Flintkote Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 31, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 897 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of FLINTKOTE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF PULP, SULPHITE, AND PAPER MILL `YORKERS, AFL,
PETITIONER
Case No. 15-R-3085.-Decided July 31,19J i7
Messrs. C. M. Dannelce and W. A. Beason, of New Orleans, La., for
the Employer.
Mr. Godfrey J. Ruddick, of Monroe, La., and Messrs. Charles E.
Stewart and George Snowden, of New Orleans, La., for the Petitioner.
Messrs. Andrew Nelson and C. J. illeslce, of New Orleans, La., for the
Intervenor.
Miss Irene R. Slzriber, of counsel to'the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at New
Orleans, Louisiana, on June 6, 1947, before C. Paul Barker, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. At the hearing, the
Intervenor moved to dismiss the petition. For reasons hereinafter set
forth this motion is hereby denied.'
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER '
The Flintkote Company, a Massachusetts corporation with principal
offices in New York, operates a plant at New Orleans, Louisiana, where
it is engaged in the manufacture of paper products and asphaltic ma-
1 One of the grounds asserted by the Intervenor for dismissing the petition was that the
Petitioner did not present evidence of its representation at the hearing This contention
is lacking in merit for the reasons stated in Hatter of 0 D Jennings d Company, 68
N. L. R. B. 516.
74 N. L. R. B., No. 139.
897
898 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
terials. The finished products at the Employer's New Orleans plant
have an annual value of more than $1,000,000, of which more than
50 percent is shipped to customers outside the State of Louisiana.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Local
207, herein called the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTLON CONCERNING REPI:ESENTATION
On December 1, 1945, the Employer and the Intervenor executed a.
collective bargaining agreement.to be in effect for a period of 1 year
and thereafter from year to year, unless 30 clays prior to the contract's
annual expiration date either party should notify the other in writing
of its intention to modify or change the agreement. In a written memo-
randum date([ August 28, 1946, the Intervenor and the Employer
"agreed that the existing agreement [between then] be terminated as
of August 13, 1946, and that wages in the new agreement [to] be nego-
tiated, shall be retroactive to August 11, 1946." The memorandum.
further provide(-[ that "for the maintenance of amicable relations . . .
the Grievance Procedure of the old Agreenment, and other terms re-
main in full force and effect until a new Agreement has been signed
by the parties."
On November 12, 1946, the Petitioner filed its petition herein and
on the same date notified the Employer of this action. On January
10, 1947, the Employer and the Intervenor entered into a new agree-
nient which was made retroactive to August 12, 1946, and which was
to be in effect uirtil August 12, 1947. The new agreement also con-
tained provisions for automatic renewal from year to year.
The Intervenor contends that the afore-mentioned contracts consti-
tute a bar to a present determination of representatives and that the
petition should, therefore, be dismissed as having been unseasonably
filed. We are of the opinion that by the memorandum of August 28,
1946, which was entered into more than 2 months before the filing of
the present petition, the Intervenor and the Employer intended to and
did in fact terminate their agreement of December 1945. This contract
is, therefore, no bar. We also find that the succeeding contract is no
FLINTKOTE COMPANY 899
bar inasmuch as it was executed after the petition was filed. In view
of these circumstances, we find the petition to have been timely filed.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
lv. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accordance with the agreement of the parties, that all
hourly paid production and maintenance employees at the Employer's
New Orleans plant including hourly paid headmen and leadmen, but
excluding cffice and clerical employees, factory clerks, all salaried
employees, and all supervisory employees, constitute a unit appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 2
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Flintkote Company, New Or-
leans, Louisiana, 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 Fifteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56,
of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4,
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, 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 they desire to be represented by
International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Work-
ers, AFL, or by International- Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's
Union, Local 207, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining,
or by neither.
Cl-1A11QNrAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
2 Am- participant in the election herein may, upon its pi onipt request to and approval
thereof by the Regional Diiector, have its name removed from the ballot.