Mid State Wood Products Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Dec 21, 1949

87 N.L.R.B. 1311 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter Of MID STATE WOOD PRODUCTS CORPORATION, EMPLOYER
and LoCAL 707, UNITED FURNITURE WORKERS Or AMERICA, C. I. 0.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 13-RC-840.-Decided December 21, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before John P.
von Rohr, hearing officer. 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-member panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and
Murdock].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The business of the Employer:
Mid State Wood Products Corporation, an Illinois corporation, is
engaged in the manufacture of sewing machine cabinets in Rockford,
Illinois. During the year 1948, the Employer purchased raw materials
valued at approximately $239,500, of which approximately 80 percent
was obtained from points outside the State of Illinois. During the
same period, the Employer sold all its finished cabinets, which were
valued at approximately $560,300, to two sewing machine manufac-
turers in the State of Illinois. These manufacturers are the National
Sewing Machine Company, Belvidere, Illinois, which received 95
percent of the Employer's cabinets during the period in question, and
the Gillman Manufacturing Company, Rock Island, Illinois, which
received the remaining 5 percent. Neither of the manufacturers does
any work on the cabinets but sells them as a component part of its
sewing machines to jobbers who install the sewing machines in the
I The Employer contends that the petition in this case should not he processed until the
Board investigates a statement alleged to have been made recently to the press by an officer
of the parent union of the Petitioner to the effect that "he still believed in the principles
and doctrines of the Communist party ," because if true the alleged statement precludes the
Board from honoring and giving effect to the non-Communist affidavit filed by this officer
with the Board in compliance with Section 9 (h) of the Act. For the reasons stated in
American Seating Company , 85 NLRB 269 , we reject the Employer ' s contention.
87 NLRB No. 138.
1311
1312 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
cabinets. According to the testimony of the Employer's president,
the greater portion of the sales of the National Sewing Machine Com-
pany are to customers outside the State of Illinois. The Board's
records show that the sales of the Gillman Manufacturing Company
during the year 1948 exceeded $1,000,000, of which 80 percent repre-
sented sales to customers outside the State of Illinois.Z In view of
these facts, we find, contrary to the Employer's contention, that it is
engaged in operations affecting commerce within the meaning of the
National Labor Relations Act.3 We further find that it will effectuate
the policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction in this proceeding.
2. The Petitioner is a labor organization claiming to represent
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. We find in substantial accord with the positions of the parties
that the following employees of the Employer constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. All production and maintenance
employees, excluding office and clerical employees, guards, and super-
visors within the meaning of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than
30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this
case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of his Direction of Election, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since
quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by Local 707, United Furniture Workers of America, C. I. O.
2 Case No . 13-RC-824.
s Delta Oxygen Company, 83 NLRB 177; Acorn Products Corporation, 83 NLRB 271.