Capitol Chair Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 31, 1950

91 N.L.R.B. 1374 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of CAPITOL CHAIR COMPANY, INC., EMPLOYER and
FURNITURE WORKERS UNION No. 1361, UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF
CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA, A. F. OF L., PETITIONER
Case No. 21-RC-1475.-Decided October 31, 1950
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Ben Grodsgy, 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 Houston and
Reynolds].
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 organization involved claims to represent employees of
the Employer.
3. No 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, for the following
reasons:'
The Petitioner seeks to sever from an existing production and
maintenance unit a group of mill employees.2 The Employer con-
tends that the proposed unit is inappropriate because a number of
its employees work interchangeably both in the mill and in other
departments, and because bargaining in- the past has been on the
basis of an industrial unit.
At its plant at Culver City, California, the Employer is engaged in
the manufacture of upholstered furniture. It employs approximately
60 employees in 4 departments-the mill, springing department, up-
1 In view of our finding as to the unit issue in this case , we deem it unnecessary to rule
on the Employer's contention that a current contract between it and Upholsterers Inter-
national Union of North America, A. F. of L., constitutes a bar to the proceeding. Milprint,
Inc., 91 NLRB 561.
2 The proposed unit was described as including all mill workers , assemblers , and finishers,
but excluding all others , and also excluding watchmen, guards, supervisors , and profes-
sional employees as defined in the Act as amended.
91 NLRB No. 211.
1374
CAPITOL CHAIR COMPANY, INC. 1375
holstery department, and shipping department. In the mill, there
are approximately 12 employees classified by the Employer as me-
chanics and 4 unskilled helpers.3 The mechanics operate woodwork
ing machinery,' assemble frames, and do wood finishing; they include
machine operators (band sawyers, ripsaw men, etc.), assemblers, and
finishers. The assemblers, 4 in number, include 3 skilled mechanics,
and 1 apprentice. Although the Employer classifies the 5 finishers;
as mechanics, the record indicates that only 1 of them is capable of
using mechanic's tools or has done so in the past. None of the me-
chanics work in other parts of the plant. The mill helpers, on the
other hand, are interchangeable with helpers in the upholstery and
springing departments ; they work wherever they are needed, and
helpers from the upholstery and springing departments sometimes
work in the mill.
Since March 9, 1949, the Employer has had a bargaining contract
with Upholsterers International Union of North America, A. F. of L.,,
covering all its production and maintenance employees, including
those in the mill. So far as the record shows, there is no other history
of bargaining at the plant.
We do not agree with the Petitioner's contention that the mill em-
ployees have a separate community of interests sufficient to warrant
their placement in a bargaining unit apart from the remaining pro-
duction and maintenance employees. They are production workers
like the employees in other departments. Although they exercise
varying degrees of skill, not shown to be greatly higher than that re-
quired in other production activities, it is clear that most of the fin-
ishers, at least, possess no special skill. Certainly the ability of some
of the mechanics to operate cutting and sawing machines or assembly
equipment does not serve to stamp the mill employees as a group hav-
ing those traditional craft characteristics necessary as a basis for sever-
ing any group of production employees from an existing production
and maintenance unit. Upon the entire record, we find, contrary to
the the Petitioner's assertion, that the mill workers-either with or
without the mill helpers-do not constitute a, unit appropriate for,
collective bargaining purposes. Accordingly, we shall dismiss the!
petition filed herein.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,.
dismissed.
3 The record does not clearly indicate whether the Petitioner seeks to represent the mill'
helpers.
" This machinery includes rip saws, cutoff saws, boring machines, a press used in setting;
up frames , and assembling equipment . At one end of the mill there is a spraybooth.