Allied Paper Mills, King Division

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 3, 1939

12 N.L.R.B. 677 (N.L.R.B. 1939)

In the Matter of ALLIED PAPER MilLs, KING DIVISION 1 and UNITED
PAPER MILL WORKERS' LOCAL INDUSTRIAL UNION 398 (C. I. 0. )
Cases Nos. C-1195 and B-1057.-Decided May 3,1939
Paper Manufacturing Industry Investigation of Representatives: controversy
concerning representation of employees: refusal by employer to recognize
union-Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: hourly paid production
and maintenance employees, exclusive of foremen, supervisors, and office help,
in the powerhouse, machine room, beater room, maintenance department,
box shop, finishing room and/or coating room, and the coloring room ; stipula-
tion as to ; controversy only as to classification of boss machine tenders and
one other person, who are excluded-Election Ordered
Mr. Charles F. McErlean, for the Board.
Mason, Sharpe d Stratton, by Mr. Don. B. Sharpe of Kalamazoo,
Mich., for the Company.
Mr. F. Hamilton Seeley, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On October 25, 1937, United Paper Mill Workers' Local Industrial
Union 398 (C. I. 0.), herein called the Union, filed a petition with
the Regional Director for the Seventh Region (Detroit, Michigan)
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Allied Paper Mills, King Divi-
sion, 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 the same date, the Union filed a charge with the said Regional
Director alleging that the Company had engaged in and was en-
gaging in unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the
meaning of the Act.
On June 8, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and
i Incorrectly designated in certain of the formal papers in the case as Allied Paper
Mills, Inc.
12 N. L. R. B., No. 76.
677
678 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and
authorized the Regional Director for the Seventh Region to conduct
it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice, and
acting pursuant to, Article III, Section 10 (c), of said Rules and
Regulations, further ordered that the two cases be consolidated for
the purposes of hearing. On September 3, 1938, the Union filed an
amended petition and an amended charge.
On September 29, 1938, the Regional Director issued a complaint
alleging that the. Company had engaged in and was engaging in
unfair labor practices affecting commerce within the meaning of
Section 8 (1) and (5) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. Copies
of the complaint, notice of hearing, charge, amended charge, petition,
and amended petition were duly served upon the Company and
upon the Union.
Pursuant to notice a joint hearing was held in Kalamazoo, Michi-
gan on October 11 and 12, 1938, before Herbert Wenzel, the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board and the Com-
pany were represented by counsel, and the Union by a representative ;
all parties participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to produce evi-
dence bearing upon the issues was afforded all parties.
During the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made sev-
eral rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evi-
dence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner
and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings
are hereby affirmed.
On February 18, 1939, the Trial Examiner filed his Intermediate
Report in which he found that the Company had not engaged in
the unfair labor practices alleged in the complaint and, accordingly,
recommended dismissing the complaint. Neither the Union nor the
Company has filed any exceptions to the Intermediate Report.
Therefore, in accordance with Article II, Section 36, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
the case based upon the complaint shall be considered closed. The
case based upon the petition remains for our consideration.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE_ BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Allied Paper Mills, a Michigan corporation, is engaged in the man-
ufacture and sale of paper of several varieties. The Company op-
erates in three divisions : the King Division and the Monarch Divi-
ALLIED PAPPR MILLS, KING DIVISION 679
Sion, both in Kalamazoo; and the Bardien Division, in Otsego,
Michigan. The King Division is the only one involved in this
case. The chief raw materials used by the Company are pulp, paper
stock, coal, and casein. $2,700,000 worth of such materials were
purchased in 1937. $1,000,000 worth consisted of pulp, purchased
from Scandinavian and Finnish companies in Europe. Approxi-
mately half of the $500,000 worth of paper stock purchased was
obtained from points outside the State of Michigan. Coal, amount-
ing to $275,000 in 1937, is purchased from the South Appalachian
fields. Of the products manufactured in 1937, valued by the Com-
pany at $5,500,000, over 75 per cent were shipped outside the State
of Michigan.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Paper Mill Workers' Local Industrial Union 398, affiliated
with the Committee for Industrial Organization, is a labor organi-
zation admitting to membership all hourly paid production and
maintenance employees, exclusive of foremen, supervisors, and office
help, in the King Division of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Following organizational activities among the employees of the
Company, the Union, in September 1937, sent a committee to the
Company stating that the Union represented a majority of the
employees of the Company and requesting that the Company meet
with the committee for the purpose of negotiating a collective bar-
gaining agreement. There were several meetings between the Com-
pany and the committee, and a tentative agreement was drawn up.
The Company suddenly ceased negotiations and refused to meet
with the Union unless the Union showed by a list of its members
that it represented a majority of the employees. The Union re-
fused to reveal such a list. Thereafter, the Union filed its petition
for an investigation and certification of representatives.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the respondent.
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 com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
680 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
At the hearing it was stipulated that all hourly paid production
and maintenance employees, exclusive of foremen, supervisors, and
office help, in the powerhouse, machine room, beater room, mainte-
nance department, box shop, finishing room and/or coating room,
and the coloring room, in the King Division of the Company, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purpose of collective bargaining.
There was, however, controversy as to the status of "boss machine
tenders" and as to one C. E. Corning.
It appears that the boss machine tenders at the King Division of
the Company assign and are directly responsible for all work done
on the machines. On the night shift, a boss machine tender can
send a man home for improper work and recommend discipline to the
superintendent. The Union contends that boss machine tenders ex-
ercise supervisory authority and that they should be excluded from
the appropriate unit. The evidence supports this contention, and
we will exclude them.
C. E. Corning is a brick mason who does occasional work for the
Company. When the particular job requires more than one man, he
employs other workers to help him. The Union requests that he
be excluded from the appropriate unit because of his occasional
status as an employer, and the Company failed to advance any
substantial reason for his inclusion. He will be excluded.
We find that all hourly paid production and maintenance em-
ployees, exclusive of C. E. Corning and foremen, supervisors, boss
machine tenders, and office help, in the powerhouse, machine room,
beater room, maintenance department, box shop, finishing room
and/or coating room and the coloring room in the King Division of
the Company constitute a unit appropriate for purposes of collective
bargaining, and that said unit will insure to employees of the Com-
pany the full benefit of their rights to self-organization and to
collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Union claimed to represent a majority of the employees of
the Company within the unit which we have found to be appropriate.
The only evidence which it introduced in support of its contention
was the oral testimony of one of its officers; no showing was made
sufficient for purposes of certification on the record. We find that
the question which has arisen concerning the representation of the
Company's employees can best be resolved by the holding of an
election by secret ballot.
ALLIED PAPER MILLS, KING DIVISION 681
It does not appear that there was any agreement between the
Union and the Company in regard to the pay-roll period which
should be used in determining eligibility to vote in the election.
Therefore, in accordance with our usual practice when a considerable
time has elapsed since the filing of the petition and the holding
of the hearing, we shall direct that those eligible to vote shall be
employees within the appropriate unit who were employed by the
Company during the pay-roll period next preceding the date of
our Direction of Election.
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 Allied Paper Mills, King Division, Kala-
mazoo, Michigan, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All of the hourly paid production and maintenance employees,
exclusive of C. E. Corning and foremen, supervisors, boss machine
tenders, and office help, in the powerhouse, machine room, beater
room, maintenance department, box shop, finishing room and/or
coating room, and coloring room in the King Division of the Allied
Paper Mills, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col-
lective 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
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8,
of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1,
as amended, it is hereby
Dumc'n that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purpose of collective bargaining
with Allied Paper Mills, King Division, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 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 Seventh Region, acting in this mat-
ter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations, among all of the
hourly paid production and maintenance employees, exclusive of
C. E. Corning and foremen, supervisors, boss machine tenders, and
682 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
office help, in the powerhouse, machine room, beater room, mainte-
nance department, box shop, finishing room and/or coating room, and
coloring room in the King Division of the Allied Paper Mills, whose
names appear on the pay roll for the period next preceding the date
of this Direction, to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by the United Paper Mill `Yorkers' Local Industrial
Union 398, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization,
for the purposes of collective bargaining.