Boland Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 7, 1949

83 N.L.R.B. 1254 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of BOLAND MANUFACTURING COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL LADIES GARMENT WORKERS UNION, A. F. OF L.,
PETITIONER
Case Nos. 18-RC-347 and 18-RC--353.-Decided June 7, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held before
Max Rotenberg, hearing officer of the National'Labor Relations Board.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prej-
udicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog, and Members
Houston and Murdock]. "
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
- 3. A question of representation affecting commerce exists concern-
ing certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks to represent the production employees at the
Employer's two plants in Winona and Wabasha, Minnesota, in a
single unit or, alternatively, in a separate unit at each plant. The
Employer contends that the two plants constitute separate units.
The parties were also in dispute with regard to the inclusion in the
unit of heat sealing machine operators and maintenance employees.
The two plants of the Employer are located about 30 miles apart.
At the Winona plant, the Employer manufactures from plastic film a
great variety of articles, including aprons and tablecloths. The
Wabasha plant, which has been in operation less than a year, produces
only aprons and tablecloths made of plastic film 2 The cutting opera-
1 The Employer moved at the hearing to dismiss on the ground that the unit sought by
the Petitioner is inappropriate . For the reasons set forth below , this motion is denied.
R The amount and kind of orders received at the Employer 's Chicago sales office determine
the apportionment of production between the Winona and Wabasha plants.
83 N. L. R. B., No. 174.
1254
BOLAND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1255
tions for both plants are performed at the Winona plant. Materials
are then taken by the Employer's trucks to the Wabasha plant, where
they are completed. Some of the completed articles are returned by the
Employer's trucks to the Winona plant, while others are shipped
directly to customers from Wabasha 3
Each plant is supervised by a superintendent who is responsible to
Stanley Boland, president and general manager of the Employer. The
superintendent of the Wabasha plant is Max Boland, brother of
Stanley Boland. While each superintendent is authorized to hire and
discharge and to set wage scales at his plant, over-all labor policies
are determined by Stanley Boland. Sewing machine and heat sealing
machine operators at both plants are paid a piece rate plus a production
bonus. The bonus system introduced at Wabasha was modeled after
the one in effect at Winona, and was put into effect after consultation
between the superintendents of both plants and Stanley Boland. A
vacation plan similar to that in effect at the Winona plant was put
into operation at the Wabasha plant after having been "approved by
Winona."
Because of the identity of the products at both plants, the skills
exercised by the employees of both plants are, for the most part,
identical. However, except for the initial transfer of two Winona
employees to train the new employees at the Wabasha plant, only one
transfer of an employee has taken place. There is no prior history
of collective bargaining at either plant.
In view of the integration of operations at both plants, their ultimate
supervision by Stanley Boland, the similarity of skills and working
conditions of the employees of both plants, and the geographical
location of these plants, we are persuaded that a single unit covering
both plants is appropriate.-'
The heat sealing machine operators: At the Winona plant, several
employees are engaged in joining plastic by a heat sealing process.
The Employer claims that these employees are more highly skilled
than the sewing machine operators, and that they therefore should
be excluded from the unit. The Petitioner wishes to include them.
The operation of a heat sealing machine is similar to that of a sewing
machine. Once an employee has learned to handle plastic material,
she can operate a heat sealing machine with little additional training.
Operators have been transferred back and forth between sewing ma-
chines and heat sealing machines. The operators of both types of
machines work under the same working conditions. We shall there-
8 The Employer maintained that this integration of operations at the two plants will
end as soon as the necessary cutting equipment for the Wabasha plant has been procured,
but set no time limit for this occurrence . Our determination , therefore , must be based
upon conditions as they existed at the time of the hearing. Matter of Denver Dry Goods
Company, 74 N. L. R. B 1167.
* Matter of North Memphis Lumber Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 745; Matter of Geneva
Forge, Inc., 76 N . L. R. B. 497; Matter of Burgess Battery Company, 76 N. L . R. B. 820.
1256 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL. LABOR , RELATIONS BOARD
fore include the heat sealing machine operators in the appropriate
unit.
The -maintenance employees: There are 10 maintenance employees
at the Winona plant, and 5 or 6 at the Wabasha plant. The Employer
wishes to include them in the unit. The Petitioner prefers to exclude
them, but has indicated a willingness to include them should the
Board find such inclusion appropriate. The record contains very
few, facts concerning the maintenance employees. It appears that
they keep the machines in running order, keep the plant clean, and
fire the furnace, and that they receive the same vacation benefits as
do the other employees. They work on the -same floor as the produc-
tion employees, but in a separate room. They do not appear to
possess any special skills. The difference between the work of these
maintenance employees and that done by any group of the production
employees appears to be no greater than that existing between the
work done by the various groups of production employees who are
included in the unit proposed by the Petitioner. No other labor
organization seeks to represent the maintenance employees. As no
cogent reason appears for separating the maintenance employees from
the production employees, we shall follow our usual policy of includ-
ing production and maintenance, employees in one bargaining unit.6
Accordingly, we find that all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Winona and Wabasha, Minnesota, plants,
including shipping room employees and operators of heat sealing
machines, but excluding truck drivers, office and clerical employees,
watchmen, guards, and supervisors within the meaning of the Act,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes 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 supervision 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-Series 5,
as amended, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in
paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of
'Elections, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll
"Matter of Granite Textile Mills, Inc., 76 N L. R. B 613 ; Matter of Steelweld Equipment
Company, Inc., 76 N. L. R B. 831.
BOLAND MANUFACTURING COMPANY 1257
period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off,6
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 or not they desire to
be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by International
Ladies Garment Workers Union, A. F. of L.
8 At the hearing, the Petitioner raised the issue whether 26 employees whose employ-
ment had been terminated on March 3, 1949, had been permanently or temporarily laid
off. Neither party introduced evidence on this point . We shall permit these individuals
to vote, subject to challenge, and will pass upon the challenges if it develops that the
results of the election would be affected thereby.