International Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 23, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 751 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD of PULP, SULPHITE AND PAPER MILL
WORB:ERS, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 21-RC-389.-Decided November 23, 1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
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.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.
The labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of
the Employer.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds that no question
affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees
of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the Act for the following reasons:
From 1937 to December 1, 1947, Owens Illinois Glass Company,
herein called the Glass-Company, operated a paper mill as a part of its
Vernon, California, plant.2 During this period, the production em-
ployees of the entire plant, including the paper mill, were covered by
collective bargaining agreements between the Glass Company and the
'Houston, Reynolds and Murdock.
I For the reasons set forth hereinafter , the motion of the Intervenor , Glass Bottle Blowers
Association of the U. S. and Canada, AFL, Local 146 , that the petition be dismissed be-
cause its contract with the Employer is a bar, is hereby granted Accordingly, we find
it unnecessary to pass upon its motion to dismiss on the ground that the unit sought by
the Petitioner is inappropriate.
2 The paper mill was operated primarily to fill its own paper needs , but the Glass Com-
pany also solicited and had outside customers.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 113.
751
752 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Intervenor, the latest of which runs from August 21, 1947, to Sep-
tember 30, 1949. On December 1, 1947, the Employer herein purchased
the paper mill facility from the Glass Company and has continued to
operate it in substantially the same manner as the Glass Company
had.3 Accordingly, on November 18,1947, the Employer, anticipating
this, executed an agreement with the Intervenor which, with respect
to the employees of the paper mill substituted the Employer for the
Glass Company in the current contract between the latter and the
Intervenor.4 The Employer and the Intervenor contend that this con-
tract is a bar to the petition which was filed herein on June 18, 1948,
concerning the production employees of the Employer's paper mill.
In view of the Employer's express agreement to assume the contract
between the Intervenor and the Glass Company with respect to the
Employer's plant,,' and the fact that this contract for a 2-year period
is of reasonable duration 6 and still had more than a year to run when
the petition was filed, we find that the contract is a bar to this proceed-
ing. We shall, therefore, dismiss the petition.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
$ This similarity of operation includes a continuation of the Glass Company's priority on
paper mill production and the resultant close interrelation between the paper mill and the
Glass Company 's glass manufacturing operations.
* This substitution was effective December 1, 1947 , the date of the transfer of the paper
mill.
5 Cf. Matter of Herman Loewenstein , Inc., 75 N. L. R. B. 377.
5 Matter of Reed Roller Bit Company, 72 N. L. R. B. 927.