Southern Paperboard Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 20, 1955

112 N.L.R.B. 302 (N.L.R.B. 1955)

302 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Southern Paperboard Corporation and International Brother-
hood of Paper Makers, AFL, and International Brotherhood of
Pulp, Sulphite & Paper Mill Workers , AFL, Joint Petitioners
and International Association of Machinists , District Lodge
No. 96, AFL 1 and Local Union 1391, International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, AFL 2 and United Association of Jour-
neymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting In-
dustry of the United States and Canada, Local 188, AFL,3 Pe-
titioners . Cases Nos. 10-RC-2836, 10-RC-2839, 10-RC-,0845,
10-RC-2846, 10-RC-2847, and 10-RC-2856. April 20, 1955
DECISION, ORDER, AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
John S. Patton, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
The various motions to dismiss petitions referred to the Board by the
hearing officer, which are grounded upon contentions that the units
requested are inappropriate, and exceptions taken to rulings made
by the hearing officer are disposed of in accordance with the findings
and conclusions hereinafter set forth under paragraph numbered 4.
The Joint Petitioners' request for oral argument is denied because the
record and the briefs submitted by the parties adequately present the
issues and the positions of the parties.
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 in this proceeding claim to rep-
resent certain employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act in Cases Nos.
10-RC-2836, 10-RC-2839, 10-RC-2845, 10-RC-2847 and 10-RC-2856.
For the reasons discussed in paragraph numbered 4, below, no ques-
tion affecting commerce exists within the meaning of the above sections
of the Actin Case No. 10-RC-2846.
4. The Employer operates a pulp and paper mill at Port Went-
worth, Georgia. After the completion of the plant in 1948, several
unions instituted representation proceedings before the Board. After
winning the ensuing election directed by the Board,4 the IBEW, the
IAM, and the Joint Petitioners were certified as the joint bargaining
Herein called the JAM.
z Herein called the IBEW
U Herein called the Plumbers
* Southern Papei board Corporation, 80 NLRB 1456.
112 NLRB No. 41
SOUTHERN PAPERBOARD CORPORATION 303
representative for a plantwide unit of the Employer's production and
maintenance employees. Since that time these unions have bargained
with the Employer as a single representative for the entire production
and maintenance unit in all matters except grievances. Each union
has processed, without the assistance of the others, grievances arising
among employees in job classifications within that union's jurisdic-
tion, a procedure provided in the bargaining agreement between the
Employer and the joint representative. No longer wishing to act
jointly, these unions-and the Plumbers-have by separate petitions
initiated the instant proceeding.
Joint Petitioners seek to represent the Employer's production and
maintenance employees in a single, plantwide unit, but they also ask
that they appear on the ballot in any election directed in this proceed-
ing. The Plumbers and the IBEW request the establishment of sepa-
rate units of pipefitters and electricians, respectively. The TAM peti-
tions for separate units of machinists, welders, and millwrights and
by intervention seeks separate units of automobile and diesel me-
chanics, blacksmiths, carpenters, painters and store department em-
ployees. The JAM also asks that in the event the separate units it
seeks are found inappropriate, a single maintenance unit be established
which would include all maintenance employees except those craft em-
ployees sought by the IBEW and Plumbers, if the Board finds these
crafts may constitute separate appropriate units. Joint Petitioners
and the Employer oppose the establishment of any unit other than a
production and maintenance unit.
The Employer contends that the severance of craft units in its plant
is precluded by the history of collective ban aniiing on It more com-
prehensive basis; the high degree of integration of production proc-
esses and maintenance work in the plant; the disruptive effect the
separate representation of the units requested herein would have on
the Employer's operations and bargaining negotiations; and the sub-
stantial overlap and integration of work performed by the various
alleged craft groups. As the record discloses that the craftsmen
sought devote no substantial part of their time to work outside their
respective crafts, and as it is the Board's policy to permit the severance
of craft units, except in certain specified industries which do not in-
clude the pulp and paper industry, we find no merit in the Employer's
contentions.'
Joint Petitioners and the Employer also argue that to meet the
"traditional representative" test for craft severance a union must dem-
onstrate actual, historical representation of such employees within the
industry in question. And acting on this premise, Joint Petitioners
undertook at the hearing to affirmatively demonstrate, through ex-
5 American Potash c€ Chemical Corporation, 107 NLRB 1418, Bethlehem Steel Company,
108 NLRB 241 , Caltfoima Fish Canners Associattian, 108 NLRB 1320
304 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
pert testimony and research studies, that they are the only unions
which have been exclusively dedicated to, and have specialized in, the
representation of both production and maintenance employees in the
pulp and paper manufacturing industry. We find no merit in this
argument as it construes too narrowly the "traditional representative"
requirement for craft severance established by the Board in American
Potash.
The Unit Requested by Joint Petitioners
In Case No. 10-RC-2835 Joint Petitioners seek to represent the pro-
duction and maintenance employees in a single, plantwide unit, which
unit the Employer also contends is the only appropriate one. As a
plantwide unit is presumptively appropriate 6 and as the employees
in question have been represented in such a unit over the past 7 years,
we find that a production and maintenance unit constitutes a unit ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.
The employees which the Plumbers, the IBEW, and the IAM seek
to sever in separate craft units are all found in the Employer's various
maintenance departments. These departments are under the ultimate
supervision of the superintendent of maintenance and the direct super-
vision of the machinist foreman, the pipefitting foreman, the outside
maintenance foreman, the chief electrician, and the millwright fore-
man.
The Employer's plant operates through round-the-clock shifts in
the manufacture of pulp and paper by continuous interdependent
production operations. The work of the maintenance departments is
organized to reduce to a minimum the interruption of these operations
by the failure of production machinery. Most of the maintenance
employees work only during the day shift. However, millwrights,
electricians, and pipefitters are divided into two groups, the day
maintenance mechanics and the operating or tour mechanics. The
day maintenance mechanics work only the day shift and are super-
vised almost entirely by the foremen of their respective departments
in prescheduled maintenance projects throughout the plant. To make
maintenance mechanics quickly and continuously available to remedy
unanticipated stoppages in production machinery, the operating elec-
tricians, pipefitters, and millwrights are assigned in rotation to all
three work shifts, are stationed in the production departments, and
are subject to the direction of production department foremen. How-
ever, day maintenance mechanics and operating mechanics in each
job classification are interchangeable, are carried on a single seniority
list, and exercise the same skills.
While they have small stalls or shops at one end of the machine
shop where they keep personal tools and perform some tasks, the
6 Beaumont Forging Company, 110 NLRL' 2200
SOUTHERN PAPERBOARD CORPORATION 305
maintenance mechanics, other than the machinists, perform much of
their work in production areas in close contact with production em-
ployees. Both prescheduled and unscheduled maintenance projects
frequently require the coordinated efforts of a "team" made up of
mechanics in several classifications, but each mechanic performs pri-
marily these tasks pertaining to his craft. During periods when work
is slack in one classification, maintenance mechanics may be tempo-
rarily assigned to assist in other classifications rather than be al-
lowed to stand idle. Nevertheless, it is clear from the record that
maintenance mechanics work primarily within the ambit of their own
job classifications.
Maintenance classifications which have the same pay scale, under
the recently expired contract, are millwrights, machinists, pipefitters,
electricians, head oiler, diesel and motor mechanics, welders, boiler-
makers, and blacksmiths. The top rate for mechanics in these classifi-
cations, other than leadmen, is $2.25 an hour, a rate which is exceeded
by that for no other maintenance classification except electronic elec-
tricians and by only 8 of about 90 production and other classifications.
In securing qualified maintenance mechanics, the Employer relies
first upon the progressive advancement of helpers assigned to each
maintenance mechanic classification; only for machinists does the
Employer maintain a formal apprenticeship program. The full
period for advancement of helpers, in 6-month steps, from the begin-
ning to the top helper classification is set by contract at 48 months,
but, depending upon the Employer's needs and the helper's ability and
prior experience, the time required for advancement to the top helper
and journeyman positions may be considerably less. However, helpers
require an average of about 31/2 years experience to attain the pro-
ficiency the Employer seeks in maintenance mechanics. Failing to
secure mechanics through the helper system, the Employer employs
mechanics experienced in paper mill maintenance where possible. If
mechanics who are without paper mill experience but are otherwise
qualified in their trade must be employed, they may need as much as
2 or 3 months orientation to become fully familiar with their main-
tenance duties at the Employer's plant. However, the Employer's
maintenance work is not significantly different from the work of main-
tenance mechanics in other industries or of construction mechanics
as is demonstrated by the fact that many of the Employer's mechanics
have transferred from, or returned to, other industries or construc-
tion work with no apparent difficulty.
The Unit Requested by the Plumbers
In Case No. 10-RC-2836 the Plumbers seeks to sever a unit of
pipefitters. the lead pipefitter and pipefitter helpers. There are at
306 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
present 9 pipefitters and 5 pipefitter helpers, in addition to an insu-
lator and a boilermaker, in the pipefitting department supervised by
the pipefitter foreman. Five of the pipefitters are assigned to the day
maintenance shift, four work as operating mechanics. In addition
to the generalizations concerning maintenance mechanics set out
above, the following facts establish the Employer's pipefitters as
craftsmen in their trade : they are primarily employed for, and engaged
In, pipefitting Work, little of which is performed by other maintenance
employees in the plant; about half of them have been employed as
pipefitters in the construction trades; a minimum of 31/2 years is re-
quired for a helper to advance through the Employer's system of
progression to become a qualified pipefitter. In our opinion the Em-
ployer's pipefitters constitute a distinct and homogeneous group of
skilled journeymen craftsmen working as such. And as the Plumbers
is a union which has traditionally represented craftsmen in this trade,
we find that the Employer's pipefitters may constitute an appropriate
bargaining unit despite the history of bargaining on a plantwide
basis." We further find that the pipefitter helpers, who assist no other
craftsmen and who are in the line of progression for pipefitters, and
the lead pipefitter should be included in this unit.
The Unit Requested by the IBEW
In Case No. 10-RC-2839 the IBEW requests a unit of electricians,
lead electricians, and electrician helpers. There are 4 lead electricians,
4 electronic electricians, 6 general electricians and 2 helpers regularly
assigned to the department supervised by the chief electrician. Like
the pipefitters, the lead and general electricians and their helpers
perform the duties usually associated with their craft and are the
only employees qualified or required to perform electrical work in
the plant. Although the Employer also maintains a helper progres-
sion system for electricians rather than a formal apprenticeship pro-
gram, it is clear that these electricians comprise a separate, distinct,
and homogeneous group of journeymen craftsmen. Accordingly,
the lead and general electricians, together with the helpers regularly
assisting them and in their line of progression, may, if they so desire,
be represented as a separate craft group by the IBEW which has
traditionally represented such units. It appears that one of the gen-
eral electricians is regularly assigned to maintenance of the plant
air-conditioning system. As the record does not contain sufficient
evidence of the nature of his duties and skills to permit us to deter-
7In the earlier case involving this Employer, Southern Paperboard Corporation, 80
NLRB 1456, at 1458, the Board declined to establish a separate unit of plumbers, steam-
fitters, pipefitters, and welders "in the absence of evidence" that these employees pos-
sessed craft skills . We are compelled to reach a contrary conclusion in the instant pro-
ceeding on the basis of more adequate record evidence concerning pipefitters.
SOUTHERN PAPERBOARD CORPORATION 307
mine his unit placement, we shall allow him to vote subject to challenge
in the election hereinafter directed for electricians in voting group (2).
The electronic electricians, whom the IBEW has not requested be
included in the unit, are higher paid than the general electricians
and are responsible for the repair and maintenance of electronic
equipment employed in the regulation and control of production
processes. It does not appear by what means the Employer secures
or trains employees in this classification. As it has not been demon-
strated that the interests, skills, and duties of the electronic elec-
tricians are sufficiently identified with those of the other electricians,
we shall exclude them from the unit.'
The Units Requested by the TAM
In Cases Nos. 10-RC-2845, 10-RC-2846, and 10-RC-2847 the TAM
has petitioned for separate units of machinists and machinist ap-
prentices ; welders, welder leadmen, and we] der helpers ; and mill-
wrights, the maintenance leadmen, millwright leadmen, millwright
helpers, the head oiler, oilers, and the knife grinder, respectively. By
intervention in Case No. 10-RC-2856 the TAM seeks separate units
of automobile and diesel mechanics and their helpers; the blacksmith
and his helper; carpenters and carpenter helpers; painters and painter
helpers; and store department employees. The TAM also asks that
in the event the separate units it seeks are found inappropriate, a
single maintenance unit be established which includes all maintenance
employees except those in the units the IBEW and Plumbers seek if
the Board finds them appropriate. The Employer and Joint Peti-
tioners oppose the severance of the separate units sought by the TAM
for such reasons, in addition to those already discussed, as the em-
ployees sought are not skilled craftsmen or the IAII is not their
traditional representative.
The machinist unit sought by the TAM consists of four journeymen
machinists and an undisclosed number of apprentice machinists under
the supervision of the machine shop foreman. Under an agreement
with the TAM the Employer maintains a 4-year apprenticeship pro-
gram for machinists. Working to close tolerances in operating the
drill presses, shapers, milling machines and other machine tools found
in the machine shop, the machinists must exercise the skills of journey-
men machinists. As the TAM traditionally represents machinists
and their apprentices and as they are an identifiable, distinct, and
homogeneous craft group in the Employer's plant, we find that the
machinists and machinist apprentices may constitute an appropri-
ate bargaining unit. And we find no merit in the Employer's con-
9 Cf. North American Aircraft, Inc, 108 NLRB 863
369028-56-vol 112-21
308 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
tention that this and the other units sought by the IAM should be
denied severance under the principle applied by the Board in Mills
Industries, Incorporated.' The IAM is not here seeking to reestab-
lish itself in a unit in which it was displaced as bargaining repre-
sentative by the election and certification of another labor
organization.10
The IAM seeks to sever as a separate craft group the Employer's
welders. As the Board has recently found separate units of welders
not to be appropriate," we shall dismiss the petition for this unit.
Because they are not regularly assigned to work with particular
crafts we find no justification for including them in any of the other
units sought herein.
The unit of millwrights and oilers the IAM seeks consists of the
employees, except the knife grinder, supervised by the millwright
foreman. They are the maintenance leadman, 15 millwrights, 5 mill-
wright helpers, the head oiler, and 12 oilers. It is the millwrights'
function, as either day maintenance or operating mechanics, to install
new equipment, remove and overhaul worn out equipment, and main-
tain in operating condition production and standby equipment in the
plant. To acquire proficiency in the performance of these duties a
helper needs an average of 3 or more years' experience in the system
of progression for helpers the Employer maintains to develop quali-
fied millwrights. Oilers, acting in dual roles, assist as millwrights
and lubricate plant equipment. Although oiling requires little skill
or training, the oiler and millwright helper classifications are both
in the helper progression system leading to full status as a general
millwright-an employee entering this system alternates at 6-month
intervals between the 2 classifications until he becomes eligible for
promotion to the position of head oiler or millwright. We find that
the millwrights constitute a distinct and homogeneous group of crafts-
men exercising the skills of their trade, who may, if they so desire,
be represented in a separate unit by a union which is a traditional
representative of millwrights.12 As the millwright helpers and oilers,
including the head oiler, are also supervised by the millwright fore-
man and advance in a common progression system leading to full
millwright status, we shall include them in the unit. We shall include
in this unit the maintenance leadman who is also under the supervi-
sion of the millwright foreman and acts principally as a leadman for
the millwrights. We shall exclude the knife grinder. A year's ex-
perience as a millwright helper is necessary to qualify for that posi-
tion, but the knife grinder while working in that capacity does not
9 108 NLRB 282
10 Cf. American Cyanamid Company, 110 NLRB 89.
11 Clayton d Lambert Manufacturing Company, 111 NLRB 540.
12 American Cyanamid Company , 110 NLRB 89.
SOUTHERN PAPERBOARD CORPORATION 309
perform millwright work or further qualify for promotion to mill-
wright status, and he is supervised by the machine shop foreman.
Nor will we include the knife grinder in the machinist unit as re-
quested in the alternative by the IAM as it appears that this employee
does not exercise the skills of a journeyman machinist.
The motor mechanic and diesel mechanic and their helpers are
supervised by the outside maintenance superintendent in --hose depart-
ment are found several other maintenance classifications. As their
job classification titles imply, they maintain and repair automotive
and diesel-driven equipment, each at times assisting the other. The
Employer maintains a 48-month helper progression system for these
classifications. As it has not been demonstrated that these mechanics
are any more skilled than others in these classifications the Board has
found not to qualify for severance as skilled craftsmen'13 we find the
unit of motor and diesel mechanics requested by the IAM not to be
appropriate.
The blacksmith and his helper normally work in the blacksmith
shop in the salvage yard and are also supervised by the outside main-
tenance foreman. In addition to performing the small amount of
blacksmith's work, the Employer's operations require they assist other
craftsmen and perform salvage work. As no showing has been made
that the blacksmith has or exercises the skills of a journeyman crafts-
man in this trade, we shall deny the IAM's request for the establish-
ment of a blacksmith's unit.
The only basis upon which the IAM seeks a separate unit of store
department employees seems to be that it includes a tool checker, a
classification frequently included in departmental units represented
by the IAM. However, as there appears to be no valid basis for the
severance of this department,14 we find that the hearing officer was
justified in denying the IAM's motion to intervene for a'unit of store
department employees. We also affirm the hearing officer's rulings
denying the IAM's motions to intervene for separate units of car-
penters and painters as the Board has held the IAM not to be the
traditional representatives of these groups.'-' Finally, we find the
overall maintenance unit requested in the alternative by the IAM to be
inappropriate in view of the history of collective bargaining for the
Employer's employees on a more comprehensive basis."B
Accordingly, we shall direct that elections be conducted in the fol-
lowing voting groups of employees at the Employer's Port Wentworth,
Georgia, plant :
(1) All pipefitters, the lead pipefitter, and pipefitter helpers, ex-
cluding the pipefitting foreman and all other employees.
'Gulf Oil Corporation, 108 NLRB 162; Armour & Company, 110 NLRB 587.
14 See American Potash & Chemical Corporation, supra
0 Campbell Soup Company, 109 NLRB 475, American Cyanamid Company, 110 NLRB 89-
10 American Cyanamid Company, supra.
310 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
(2) All electricians, lead electricians, and electrician helpers, ex-
cluding the chief electrician, electronic electricians, and all other
employees.
(3) All machinists and machinist apprentices, excluding the ma-
chine shop foreman and all other employees.
(4) All millwrights, the maintenance leadman, millwright helpers,
the head oiler and oilers, excluding the knife grinder, the millwright
foreman, and all other employees.
(5) All production and maintenance employees including woodyard
crew leaders, woodroom operators, recovery operators, the powerhouse
maintenance man, but excluding clerical employees," professional em-
ployees,'° and employees in voting groups (1), (2), (3), and (4),
landscape laborers, executives, watchmen, guards, superintendents, and
foremen and all other supervisors 11 as defined in the Act?°
If a majority of the employees in each or any of voting groups (1),
(2), (3), and (4) select the labor organization seeking to represent
them separately, those employees will be taken to have indicated their
desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit and the Regional
Director conducting the elections is instructed to issue a certification
of representatives to the labor organization thus selected in each group,
which the Board, in such circumstances, finds to be an appropriate
unit for purposes of collective bargaining. If a majority of the em-
ployees in all of voting groups (1), (2), (3), and (4) vote for the
labor organizations seeking to represent them separately and if a
majority of the employees in voting group (5) vote for Joint Peti-
tioners, the Regional Director is instructed to issue a certification of
representatives to the Joint Petitioners for a separate nit of em-
ployees described in voting group (5) which the Board, under the
circumstances, finds appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
On the other hand, if a majority of the employees in each or any
of voting groups (1), (2), (3), and (4) do not vote for the labor or-
17 Excluded as clericals are the steam clerk , clerk-typist under the instrument and gen-
eral labor foreman, chief chemist's clerk, storekeeper, and storekeeper's clerk
18 Excluded as a professional employee is the draftsman
19 The Employer and Joint Petitioners agree to exclude as supervisors the following
classifications which have been created since the Board 's earlier decision involving the
Employer : the pulp and power superintendent , the maintenance and engineering supet in-
tendent , the assistant pulp mill superintendent , and the assistant powerplant super-
intendent.
20 This voting group, for the most part , constitutes the unit the Board found appropriate
in its earlier Decision and Supplemental Decision in Southern Paperboard Corporation,
80 NLRB 1456, 84 NLRB 822. The Employer and the joint bargaining representative have
since bargained on the basis of that unit and at the hearing in the instant proceeding the
Employei and Joint Petitioners stipulated that no substantial changes have been made in
the duties the employees performed at the time of the earlier proceeding We have ex-
cluded from this voting group , of course , employees included in voting groups ( 1), (2),
(3), and ( 4) and have made no finding or unit placement of temporary woodhandlers as
it does not appear that the Employer any longer employs woodhandlers on a temporary
basis.
LOCAL UNION NO. 249 311
ganization which is seeking to represent them in a separate unit, the
employees in each such group will be included in the overall group
and their votes pooled with those of voting group (5),21 and the Re-
gional Director conducting the elections is instructed to issue a cer-
tification of representatives to the labor organization selected by a
majority of the employees in the pooled group which the Board, in
such circumstances, finds to be a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining.
[The Board dismissed the petition in Case No. 10-RC-2846.]
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
MEMBER LEEDOM took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision, Order, and Direction of Elections.
21 If the votes are pooled , they are to be tallied in the following manner : The votes for
the unions seeking the separate unit shall be counted as valid votes , but neither for nor
against the union seeking to represent the more comprehensive unit; all other votes are
to be accorded their face value, whether for representation by the union seeking the com-
prehensive group or for no union
General Teamsters , Chauffeurs and Helpers , Local Union No. 249,
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America, A. F. L. and Crump , Incor-
porated . Case No. 6-CC-94. April 21, 1955
DECISION AND ORDER
On May 17, 1954, Trial Examiner Ralph Winkler issued his Inter-
mediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the
Respondent had engaged in and was engaging in certain unfair labor
practices and recommending that it cease and desist therefrom and
take certain affirmative action, as set forth in the copy of the Inter-
mediate Report attached hereto. Thereafter, the General Counsel
and the Respondent filed exceptions to the Intermediate Report and
the Respondent filed a brief in support of its exceptions.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner made
at the hearing and finds that no prejudicial error was committed.
The rulings are hereby affirmed. The Board has considered the Inter-
mediate Report, the exceptionscand Respondent's brief, and the entire
record in the case and hereby adopts the findings, conclusions, and
recommendations of the Trial Examiner, with the following modi-
fications.'
We agree with the Trial Examiner to the extent that he found that
the Respondent, while picketing Kaufmann's premises, including the
site upon which Crump, the secondary employer, was constructing an
addition to Kaufmann's existing department store facilities, engaged
112 NLRB No. 49.