Neuer
Glass Company,-Cincinnati, Ohio, excluding supervisory employees,
office workers, salesmen, glaziers, and truck drivers, as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pur-
suant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Federation of
Flat Glass Workers of America, Local No. 43, is the exclusive repre-
sentative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other
conditions of employment.