General Box Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 18, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1439 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of GENERAL Box COMPANY, EMPLOYER and PLAYTHINGS,
JEWELRY & NOVELTY WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, C. I. 0., PETI-
TIONER
Case No.4-RC-660.Decided May 18, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John H. Wood, Jr., hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free.
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirlned.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.'
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees 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 :
Petitioner seeks to represent a. unit consisting of all production,
maintenance, and shipping employees including working foremen,
watchmen, and group leaders in the Employer's Denville, New Jersey,
plant, but excluding office clerical employees, executives, and super-
visors. The Employer does not object to this unit except that it would
exclude the shipping clerk, the working foremen, and the watchmen.
Watchmen: There are three watchmen employed in the Denville
plant, who together work a, full 24-hour period each day.
1 The Employer Is a Delaware corporation manufacturing shipping containers in Ohio,
New Jersey , Michigan , Illinois, Texas , Missouri, Kentucky, and other States . The Den-
ville , New Jersey , plant, involved in this proceeding, has been in operation since December
1949.
89 NLRB No., 163.
1439
1440 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The record shows that the day watchman, William Thompson, works
four 8-hour, and two 12-hour shifts each week. He is generally re-
sponsible for the protection of the plant property during the day shift,
and circulates in and about the plant for this purpose. Twice a week
Thompson is required to be at the plant gate at the time the production
employees leave the plant to make sure that they punch their own
cards. His duties include protecting the Employer's property from
loss by both fire and theft and to enforce employee observance of shop
rules. In addition to his monitorial duties, the day watchman burns
wood scrap and fires the boilers for the dual purposes of producing heat
during the months when heat is required to warm the building and
of disposing of scrap. However, even during the months that heat
• is required, the day watchman spends less than half his time in per-
forming the foregoing nonguard duties.
The two other night watchmen, who work the two shifts after the
day shift, spend all their time in patrolling, and maintaining a watch
on, the Employer's premises for purposes of plant protection, except
for a small portion of their time which is spent in burning scrap and
firing the boiler. Under all these circumstances, we find that the
three watchmen are guards within the meaning of the Act, and are
ineligible for inclusion in the appropriate unit.'
Working Foremen: The Petitioner seeks to include the foreman
of the maintenance department and the foreman of the wire-bound
stitching department in the appropriate unit. The foreman of the
maintenance department, Malzone, directs the work of four employees
whose duties are to install, maintain, repair, oil, and try to improve
machinery in the plant.. Malzone spends about 50 percent of his time
in manual repair work and working on difficult jobs with the men he
directs. The remainder of Malzone's time is spent planning the work
for his department and interviewing maintenance supply salesmen.
The record shows that Malzone has the authority effectively to recom-
mend the hiring and discharge of employees in the maintenance depart-
ment, and has in fact made such recommendations.
The foreman of the wire-bound stitching department has only one
employee under his direction. This employee is a "bench man," who
repairs machine parts brought to him at a work bench in the wire-
bound stitching department. The foreman and the "bench man" work
together on the "floor" when two men are needed to repair a machine.
The foreman is responsible for the uninterrupted operation of the
machines in the stitching department and recommends changes in the
job assignments of the production employees assigned to operate
them. He also assigns and directs the work of the "bench man" and
has authority effectively to recommend the discharge of such employee.
2 Hat Corporation of America , 86 NLRB 457 ; C. V. Hill & Company , Inc., 76 NLRB 158.
GENERAL BOX COMPANY 1441
Under all these circumstances, we find both the working foremen to
be supervisors within the meaning of the Act, and we shall exclude
them from the appropriate unit.'
The Shipping Clerk: The shipping clerk checks all the shipments in
.and out of the Employer's plant and directs the loading of railroad
cars and auto trucks. He directs the work of five shippers in ' this
department, and occasionally helps them manually. He has authority
effectively to recommend changes in the status of the shippers in'his
department. We find the shipping clerk to be a supervisor within
the meaning of the Act, and shall exclude him from the appropriate
unit.'
The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appro-
priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act : all production, maintenance and shipping
employees, and group leaders, excluding the watchmen, office clerical
employees, executives, the working foremen, the shipping clerk, and
.other supervisors.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not
work during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bar-
gaining, by Playthings, Jewelry & Novelty Workers International
Union, C. I. O.°
sThe Ohio Associated Telephone Company, 82 NLRB 972; Public Service Electric and
,Gas Company of New Jersey, 81 NLRB 1191.
4 Charles Eneu Johnson and Company, 77 NLRB 41.
5The Petitioner, and international union, Is In compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and
(h) until May 30, 1950. No local union has been chartered as yet, and though officers' have
been selected by the employees in the Employer's Denville plant, to act. as officers of any
local that may be organized in the future there is no evidence that any such local has as
yet been established as a functioning organization. Accordingly, we regard compliance by
the petitioning international union as sufficient. Bentwood Products, Inc., 81 NLRB 635 ;
4Cribben f Sexton Co., 82 NLRB 1409.