Rohm and Haas Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 5, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 785 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of RolIM AND HAAS COMPANY and FEDERATION OF GLASS,.
CERAMIC AND SILICA SAND WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No. 4-R-1765.-Decided September 5, 1945
Mr. J. Arvid Johnson, of Philadelphia, Pa., for the Company.
Holmes, Lewis and Menendez, by Mr. 147. T. Lewis, of Columbus,.
Ohio, and Mr. Everett Kanatzar, of Bristol, Pa., for the Union.
Miss Helen Hart, of counsel to the board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Federation of Glass, Ceramic and
Silica Sand Workers of America, CIO, herein called the Union,
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Rohm and Haas Company, Bristol,
Pennsylvania, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice
before Eugene M. Purver, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held
at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 29, 1945. The Company
and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rul-
ings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file
briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in th case,' the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Rohm and Haas Company, a Delaware corporation, has its princi-
pal place of business in Bristol, Pennsylvania, where it is engaged in
'Subsequent to the hearing , the parties filed with the Board a stipulation to correct the
record in a certain aspect. The record is corrected accordingly.
63 N. L. R. B., No. 117.
785
786 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the manufacture , sale, and distribution of chemicals , chemical special-
ties, and plastics . During 1944 , the Company purchased more than
$750,000 worth of raw materials , approximately 75 percent of which
was shipped to the Company 's plant from points outside the Common-
weath of Pennsylvania . During the same year , the Company manu-
factured products valued in excess of $750,000 , about 75 percent of
which was transported to points outside the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
For the purposes of this proceeding , the Company admits that it
is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor
Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Federation of Glass, Ceramic and Silica Sand Workers of Amer-
ica, 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 hear-
ing; indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union contends that the following unit is appropriate : all
hourly paid production and service employees of the Company at its
Bristol plant, including departmental control laboratory employees,
gardners, yard truck drivers, common laborers, fire marshals, and re-
ceiving and shipping department employees, but excluding pattern
makers, office clerical employees, guards, general maintenance em-
ployees, powerhouse employees, departmental maintenance employees,
research and development laboratory employees (laboratories 2, 3,
4, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 27), group leaders, and all supervisory employees.
The Company seeks to include pattern makers and group leaders in
the unit but otherwise agrees with the Union's position as to the
specific categories to be included.
'The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 695 membership designation
cards and that there are 1 ,200 employees in the alleged appropriate unit.
ROHM AND HAAS COMPANY 787
The Company employs 16 pattern makers at its Bristol plant. Their
work is under the supervision of the production department in fabri-
cation. In prior proceedings in which consent elections were held
under Board auspices among the production employees,3 the parties
agreed to exclude pattern makers from the Unit .4 Pattern makers
comprise a well -established and highly skilled craft group; as such,
their interests differ somewhat from those of the other production
workers. Moreover, the Union stated at the hearing that it has 'not
attempted to organize the pattern makers. In a number of cases we
have had occasion to establish such employees as a separate craft unit.
In view of these facts, we shall exclude the pattern makers from the
unit.
Direct supervisory authority at the Bristol plant of the Company
originates with the plant manager who has under him, in the order
named, the following supervisory employees : an assistant plant man-
ager, a production superintendent, four area superintendents, assistant
area superintendents, department foremen, day foremen and shift fore-
men. Group leaders in the plant are responsible to the shift foremen
and make oral reports to them on the work performed in their respec-
tive groups. These group leaders assign specific jobs to the men on their
teams and they direct their men on such jobs to the extent that a first-
class mechanic directs his helpers. They are not, however, responsible
for the conduct of the men in their group and they have no authority
to discipline, transfer, hire, discharge, or promote any of these men,
nor may they effectively recommend such action. Their directive
duties are attributable mainly to the fact that they are. more highly
skilled than the employees in their groups. They are paid on an hourly
basis and receive 6 cents an hour more than regular production work-
ers; but first-class mechanics at the plant have the same wage differ-
ential. The Company stated at the hearing that it was reorganizing its
method of compensation for its supervisory employees and that by
July 16, 1945, all supervisory employees were to be on a salary basis.
Group leaders, however, will remain on an hourly basis. It is apparent
that group leaders do not possess supervisory authority according to
our customary definition; we shall include them in the unit.
We find that all hourly paid production and service employees of the
Company at its Bristol plant, including departmental control labora-
tory employees, gardeners, yard truck drivers, common laborers, fire
marshals, receiving and shipping department employees, and group
leaders, but excluding office clerical employees, guards, general main-
tenance employees, departmental maintenance employees, powerhouse
8 See Matter of Rohm and Haas Company, Cases Nos. 4-R-1462 and 4-R-1615, in which
no bargaining -representatives were selected
4 The pattern makers are also excluded from a maintenance unit established by the
Board and represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers , Local 541, AFL.
See Matter of Rohm and Haas Company , 51 N. L. R. B 1232.
662514-46--vol 63-51
788 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
employees , pattern makers, research and development laboratory em-
ployees ( laboratories 2, 3, 4, 7 , 8, 10, 11, and 27), and all supervisory
employees with authoity to hire, promote , discharge , discipline, or
otherwise effect changes in the status of employees , or effectively recom-
mend such action, 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 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 Relations 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 Rohm and Haas
Company, Bristol, Pennsylvania , 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 Fourth 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 Regulations , among the em-
ployees 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, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States
who present themselves in person at the polls , but excluding those em-
ployees 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 Federation
of Glass, Ceramic and Silica Sand Workers of America, CIO , for the
purposes of collective bargaining.
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