Crowell Carton Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 7, 1955

111 N.L.R.B. 528 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

528 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
CROWELL CARTON COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN
AND ASSISTANTS ' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA , AFL, PETITIONER.
Case No. 7-RC-2589. February 7,1955
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Emil C. Farkas, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
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 Petitioner seeks a craft unit of the Employer's printing and
cutting pressmen, assistants, helpers, and apprentices. At the hear-
ing, the Petitioner stated that the above unit description covered 9
pressmen and 9 feeders in the printing department, 6 pressmen and
6 feeders in the cutting department, and the man (or men) in the ink
and plate room, totaling approximately 32 employees.
The Intervenor, United Paper Workers of America, CIO, contends
that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate, and further,
that the Petitioner is not a craft union. The Employer expresses
neutrality as to the bargaining representative, but prefers a plant-
wide unit.
In 1951, following a consent election, the Petitioner was certified
by the Board as bargaining representative for the maintenance and
production employees. Thereafter, in 1953, as a result of a second
consent election, the Intervenor was certified in September 1953 as
the bargaining representative of the production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Employer.
Engaged in the manufacture of folding cartons at Marshall, Michi-
gan, the Employer operates 3 shifts and organizes its operations into,
6 departments, printing, cutting, finishing, die, maintenance, and
shipping. On the first shift, each department has a foreman, but,
on the second and third shifts, all departments operate under a general
foreman without departmental supervision. In the printing depart-
ment are 9 pressmen, 9 feeders, and 7 stockhandlers and board push-
ers ; in the cutting department there are 6 pressmen, 6 feeders (1 works
in the ink and plate room), and 16 strippers; in the finishing depart-
111 NLRB No. 78.
CROWELL CARTON COMPANY 529
ment are metal edgers, feeders and catchers, packers, stockhandlers,
case and label, and salvage employees.
The printing, cutting, and finishing departments are in one large
room. Seven Miehle presses, 4 printing and 3 cutting, are utilized in
Employer's cutting and printing operations. These presses are washed
by the pressmen or their feeders 90 percent of the time, and the bal-
ance of the time by the board pushers. The wage schedule of the most
recent contract shows maximum rates of $2.09 for pressmen and die-
makers, $2.04 for maintenance foremen, and $1.99 for maintenance
mechanics and satchel bottom operators; other employees are paid at
a lower rate.
The Employer has an informal apprentice program, and the goal of
all employees is the classification of pressman, first class. The presi-
dent of the company testified that he considered feeders and pressmen
skilled employees and that they performed the usual functions of those
classifications in the industry. His testimony was that in the Em-
ployer's operations it takes 4 years for an employee starting as a feeder
to become a pressman, first class, provided a vacancy on a press exists,
as against the industry average of 15-20 years; that after 4 years, a
pressman usually becomes a foreman; and that an employee becomes
a skilled feeder in approximately 6 months.
From these facts it appears that the Employer's printing and cut-
ting pressmen are skilled employees who perform the customary du-
ties of pressmen in the carton industry. They constitute a traditional
craft group and, with their assistants and apprentices, may be sepa-
rately represented for bargaining purposes if they desire despite their
previous inclusion in a larger unit. From the record it is difficult to
determine whether or not the ink and plate man is classified as a
feeder. In any event, we include him in the unit as he performs re-
lated duties and assists pressmen.' Although the Petitioner has repre-
sented broader units of employees, it is an organization which tradi-
tionally represents the pressmen's craft. Accordingly,' we shall direct
that an election be held in the following voting group at the Employ-
er's Marshall, Michigan, plant : all printing and cutting pressmen and
their feeders including the ink and plate man, but excluding all other
production employees, maintenance employees, shipping and receiv-
ing employees, truckdrivers, office and clerical employees, professional
employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
1 Member Murdock would exclude the ink and plate man as not a member of the press-
man class See Sutherland Paper Company, 106 NLRB 524. Inasmuch as the Board's
finding in this case that a unit of pressmen may be• appropriate is based solely on the craft
status of the pressman , Member Murdock is of the opinion that the unit should be con-
fined to members of that craft , their apprentices , and/or helpers . See American Potash it
Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418
2 See Sutherland Paper Company, supra; New Haven Pulp it Bo¢rd Company, 83
NLRB 268
530 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indi-
cated their desire to be represented in a separate unit, and the Re-
gional Director conducting the election directed herein is instructed
in that event, to issue a certification of representatives to the Peti-
tioner for such unit, which the Board, under the circumstances, finds
to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. If, however,
a majority vote for the Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated
their desire to remain part of the existing production and maintenance
unit, and the Regional Director is instructed to issue a certificate of
results of election to such effect.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
SEBASTOPOL COOPERATIVE CANNERY and GENERAL TRUCK DRIVERS,
WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS LOCAL 980, INTERNATIONAL BROTHER-
HOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF
AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER. Case No. 2O-RC-9645. February 7,
1955
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Karin A. Nelson, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the 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 certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of the employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The parties are in general agreement that a unit of all produc-
tion and maintenance employees, with certain specified exclusions, is
appropriate. They also agree on the exclusion of certain individuals
as supervisors. They disagree, however, on the question of the super-
visory status of the day-shift label foreman and the cook, the Em-
ployer contending for the exclusion of these individuals as supervisors.
In addition, the Employer asks that the quality control employees be
excluded from the unit.
'The parties stipulated that the Employer acquires title to the apples processed. This
stipulation is hereby approved and made part of the record herein.
111 NLRB No. 79.