Kimberly-Clark Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 21, 1948

78 N.L.R.B. 478 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of KIMBERLY-CLARK CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
UNITED PAPER WORKERS, C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 18-R-194-Decided July 21, 1948
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
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.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner, a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, and the following additional labor organ-
izations claim to represent employees of the Employer :
Paper Mill Workers' Union, C. U. A., hereinafter called the Inde-
pendent;
International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, Local No. 469, A. F. L.,
hereinafter called the Brotherhood;
International Union of Operating Engineers, A. F. L., hereinafter
called the Engineers.
3. A question of representation 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.
4. The appropriate unit; the determination of representatives.
The Employer's operations at its plant at Niagara, Wisconsin, are
divided into the following departments : wood storage and prepara-
tion, pulp mill, paper mill, technical, engineering, and planning and
* Houston, Reynolds , and Gray.
78 N. L. R. B., No. 58.
478
KIMBERLY -CLARK CORPORATION 479
materials . The Employer, the Petitioner, and the Independent con-
tend that the appropriate unit should comprise all production and
maintenance employees, excluding clerical and technical employees,
executives, departmental superintendents, tour foremen, super-calen-
der foremen, and other supervisors.
The Brotherhood seeks a unit composed of the following employees
in the plant, excluding supervisors :
(1) In the paper mill department, all the employees, including the
tour foreman.
(2) In the planning and materials department, all employees
directly engaged in handling the finished product, including the
weighers, finishers, head handlers, car bracers, roll tractor men, paper
loaders, coremen and coreman helpers, but excluding all employees
handling raw materials.'
(3) In the technical department, the print testers, coating testers,
paper samplers, and paper testers.
(4) In the engineering department, the machine room shift mill-
wrights and the inspector-oilers who work in the paper mill depart-
ment.
The Engineers seeks a unit of all employees in the engineering de-
partment of the plant, excluding the millwrights and inspector- oilers
claimed by the Brotherhood. However, the Engineers would also in-
clude these oilers and millwrights, if the Board determines that they
cannot be included in the unit sought by the Brotherhood. The
Engineers has, moreover, indicated that if a smaller unit than the one,
it seeks is deemed appropriate, it is willing to participate in an elec-
tion among the employees in such smaller unit.
Bargaining History
On March 10, 1941, the Independent was designated, pursuant to a
consent election, as the representative of the production and mainte-
nance employees at the plant involved in this case. Since April 10,
1941, the Employer and Independent have had continuous contractual
relations.2 During this period the Independent won two elections
conducted by the Board in the plant. The first of these was held in
1944, upon petition of United Paper, Novelty and Toy Workers In-
ternational Union, C. I. 0.3 In that case the Brotherhood intervened
and requested severance from the existing plant-wide unit of a unit
' The excluded categories are. first handler, tractor man, laborer, stockman, salvage man,
truck driver, windowman, delivery man, baler, watchman, and janitor
2 The latest of these contracts, executed on November 26, 1947, for a 2-year period is not
urged as a bar, the instant petition having been seasonably filed on July 21, 1947.
8 Matter of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, 54 N L. R. B. 601.
480 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
comprising all employees in the paper-mill department and the paper
testers. After reviewing the operations of the plant, the Board said :
"Inasmuch as it is apparent that the Company's operations are
highly integrated in that each department is functionally dependent
upon all other departments and since collective bargaining at the
Company's Niagara, Wisconsin, plant has been conducted on an in-
dustrial basis for over 2 years, we are of the opinion that collective
bargaining should continue on this basis" (54 N. L. R. B., p. 606).
The Board, accordingly, found appropriate the plant-wide unit,
denying the Brotherhood's request for severance of the smaller unit.4
The Bvotlie'i hood's Unit
The unit here sought by the Brotherhood is essentially the same as
that requested by it in the 1944 case, except for the addition of a
number of categories of employees, most of whom work entirely out-
side of the paper-mill department. We find no evidence in the present
record which would justify modification of the foregoing determina-
tion.' Some of the employees included in the unit proposed by the
Brotherhood in the instant case have the same supervision and perform
work similar to that of excluded employees. Accordingly, we find
that the Brotherhood's proposed unit may not appropriately be sev-
ered from the over-all units
The Enzgineei s' Unit
The Engineers, as already stated, is seeking a unit of all the em-
ployees in the engineering department, with the exception of some of
the inspector-oilers and millwrights, as noted above. The engineering
department comprises the employees who operate and service the equip-
ment in the boilerhouse, the hydroelectric plant and the water filtration
4In 1946 , the Board oidered an election in the instant plant on the petition of Paper
Workers Organizing Committee , C I 0 (65 N L R B 747 ) The Brotherhood , interven-
ing in that case , joined Huth all other partie s in a stipulation for a plant -wide unit sub-
stantially identical with that found appropriate in the previous case. This election, was
won by the Independent
5 Since the prior decision , the Employer has added a new type of paper machine, which
has involved some expansion in personnel, but has not reduced the extent of the integration
of the Employer ' s operations The 2 years of plant -wide bargaining stressed by the Board
in the prior decision has now increased to 4 years, Collective baigaining at the Employer's
other seven plants is conducted predominantly on it plant -wide basis
"While four of the jobs in the paper - mill department (machine tender , back tender,
beater engineer , and calender opeiatoi ) require 2 to 5 years ' experience , as to the bulk of
the jobs in that depaitment and as to the other categories sought by the Brotherhood, there
was no evidence of the experience or training required The Employer has no apprentice-
ship program in the plant involved . We find, therefore , that the unit sought by the
Brotheiliood does not constitute a craft group , and that Section 9 (b) (2) of the amended
Act is, accordingly, not applicable to this case
KIMBERLY-CLARK CORPORATION 481
plant,7 and all the maintenance employees, including electricians, ma-
chinists, millwrights, welders, carpenters, painters, sheet metal work-
ers, masons, inspector-oilers, pipe fitters, blacksmiths, groundskeepers,
truck drivers, floormen, tool crib men, cleanup men, fire chiefs, roll
grinders, laborers, and helpers.
The machinists operate and keep in repair the machines in the ma-
chine shop. The millwrights maintain and repair the production
machinery. The carpenters keep the existing plant structures in re-
pair and also work on new construction. The masons pour concrete
and lay bricks wherever needed in the plant and drill holes in the walls
or floors for the insertion of pipes. The pipe fitters maintain the steam
and water pipes'throughout the plant. The sheet metal workers work
on the guards and air ducts. The inspector-oilers inspect and oil
machinery. The electricians maintain the electrical equipment
throughout the plant. The groundskeepers are responsible for the
condition of the plant grounds. The tool crib men distribute and col-
lect the tools in the machine shop."
The employees in the engineering department are all under the ulti-
mate supervision of the plant engineer. They work throughout the
plant, and the millwrights, machinists, carpenters, pipe fitters, sheet
metal workers, and painters have separate headquarters scattered
throughout the plant. The masons have no separate headquarters.a
Interchange between the engineering department and the other depart-
ments occurs in the unskilled categories and in cases where employees
are upgraded from unskilled work in another department to jobs in
the engineering department.
Upon the entire record in this case we are unable to find that these
employees constitute a homogeneous group with a sufficient community
of interest to warrant establishing a separate unit for them.'°
However, the Board has frequently found appropriate, notwith-
standing a history of collective bargaining on a broader basis, a unit
of boiler room or powerhouse employees." The appropriateness of
The boilerhouse supplies steam poser and heat , and the hydroelectric plant supplies
electricity , for the operations of the main plant In the water filtration plant, river water
is purified by the eater controllers so that it can be used in the paper-making process
" There was no evidence as to the duties of the rest of the employees in the engineering
department Honseer , with the exception of the "ioll grinders ," the general nature of
their duties may presumably be inferred fiom their job titles
No evidence was adduced as to the location of the headquarters of the remaining
classifications in the engineei ing depai tnient
lU Matter of Georgc S illephaei Corporation , 78 N I, R Ii 1081
11I1atter of Curtiss -Might Corporation , 77 N I. R B 803 , Matter of Kimberly-
Clark Corporation, 78 N. L. It B 102 , Matte) of South Paper, Incorporated, 76
N L R B 1222 , Matter of American Sugar Refining Company , 76 N L It B 1009 In
the Smith Paper and Kimber ly-Clark cases, the unit found appropriate consisted , as in the
instant case , of employees in the boilerhouse and hydroelectric plant of a paper mill
482 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
such a unit was not considered in any of the earlier cases involving this
plant and was not, therefore, covered by our determinations in those
cases.
The boilerhouse furnishes steam power and heat, and the hydro-
electric plant supplies electric energy, for the operations of the main
plant. Both the boilerhouse and the hydroelectric plant are in sepa-
rate buildings. The employees in the boilerhouse consist of the fire-
men, who operate the boilers, and the metermen, who service the charts
and the meters in the boilerhouse, which register the changes in steam
load in the plant. These employees are under the immediate supervi-
sion of the steam foreman 12 The employees in the hydroelectric plant
proper consist of the powerhouse operators, who work under the im-
niediate supervision of the electrical foreman.13
In view of the foregoing, we find that the employees in the hydro-
electric plant and the boilerhouse are a homogeneous, identifiable
group and may, if they desire, constitute an appropriate unit for
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act. However, in view of the history in this case of bargaining
,on a plant-wide basis, we believe that the over-all unit sought by the
Petitioner may, likewise, be appropriate.
Accordingly, we shall direct elections among the employees at the
Employer's Niagara, Wisconsin, plant in the following voting groups :
(1) All employees in the boilerhouse and hydroelectric plant, in-
cluding firemen, metermen, and powerhouse operators, but excluding
,dam tenders, electricians, and supervisors.
(2) All production and maintenance employees, including "head
tradesmen," 14 but excluding those employees included in group (1),
above, and all clerical and technical employees, watchmen,15 executives,
departmental superintendents, tour foremen, super-calender foremen,
and other supervisors.
1' This foreman also supervises the water controllers , who operate the water filtration
plant.
"This foreman also supervises the electricians , who service the electrical equipment in
the hydroelectric plant as well as in the rest of the plant , and the dam tenders who work
only under conditions of high water . It is not clear from the record where these dam
tenders work in relation to the hydroelectric plant or what relation their duties have to the
operations of that plant . We shall , therefore , exclude them from the first voting group
described below.
11 Included in this category are one meterman , one head pipe fitter, one head machinist,
one head sheet metal man and welder , one head mason , two head millwrights , one head
painter , one head oiler , one groundskeeper , one head carpenter , three head loaders in the
planning and materials department , and two wood room shift foremen Contrary to the
contention of the Petitioner , we find that these employees , although acting as working
foremen, are not "supervisors" under Section 2 (11) of the Act, as amended.
U In the absence of any evidence in the record as to the duties of the watchmen at the
plant involved , we assume that they fall within the definition of "guards " in Section 9 (b)
,( 3) of the amended Act.
KIMBERLY-CLARK CORPORATION 483
Pending the outcome of these elections we shall make no final unit
determination.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses -of collective bargaining with Kimberly-Clark Corporation,
Niagara, Wisconsin, 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, and subject to Sections 203.61
and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 5, among the employees in the voting groups described above,
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work dur-
ing said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tempo-
rarily laid off, 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 elections, and also excluding employees on strike
who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether the em-
ployees in v-otinn group (1) desire to be represented by United Paper
Workers, C. I. 0., or by International Union of Operating Engineers,
A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither, and
whether or not the employees in voting group (2) desire to be repre-
sented by United Papers Workers, C. I. 0., for purposes of collective
bargaining.16
19 We shall not place the name of the Independent on the ballot because of the lapse in
its compliance with the filing requirements of Section 9 of the Act , as amended. The
Brotherhood has expressed no desire to participate in an election among employees in any
unit other than that requested by it we, accordingly, omit its name from the ballot.