Dixie Wax Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 13, 1948

77 N.L.R.B. 80 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of DIXIE WAX PAPER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH
AMERICA, DALLAS PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION No.
46, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 16-R-0431.-Decided April 13, 1948
Mr. J. C. Muse, Jr., of Dallas , Tex., for the Employer.
Messrs . Jack Burt, of Dallas, Tex ., and Joe A. Wilson, of Pressmen's
Home, Tenn., for the Petitioner.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held
at Dallas, Texas, on January 16, 1948, before Evert P. Rhea, 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 National Labor Relations
Board 11 makes the following :
FINDINGS or FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Dixie Wax Paper Company, a Texas corporation, is engaged in
the conversion of wax paper into bread wrappers and glacene bags
at its Dallas, Texas, plant. Substantially all the paper used in the
conversion process comes from points outside the State of Texas;
about 50 percent of the manufactured products of the plant repre-
sents shipments to points outside the State.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
1 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 -man panel consisting
of the undersigned Board Members [Houston , Murdock, and Gray]
77 N. L. R. B , No. 13.
80
DIXIE WAX PAPER COMPANY
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
81
The Petitioner 2 is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.'
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all rotary aniline and rotary oil press-
men and assistant pressmen of the two pressrooms at the Dallas plant,
excluding guards, professional employees, and supervisors. The
record does not disclose whom the Petitioner would embrace in the
category of supervisors. The Employer takes no position with regard
to the unit.
There is no history of collective bargaining affecting this plant.
The pressrooms employ about 20 of the approximately 97 employees
in the plant. Originally, only oil presses were used for bread-wrapper
work. Later, the Employer added aniline presses which were in-
stalled in a room devoted to bag printing work. In both pressrooms,
the pressmen and assistant pressmen make the presses refidy, load the
paper, adjust and run the presses, and handle the finished product.
They thus appear to constitute a well-defined group which follows
established craft lines in the printing industry. In view of these
circumstances and in accordance with our previous decisions,4 we find
that the pressmen and assistant pressmen comprise a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining.
2 The name of Petitioner appears herein as amended at the hearing.
' At the hearing, the Employer objected to the proceeding on the grounds that the Peti-
tioner (a) had not obtained new authorization cards upon the filing of an amended petition ;
and (b) had not presented documentary evidence of compliance with the filing requirements
of the amended Act. The hearing officer overruled the Employer's objections It is well
established that a Petitioner's showing of interest as well as its compliance status are
administrative matters to be disposed of by the Board itself and are not litigab1Q by the
parties Accordingly , we find no merit in the Employer ' s objections and we hereby affirm
the rulings of the hearing officer Matter of Lion Oil Company , 76 N. L R B 565,
Matter of Raldwm Locomotive Works, 76 N L R B 922
4 Matter of Gillette Safety Razor Company, 65 N L R B 1286.
82 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Supervisors : In charge of both pressrooms is a foreman .5 He is
assisted by an assistant foreman 8 who is in charge of the bag room
and when needed is available for supervision in the adjacent aniline
pressroom. It appears that the parties do not contest the supervisory
status of these two employees. Working alongside the pressmen in
the aniline pressroom are two subforemen,° who bear this title pri-
marily in recognition of the slightly higher hourly rate of pay that
they receive as compared with the other pressmen. The record shows
that the subforemen are working foremen who themselves run presses
while routinely assigning work to the other aniline pressmen. In the
infrequent absence of the foremen, the subforemen advise the press-
men on work problems. Under the circumstances we shall exclude
the foreman and assistant foreman from the unit, and include the
subforemen, as the latter are not supervisors within the meaning of
Section 2 (11) of the Act.
We find that all pressmen and assistant pressmen in the rotary oil
pressroom and rotary aniline pressroom at the Dallas, Texas, plant of
the Employer, including subforemen, but excluding guards, profes-
sional employees, and supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Petitioner requests that the pay roll of August 13, 1947, be used
to determine voting eligibility. The Employer would use the pay roll
of January 9, 1948. Inasmuch as neither party advances reasons to
support its request for departure from our usual practice, we shall deny
both requests and direct the use of the pay roll immediately preceding
the Direction of Election.
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
exists be resolved by an election by secret ballot, subject to the limita-
tions and additions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to , ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Dixie ,Wax Paper Company, Dallas,
Texas, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possi-
ble, but not later than thirty ( 30) days from the date of this Direction,
under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Sixteenth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
° Melton.
° Clinton.
Payne and Sasse.
DIXIE WAX PAPER COMPANY 83
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, among the
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, 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 dis-
charged 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 or not they desire to
be represented by International Printing Pressmen and Assistants'
Union of North America, Dallas Printing Pressmen and Assistants'
Union No. 46, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining.