F. M. Bohannon Tobacco Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 12, 1941

37 N.L.R.B. 526 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of F. M. BOHANNON TOBACCO COMPANY and LOCAL 229,
TOBACCO WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION
Case No. B-3295.-Decided December 12, 1941
Jurisdiction : plug tobacco manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal of Company to recognize union until certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all employees of the Company,
including watchmen and firemen, but excluding clerical employees and foremen ;
agreement as to.
Manley, Hendren do Womble, by Mr. 1V. A. Sandridge, of Winston'-
Salem, N. C., for the Company.
Mr. E. E. Lester, of Winston-Salem, N. C., for the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Cu September 26, 1941, Local 229, Tobacco Workers International
Union, herein called the Union, filed with the Regional Director
for the Fifth Region (Baltimore, Maryland) a petition alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of F. M. Bohannon Tobacco Company, Winston-
Salem, North Carolina, herein called the Company, and requesting
an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to
Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449,
herein called the Act. On October 30, 1941, the National Labor Re-
lations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered
an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it
and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On October 31, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and
37 N. L R B, No. 85.
526
F. M. BOHANNON TOBACCO COMPANY 527
-the Union. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on November 14,
1941, at Winston-Salem, North Carolina, before Robert Knadler,
the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner.
The Company and the Union were represented and participated in
the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
•examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing_ on the issues
was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial
Examiner granted a motion of the Union to amend the petition to
set forth correctly the unit. During the course of the hearing the
Trial Examiner made several rulings on other motions and on ob-
jections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed
these rulings and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed.
The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
F. M. Bohannon Tobacco Company is a North Carolina corpora-
tion with its principal place of business at Winston-Salenl, North
Carolina, where it is engaged in the manufacture of plug tobacco.
During 1940 the Company purchased raw materials valued at about
$92,000, approximately $22,000 worth of which was shipped to it
from points ,outside the State of North Carolina. During the same
period the Company sold finished products valued at about $385,000,
approximately 80 per cent of which was shipped by it to points
outside the State of North Carolina. The Company admits that it
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED,
Local 229, Tobacco Workers International Union, is a labor organi-
zation affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits
to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company refuses to recognize the Union as the exclusive rep-
resentative of its employees until such time as it is certified by the
Board. A statement of the Trial Examiner, introduced in evidence
during the hearing, indicates that the Union represents ,a substantial
number of employees in the alleged appropriate unit.'
1 The Trial Examiner reported that the Union presented 108 membership application cards
to him bearing the signatures of persons whose names appear on the Company 's pay roll of
November 13, 1941 The Company - employs approximately 150 employees.
528 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to, trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union and the Company agree that all employees of the Com-
pany, excluding clerical employees and foremen, constitute an appro-
priate unit. The only controversy with respect to the unit concerns
the watchmen and firemen.
The Company employs three watchmen and firemen. The Union
urges that these employees be included in the unit and the Company
that they be excluded. ' The same persons perform both watchmen
and firemen duties, and they are required to make scheduled rounds
of the Company's premises and to maintain the steam in the boilers.
In' addition to these duties, they sprinkle tobacco leaf during week
ends when other employees of the Company are not present. It
appears from the record that they are eligible to membership in the
Union. Under all the circumstances, including the fact that they
perform certain duties closely related to production and maintenance
in addition to their duties as watchmen, we find that the watchmen
and firemen should be included in the unit.
We find that all employees of the Company, including watchmen
and firemen, but excluding clerical employees and foremen, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that
said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of
their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and
otherwise will effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret
,ballot. We shall direct that those eligible to vote in the election shall
be the employees within the appropriate unit who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding' the date of' the
F. M. BOHANNON TOBACCO COMPANY 529
Direction,of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions
set forth in the Direction.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning 'the repre-
sentation of employees of F. M. Bohannon Tobacco Company,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, within the meaning of Section 9 (c)
and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All employees of the Company, including watchmen and fire-
men, but excluding clerical employees and foremen, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
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
Relations Act and pursuant to Article,III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation ordered by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with F. M. Bohannon Tobacco Company, Winston-Salem, North
Carolina, 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 Direc-
tor for the Fifth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board and subject to Article III, Section 9,
of said Rules and Regulations, among all employees of the Company
who were employed during the pay-roll- period immediately preced-
ing the date of this Direction, including watchmen and firemen and
employees who did not work during such pay-roll period because
they were ill or on vacation or in the active military service or
training of the United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding
clerical employees, foremen, and employees who have since quit or
been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire
(to be represented by Local 229, Tobacco Workers International
Union, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.