Gaylord Container Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 9, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 1201 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of GAYLORD CONTAINER CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, LOCAL 1077,
A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 15-RC-82.-Decided December 9, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. After the hearing, the Employer filed a request for
oral argument. As the issues and the positions of the parties are
adequately presented in the record, the request is hereby denied.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, Recovery Local 189,
herein called the Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees
of the Employer.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate unit:
The Petitioner seeks certification as bargaining representative of
all electricians employed by the Employer at its Mill Division, includ-
ing all electricians' helpers and apprentices. Both the Employer and
the Intervenor contend that the unit petitioned for is inappropriate
because the employees sought are not a homogeneous group and be-
cause the majority of such employees, the operating electricians, are
engaged in work which is closely and directly integrated with the
' The Intervenor was permitted to intervene on the basis of its contractual interest in
this matter . Its contract with the Employer was not urged as a bar , however, as the
instant petition was timely filed.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 181. 1201
1202 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
production process. Relying on the National Tube case,2 the Employer
argues that any change in the bargaining unit would necessarily upset
the job evaluation and wage classification plans now in effect and
would have an extremely adverse effect on the Employer's productive
capacity.
The Employer is engaged at its Pulp and Paper Mill Division in
Bogalusa, Louisiana, in the manufacture of paper, mainly kraft paper,
for bags, box liners, and carton stock. The paper mill employs ap-
proximately 1,900 persons and covers 50 acres. By a complicated
series of highly mechanized operations, logs are cut into chips, which
are in turn broken down into fibers, and the resulting pulp, after cer-
tain refinements and chemical additions, is pumped in liquid form
into paper-making machines, by a process of drying and passing
through rollers, the pulp is converted by these machines into paper,
which is then automatically rolled and cut into large rolls of the de-
sired width and size.
There are seven paper-making machines of various types at the
Employer's plant, each approximately a city block long. A crew
of men is assigned to each machine. Operating electricians are as-
signed to these crews to maintain the electrical equipment necessary
to start the paper-making machines, to make repairs in case of break-
down, and to start and stop the motors used to place the paper-mak-
ing machines in operation. Thus, there are four electricians and four
helpers assigned to the Pulp Mill, four electricians assigned to the
Board Mill and to Paper Machines Nos. 1 to 4, four assigned to the
No. 5 and No. 6 Machines, four to the No. 7 Machine, and four to the
Straw Board, Powerhouse, and By-Products area.
There are approximately 45 employees in the unit petitioned for,
including, in addition to the 20 operating electricians and 4 helpers
mentioned above, 13 construction electricians and 8 helpers. Of this
latter group, 3 electricians and 3 helpers are engaged in motor re-
winding and work in the electrical shop. The remainder work
throughout the plant, constructing and replacing electrical distri-
bution lines and equipment. Although the operating electricians
work with the crews assigned to the various production depart-
ments, all electricians are subject to the supervision of the Chief Elec-
trician. All receive approximately the same rate of pay. Neither
the Employer nor the Intervenor contends that the electricians are
not skilled employees. Although there is no formal apprentice-
ship program at the plant, helpers must serve for at least 18 months
and generally for several years before being classified as electricians.
2 Matter of National Tube Company, 76 N. L. R. B. 1199.
GAYLORD CONTAINER CORPORATION 1203
The Intervenor has been recognized as the bargaining representa-
tive of all the Employer's hourly paid employees, including the elec-
tricians, on a plant-wide basis since 1939, and has held successive con-
tracts with the Employer's Since 1941, however, the electricians
have maintained membership in the Petitioner as well as in the In-
tervenor. They have persistently, since that time, endeavored to
persuade the Employer to recognize them on a craft basis and have
also tried to persuade the Intervenor to release them from the plant-
wide unit.
The Employer argues that, because of the integrated nature of its
operations, any change in the bargaining unit would have an adverse
effect on its productive capacity. It appears, however, that com-
panies engaged in the paper-making industry in the South are organ-
ized on both craft and industrial bases.4 Moreover, the activities of
the operating electricians are not so intimately connected with the Em-
ployer's production processes as to preclude the establishment of the
unit petitioned for.
The record is clear that the electricians constitute a skilled, homo-
geneous, and functionally distinct craft group of employees, similar
to units established elsewhere in the industry .5 Under all circum-
stances, we believe that the electricians involved herein may, if they
so desire, constitute a separate appropriate unit, despite the history of
collective bargaining on a plant-wide basis. However, we shall make
no unit determination pending the outcome of the election hereinafter
directed. If, in this election, the employees select the Petitioner,
they will be considered to have indicated their desire to constitute a
separate bargaining unit.
In accordance with the foregoing, we shall direct that an election
be held among all electricians 6 employed by the Employer at its Pulp
and Paper Mill Division in Bogalusa, Louisiana, including all operat-
8 Its present contract with the Employer became effective on July 1, 1948.
' A representative of the Employer stated at the hearing that he had made a survey of
20 mills located in the area around Bogalusa . Plant-wide units exist in 9 of these mills,
but in 11 the electricians are recognized as a separate unit It appears, however, that
most of those organized on an industrial basis are smaller mills than the Employer 's, which
has a 700-ton capacity . There are , in this area , 6 mills of the Southern Kraft Division of
the International Paper Company , which is admittedly the Employer 's chief competitor,
ranging in capacity from 300 to 1,400 tons . In 5-those located at Mobile, Alabama,
Panama City , Florida, Georgetown, South Carolina , Bastrop, Louisiana , and Spring Hill,
Louisiana-the electricians are recognized as separate units, whereas in only 1-the Moss
Point, Mississippi , plant-is there a plant-wide unit. It does not appear , however, whether
or not operating electricians are employed at these other plants. Presumably they are
employed in at least some of these plants
E Matter of Waldorf Paper Products Company, 76 N L. R. B 127. See Matter of West
Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, 45 N. L It. B 59 and 61 N. L. R. B. 438.
U This includes Hugh Jacobs and Jimmy Rogers, who, we find , are not supervisors within
the meaning of the Act.
817319-49-vol. 80-77
1204 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ing and construction electricians , motor reminders , and their helpers
and apprentices , but excluding all supervisors as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Gaylord Container Corporation,
Bogalusa, Louisiana, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as
early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Di-
rection, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director
for the Fifteenth Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as
amended, among the employees in the voting group described in para-
graph numbered 4, 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, but excluding those em-
ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have
not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and
also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstate-
ment, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for purposes
of collective bargaining, by International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, Local 1077, A. F. L., or by International Brotherhood of
Paper Makers, Recovery Local 189, A. F. L., or by neither.
CHAIRMAN IIERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.