F. J. Kress Box Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 12, 1945

64 N.L.R.B. 124 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

1
In the Matter of F. J. KRESS Box COMPANY and GENERAL TEAMSTERS,
CHAUFFEURS AND HELPERS , LOCAL No. 247, AFL
Case No. 6-R-1149.-Decided October 12, 1945
Mr:-John E. Laughlin, Jr., of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company.
Mr. Ben Paul Jubelirer, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Union.
Miss Katharine Loomis, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION'
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by General Teamsters,
Chauffeurs and Helpers, Local No. 249, AFL, herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of F. J. Kress Box Company, Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, the National Labor
Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Allen Sinsheimer, Jr., Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 26, 1945. The Company and
the Union appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full
opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and
to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs
with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
F. J. Kress Box Company is a Pennsylvania corporation engaged
in the manufacture of paper containers and related products at Pitts-
burgh and Washington, Pennsylvania. This proceeding concerns
only certain employees at the Pittsburgh plant. During the past year
the Company purchased for use in its Pittsburgh plant raw materials
i
64 N. L R. B., No. 27.
124
F. J. DRESS BOX COMPANY 125
valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which approximately 75 percent
'originated outside the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. During the
same period it sold finished products valued in excess of $2,000,000,
of which approximately 50 percent was shipped to .• points. outside
Pennsylvania.
The Company admits, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
, General Teamsters, Chauffeurs- and Helpers, Local 249,, affiliated
with, the American Federation of Labor, is a labor organization ad-
mitting to membership employees of the Company.
Ili. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of the Company's em-
ployees until the Union has been certified by the Board in an
appropriate unit.
• A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing; indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.,
We find that a -question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Compaiiy, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit-of all shipping department employees, in-
-luding checkers, loaders, and laborers, but excluding shipping clerks,
the shipper, the assistant shipper, and the night shipper. The Com-
pany, however, takes the position that the unit sought by the Union is
inappropriate and that only a plant-wide unit is appropriate for its
employees.
There has been no history of collective bargaining between the
Company and the employees in the group sought by the Union. Inter-
national Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers,
AFL, herein called the Paper Workers, presently represents other
employees of the Company in a unit of "all production and mainte-
I The Field Examiner reported that the number of employees in the alleged appropriate
unit was approximately 38 : that the Union submitted 21 application cards ; , that the
names of 18 persons appearing on the cards corresponded to those on a list furnished
by the Company , that 13 of the cards were dated between January 1945 and April 1945,
and 8 were undated.
126 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL -, LABOR:RELATIONS BOARD
Hance employees, except for office, and clerical employees, shipping
department employees, and supervisory:employees." 2
Shipping, department- employees are ,principally engaged in load-
ing the Company's finished products.. into, either trucks or railroad
cars. The Company's plant is situated between two railroads.. The
shipping platforms where the loading is done are,at,the ends of the
main factory buildings which are adjacent to the respective railroads.
These platforms are separated from the factory buildings by fire'walls.
Seventy-five percent of 'the finished`products is brought from the pro-
.duction floor to the platforms by means of an overhead conveyor.
The remainder is moved by 'hand ' truck.' Checkers, loaders, and
laborers are engaged in the shipping process. ' These employees work
under the supervision of,the shipper. Checkers confer with the ship-
per as to the method of shipment, see that the material is at hand,
check it for count, and plan the loading so that all available space is
utilized. Loaders place the material in the truck or railroad car.
Laborers 'remove bundles from the conveyor or go into the 'factory
find `"move them up in hand trucks. Production employees also bring
brindles from'the factory to the shipping platforms in hand trucks.
The unloading of the Company's raw materials is'done principally
by` warehousemen. These employees are not part of the shipping
department` and work under different supervision from the shipping
employees. There are no 'checkers among the warehousemen. Incom-
ing raw material is delivered principally by rail, whereas' most of the
finished products is shipped by truck.-3 Unloading is done' for the
most part from a separate unloading platform, although some unload-
ing is performed on an unloading area of one of the shipping plat-
forms. The Company .calls upon both warehousemen and production
- 2 The Paper Workers and the Company, on September 9, 1944 , entered into an agreement
for a consent election among all production and maintenance employees excluding office
and clerical employees and all supervisory employees " ( Case No 6-R-1025 ) The Paper
Workers lost the election and, subsequently ,' on June 11 , 1945 , filed a petition 'for its
present unit. The Company and the Paper Workers'then entered into an agreement for
a cross-check covering the employees in-the unit petitioned for and , as part of the agree-
ment; inserted the following provision. °
Nothing in this agreement shall be construed as precluding the Company from at
any subsequent hearing contending that shipping department employees do not con-
stitute an appropriate unit by themselves and that shipping department employees
should be included iii this unit
A crosscheck was made and the Regional Director found that a majority of the employees
in the aforesaid unit had designated the Paper Workers as their exclusive bargaining agent
(Case No 6-R-1193).
- The, Paper Woikers, although served with notice of the hearing in the instant proceeding,
did not appear and stated, prior to the hearing , that it ' disclaimed any interest in the
employees covered by the Union's petition
,"'Ninety-nine percent of incoming raw materials is delivered by rail and only about 1
percent by, truck, whereas, of the outgoing finished products, 48 percent is shipped by rail,
and 52 percent by truck The Company owns no trucks Of the truck shipments, 75
percent is carried by contra ct haulers and 25 percent by common carriers shipping
department employees load the trucks of the contract haulers . Those of the common
carriers are loaded by employees of the carriers
F. J. KRESS BOX COMPANY, 127
workers to assist shipping department employees at any time that the,
latter require help in getting orders out promptly. ' At present, due
to-wartime conditions, such assistance as needed more than, in normal,
tunes.'
The record clearly shows that shipping department employees form,
a well. defined and' .homogeneous group. They are under separate.
supervision and comprise the principal group responsible for the ship-
ment of finished products. Furthermore, no union is seeking to repre-
sent these employees in the plant-wide unit which the Company has
requested. Under all the circumstances, we are of the opinion that
the'Company's shipping employees constitute a coherent group'which
iniay.appropriately function as a separate unit.'
We find, therefore, that all shipping department employees, includ-`
ing checkers, loaders, and laborers, but excluding shipping clerks, the
shipper, the assistant shipper, the night shipper, and all other super-
visory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline,
or otherwise 'effect -changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend' such' action, 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
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
,has arisen be resolved by an elections by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Elec-
tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
The-Company employs six Bart-time workers in its shipping de-
partinent. Five. of these employees average between 20 and 36 hours
of work a week, and the Union and the Company agree that they
should participate in the election. The eligibility of. one part-time
employee is in dispute.' The Union contends that he is ineligible
because he averages only 12 hours of work a week. The record indi-
cates that all the part-time workers have been employed by the Com-
4 At the time of the hearing warehousemen spent 15 percent of their time assisting
shipping department employees , and about one crew of four production S'oikers for one
shift a week also assisted shipping employees . The record does not indicate how much
assistance the shipping depaitinent employees require in normal times
5 See Matter of General Tire and Rubber Company, 55 N. L R B . 250, and Matter of
Wells Aircraft Parts Company, 61 N L. R B . 1331. The Company attempts to distinguish
the latter case from the instant proceeding . There , as the Company points out in its
brief, no mention is made of any interchange of duties between shipping employees and
production workers However , while it may be true in the present case that production
workers perform some of the duties in which shipping employees are engaged , the Com-
pany's shipping operations revolve, for the most part , about the work of the latter group.
In addition , of Matter of Arkell Safety Bag Company, 57 N L . R. B. 1423, and 58 N. L
R B 575
9 George Cofsky
128 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
piny for the past 8 months and all work under the same conditions
and enjoy the same privileges as the full-time workers. It is clear
that all six are regular part-time employees who spend, a sufficient
amount of time weekly and have a sufficiently substantial interest in
wages, hours, and working conditions to entitle them to a voice in
-the selection,of a collective bargaining agent.7 We shall, therefore,
permit all six part-time employees to participate in the election.
,DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By, virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section, 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and,pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby - '
DIRECTED that, as, part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives, for the purposes of collective bargaining with F. J. Kress Box
Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an election by secret ballot shall
be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Sixth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National, Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, 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 tempo-
rarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person .at the polls, but ex-
cluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause, and have
not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to deter-
mine whether or not they desire to be represented by General Team-
sters, Chauffeurs and Helpers, Local No. 249, AFL, for the purposes
of collective bargaining.
7 See Matter of The National Machinery Company, 56 N L R B 481