Inland Container Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 19, 1946

66 N.L.R.B. 926 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of INLAND CONTAINER CORPORATION and UNITED
ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O.
Case No. 11-R-906.-Decided March 19, 1946
Messrs. Kurt F. Pantzer and Bartley Flemming, of Indianapolis,
Ind., for the Company.
Messrs. Elvis E. Swan and James Payne, of Evansville, Ind., for
the C. I. O.
Messrs. Keith Wentz, of Hartford City, Ind., and Earl Taylor, of
Cincinnati, Ind., for the A. F. of L.
Mr. Harry R. Ehrlich, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Electrical, Radio and Machine
Workers of America, C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Inland Container Corporation, Evansville,
Indiana, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations
Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before
Clifford L. Hardy, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Evans-
ville, Indiana, on January 3, 1946. The Company, the C. I. 0., and
the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill
Workers, A. F. of L., hereinafter called the A. F. of L., 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 reserved ruling
for the Board on the Company's motion to dismiss. The motion
is hereby denied. 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.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
66 N. L . R. B., No. 114.
926
INLAND CONTAINER CORPORATION
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
927
Inland Container Corporation is engaged in the manufacture
of boxes and containers at Evansville, Indiana. During the past
year a portion of its rolling stock was shipped to it from outside
the State of Indiana, and a portion of the finished products manu-
factured by the Company during the past year was shipped by it
to points outside the State of Indiana.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.'
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America is
a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill
Workers is a labor organization, affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. TIIE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On October 25, 1945, the C. I. O. asked the Company by letter
for recognition as bargaining representative of its employees. No
reply was received from the Company.
On November 17, 1945, the A. F. of L. asked the Company by
letter for recognition as bargaining representative of its employees.
On November 21, 1945, the Company replied that the C. I. O. had
petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to certify the C. I. O.
as the collective bargaining representative and that the matter was
pending.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial number
of. employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate .2
1 See Matter of Inland Container Corporation, 47 N. L R. B. 952, wherein it was stipu-
lated that Inland Container Corporation is an Indiana corporation operating plants at
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Middletown, Ohio, and Indianapolis and Evansville, Indiana ; that
during 1942 the Company purchased raw materials valued in excess of $1,000,000, and
during that same year sold finished products valued in excess of $1,000,000; that approx-
imately 90 percent of these raw materials were purchased outside the States in which
these four plants are located and shipped in interstate commerce from points outside such
States to said plants ; and that during the same period, approximately 12 percent of the
finished products of the four plants was shipped to points outside the States in which
said plants are located.
• The Field Examiner reported that the C. I. 0 submitted 71 cards, and that the A. F
of L. submitted 67 cards. There are approximately 150 employees in the appropriate
unit.
928 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The C. I. O. and A. F. of L. are in agreement that the appropriate
unit should consist of all production and maintenance employees of
the Company at its Evansville, Indiana, operations, excluding office
and clerical employees, watchmen, guards, and all supervisory em-
ployees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action. The Company does not deny the appro-
priateness of the foregoing unit.3
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Company at its Evansville, Indiana, operations,4 excluding office
and clerical employees, watchmen, guards, and all supervisory em-
ployees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively
recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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 Re-
a The evidence indicates that the Evansville operations of the Company comprise two
plants, the Virginia Street plant and the Louisiana Street plant , which latter plant the
Company recently purchased from the Evansville Container Corporation . It further ap-
pears that the Company contemplates moving all of Its operations at the Virginia Street
plant to the Louisiana Street plant in the Immediate future. At the hearing , counsel for
the Company maintained that the Louisiana Street plant was still owned and operated
by the Evansville Container Corporation , and not by the Company . However , the Com-
pany introduced no evidence to support the foregoing contention or to refute the testi-
mony of witnesses who testified as to the Company's purchase of the Louisiana Street
plant.
' If at the time of the election the Company has assumed ownership and control of the
Louisiana Street plant , its employees therein shall be deemed included within the above-
described unit.
INLAND CONTAINER CORPORATION 929
lations 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 representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Inland Container
Corporation, Evansville, Indiana, 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 Eleventh Region, acting in this
matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject
to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations,
among 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 United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America,
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or by Inter-
national Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes
of collective bargaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN HERZoo took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
686872-46-60