Borden Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 17, 1950

88 N.L.R.B. 1208 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

III the Matter of BORDEN'S SOY PROCESSING COMPANY, DIVISION OF THE
BORDEN COMPANY, EMPLOYER and UNITED GAS, COKE AND CHEMICAL
WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER
In the Matter of BORDEN'S SOY PROCESSING COMPANY, DIVISION Or THE
BORDEN COMPANY, EMPLOYER and LOCAL 296, INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF FIREMEN AND OILERS, POWERHOUSE EMPLOYEES,
OPERATORS, AND MAINTENANCE MEN, AFL, PETITIONER
Cases Nos. 13-RC-906 and 13-RC-912.-Decided March, 17, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed, a hearing was held in this con-
solidated matter before Irving M. Friedman, 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Reynolds, Murdock, and
Styles].
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 Petitioner in Case No. 13-RC-906, herein called the CIO,
and the Petitioner in Case No. 13-RC-912, herein called the AFL,
are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of the Em-
ployer.
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 Employer and the CIO agree that- a unit of all production
and maintenance employees at the Employer's Kankakee, Illinois,
plant, including firemen, but excluding office clerical employees, bean
graders, weightmasters, watchmen and guards, chemists, professional
employees,, and all supervisors as defined in the Act, is appropriate.
The AFL, on the other hand, seeks two separate units consisting
88 NLRB No. 213.
1208
BORDEN'S SOY PROCESSING COMPANY 1209
of (1) all powerhouse employees; and (2) all maintenance depart-
ment employees, excluding all supervisors and all other employees.
The principal objection of the Employer and the CIO to the smaller
units sought by the AFL is on the ground that the entire plant con-
stitutes a highly integrated functional unit. In substance, they urge
that we find this plant comparable to those in other industries in
which we have concluded that units which embrace less than all
production and maintenance employees are inappropriate for col-
lective bargaining? Although due to the fact that this is a new
plant there is no history of collective bargaining for any of the em-
ployees involved herein, the Employer urges, in support of this con-
tention, that the pattern of collective bargaining in its other like
plants as well as in the soybean industry as a whole, is almost uni-
formly on a plant-wide basis.'
At its Kankakee, Illinois, plant, the only one involved in this pro-
ceeding, the Employer is engaged in processing soybeans into oil
and feed. After the raw beans, which are stored in silos, are ad-
justed to the proper moisture content, they are cracked in a rolling
mill and heated to the appropriate temperature in a steam jacketed
machine. The cracked and heated beans are then sent through a
flaking roll and mechanically conveyed to the extractor building where
the solvent is added and the soybean oil extracted. The solvent and
oil are filtei ed through steam evaporators where the solvent and
any water content are recovered by distillation, following which the
oil is sent to storage tanks. The flakes are processed in steam jacketed
tubs where all remaining solvent vapor is extracted through the use
of live steam. The recovered flakes are then sent back by mechanical
conveyor to the preparation building where the appropriate mois-
ture is restored. They are then toasted in a high pressure steam
apparatus, screened, ground, and packaged for shipment as animal
feed.
The plant operates on a 24-hour day schedule in a cycle of from
4 to 6 weeks. At the end of the cycle, the entire operation is stopped
and all the buildings and equipment are inspected and serviced by
all of the production and maintenance employees working together
during clean-up periods which generally last from 2 to 3 days. All,
employees are entitled to the same vacation and hospitalization privi-
leges and are subject to comparable explosion hazards.
1141 g. Weyerh auser Timber Company (Springfield Lumber Division), 87 NLRB 1076;
Ford Motor Company (Maywood Plant), 78 NLRB 887 ; National Tube Company, 76
NLRB 1199.
2In support of this contention, the Employer produced evidence indicating that the
employees in 90 percent of the organized soybean processing plants in the United States
are represented on a plant-wide basis.
1210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
While the Board in denying separate units has considered, among
other factors, the existence of an industry-wide pattern of over-all
-bargaining,' and although there may be such an established pattern
in the soybean processing industry as such, this pattern does not hold
true in the chemical industry 4 of which the soybean oil, cake, and meal
industry is a part.5 We find, therefore, that any pattern of over-all
bargaining in soybean processing plants is not alone sufficient cause
to deny the establishment of separate units, if otherwise appropriate,
in this instance. Accordingly, we shall consider the appropriateness
of the several groups sought to be represented by the Petitioner in
these proceedings.
The maintenance group
The maintenance department, under the supervision of the chief
mechanic, has its own shop located in a separate building and con-
taining welding equipment, drill presses, power grinders, power hack-
saws, sheet metal brakes, pipe setting machinery, and the usual variety
of wrenches, hoists, jacks, hammers, etc. The eight maintenance em-
ployees are classified as Class A, B, and C maintenance men. Al-
though a maintenance man is required to perform, throughout the
plant, any of a variety of maintenance tasks which the Employer con-
siders him capable of performing, the qualified pipe fitters, welders,
and electricians are usually called upon to do such maintenance work
as pertains to their particular abilities. It is urged that as a matter
of routine, production employees do some work which the Employer
considers maintenance work. However, such work is of a minor na-
ture and is incidental to their principal production function. The
maintenance crew works only on the day shift. Only on occasions
of a breakdown requiring immediate repair of more than a minor
nature, are they recalled to work during the night shifts. Although
production and maintenance employees work together during short
periods of plant shutdown for the purpose of periodic cleaning and
repairing of the plant, there is normally no interchange between such
employees.
$ see footnote 1, supra.
* The CIO urges that a study of available contracts in the chemical industry made by
the Bureau of National Affairs, shows that out of 380 contracts with clear definitions of
the unit, 329 or 86.6 percent provide for over-all production and maintenance units. How-
ever, see George S. Mepham Corporation, 78 NLRB 1081, wherein such an industry pat-
tern was found not to exist in the chemical industry.
5 The Employer relies wholly on the soybean processing industry as a separate and
distinct industry. However, the Bureau of Census in its book on manufactures in the
United States (16th Census of the United States-1940-Manufactures-1939, Vol. II,
Part I-page 763) classifies soybean oil , cake, and meal as a subdivision of the chemical
industry. Accordingly, we find that soybean processing is but a segment of the over-all
chemical industry. See George S. Mepham Corporation, supra. -
BORDEN'S SOY PROCESSING COMPANY 1211
The Board has been reluctant to sever a maintenance group, such
as that requested by the AFL, from a preexisting production and
maintenance unit, where to do so would disrupt stable collective bar-
gaining relations on a broader basis. However, where as here, there
is no collective bargaining history on a broader basis, we have found
that a readily identifiable homogeneous group of maintenance em-
ployees, similar to those involved herein, possess a sufficient community
of interest separate from that of the production employees, to war-
rant their bargaining as a separate unite Accordingly, we find that
the maintenance department employees may constitute a separate
appropriate unit or may be appropriately included in a plant-wide
unit.
The boilerhouse group
The AFL seeks to represent as a separate unit all powerhouse em-
ployees at the Kankakee, Illinois, plant of the Employer. The Em-
ployer and the CIO oppose the establishment of a separate unit for
powerhouse employees because most of the steam produced in the
powerhouse is utilized in processing the Employer's finished product.
It is, therefore, urged that the work of the boiler fireman, or power-
house operators, is an inseparable part of the production process. It
is further urged that certain production employees perform skills
comparable to those of the boiler firemen.
The boilerhouse, located in a separate building, contains two high
pressure boilers, feed pumps, various other boilerhouse equipment, and
lockers. The steam produced is used primarily as live steam in the
processing of the soybean feed and oil produced by the Employer, and
for heating purposes.? The four boiler firemen, under the supervision
of the chief engineer, rotate on the three 8-hour shifts. They operate,
maintain, and repair all boilerhouse equipment; run tests from time to
time, to analyze the softness of boiler and feed water, adding treat-
ment to the water whenever necessary. They also adjust blow-downs,
maintain steam pressure , handle ashes, clean pits, and change fires
twice each shift. There is no appreciable interchange between the
production $ or maintenances department employees and boiler fire-
men.
"Hotpoint, Inc., 85 NLRB 485; St. Regis Paper Company ( Multi-Wall Bag ) 84 NLRB
454; General Mills, Inc., 84 NLRB 831; Jefferson Chemical Company, 81 NLRB 1393;
Armstrong Cork Company, 80 NLRB 1328.
'+ Except for three steam driven piston pumps in the boilerhouse and a steam driven
water pump in the pump house, the Employer 's machinery is powered by electricity
purchased from a local public utility.
8 The only apparent similarity between the skills of any of the production workers and
the boiler firemen is that extraction or preparation operators, like boiler firemen, watch
dials , manipulate valves , and read gauges.
9 The one maintenance employee who for a time worked as relief fireman has been
permanently transferred to the bollerhouse . The record discloses that he had previous
1212 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
While it is true that the Employer uses steam in processing soybeans
for oil and animal feed, this does not establish such a degree of in-
tegration between the production process and the work of the boiler-
house employees as to warrant denying separate representation to this
group.1° In view of the foregoing, and contrary to the contentions
of the Employer and the CIO, we are of the opinion that the employees
in the boilerhouse, who have a separate and distinct community of
interest, constitute an identifiable, functionally cohesive group of a
type which we have generally held may, if they so desire, constitute
a separate appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining.
However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time,
but shall ascertain the desires of the employees as expressed in the
elections hereinafter directed. We shall direct elections among the
following groups of employees at the Employer's Kankakee, Illinois,
plant:
(a) All maintenance department employees, excluding supervisors
and all other employees.
(b) All powerhouse employees, excluding supervisors and all other
employees.
(c) All other employees including production empl.oyees,.but ex-
cluding office clerical employees, bean graders weightmasters, watch-
men and guards, chemists, professional employees, and all supervisors
as defined in the Act.
If a majority of the employees in either voting group (a) or voting
group (b) select the AFL, they will in each case be taken to have
indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit. If,
however, a majority of the employees in either group select the CIO,
they will be taken to have indicated their desire to be included in a
broader unit. _
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS"
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
boiler fireman experience. As the boiler firemen do most of their own repair, only on
infrequent occasions (10 the maintenance employees perform repair work in the boiler-
house. Further, because boiler firemen perform cleaning and repair work in the boiler-
house during periodic plant shutdowns, it is only on rare occasions when they have
completed their own repair that they assist in the general cleaning and repair of the
plant. We deem it of no significance that the intercommunications system in the plant
is used by production foremen as well as the chief engineer to advise the boiler firemen
of changes in the amount of pressure needed.
10 The Beattie Manufacturing Company, 86 NLRB 694; Ralston Purina Company, 86
NLRB 107; C. A. Swanson and Sons, 81 NLRB 321.
II Any participant in the elections directed herein may, upon its prompt request to,
and approval thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.
0
BORDEN'S SOY PROCESSING COMPANY 1213
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
separate groups described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Elections, including employees who did not work
during said payroll 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 rein-
stated prior to the date of the elections, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine :
(1) Whether the employees in voting group (a) desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Local 296, Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Powerhouse Employees,
Operators, and Maintenance Men, AFL, or by United Gas, Coke and
Chemical Workers of America, CIO, or by neither;
(2) WI-Whether the employees in voting group (b) desire to be repre-
sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Local 296, Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, Powerhouse. Employees,
Operators, and Maintenance Men, AFL, or by United Gas, Coke and
Chemical Workers of America, CIO, or by neither; and
(3) Whether or not the employees in voting group (c) desire to be
represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by United Gas,
Coke and Chemical Workers of America, CIO.