American Box Board Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 6, 1950

90 N.L.R.B. 122 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of AMERICAN Box BOARD COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL UNION No.
547, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 7-RC-814.-Decided June 6, 1950
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 ( c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Cecil Pearl, 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 this case to a three-
member panel [ Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and ( 7) of the Act.
4. Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of all the power plant em-
ployees at the Employer 's paperboard mill at Grand Rapids, Michi-
gan. The Employer and the Intervenor , International Brotherhood
of Paper Makers, Local Union No. 211, AFL , contend that the existing
plant-wide unit currently represented by the Intervenor is the only
appropriate unit. In 1941 ,, as the result of a consent election, the
Intervenor was certified as representative of a unit comprising all
production maintenance and power plant employees at the mill and
since then has held annual contracts , the latest of which expired March
17, 1950.1 .
The paperboard mill, housed in a single building, consists of two
paper machines (sometimes referred to as Mill #1 and Mill $k2),
paper processing or beater rooms , machine, carpenter , electrical, and
welding shops , unloading docks, a technical department and labora-
tories, first aid room, and the power plant.2 The mill building is ar-
ranged in the shape of a U , with the power plant at the base of the U.
1 The Employer also has in Grand Rapids a folding paper box and carton plant which
obtains its electrical - power from a local public utility and has only a small boiler plant
supplying building heat. Its employees , including those in the boiler plant , are represented
by a union other than the Intervenor or the Petitioner and are not involved in this
proceeding.
2 Across the street from the paperboard mill, and connected with it by a tunnel, is a
building housing the general offices of the Employer and its corrugated and solid fibre
shipping container plant . This building is also serviced by the power plant but is apparently
not considered to be a part of the paperboard mill. The personnel therein is not covered
by the contract.
90 NLRB No. 19.
122
AMERICAN BOX BOARD COMPANY 123
Thus, the power plant is contiguous to the other divisions of the mill,
although separated from them by heavy fire walls. However, doors
in the fire walls make it possible to pass freely from one section of the
mill to others through the power plant.
In the power plant proper are situated a steam turbine, generators,
steam lines auxiliary equipment, pumps and air compressors, a large
boiler plant, and two modern high pressure machines. Outside the
confines of the power plant, located in the basement under the No. 1
and No. 2 paper machines, are two steam turbines which drive the
shafts of the paper machines. The operation, maintenance, and re-
pair of these turbines, as well as that of all the equipment in the
power plant proper, except repair of electrical equipment,3 is the re-
sponsibility of the power plant personnel.
The proposed unit consists mainly of workers in the usual power-
house and boilerhouse work classifications, such as operating engi-
neers, firemen, steam shovel operators, coal men, utility men,
repairmen and repairmen helpers' In addition, there are two water
conditioners, a classification usual in paper mill power plants.
Powerhouse personnel is under the immediate supervision of a plant
engineer and his assistant. There is a general plant engineer, to whom
the power plant engineer reports, who is responsible for power opera-
tion and for all maintenance services not only in the mill but in all
the Employer's Grand Rapids plants. Employees from the general
maintenance crew are called upon when necessary to' supplement the
work of the powerhouse personnel, particularly during periodic over-
hauls of the turbines., In emergencies power plant personnel have
also performed work in the mills. However, the Employer concedes
that in 1949 the percentage of their working time spent in the mills
was small.
The Employer contends that the integrated nature of the operations
of its paperboard mill renders inappropriate the severance of the
power plant personnel. It is true that all phases of the production
process in the mill are completely dependent upon the steam and power
generated in the power plant. However, we have frequently con-
sidered this question with respect to paper mills and have uniformly
held that the functions of power plant personnel are not of such a
nature as to preclude their severance from an existing production and
$ The job descriptions for the power plant include an electrician, but in practice it
developed that there was not enough electrical work in the power plant to keep one man
busy. When electrical repair is necessary, electricians from the general plant maintenance
crew are called upon to perform it.
State and municipal regulations do not require licenses for powerhouse work nor does
the Employer have an apprentice program.
The Employer was unable to estimate the time spent by general maintenance personnel
on work in the powerhouse because it kept no records reflecting this information.
124 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
maintenance unit.6 We find that these employees are a distinct,`
homogeneous, and functionally coherent group similar to other power,
plant units to whom we have granted severance.7 We therefore find
that all power employees in the power plant at the Employer's paper
board mill at Grand Rapids, Michigan, excluding all other employees
and all supervisors as defined in the Act, may constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of. collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time,
but shall first ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed in
the election hereinafter directed. If a majority vote for the Petitioner
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate
unit. DIRECTION OF ELECTION 8 - .
.-,.As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30
days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was
heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the.
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of
this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work dur-
ing said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or tempo-
rarily laid off, 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, and also excluding employees on strike who
are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to
be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Brotherhood of Paper Makers, Local Union No. 211, AFL, or by Inter-
national Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union No. 54, AFL,
or by neither.
6Worthy Paper Company, 80 NLRB 7 ; Container Corporation of America, 83 NLRB 424.
'The Employer seeks to. distinguish its paperboard mill operations from those in the.
plants involved in the cases cited in footnote 6, on the ground that two factors not there
present integrate the work of its powerhouse personnel more closely with the production
process. The first factor, that water used throughout the production process must be
chemically treated within the powerhouse; was also present in West Virginia Pulp and Paper
Company; 81 NLRB 261. In that case we permitted severance of all power plant personnel,
including water treaters, as a homogeneous group entitled to representation as a separate
unit if they so desired, despite the Petitioner's contention that water treaters should be
excluded from a powerhouse unit.
, The second factor on which the Employer relies is that the shafts of its paper-making
machines are driven directly by turbines located outside the physical confines of the power
plant. We find no merit in its contention that the power plant employees who tend these
turbines are therefore directly engagqd in a production operation.
8 Either participant in the election directed herein may, upon its prompt request to, and
approval thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.