Paper Container Manufacturing Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 10, 1948

76 N.L.R.B. 636 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of PAPER CONTAINER MANUFACTURING Co., EMPLOYER and
CHICAGO PAPER AND Box WORKERS ' UNION, LOCAL No. 415, A. F. L.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R-45,05--Decided March 10, 1948
Winston, Strawn & Shaw, by Mr. Neal J. McAuliffe, of Chicago, Ill.,
for the Employer.
Mr. George E. Higgins , of Chicago, Ill., for the Petitioner.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Chicago,
Illinois, on December 3, 1947, before Richard C. Swander, hearing
officer.' The hearing officer's' rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Paper Container Manufacturing Co. is engaged at its plant in
Chicago, Illinois, in the manufacture of paper cups and other paper
products. It purchases annually supplies valued in excess of $1,000,-
000, 75 percent of which is received from points outside the State.
Its annual sales are valued in excess of $2,000,000, of which 90 to 95
percent is shipped to points outside the State.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the Act.
' Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a
three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board Members [Houston , Reynolds, and
Gray]
76 N. L. R B, No. 97.
636
PAPER CONTAINER MANUFACTURING CO.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
637
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.2
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a 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.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit comprising all production and mainte-
nance employees in the Employer's main plant building at 7415 East
End Avenue, Chicago, excluding office clerical employees, watchmen,
and all supervisors.' The Employer contends that a unit restricted to
the main plant building is inappropriate because it fails to include
employees in the other buildings of the Employer; namely, the machine
shop at 1752 East 75th Street, the warehouse at 1929 West 43rd Street,
and the building at 1657 East 75th Street, all in Chicago.
The machine shop employees: The machine shop, located about 300
feet from the main plant, normally contains about 25 employees, who
repair and adjust machines used in the main plant. Similar work is
done by about 20 employees permanently stationed in the main plant.
The machine shop employees do not work exclusively in the shop but
spend a substantial part of their time working on machines in the
main plant and the only reason for segregating these employees is lack
of space in the main plant. While working in the main plant, the
machine shop employees are under the same immediate supervision as
their counterparts in the main plant ; otherwise, they are under different
immediate supervision. There is some interchange of personnel be-
tween the machine shop and the main plant; the pay scale in the one
is comparable to that in the other. The Petitioner, in plants of other
2 Notice of the hearing on the instant petition was served on Paper Workers Organizing
Committee , C I. 0 , which was certified by the Board on June 26 , 1945, in Case No. 13-R-
316 pursuant to a consent election, as the representative of the Employer 's production and
maintenance employees The Decision and Certification of Representatives is unpublished.
This union has not complied with Section 9 (f) and ( h) of the amended Act; It failed to
appear at the hearing
At the hearing it was agreed by the parties that "floor girls" were not supervisors and
should be included in the unit.
638 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Chicago employers, represents the same classifications as are found in
the machine shop in the instant case.
The warehouse employees: The three employees in the warehouse at
1929 West 43rd Street, whose work consists of shipping and receiving,
have the same duties and same immediate supervision as 20 other
employees who work in the warehouse in the main plant. In fact,
although the 43rd Street warehouse is about 13 miles distant from the
main warehouse, it is merely an auxiliary of the latter, being used only
to handle any overflow from the main warehouse. There is some inter-
change in personnel between the two warehouses.
The building at 1657 East '5th, Street: At this building, two blocks
from the main plant, one girl is employed to dust, and, to pack in
cartons, paper cup dispensers shipped by the Employer. Similar
work is done by other employees or by machines in the main plant.
The segregation of this employee is due solely to lack of space. Her
supervisor is the head of the purchasing department.
With respect to all three foregoing groups, which the Petitioner
would exclude from the unit, no evidence was presented that their
interests or working conditions differed from those of the production
and maintenance employees in the main plant, whom the Petitioner
seeks to represent. On the other hand, the record is clear that the
work of these three groups and, to a large extent, their immediate
supervision, is the same as that of employees in the main plant, that
their operations are closely integrated with production and main-
tenance operations in the main plant, and that their segregation there-
from is due solely to lack of space 4
We find that all production and. maintenance employees' of the
Employer at its main plant, at the 75th Street machine shop, at the
1929 West 43rd Street warehouse, and at the 1657 East 75th Street
building, excluding office clerical employees, watchmen, and all super-
visors, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot, subject to the
limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
4 The record does not disclose the precise scope of the stipulated unit for which the
Paper Workers Organizing Committee , C I 0 , was certified on Tune 26 , 1945, and for which
it negotiated a contract The unit , as defined in the certification , included "all production
and maintenance employees of the Company at its 75th Street plant and at its 75th Street
and 43rd Street warehouses." The "75th Street plant " appears to refer to what was then
the main plant . If so, it would seem that the machine shop employees were excluded
from the past bargaining contract of the Employer . However, in the present state of the
record we hesitate to assume this to be the fact.
PAPER CONTAINER MANUFACTURING CO. 639
The unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, includes em-
ployees of the Employer in all its four buildings, and is more ex-
tensive than the unit sought by the Petitioner. Since the Petitioner
appears to represent a substantial number of employees in the larger
unit, we shall at this time direct that an election be conducted among
them forthwith. If, however, the Petitioner does not desire to par-
ticipate in an election at this time, and shall notify the Regional
Director, within five (5) days after the date of the issuance of this
Decision and Direction of Election, of its desire to withdraw the
petition herein, we shall set aside our Direction of Election and
dismiss the petition.5
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Paper Container Manufactur-
ing Co., Chicago, Illinois, an election by 'secret ballot shall be con-
ducted 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 Thirteenth Region, and subject to Sections
203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regu-
lations-Series 5, 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, 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, and also ex-
cluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Chicago
Paper and Box Workers' Union, Local No. 415, A. F. L., for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
6 Matter of Vaughan Motor Company, 54 N. L. R. B.1851.