Gordon-Van Tine Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 5, 1946

68 N.L.R.B. 465 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of GORDON-VAN TINE COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND
HELPERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL UNION No. 371, A. F. OF L.
Case No. 18-R-1466 -Decided June 5, 1946
Messrs. Leo E. Hiegel and E. F. Voss, of Davenport, Iowa, for the
Company.
Messrs. David D. Otter and Cleo Enfield, of Rock Island, Ill., and
Mr. Carl Keul, of Des Moines, Iowa, for the Teamsters.
Mr. Harold Cheesman, of Alton, Ill., and Mr. Frank Hurley, of
Davenport, Iowa, for the Carpenters.
Mr. Benj. E. Cook, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon an amended petition duly filed by International Brotherhood of
Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, Local
Union No. 371, A. F. of L., herein called the Teamsters, alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Gordon-Van Tine Company, Davenport, Iowa, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Stanley D. Kane, Trial
Examiner. The hearing was held at Davenport, Iowa, on April 11, 1946.
The Company, the Teamsters, and the Millmen's Local No. 726, United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, A. F. of L., herein
called the Carpenters, 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 opportunity to file briefs with
the Board. Subsequent to the hearing, the Carpenters filed a brief in
which it moved to dismiss the petition. The motion is hereby denied.
68 N. L. R. B., No. 64.
465
466 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Gordon-Van Tine Company, an Iowa corporation, has its principal
office and place of business in Davenport, Iowa, where it is engaged in a
general lumber, hardware, building material, and millwork business. The
operations conducted in Davenport are the only ones involved in this
proceeding. For the 12-month period prior to April 1, 1945, the Company
purchased raw materials valued at approximately $873,000, 65 percent
of which was shipped to it from points outside the State of Iowa. During
the same period the Company sold finished products valued at $1,629,000,
53 percent of which was shipped to points outside the State of Iowa.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen
and Helpers of America, Local Union No. 371, is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, admitting to member-
ship employees of the Company.
Millmen's Local No. 726, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America, is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Teamsters as the
exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees until the
Teamsters has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced in evidence at the hearing,
indicates that the Teamsters represents a substantial number of employees
in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
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.
i The Field Examiner reported that the Teamsters submitted 68 cards, bearing the names of
employees listed on the Company's pay roll of February 22, 1946.
There are approximately 109 employees in the alleged appropriate unit . The Carpenters
relies upon its contract as establishing its interest in the proceeding.
GORDON -VAN TINE COMPANY 467
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT ; THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Teamsters requests a single unit of all production and maintenance
employees of the Company, including truck drivers and their helpers,2
excluding all office and clerical employees, supervisory employees, and
employees currently represented by the Sheet Metal Workers.3 The
Carpenters requests a unit comprising the Company's production and
maintenance employees, excluding truck drivers and their helpers, office
and clerical employees, and supervisory employees, and employees cur-
rently represented by the Sheet Metal Workers .4 The parties are in
disagreement, also, with reference to certain categories hereinafter dis-
cussed. The Company takes no position as to the composition of the
appropriate unit.
The Company is engaged in the manufacture and sale of cabinets and
in the sale and distribution of hardware and building materials. It con-
ducts a general mail order business and makes deliveries by truck to
customers within a radius of approximately 100 miles from Davenport,
Iowa. The truck drivers and their helpers assist the warehouse and
lumberyard employees in assembling material and loading the trucks. All
employees are hourly paid, employed and discharged by the Company's
superintendent, and work under his general supervision. The Company's
business is a highly integrated enterprise and from a general functional
standpoint, it appears that a single plant unit may be appropriate. On
the other hand, the previous history of collective bargaining also indi-
cates the appropriateness of separate bargaining units. Under these
circumstances, we are of the opinion that the Company's employees may
constitute a single unit or they may bargain collectively in separate units.
Accordingly, our determination of the appropriate unit will depend, in
part, upon the desires of the employees as expressed in elections which
we shall hereinafter direct.
General Foreman: The Carpenters would include the general foreman ;
the Teamsters would exclude him. Although the general foreman, who
possesses undisputed supervisory authority, has been represented by the
Carpenters under its previous bargaining contract with the Company,
the record does not reveal any well-established custom in the industry
to include such supervisors in bargaining units similar to the one sought
herein. Consequently, we see no reason to depart from the established
policy of the Board which, with very limited exceptions, precludes the
2 Since 1939 , the Teamsters has acted as bargaining agent for the Company's truck drivers.
Its current contract covers the Company's truck drivers at Bettendorf , Iowa, as well as those
at Davenport.
8 The Sheet Metal Workers, the current representative of the Company's tin shop employees,
did not participate in the hearing.
4 Since 1941 , following a consent election, the Carpenters has represented substantially the
same unit as sought herein.
696966--46-31
468 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
inclusion of supervisory employees and subordinate production em-
ployees within the same bargaining unit. We shall exclude the general
foreman.6
Shipping Clerks: The Carpenters would exclude all shipping clerks;
the Teamsters would exclude the west dock shipping clerk and include
all others. These employees were not included in the Carpenter's con-
tract and although the Teamsters maintain they have bargained for all
of them except the west dock shipping clerk, the Teamsters' contract,
introduced in evidence, makes no provision for their inclusion. More-
over, the record indicates that they possess supervisory authority. Under
these circumstances, we shall exclude the shipping clerks.
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has
arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among employees
of the Company at Davenport, Iowa, in the following groups, excluding
foremen and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire,
promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status
of employees, or effectively recommend such action, who were employed
during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the
Direction of Elections herein, subject to the limitations and additions
set forth in the Direction.
(1) All truck drivers and truck drivers' helpers.
(2) All production and maintenance employees, including stock clerks,
working foremen and "straw bosses," but excluding office and clerical
employees, shipping clerks, and all employees in the tin shop currently
represented by the Sheet Metal Workers.
In the event the majority of the employees in both groups choose the
Teamsters, such employees will together constitute a single appropriate
unit ; otherwise they shall constitute separate units.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representatives
for the purposes of collective bargaining with Gordon-Van Tine Com-
pany, Davenport, Iowa, elections 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 Eighteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
See Matter of Imperial Upholstering Company, 67 N. L R. B. 1100, and cases cited therein.
" Included in this category are retail store clerks , draftsmen , and all other employees housed
in the Company's office building , and office and mailing clerks in the warehouse.
GORDON -VAN TINE COMPANY 469
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections
10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations , among the employees in the
following groups , who were employed during the pay -roll period immedi-
ately 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 ex-
cluding 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.
(1) All truck drivers in Group (1) described in Section IV, above, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs , Warehousemen and Helpers of
America, Local Union No. 371, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining.
(2) All production and maintenance employees in Group (2) described
in Section IV, above, to determine whether they desire to be repre-
sented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters , Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, Local Union No. 371, A. F. of L.,
or by Millmen's Local No. 726, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America , A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Elections.