Brown Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 13, 1969

178 N.L.R.B. 57 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

BROWN COMPANY (KVP DIVISION) 57
Brown Company ( KVP Division ) and International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs,
Warehousemen and Helpers of America,
Teamsters Union Local No. 7, Petitioner
Brown Company and United Paper and Allied
Workers, International Brotherhood of Teamsters,
Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, Petitioner . Case 7-RC-9461 and
7-RC-9462
August 13, 1969
ORDER AFFIRMING ADMINISTRATIVE
DISMISSAL
On May 26, 1969, separate petitions were filed by
the Petitioners in the above cases, seeking elections
among distinct groups of the Employer's employees
at its Kalamazoo, Michigan, paper mill operations.'
By letter on June 9, 1969, the Regional Director for
Region 7 administratively dismissed the petitions on
the ground that as they were filed "during the term
of an existing 3-year contract with an expiration
date of July 23, 1969, the petitions thus filed are
within the contract-bar period as enunciated by the
National Labor Relations Board." Thereafter, on
July 9, 1969, the Petitioners filed with the Board a
timely appeal and a brief in support thereof,
pursuant to Section 102.71 of the Board's Rules and
Regulations, Series 8, as amended. On July 14,
1969, Intervenor UPP filed a statement in
opposition to Petitioners' appeal.
The facts are not in dispute. The Regional
Director's investigation disclosed that the Employer
and UPP and its Parchment Local 323 were parties
to a collective-bargaining agreement covering the
employees sought in Case 7-RC-9461, effective "to
and including the 23rd day of July, 1969." The
petition in said case was mailed to the Regional
Office from Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Thursday,
May 22, 1969, 63 days before the expiration date of
the contract. The Employer and UPP and its Local
'United Papermakers and Paperworkers , AFL-CIO, herein called UPP,
and its affiliate Parchment Local No 323, intervened in Case 7-RC-9461
UPP and its affiliate Local 1010 intervened in Case 7-RC-9462
1010 were parties to a separate contract covering the
employees sought in Case 7-RC-9462, to remain "in
full force and effect until midnight, July 23, 1969."
The petition in this latter case was also mailed from
Kalamazoo, Michigan, but on Friday, May 23,
1969, 62 days before the expiration date of this
contract. The 61st day before the contracts'
expiration dates was Saturday, May 24, 1969, when
the Board's offices were not open for business. Both
petitions were received and docketed in the Regional
Office on Monday, May 26, 1969, 59 days before
the contracts' expiration dates.
The Petitioners contend that Saturdays, Sundays,
and holidays on which the Board's offices are not
open for business should not be included in
computing the 60-day insulation period established
by the Board in Deluxe Metal Furniture Company,
121 NLRB 995, and reaffirmed in Leonard
Wholesale Meats, Inc., 136 NLRB 1000. Otherwise,
Petitioners say, the insulated period will be
expanded at the expense of employee
self-determination.
In Deluxe Metal the Board established a 60-day
insulated period immediately preceding and
including the expiration date of an existing contract
and said that a petition filed during this period
would be dismissed as untimely. The date on which
a petition is received by the Regional Office was
fixed as controlling for purposes of determining its
timeliness in relation to the 60-day insulated period,
and the Board said that all potential petitioners
would be required to have their petitions on file at
least 61 days before the terminal date of the
contract. The Board has always strictly construed
this 60-day period and in the instant cases has
concluded that the petitions herein were untimely
filed inasmuch as they were received in the Regional
Office of the Board on the 59th day before the
expiration dates of the existing contracts.
The Regional Director' s dismissal of the petitions
as untimely was therefore warranted under long
established Board practice. Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Petitioners' appeal be,
and it hereby is, denied, and that the Regional
Director's administrative dismissal be, and it hereby
is, affirmed.
[By direction of the Board.]
178 NLRB No. 13