Poirier and McLane Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 29, 1948

80 N.L.R.B. 849 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of POIRIER AND MCLANE CORPORATION , EMPLOYER avd
UNITED BROTHERIIOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINERS OF AMERICA,
A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 3-RC-85.-Decided November 29, 194,8
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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 labor organization named below claims to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9
(1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appro-
priate for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of
Section 9 (b) of the Act :
All production and maintenance employees of the Employer at its
Falconer, New York, plant, excluding office and clerical employees,
truck drivers and their helpers, guards, professional employees and
supervisors.
5. Since October 1944, the Employer, at its Falconer, New York.
plant, has been engaged in the manufacture of shipping cases and one
classified article exclusively for the United States Government. At
the hearing on June 30, 1948, the Employer requested the postponement
•Houston, Reynolds , and Murdock.
80 N. L. R. B., No. 136.
849
850 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of any election in this matter in view of an anticipated expansion in
the unit.
There were 36 employees in the unit at the time of the hearing, as
against a normal complement asserted by the Employer to approxi-
mate 300 employees., The Employer had expected to attain its nor-
mal complement by September 1, 1948, at which time it had hoped to
be awarded certain Government contracts.
Following the hearing, regular administrative advice from the
Regional Director indicated that the Employer's pay roll had dropped
to 12 employees in August 1948 and to 8 employees in October and
November 1948, that the Employer had not received any further
Government contracts since the hearing, and that no other basis
appears for a belief that the Employer's operations will be expanded
in the reasonably near future.
Under these circumstances, we believe that the Employer's expan-
sion anticipations are entirely speculative and do not justify denying
the employees an opportunity at this time to be represented for pur-
poses of collective bargaining. We find that the present employees
constitute a substantial and representative working force sufficient to
warrant the holding of an immediate election.
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-Series 5, as amended, 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 this 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 reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also exclud-
ing employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of
collective bargaining, by United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America, A. F. L.
i The Employer introduced in evidence a schedule of its employment requirements since its
Inception. The schedule shows considerable fluctuations in the size of its working force,
ranging from a low of 9 employees to a peak of 517 employees.