Johnson & Johnson

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 24, 1944

54 N.L.R.B. 849 (N.L.R.B. 1944)

In the Matter Of JOHNSON & JOHNSON and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION
OF AMERICA , C. I. O.
Case No. 4-R-1284.-Decided January 24, 1944
Mr. Robert J. Diason, of New Brunswick, N. J., for the Company.
Mr. Benjamin Wyle, of New-York City, for the C. I. O.
Mr. George W. Bucko, Jr., of New Brunswick, N. J., for the Associa-
tion.
Mr. Seymour J. Spelman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition ' duly filed by Textile Workers, Union of America,
C. I. 0., herein called the C. I. 0., alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, New Jersey, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Eugene M. Purver, Trial Ex-
aminer. Said hearing was held at New Brunswick, New Jersey, on
December 6, 1943. The Company, the C. I. 0., and Employees' In-
dependent Association of Johnson & Johnson, herein called the Asso-
ciation, appeared, participated, and 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 the opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OE FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE CO1IIPANY
Johnson & Johnson, a New Jersey corporation maintaining its prin-
cipal office and plants in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a branch
office and plant in Chicago, Illinois, is engaged in the manufacture and
54 N. L. R. B., No. 127.
507900-44-vol. 54-55 849
850 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
sale of surgical dressings and allied products. We are concerned
herein only with the New Brunswick plants. Over 90 percent of the
raw materials used by the Company at its New Brunswick plants is
transported from points outside the State of New Jersey, and more
than 90 percent of the finished products, valued in excess of,1 million
dollars, is shipped to points outside the -State of New Jersey. The
Company concedes, and we find, that it is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
IT. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Textile Workers Union of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
Employees' Independent Association of Johnson & Johnson is an
unaffiliated labor organization, admitting to membership employees
of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION OONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The parties stipulated that a question concerning representation
has arisen in that the C. I. O. claims to represent a majority of certain
of the Company's employees within an alleged appropriate unit, and'
the Company has declined to recognize the C. I. O. on the ground that
the Company recognizes the Association as exclusive bargaining agent
of said employees as a result of a consent election conducted by the
National Labor Relations Board on September 11, 1941,1 whereby
the Association was designated by a majority of the employees as their
exclusive bargaining agent.
Shortly after the,consent election of September 11, 19419 the Associa-
tion and the Company entered into a collective bargaining agreement
providing for a term of one year to November 19, 1942, and auto-
matic renewal from year to year thereafter in the absence of a ter-
mination notice more than 60 days prior to the end of any yearly
period. On November 19, 1942, in the absence of any 60-day notice,
the contract was automatically renewed, but more than 60 days before
November 19, 1943, the Association notified the Company that it de-
sired to renegotiate the contract. In a letter dated September 29, 1943,
the C. I. O. informed the Company that it claimed to represent a ma-
jority of the employees at the New Brunswick plants. Ian December
1943, the Association and the Company entered into a new agreement
providing for a term of one year to November 19, 1944.
The Association contends that its new agreement of December 1943.
constitutes a bar to, this proceeding. We find this contention to be
Case No. 2-R-2225.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON 851
without merit, for the contract was entered into with notice of the
C. I. O.'s claim.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced in evi-
dence at the hearing, indicates that the C. I. O. represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate. 2
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 parties are agreed that the appropriate bargaining unit should
include all non-supervisory employees of the Company employed on
hourly, piecework or incentive basis at the Main Plant in New Bruns-
wick, New Jersey, the Ligature Plant in North Brunswick, New Jer-
sey, and the Miscellaneous Mill, in Milltown, New Jersey, 3 excluding
office employees and office clerks, technical employees (including chem-
ists and time-study men), salaried engineers, and supervisory em-
ployees down to and including inspectors. ' However, the Association
and the Company contend that the unit should also include non-
supervisory employees employed on a salary basis, notwithstanding
the C. I. O.'s contrary claim.
The Company employs approximately 2800 employees, of whom 48
are non-supervisory salaried employees in the following classifica-
tions : plant or factory clerks, draftsmen, editors of the plant news-
paper, a lock tender, employees in the methods and engineering de-
partment, and employees in the production control department. All
of these employees have been included in the bargaining unit of non-
supervisory employees-established in the Association's contracts with
the Company.
The salaried plant or factory clerks, approximately 24 in number,
work in the various departments of the plants where their duties, in
the main, consist of timekeeping and the preparation of pay roll,
production, and requisition records and schedules. Their 'work is
identical with the work of other plant clerks who are paid on an
, The Field Examiner stated that the C. I. 0 submitted 913 authorization cards, all
bearing apparently genuine, original signatures , and 819 bearing dates from July to
November 1943 Of these 913 cards , 842 bore the names of employees on the Company's
pay roll of October 29, 1943 , which contained the names of 2843 employees in the alleged
appropriate unit The Association relied upon its contract with the Company to estab-
lish its interest in this proceeding
3 The 3 named plants are located in and about the city of New Brunswick , New Jersey
and constitute the Company 's New Brunswick plants. i,4 The parties stipulated , and we find , that inspectors are supervisory employees.
5In these agreements the Company recognized the Association as the exclusive bargain-
ing agent of all non-supervisory employees at the Company 's New Brunswick plants, em-
ployed on an hourly, piece-work and salary basis.
852 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
hourly basis, and the only reason for the distinction in the basis of their
compensation is historical.
The draftsmen, approximately 7 in number, work in the mechanical
department under the direction and supervision of the engineers and
the chief draftsmen. According to the uncontroverted testimony of
a Company official, these employees are not draftsmen in a technical
sense, since, for the most part, they are recruited from the ranks of
production workers and have received no formal training. Their
training is acquired through experience in the mechanical department
where, as distinguished from the engineers, they copy, but do not origi-
nate, designs. They are paid a salary for a basic workweek and re-
ceive time and one-half for overtime.
The editor and associate editor of the plant newspaper devote full
time to duties customarily required in the publication of a small news-
paper.
The lock tender perform duties incident to the drawing of water
from a canal which the Company utilizes in its production.
The personnel of the production control department consists of
approximately 10 salaried clerks who work on pay roll, requisition,
and production records and, from time to time, act as messengers.
Their duties are similar to those of the other plant clerks, many of
whom work on an hourly basis, and they are paid time and one-half
for overtime.
The methods and engineering department is comprised of the fol-
lowing employees: 7 engineers (excluded by agreement of the parties
as technical employees) ; 4 clerks who devote full time to routine tasks
related to the employees-suggestion system ; 2 employees in the
methods laboratory who assist in training old employees for new
jobs; 1 employee who divides his time between routine work in the
suggestion system and photography, and 1 secretary to the director
of the department.
The C. I. 0. contends that all of these non-supervisory employees
should be excluded from the bargaining unit because they are paid
on a salary basis, as distinguished from the other employees in the pro-
posed unit who are paid on an hourly, piece-work or incentive basis.
We find no merit in this contention. While a difference in the basis
of wage payment frequently coincides with, and often indicates dif-
ferences with respect to the duties, 'interests, and attitudes of the
employees and may therefore be employed as a yardstick in estab-
lishing an appropriate bargaining unit, such is not true in the instant
case. With respect to at least half of the non-supervisory salaried
employees, namely the salaried plant clerks, it appears that the only
reason for the distinction in wage payment is historical, and the record
discloses that the duties of all plant clerks are substantially similar.
JOHNSON & JOHNSON 853,
In addition, the C. I. 0. offered no convincing evidence to justify
the exclusion of the remaining salaried employees, but relied almost
entirely on the fact of a difference in the basis of pay. Since it is
uncontroverted that all these salaried non-supervisory employees have
been bargained for since 1941 as part of a broad production and
maintenance unit, including all hourly paid non-supervisory em-
ployees, many of whose duties are also clerical, and since it does not
appear in this case that the difference in the basis of wage payment,
is material, we are of the opinion that the salaried non-supervisory
employees, except as noted below, should be included in the bargaining
unit.
The two employees who devote their time to the preparation and
publication of the plant newspaper are clearly editorial workers
and do not have a sufficient community of interest with the other em- -
ployees to warrant their inclusion in the unit. We shall, therefore,
exclude them from the bargaining unit.
In accordance with the agreement of the parties and in view of
the foregoing facts, we find that all non-supervisory employees-at
the Company's Main Plant in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Liga-
ture Plant in North Brunswick, New Jersey, and Miscellaneous Mill
in Milltown, New Jersey, employed on an hourly, piece-work, incen-
tive, and salary basis, excluding the editor and associate editor of
the plant newspaper, office employees and office clerks, technical em-
ployees (including chemists and time-study men), salaried engineers,
and all supervisory employees (including inspectors) with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes
in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Acts
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by an election by secret ballot. The Com-
pany stated that during the past month it has laid off approximately
100 employees, and expects to lay off at least 50 more within the next
30 days. It urges that these laid-off employees be declared ineligible
to vote on the ground that there is little likelihood of their being
available to this Company for reemployment. In accordance with
our customary practice, the eligibility to vote of laid-off or discharged
employees will be defined in the Direction of Election, hereinafter.
If, at the election, there is disagreement with respect to the eligibility
6 This is substantially the same unit provided for since 1941 in the contracts between
the Company and the Association.
854 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
to vote of any of such employees, the parties are free to challenge
the ballots of such employees. We shall, therefore, direct that the
employees of the Company eligible to vote in the election shall be
those in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding 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 Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and. Regulations , Series 3, it is hereby
DIRECTED that , as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Johnson & John-
son, New Brunswick , New Jersey, 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 Fourth 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
the 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 Textile
Workers Union of America , C. I. 0., or by Employees ' Independent
Association of Johnson & Johnson, for the purposes of collective
bargaining , or-by neither.