Richard Alan Button Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 22, 1951

94 N.L.R.B. 1429 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

RICHARD ALAN BUTTON COMPANY 1429
atory." The letter to the Regional Director stated that the Employer
would not renew the contract with the Intervenors. We believe that
taken together these letters clearly indicated the Employer's in-
tention not to renew the contract, and we find that such notice was
sufficient under the contract to forestall automatic renewal 3
Nor do we find persuasive the Intervenors' contention that the notice
was not to the proper parties. The Intervenors admit that the Em-
ployer's letter of February 15 was received by Local 286, but argue
that no notice was received by the International, which is a party
to the contract. However, as noted above, Simone acted in the dual
capacity of International representative and president of Local 286.
While the Intervenors assert that the. International's constitution
requires that the International president sign all contracts, there is no
evidence of any limitation on the authority of International repre-
sentatives to receive notices binding upon the International. Under
all the circumstances, we conclude that the notice herein directed to
the local union which is a party to the contract and whose president
is an International representative, and himself a signatory to the
contract, was sufficient notice to both the local and the International .4
Accordingly, we find that the Employer's notice of February 15,
1951, forestalled the automatic renewal of the contract, and that such
contract does not bar the instant petition.
4. We find 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 main-
tenance employees, excluding office clerical and sales employees, and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
8 See Wisconsin Telephone Company, 75 NLRB 993.
4 Cf. North America Phillips Company, Inc ., 78 NLRB 666.
RICHARD ALAN BUTTON COMPANY and UNITED RUBBER , CORK, LINO-
LEUM & PLASTIC WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER . Case No.
4-RC-1085. Jume 22, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harold Kowal, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'.
I At the hearing Allied Trades Council , AFL, herein called the Intervenor, was permitted
to intervene on the basis of an alleged contractual interest.
94 NLRB No. 219.
1430 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Houston, Reynolds, and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case , the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. In June 1950, the Employer was engaged in the manufacture of
plastic buttons at its plant at Brooklyn, New York. On June 6, 1950,
the Employer and the Intervenor entered into a 3-year bargaining
contract for employees at this plant, which the contracting parties
urge as a bar to this proceeding.
At the time of making the contract, the Employer and the Intervenor
contemplated that the Employer would shortly move its plant to
Roosevelt, New Jersey, about 50 miles distant, and, in an amended
contract executed on June 14, 1950, specifically provided for transfer
rights and severance pay for these employees.
In July 1950, the Employer discontinued operations at its Brooklyn
plant and, at the end of September. 1950, began operations at its
Roosevelt plant. Except for a change recently made in the broaching
department, the Employer makes the same product and used the same
machinery and approximately the same number of employees at the
Roosevelt plant as it used at its Brooklyn plant.
There were no employees at the Roosevelt plant in June 1950 at
the time the contract was made. In September 1950, at the time of
the transfer of operations, only 6 of approximately 60 employees in
the contract unit at the Brooklyn plant transferred their employment
to the Roosevelt operations, and new employees were engaged to make
a working force for the new location. Under these circumstances, we
are of the opinion that the Roosevelt plant is tantamount to a com-
pletely new operation and that the contract of June 6, 1950, made
before-the new operation began, is no bar to a determination of repre-
sentatives for Roosevelt plant employees at this time 2
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.
4. The parties agree, and we find, that all production and mainte-
nance employees of the Employer at its Roosevelt, New Jersey, plastic
button plant, excluding office clerical employees, student engineers,
watchmen, guards, and supervisors, constitute a unit appropriate for'
2 St. Regis Paper Company, 84 NLRB 454; Riverfront Finishing Company, 77 NLRB
1048; Sardik Food Products Corporation , 46 NLRB 894 ; General Electric Company
( Medford Plant ),'85 NLRB 150; cf. Yale Rubber Manufacturing Company , 85 NLRB 131.
FLORENCE STOVE COMPANY 1431
the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
ROANOKE GAS COMPANY and UNITED GAS, COKE AND CHEMICAL WORK-
ERS OF AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 5-RC-797. June 22,
1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John K. Pickens, 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection. with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is a public utility corporation organized and
existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, with its
main office at Roanoke, Virginia. Its business operations are limited
by its charter to the counties of Roanoke and Botetourt 2 The Em-
ployer is engaged in the distribution and sale at retail of natural gas
and gas-burning appliances.
During the year 1950, the Employer received as revenue from its
sale and distribution of gas 3 approximately $1,033,909, of which 83
percent was derived from residential consumers, and the balance
from industrial and commercial consumers 4 During the same period,
its revenue from the sale of appliances, all of which were made locally,
amounted to approximately $250,000.
Purchases of gas appliances during 1950 amounted to approximately
$100,000. The secretary-treasurer of the Employer, testifying at
1 The hearing officer permitted the International Brotherhood of Firemen & Oilers
Union, AFL, to intervene. The afore-mentioned International represented the employees
at the Employer's gas manufacturing plant prior to the conversion of the Employer's
operations to natural gas. Since the conversion the operations of the gas manufacturing
plant have been for the most eliminated or absorbed by the natural gas operations. See
Continental Can Company, Inc., 93 NLRB 184.
2 The Employer is actively engaged in business in Roanoke County only.
8 The Employer converted its operations to natural gas in October 1950. Prior to that
time it manufactured all the gas it sold and distributed.
4 The Employer has classified all nonresidential consumers as commercial and industrial
consumers. Some of the Employer's industrial consumers are the following concerns :
American Viscose Company, Norfolk & Western Railway Company, Wilson & Company,
Swift & Company, Armour & Company, Veterans Hospital, Greyhound Bus Garage, Wool-
worth Corporation and Times-World Corporation (Newspaper).
94 NLRB No. 226.