Bond Brothers, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 12, 1949

86 N.L.R.B. 514 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of BOND BROTHERS , INCORPORATED , EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL WOODWORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 9-RC-548.-Decided October 12, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before William A.
McGowan, hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from preju-
dicial 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 Gray].
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 organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees 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. The parties agree that production and maintenance employees
at the Employer's railroad tie and lumber manufacturing plant at
Guthrie, Kentucky, excluding office and clerical employees, professional
employees, guards, and supervisors, constitute an appropriate unit.
Testimony was taken at the hearing relative to the supervisory
nature of the functions performed by the yard foreman, the B &A
' The Employer moves to dismiss the petition, contending (a) that a current contract,
with International Hod Carriers ', Building and Common Laborers' Union of America,
Local 661, AFL (herein called the Intervenor ), operates as a bar, and (b) that the Peti-
tioner has failed to make a sufficient showing of interest . As to ( a), the contract is *not
a bar, as the petition was filed prior to the automatic renewal date thereof . Matter of
Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (Red Arrow Lines ), 79 N. L. R. B. 448.
As to ( b), it is well -established that the showing of interest is an administrative matter
not subject to collateral attack. Matter of Hygrade Food Products Corporation (Supra
Meat Products Company ) 85 N. L. R. B. 853. The motion is denied.
86 N. L. R. B., No. 70.
514
BOND BROTHERS, INCORPORATED 515
foreman, the derrick foreman, and the machinist. The Employer
favors the inclusion of these categories in the unit; the Petitioner
would agree to the inclusion of the B & A foreman, but takes no posi-
tion as to the unit placement of the others above named.
The yard foreman spots cars, counts ties and assigns and directs the
work of 20 laborers and tie handlers, and prepares work reports and
daily work sheets. The B ct A foreman operates and partially main-
tains a B & A machine, which bores railroad ties preparatory to the
attachment of rail plates thereto. He assigns and directs the work
of 9 B & A operators, who unload unprocessed ties onto the machine
and reload processed ties onto trams, and acts as timekeeper for these
employees. The derrick foreman directs the work of 3 derrick opera-
tors and 12 laborers, engaged in loading shipments into cars, and acts
as their timekeeper. The machinist, engaged in maintenance work
for 90 percent of his time, is in charge of 2 regular, and up to 12 part-
time maintenance employees, the latter recruited from among the
derrick laborers, whenever they are available. The B & A foreman
and the machinist receive 20 and 25 cents, respectively, per hour more.
than the employees under their charge. The record does not disclose
what differential if any, the yard foreman and the derrick foreman are
paid, but they receive a monthly salary, and the employees under them
are paid either at an hourly rate or on a piecework basis. All 4 cate-
gories have the power effectively to recommend the hire and discharge
of employees, although none of them have had occasion to exercise it.
Since 1943 these categories have been excluded from the bargaining
contract between the Employer and the Intervenor. On the basis of
the record and the past collective bargaining history at the Employer's
plant, we find that the yard foreman, the B & A foreman, the derrick
foreman, and the machinist are supervisors within the meaning of the
Act and we shall therefore exclude them from the unit.2
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Em-
ployer's Guthrie, Kentucky, plant, excluding office and clerical em-
ployees, professional employees, guards, the yard foreman, the B & A
foreman, the derrick foreman, the machinist, and other supervisors
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ..scertain 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
2 Matter of General Electric Company, 80 N. L. R. B. 174, and cases cited.
516 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
240 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, 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 Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
temporarily 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 Inter-
national Woodworkers of America, CIO, or by International Hod
Carriers', Building and Common Laborers' Union of America, Local
661, AFL, or by neither." °
8 Any 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.