Smith Paper, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 7, 1948

76 N.L.R.B. 1226 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter of SMITH PAPER, INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER and INTER-
NATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 1-R-3865.-Decided April 7, 1948
Mr. A. L. Prichard, of Louisville, Ky., for the Employer.
Messrs. William J. Wallace and Cornelius J. Ryan, of Boston,
Mass., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Frederick J. Roch f ord, of Boston, Mass., for the Intervenor.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Pitts-
field, Massachusetts, on January 15, 1948, before Thomas H. Ramsey,
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
a
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Smith Paper, Incorporated, a Delaware corporation, is engaged in
the manufacture of cigarette paper, carbonizing paper, condensing
paper, and other thin paper specialties. The Employer's plants are
located at Lenox and Lee, Massachusetts; in addition, it has a fibre
division which is located at Red Lake Falls, Minnesota. The Em-
ployer's annual purchases of raw materials are valued at more than
$200,000, and all of such materials were obtained outside the Common-
wealth of Massachusetts. During the past 6 months, the Employer's
gross sales of finished products exceeded $1,000,000, of which more
than 80 percent were made to points outside the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts.
1 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-man panel consisting of Board Members
Houston, Reynolds, and Gray.
76 N. L. R. B, No. 175.
1226
SMITH PAPER, INCORPORATED 1227
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meanuig of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American Fed-
eration of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, herein called the In-
tervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federa-
tion of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of certain of its employees until the Peti-
tioner 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; DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The Petitioner seeks a unit of powerhouse and hydro-electric plant
employees consisting of all engineers, firemen, firemen's helpers, ash-
man, and hydro-electric operators, at the Employer's Lee plants,2 ex-
cluding executives, office and clerical employees, production and main-
tenance employees, chief engineers, watchmen, and all guards, pro-
fessional employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. Althoqgh
the Employer and the Intervenor 3 contend that these employees should
be part of a broader production and maintenance unit currently rep-
resented by the Intervenor, they are nevertheless agreed, if the Board
establishes a separate powerhouse unit, that the above-described com-
position of such proposed unit would be appropriate.
The history of collective bargaining discloses that the Employer has
recognized and has dealt with the Intervenor as the collective bargain-
ing representative -of its production and maintenance employees, in-
cluding the employees here in question, since 1937. However, the first
collective bargaining contract between the Employer and the Inter-
venor covering these employees was not executed until July 1946. On
'The record discloses that the Employer 's Lee plants are designated as the Eagle Mill,
Columbia Mill, Niagara Mill, and Valley Mill
' At the hearing, the Intervenor offered to submit written proof that approximately 14
employees desired to remain in the production and maintenance unit represented by the
Intervenor . The hearing officer properly rejected this evidence A question of representa-
tion having been raised , the choice of the bargaining representative can best be determined
in a Board -conducted election by secret ballot, hereinafter directed. Matter of Hortea,
Manufacturing Company, 75 N. L. R. B. 143; Matter of Semon Bache & Company, 72
N. L. R. B. 531.
1228 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS, BOARD
August 19, 1947, the parties entered into another agreement covering
the same unit. The 1947 contract, which is presently in effect, provides,
among other things, that :
In the event the National Labor Relations Board, or any agency
designated by it, determines that any group of employees now
considered to fall under the jurisdiction of the Union properly
falls within any other bargaining unit, or certifies any other labor
organization as the exclusive bargaining agent for employees
in any other bargaining unit, then employees in any such other
bargaining unit shall forthwith be considered no longer to be
under the jurisdiction of the Union, or in any way covered by this
contract.
In connection with its operations, the Employer has boiler rooms
at its Eagle, Columbia, and Niagara mills, and a hydro-electric plant
located near its Niagara plant. These powerhouse departments are
physically separated from the rest of the plants. The boiler rooms
furnish heat and steam power for the Employer's operations while the
hydro-electric plant supplies a part of the electric energy required for
the Employer's mills. Engineers, firemen, firemen's helpers, and the
ashman 4 work in the various boiler rooms. Engineers operate and
maintain stationary engines such as steam boilers, and other steam
and electrical equipment. Firemen and their helpers fire boilers and
perform the other duties normally incidental to their jobs. There are
three hydro-electric plant operators who work in the hydro-electric
plant. Of these, one is designated as chief operator.5 Each operator
works an 8-hour day and, among other things, helps to keep records
of electrical output. The boiler rooms and the hydro-electric plant are
under the ultimate supervision of the plant engineer, whom we shall
exclude from the unit as a supervisor. Engineers and firemen must
be licensed in order to perform the functions of their respective trades,
although hydro-electric plant operators apparently are not required
to be licensed. There is no interchange between any of the afore-
mentioned employees and the Employer's production and maintenance
employee's.
While the history of collective bargaining on the basis of the
existing production and maintenance units points to the propriety of
the broader unit, we are of the opinion, under all the circumstances,
4 The ashman is, essentially, a fireman ' s helper who is employed at the Employer ' s Colum-
bia mill boiler room where boilers are fired by mechanical stokers and require an extra
man for the removal of ashes from the boilerhouse.
5 There is no evidence , or any contention , that the chief operator is a supervisor within
the meaning of the Act . The Employer's Personnel Manager testified that no supervisors
were listed on Petitioner 's Exhibit No 1 which contained the names of powerhouse
personnel.
SMITH PAPER, INCORPORATED 1229
that the employees whom the Petitioner seeks form a functionally co-
herent and homogeneous group and that their establishment in a
separate bargaining unit is also feasible if these employees so desire.,,
Accordingly, the Board will not make any final unit -determination
until it has ascertained the desires of the employees involved.
We shall direct that an election be held among all powerhouse and
hydro-electric plant employees including engineers, firemen, firemen's
helpers, ashman, and hydro-electric operators at the Employer's Lee
plants, excluding executives, office and clerical employees, the plant
engineers, chief engineers, watchmen, and all guards, professional
employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. If, in this election,
the employees select the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated
their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit; if they select the
Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated a desire to remain part
of the comprehensive production and maintenance unit now repre-
sented by the Intervenor.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 7
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Smith Paper, Incorporated,
Lee, Massachusetts, 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 First Region, subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5,
among the employees in the voting group described 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 rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, and excluding employees on
strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether
they desire to be represented by International Union of Operating
Engineers, AFL, or by International Brotherhood of Paper Makers,
AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
MEMBER REYNOLDS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
6 Matter of San-Nap-Pak Co, 73 N. L. R B. 719; Matter of E. W Bliss Company, Toledo
Works , 76 N L R B 475 ; Matter of Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment Company, 76
N. L R. B 1015
7 Any participant in the election herein may, upon its prompt request to, and approval
thereof by , the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.