Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 8, 1957

117 N.L.R.B. 26 (N.L.R.B. 1957)

26 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
At the present time Local 903 has no members among the employees
of the Employer . No meetings of Local 903 have been held since Au-
gust 24. No officers have been elected or appointed to replace the ones
who have defected to the IAM and no grievances have been processed
by Local 903. We find, therefore , that Local 903 is defunct and that its
contract with the Employer is therefore not a bar to this proceeding.'
We also find that, as the contract between Employer and IAM was
executed after the filing of the petition herein, it is also not a bar.' .
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning
of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Fort
Wayne, Indiana, plant, excluding patternmakers , toolroom employees,.
salaried employees , office and clerical employees , professional em-
ployees, guards , and supervisors as defined in the Act.'
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.]
3 Benjamin Air Rifle Company, 107 NLRB 104
' Weber Show Case & Fixture Co., Inc., Aircraft Division , 96 NLRB 358, 361.
6 The unit finding conforms to a stipulation of the parties.
Harvey Paper Products Company, Division of Kalamazoo Vege--
table Parchment Company and International Printing Press-
men and Assistants' Union of North America , AFL-CIO, Pe--
tioner. Case No. 7-RC-3169. January 8,1957
ORDER AMENDING DECISION AND DIRECTION
OF ELECTION
On November 20, 1956, the Board issued a Decision and Direction,
of Election in the above-entitled matter' wherein it denied the Peti-
tioner's request for an alleged residual group of unrepresented photo-
graphic employees but granted severance of a lithographic production,
unit sought by the Amalgamated Lithographers of America, AFL-
CIO, an intervenor, herein called the Lithographers. Because the,
Lithographers' lithographic production unit was composed of (1)-
unrepresented photographic employees and (2) represented offset
pressmen, the Board established two such voting groups. The Board
placed on the ballots the Lithographers and the United Paperworkersz
of America, AFL=CIO, an intervenor, herein called the Paperworkers,.
1 116 NLRB 1624.
117 NLRB No. 7.
HARVEY PAPER PRODUCTS COMPANY 27:
and provided that only if the unrepresented photographic employees
voted for any union would the two groups be pooled and severance
permitted, if a majority of the pooled groups so voted.
On November 27, 1956, the Petitioner by telegram moved that its
name be placed on the ballots. On November 29, 1956, the Paper-
workers filed a motion for reconsideration and objections to the
Direction of Election, in which it objected in essence to the Board's
treatment of the Lithographers as a cross-petitioner, attacked the
Lithographers' showing of interest, and requested postponement of
the election.2 On December 3, 1956, the Lithographers filed a motion
for reconsideration urging in effect that the Board grant the unrepre-
sented photographic employees a self-determination election only
with respect to the plantwide unit, but not with respect to the lith-
ographic production unit to be severed.3
With respect to the Petitioner's motion, the Board having duly
considered the matter, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that said motion be and
hereby is, granted, and that the Petitioner's name be placed on the
ballots.
As the Paperworkers' motion raised nothing which the Board has
not previously considered and as the Board is administratively satis-
fied that the, Lithographers' showing of interest is adequate, IT IS
HEREBY ORDERED that the Paperworkers' motion be, and hereby is,
denied.
The Board having found merit in the argument of the Lithogra-
phers, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that its motion to amend the Decision be,
and it hereby is, granted.
IT'IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Decision and Direction of Election
be amended by striking that portion of the Decision in the first para-
graph in the text on page 1626 after footnote 5, beginning, "Accord-
ingly, we shall vote" through the end of the Decision, and substitute
therefor the following :
Accordingly, we shall vote the unrepresented photographic
employees apart from the represented offset pressmen and shall
establish two separate voting groups, one for the photographic
employees and the other for the offset pressmen. We shall first
pool the votes of the two voting groups and sever the lithographic
production employees if a majority so vote. If a majority of the
pooled groups do not vote for severance, the offset pressmen will
2 On December 10, 1956, the Board issued an Order Amending Direction of Election
postponing indefinitely the election herein until the Board disposes of these motions (not
reported in printed volumes of Board Decisions and Orders).
See The Zia Company, 108 NLRB 1134 , amended decisions , 109 NLRB 312 and 862.
28 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
remain in the plantwide unit and the photographic employees
will be placed in the plantwide unit or remain unrepresented
according to the desires of the majority of that voting group.
However, we shall not make a final unit determination at this
time but shall direct an election among employees in the following
voting groups :
(1) All photographic employees at the Employer's Sturgis,
Michigan, plant, including the plateman and plateman stripper
but excluding the cameraman-platemaker,s all other employees,
office clerical employees, guards, professional employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
(2) All offset pressmen at the Employer's Sturgis, Michigan,
plant, including journeymen and apprentices, but excluding of-
fice clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined in the Act.
If a majority of the employees in the pooled groups vote for
the Petitioner or for the Lithographers, they will be taken to
have indicated their desire for separate representation, and the
Regional Director is instructed to issue a certification of repre-
sentatives to the Petitioner or to the Lithographers for the
lithographic production unit described above, which the Board,
under such circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of
collective bargaining. Moreover, if a majority of the pooled
groups do not vote for the Petitioner or for the Lithographers,
the offset pressmen will remain in the existing plantwide unit;
also if a majority of the employees in voting group (1) vote for
the Paperworkers, they will be taken to have indicated their de-
sire to be included in the existing plantwide unit, which, includ-
ing such employees, the Board finds to be appropriate, and the
Regional Director is instructed to issue a certification of results
of election to such effect. On the other hand, if a majority of
the employees in voting group (1) do not vote for the Paper-
workers, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to re-
main unrepresented, and the Regional Director is instructed to
issue a certification of results of election to such effect.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
9 The cameraman-platemaker is the head of the photographic employees . He directs
the activities of the two employees under him, has the right to discipline, hire, and
fire, and hired one of his employees . In agreement with the Employer , we find that
he is a . supervisor and exclude him. While the plateman stripper makes up work
schedules when the cameraman , is on vacation , absent evidence of other supervisory
authority, such sporadic exercise of authority does not constitute him a super-
visor . Fox Manufacturing Company, 112 NLRB 977, 978.