Feltex Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 24, 1944

59 N.L.R.B. 468 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter of FELTEX CORPORATION and UNITED FARM EQUIPMENT
AND METAL WORKERS OF AERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 13-R-26741.-Decided November 04,1911
Mr. E. Root, of Rock Island, Ill., for the 'Company.
Meyers ct= Meyers, by Mr. Hart Baker, of,Chicago, Ill., and Miss
Katherine Hall, of Rock Island, Ill., for the Union.
Mr. Louis R. Mercado, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Farm Equipment and Metal
Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that
a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representa-
tion of employees of Feltex Corporation, Rock Island, Illinois, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice-before Benjamin B. Sal-
vaty, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Rock Island, Illinois,
on October 30, 1944. 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
The Company, a Michigan corporation licensed to do business in
Illinois and several other States, operates a fiber container division,
at Rock Island, Illinois, where it is engaged exclusively in the manu-
facture of shell containers for the United States armed forces. The
Company's monthly purchases of raw materials, consisting principally
59 N. L. R. B., No. 95. 1
468
FELTEX CORPORATION 469
of paper, glue, asphalt, and tin plate, is valued in excess of $150,000, of
which approximately 80 percent is shipped to it from points outside
the State of Illinois; it monthly delivers finished products, valued in
excess of $250,000, of which approximately 50 percent is delivered to
points outside the State of Illinois.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Farm Equipment and Metal Workers of America, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refusetl to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until
the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
Pursuant to a consent election which the Union won in March 1942,
the Company and the Union executed a contract covering all the Com-
pany's production and maintenance employees ; i said contract was sub-
sequently renewed and is still in effect.
A statement of a Field Examiner, introduced into evidence t, the
hearing, indicates that the - nion represents a; substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company. within the meaning
of Section 9 (c)_ and Section 2 (6)' and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UN IT
The Union contends that all of the Company's employees classified
as incoming material inspectors, line inspectors, lead inspectors, and
salvage inspectors excluding supervisory employees, should be included
in the unit of production, and maintenance employees, which are
covered by the Union's contract with the Company. The Company
contends that these employees should not be included `in the unit of
I In the consent election agreement , the unit consisted of "all production and maintenance
employees , excluding the production managers, shift superintendents , foremen , foreladies,
assistant foremen, technicians , office and clerical employees , dispensary nurses and plant
guards " At the time of the consent election , the Company did not employ any workers
who were classified as inspectors
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 13 cards, all of which bore
apparently genuine original signatures ( 7 for salvage inspectors and 6 for other in-
spectors ) ; that the names of all persons appearing on the cards were listed on the Com-
pany's pay roll of October 5, 1944, which contained the names of 13 employees in the
appropriate unit ; and that the cards were undated but were executed in the last week of
September and the first week of October.
470 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
production and maintenance employees, but should be voted in two
separate units : one comprising the salvage inspectors, and the other
comprising the remaining inspectors.
There are four assembly lines on the production floor, each line being
similar in operation. The incoming inspectors' inspect the materials
as they are received at the plant; the line inspectors 4 inspect the work
along the production line; the lead inspectors 5 inspect the work on the
production line and transmit instructions from the foreman to the
other inspectors, but have no supervisory authority nor power effec-
tively to recommend a change in an employee's status. All of these in-
spectors report to the chief inspector. The salvage inspectors 6 gather
containers which have been taken off the assembly line by other inspec-
tors and report to the salvage supervisor. Both parties concede that
the duties of the chief inspector and salvage supervisor are supervisory
and that they should be excluded from the unit, and we shall, therefore,
exclude them from the unit. All of the inspectors are selected from
the production employees and their work is functionally similar. The
determinations of the inspectors do not affect the production workers'
earnings or status, and the inspectors' interests are similar to those of
the production and maintenance workers.
We are of the opinion and find that the group of inspectors, includ-
ing the incoming, line, lead, and salvage inspectors, but excluding the,
chief inspector, salvage supervisor and all or any other supervisory
employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, . discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively rec-
ommend such action, may properly form part of the production and
maintenance unit. However, we shall base our determination, in part,
upon the desires of such employees in the classifications hereinabove
set forth, to be ascertained in an election hereinafter directed. In
view of the absence' of any question concerning representation among
the employees in the original production and maintenance unit, we
shall direct an election only among the employees in the classifications
wherein a question concerning representation has arisen. If a majority
of such employees select the Union, they will thereby have indicated
their desire to be included in the unit with the general production
and maintenance group.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
8 There are three of these inspectors.
There are four of these inspectors.
e There are two of these inspectors.
There are four of these inspectors.
FELTEX CORPORATION 471
ployees in the classification hereinabove described, who were em-
ployed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of
the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and addi-
tions set forth in the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relatidns 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
DmECrED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Feltex Corpora-
tion, Rock Island, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from the
date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Re-
gional Director for the Thirteenth 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 em-
ployees in the classifications described 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 the
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily
laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United
States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding
those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and
have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election,
to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United
Farm Equipment and Metal Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the
purposes of collective bargaining. -