River Valley Tissue Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 3, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 1391 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of RIVER VALLEY TISSUE MILLS, INC. and PAPER
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, CIO
Case No. 3-R-1023.Decided October '3, 1945
Mr. H. Duane Bruce, of Syracuse, N. Y., for the Company.
Mr. Fredericle D. Sandner, of Fulton, N. Y., for the Union.
Mr. Nathan Sales, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Paper Workers Organizing Commit-
tee, CIO , herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting
commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of
River Valley Tissue Mills , Inc., West Phoenix, New York, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided
for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Eugene von
Wellsheim, Trial Examiner . Said hearing was held at Fulton, New
York, on June 25, 1945 . The Company and the Union appeared and
participated . All the parties were afforded full opportunity to be
heard, to examine and cross -examine witnesses , and to introduce evi-
dence bearing on the issues . The Trial Examiner's rulings made at
the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs witlithe Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TIIE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
River Valley Tissue Mills, Inc., a New York corporation, operates
a plant at West Phoenix, New York, where it is engaged in the manu-
facture of paper. During the past year, the Company used raw ma-
terials valued at approximately $90,000, approximately 60 percent
of which came from points outside the State of New York. During
the same period, the Company's sales amounted to -approximately
63 N. L. R. B, No. 214.
1391
1392 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
$200,000 in value, approximately 45 percent of which represented ship-
ments to points outside the State.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Paper Workers Organizing Committee, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to
membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as
the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of its employees
until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate
unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number
of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Company, excluding office employees and supervisory
employees. ' The Company agrees generally with the appropriate-
ness of this unit.
Yard and Shipping Foreman: The Union would include this em-
ployee in the unit, while the Company takes no position with respect
to his inclusion or exclusion. The evidence indicates that this em-
ployee's authority is restricted to instructing the other employees
in his department in the performance of their work. Like the other
production employees, he performs manual work, and is paid on an
hourly basis. He has no authority to effect changes in the status
of any employees, or effectively recommend such action. Accord-
ingly, we shall include him in the unit.
We find, in accordance with the agreement of the parties and our
foregoing determination, that all production and maintenance em-
ployees of the Company at its West Phoenix, New York, plant, in-
cluding firemen 2 and the Yard and Shipping Foreman, but exclud-
i The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 27 authorization cards ; that
all 27 cards were dated May 1945 ; and that there were 27 employees in the alleged
appropriate unit. -
2 The evidence indicates that the firemen also act as watchmen ; they are neither armed,
deputized , nor uniformed.
RIVER VALLEY TISSUE MILLS, INC. 1393
ing all office employees and all supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes
in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute 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 among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who 'were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with River Valley
Tissue Mills, Inc., West Phoenix, New York, an election 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 Third Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section
IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immedi-
ately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who
did not work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill
or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in
the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in per-
son at the polls, 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, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by Paper Workers Organizing Committee,
CIO, for the purposes of collective bargaining.