Sohn Bros.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 11, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 313 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of ARTHUR SOHN AND CARL R. SOHN, DOING BUSINESS'
AS SOHN Bros.. EMPLOYER and TEXTILE WORKERS UNION OF -
AMERICA. CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 13-R--3714.-Decided October 11, 1946
Sonnenschein, Berkson, Lautinann, Levinson c6 Morse, by Mr. Ben
Liss, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer.
Messrs. Harry S. Kurshenbaum, Edward Todd, and Gerald Lit-
ney, of Chicago, Ill., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Jesse L. Albritton, of Chicago, Ill., for the Intervenor.
Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION
Upon a petition' duly filed, the National Labor Relations Board
in accordance with its Rules and Regulations, Series 4, conducted on
July 25, 1946, a prehearing election among employees of the Employer
in a unit alleged to be appropriate, to determine whether they desired
to be represented by the Petitioner, or by Mattress, Spring & Bedding
Workers' Union, Local 185, AFL, herein called the Intervenor, for
the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither.
At the close of the election, a Tally of Ballots was furnished the
parties. The tally shows that there were approximately 15 eligible
voters; that 13 of these eligible voters cast valid ballots, of which 5
were for the Petitioner, 3 for the Intervenor, and 5 for neither par-
ticipating labor organization; and that there were 2 challenged ballots.
Thereafter, pursuant to its Rules and Regulations, the Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Benjamin
B. Salvaty, hearing officer. The hearing was held at Chicago Illi-
nois, on August 6 and 7, 1946. 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
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Arthur Sohn and Carl R. Sohn. partners doing business as Sohn
Bros ., are engaged in the manufacture and sale of mattresses and sofa
1 The petition and other formal papers were amended at the hearing to show the correct
name of the Employer.
71 N. L. R B, No. 41.
313
314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
beds at Chicago, Illinois. The partners annually purchase raw mate-
rials, consisting of ticking, felt, and inner-spring units, valued at ap-
proximately $30,000, of which approximately 1 percent is shipped to
Chicago from points outside Illinois. The partners annually manu-
facture finished products valued in excess of $60,000, of which between
10 and 20 percent is shipped to points outside Illinois.
We find that the partners constitute a single employer within the
meaning of Section 2 (2) of the National Labor Relations Act. We
find that, contrary to its contention, the Employer is engaged in com-
merce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
The Intervenor is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation 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 employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner and the Intervenor agree that production and main-
tenance employees at the Employer's Chicago plant, excluding office,
clerical. and supervisory 2 employees, constitute all appropriate bar-
gaining unit. The parties agreed at the hearing that Dave Gold, the
truck driver, whose vote was challenged at the prehearing election and
whose inclusion in the unit was then in issue, should be excluded from
the bargaining unit. We shall exclude the truck driver. The parties
disagreed at the hearing as to the status and the unit placement of
James Smith and Otha MacFadden.
The Employer's plant is a single three-story building at Chicago,
Illinois. The first story includes office space and a stockroom and an
upholstery department for sofa beds. The second floor includes a
storeroom for mattresses and a sewing room. The third floor includes
The two partners and their father are the only poisons at the plant with supervisory
authority.
1 11
SOHN BROS. 315
a mattress finishing department and an inner-spring department_
The Employer has recently discontinued certain operations and now
employs, at full production. appi oxinvitely 13 workers .3
James Smith is a janitor who performs usual maintenance duties
about the office and production departments. He also serves as a pro-
duction worker in wrapping mattresses for shipment. The Petitioner
and the Intervenor would include the janitor in this production unit.
The Employer at first agreed to the inclusion of the janitor, but later
questioned the propriety of including him with other factory em-
ployees. The janitor voted in the election, and his vote was not chal-
lenged by any party. There is no past history of labor organization
among employees at the Employer's plant. We shall include the jani-
tor in the bargaining unit composed of production and maintenance
employees.
Otha MacFadden is employed at the plant as a roll edge operator.
He finishes the roll edge on mattresses and operates a button and
cotton-tufting machine on the third floor of the factory. He is a full-
time employee, working regularly at the plant from 8 to 4:30, 5 days
per week, as do other production workers. At night when hs services
for the Employer have been completed for the clay, MacFadden
serves as, policeman with the Metropolitan Police Department.
MacFadden performs no duties as watchman for the Employer. For
his personal convenience, MacFadden sometimes wears his police
uniform to the Employer's plant in the morning. At other times,
when MacFadden does not intend to serve as policeman at night, he
wears ordinary street clothes to work in the morning. At the plant,
however, chlring workinghours he wears ordinary working clothes. If
lie wears his uniform to work, he dons it when lie leaves the plant for
his lunch hour. Since MacFadden is a full-time production employee
on the Employer's pay roll, and his services as policeman are wholly
collateral to his employment at the Employer's plant, we shall include
him in the bargaining unit as a production and maintenance employee
at the factory. -
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Employer's Chicago, Illinois, plant, including the janitor and the roll
edge operator, but excluding the truck driver, office and clerical em-
ployees, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of
employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3 At the time of the hearing , the Employer ' s production and maintenance staff was reduced
to eight workers, due to material shortages.
316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
As noted above , the results of the election held prior to the hearing
show that of approximately 15 votes cast , 5 were cast for the Peti-
tioner, 3 for the Intervenor , and 5 for neither , and that 2 were chal-
lenged. The janitor whom we included in the appropriate unit voted
in the election . His vote was not challenged . One of the 2 challenged
ballots was that of Dave Gold, the truck driver, who at the hearing
the parties agreed, and we find, should be excluded from the unit.
The other challenged ballot was that of Otha MacFadden , the roll
edge operator , whom we have included in the appropriate unit. We
find that Dave Gold, the truck driver, was ineligible to vote in the
election. His ballot is hereby declared void, and it shall not be
counted. We find that Otha MacFadden, the roll edge operator, is an
eligible employee and that his ballot, challenged at the election, is a
valid ballot. Since the counting of MacFaclden's ballot may deter-
mine the further course of conduct in the investigation herein con-
cerned, we will direct that the ballot of Otha MacFadden be opened
and counted.
DIRECTION
IT IS HEREBY DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation td ascertain
representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Arthur
Sohn and Carl R. Sohn, doing business as Sohn Bros., Chicago, Illi-
nois, the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region shall, pursuant
to the Rules and Regulations of the Board, within ten (10) days from
the date of this Direction, open and count the ballot of Otha MacFad-
den, and thereafter prepare and cause to be served upon the parties
in this proceeding a supplemental tally, embodying therein his find-
ings as to the outcome of the election, and take such further steps in
the investigation as may be necessary in accordance with the Rules
and Regulations of the Board.