Foster-Grant Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 10, 1941

32 N.L.R.B. 486 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of FOSTER-GRANT CO., INC. and LocAL No. 60, MOLDERS
UNION OF LEOMINSTER, AFFILIATED TO UNITED PAPER, NOVELTY AND
Toy WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION (C. I. 0.)
Case No.. R-2530.-Decided June 10, 1941
Jurisdiction plastic specialties manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : re-
fusal to accord union recognition until it is certified by the Board ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : molders and their helpers, including
inspectors and assistant foremen, but excluding the oilman, die setters, and
supervisory and clerical employees.
Mr. Jacob Chatkis, of Leominster, Mass., for the Company.
Mr. Sidney S. Grant and Mr. Samuel Sandberg, of Boston, Mass., for
Local No. 60.
Mr. Frederic B. Parkes, end, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On March 14, 1941, Local No. 60, Molders Union of Leominster,
affiliated to the United Paper, Novelty and Toy Workers International
Union, C. I. 0., herein called Local No. 60, filed with the Regional
Director for the First Region (Boston, Massachusetts) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Foster-Grant Co., Inc., Leominster,
Massachusetts, herein called the Company, and requesting an investi-
gation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c)
of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the
Act. On April 23, 1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and
Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an investigation and au-
thorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice.
32 N. L. R. B., No. 97.
486
FOSTER-GRANT CO., INC. 487
On April 25, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company, Local No. 60,
and Works Counsel Foster-Grant Co., Inc.' Pursuant to notice, a
hearing was held on May 2 and 5, 1941, at Leominster, Massachusetts,
before Albert J. Hoban, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the
Chief Trial Examiner. The Company and Local No. 60 were repre-
sented by counsel or official representatives 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
made various rulings on motions and on objections to the admission
of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial
Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
On May 17 and 19, 1941, respectively, the Company and Local No.
60 filed briefs which the Board has considered. On May 17,1941, the
Company filed with the Board a motion to correct the record. The
motion is hereby granted and made part of the record.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Foster-Grant Co., Inc., a Massachusetts corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of plastic specialties,
jewelry, combs, sun goggles, hair ornaments, and other articles manu-
factured from plastics and metal. The principal raw materials used
by the Company are cellulose acetate, other synthetic resins, and
glass. During the calendar year 1940, the Company purchased cellu-
lose acetate and other synthetic resins valued at more than $200,000,
90 per cent of which were shipped to the Company from points out-
side the State of Massachusetts. During the same period the Com-
pany purchased glass valued at more than $125,000, practically all
of which was shipped to the Company from points outside the State
of Massachusetts. During the calendar year 1940, the Company
manufactured combs and sun glasses valued at more than $1,000,000,
representing about 80 per cent of the total production of the Com-
pany. During the same period approximately 90 per cent of the
products manufactured by the Company were shipped. to points
outside the State of Massachusetts. The Company employs approxi-
mately 864 employees.
11 Works Counsel Foster-Grant Co., Inc., did not appear at the hearing.
488 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
11. TILE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Local No.'60, Molders Union of Leominster, is a labor organization
admitting employees of the Company to membership. It is affiliated
with United Paper, Novelty and Toy Workers International Union,
which is an affiliate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
III.' THE QUESTION, CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
At various times and as recently as March 5, 1941, Local No. 60
requested the Company.to recognize it as the exclusive bargaining
representative of certain employees of the Company. The Company
has, refused to grant such recognition until Local No. 60 is certified
by the Board. A statement of the Regional Director introduced in
evidence shows that Local No. 60 represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit found below to be appropriate.'
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
Local No. 60 contends that molders and their helpers employed in
the molding department of the Company's plant, including inspectors
and assistant foremen, but excluding the'oilman, die setters, and super-
visory and clerical employees, constitute a unit appropriate for'the
purposes of collective bargaining; The Company claims that such
a ,unit is inappropriate and asserts that the unit should be plant-wide
in scope, including all production and maintenance employees, but
excluding supervisory employees.
The employees in the unit sought by Local No, 60 are operators of11,
molding machines, which produce,a wide variety of plastic articles.. 11 .11
2 Local No . 60 filed 65 application cards, dated between February 1940 and March 1941,
with the Regional Director who found that the signatures of 53 were genuine and were
the names of persons on the Company 's pay roll of March 15, 1941. There are approxi-
mately 74 employees in the appropriate unit.
1T0S'l'ER-GRANT CO., INC. 489
Machilies for the molding of plastic articles leave been developed
comparatively recently and are constantly being changed and im-
proved. Although the machines a're to a high degree automatic, being
controlled by various electrical devices, a certain amount of skill and
experience on the part of the operators is necessary in 'order that the
machines may functioi efficiently without breaking costly parts or
creating defective articles.
In support 'of its contentions, the Company asserts that the various
departments of the plant are so functionally coherent and closely inte-
,grat'ed that the unit should be plant-wide in scope. All but 4 or 5 of
the 400 different articles manufactured by the Company require the
work of other departments to complete the finished products. The
molding powder is 'prepared by a separate department. The molds
and machines are repaired by the employees of the machine shop and
by electricians in the maintenance departmelit.
The United has chartered two locals at Leominster, Local No. 59
and Local No. 60. Membership in thelatter local is limited to molders
employed by the Company and by other plastic manufacturing com-
panies in the Leominster area. Local No. 59 has jurisdiction over all
other employees of such companies. United Paper, Novelty and Toy
Workers International Union commenced its organize tiorial activities
among the Company's molders in February 1940, before it granted
a charter to Local No. '60 in May 1940. From March 1940, to the
present time the Company has bargained with Local No. 60 in regard
to seniority lists, wage increases, work guarantees, and other grievances
of the molders. Local No. 60 has confined its organizational activities
and the benefits of its collective bargaining negotiations to molders.-"
From the foregoing, it is apparent that either a unit comprising all
production and 'maintenance employees or one limited to molders
and their helpers might be appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining. Since no organization is here seeking to represent em-
ployees of 'the Company other than the molders, we are of the opinion
that a unit which, coincides with the extent of Local No. 60's 'or-
'ganization is appropriate. To "find otherwise would deprive the
molders of the benefits of collective ba'r'gaining until the remaining
production and maintenance employees had organized. "Our deter-
mination herein'" to the appropriate unit, however, is no bar to a
It has. however, admitted to moinibarship three employees of the Company who 'ire
not molders . One is in charge of greasing and oiling the'inachines and the other two are
)clerical employees , who•,ire members of Local No 59, but who'specifically 'sought to become
members of Local No. 60 and Asked Local No. 60 to negotiate their 'grievances with the
`Company, for the reason that Local No. 59'had c lot yet been siifficieiitly organized to'be
able to `barg'ain with the Company. Local No 60 does not seek to include these three
employees in the unit.
490 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
later revision in accordance, with changes in the status of self-organ-
ization of the Company's employees.'
Local No. 60 would include, and the Company exclude, inspectors
and assistant foremen. Inspectors inspect the work produced by the
molders. If there are flaws in the articles, they direct the regulation
of the machines. Inspectors relieve the molders during lunch and
rest periods. Assistant foremen repair machines, relieve the oper-
ators at lunch and rest periods, carry out the orders of the foremen,
and supervise the operation of the machines in the absence of the
foremen. They spend between one-third and five-eighths of their
time in the operation of molding machines. Both inspectors and
assistant foremen are paid on a flat hourly,; basis plus a bonus, which
depends upon the degree of efficiency in their department's produc-
tion. The molders themselves are paid on a flat hourly basis. Fore-
men receive a salary plus the bonus. The inspectors and assistant
foremen are members of the Union and participated in a strike, of
the molders in September 1940. We shall include both inspectors
and assistant foremen in the unit.',
We find that all molders and their helpers employed in the molding
department of the Company's plant, including inspectors and assistant
foremen, but excluding the oilman, die setters, and supervisory and
clerical employees, 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 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, and we shall accordingly direct; an
election by secret ballot. The employees of the Company eligible to
vote in the election shall be those in the appropriate unit who were
employed during the pay, roll period immediately preceding the date
of the Direction of Election herein, subject to such limitations and
additions as are set forth in the Direction.
4 See Matter of Crane Company and Shipping, Receiving Ole? ks, and Assistants Union,
Local 21648, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, 28 N. L. R. B. 756; Matter of
Butler Motors, Inc. and International Association of Machinists, Auto Mechanics Local
701, A. F. of L., 28 N. L. R. B. 1254; Matter of Crescent Dress Co. and Cutters Local 11,
I. L. G. TV. U., A. F. of L., 29 N. L. R. B. 351, and cases cited therein
5 See Matter of Western Tablet and Stationery Company and International Brotherhood
of Bookbinders, Local 179, A. F.. L., 31 N. L. R. B. 597; Matter of IVillys Overland
Motors, Inc . and International Union, United Automobile Workers of America, Local No. 12,
9 N. L. R. B. 924; Matter of W. H. Kistler Stationery Co. and Denver Printing Pressmen
and Assistants Union No. 40, 18 N. L. R. B. 948.
FOSTER-GRANT CO., INC. 491
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 represen-
tation of employees of Foster-Grant Co., Inc., Leominster, Massachu-
setts, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7)
of the Act.
2. All molders and helpers employed in the molding department of
the Company's plant, including inspectors and assistant foremen,
but excluding the oilman, die setters, and supervisory and clerical
employees, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the 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 Rela-
tions Act, 49 Stat. 449, 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 authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Foster-Grant Co., Inc., Leominster, Massachusetts, an election
by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than thirty (30) days after the date of this Direction, under the direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the First 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 molders and helpers employed in the molding department of
the Company's plant, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including inspectors,
assistant foremen, 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 the oil man, die setters, supervisory and clerical employees,
and employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Local No.
60, Molders Union of Leominster, affiliated to United Paper, Novelty
and Toy Workers International Union, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations for the purposes of collective bargaining.