Spencer Cardinal Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 17, 1947

74 N.L.R.B. 528 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of SPENCER CARDINAL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and UP-
HOLSTERERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL 325,
AFL, PETITIONER
Case No. 1,3-R-4172.-Decided July 17, 19417
Pell and Pell, by Mr. Wilbur F. Pell, of Shelbyville, Ind., and Mr.
C. C. Rhetts, of Marion, Ind., for the Employer.
Joseph M. Jacobs, by Mr. Jacob N. Gross, of Chicago, Ill., for the
Petitioner.
Mr. Oliver A. Switzer, of South Bend, Ind., for the Intervenor.
Mr. Emil C. Farkas, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Wabash,
Indiana, on April 8, 1947, before Robert E. Ackerberg, hearing officer.
The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudi-
cial error and are hereby affirmed. At the hearing the Intervenor
moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the unit sought is in-
appropriate. The hearing officer referred this motion to the Board.
For reasons stated in Section III, infra, the motion is hereby granted.
Subsequent to the hearing the Intervenor requested oral argument.
In view of our decison herein we find it unnecessary to pass upon the
Intervenor's request.
Upon.the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I: THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER'
Spencer Cardinal Corporation, an Indiana corporation, is engaged
in the manufacture and sale of radio cabinets and furniture at three
plants, two of which are located at Marion, Indiana, and one at Wabash,
Indiana. During the year 1946, purchases of raw materials for use at
I The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
74 N L. R. B, No. 98.
528
SPENCER CARDINAL CORPORATION 529
its three plants were in excess of $50,000, of which more than 50 percent
represented shipments from points outside the State of Indiana . Dur.--
ing the same period, sales of finished products exceeded $100,000 in,
value, of which more than 50 percent was shipped to points outside,
the State.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
United Furniture Workers of America, Local 313, herein called the
Intervenor, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of In-
dustrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit comprised of all production and mainte-
nance employees, excluding office, clerical, and sales employees and
supervisory personnel, at the Employer's Wabash, Indiana, plant. The
Intervenor urges, however, that, in view of the past bargaining history
on the basis of a multiple-plant unit including the employees at the
Wabash plant, the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate.
The Employer takes no position on the unit issue.
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and sale of radio
cabinets, cocktail tables and other furniture. Its operations are dis-
tributed among 3 plants, 2 of which are located in Marion, Indiana,
and 1 in Wabash, Indiana. The Wabash plant, which is located about
20 miles from Marion, Indiana, employs about 100 employees; the
plants at Marion employ approximately 130 and 120 employees, re-
spectively. The record discloses that the principal offices of the Em-
ployer are located at Marion, Indiana; that over-all management,
production planning and merchandise designing are all directed from
these offices; and that, virtually all office and clerical work is performed
there. The manufacturing operations of the Employer are under the-
direction of a general superintendent, who supervises all 3 plants.
Each plant, however, has a superintendent who is in immediate charge
of his plant and who is directly responsible to the general superintend-
ent. Hiring of new employees at the Marion plants is a function of
the personnel office while at the Wabash plant employment- matters
are handled by its superintendent. The Wabash plant generally re-
ceives its raw materials directly at that plant and ships its finished
products to destinations other than the Marion plants; however, when.
530 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
orders are received or are assigned for filling to one of the plants, no
distinctions are made by the Employer between the Wabash plant and
the Marion plants. The record discloses further that, although these
is virtually no interchange of employees among its 3 plants, the Em-
ployer maintains uniform personnel policies for all its employees. In
addition, hours, working conditions and methods of pay are the same
in all 3 plants, and, although the Wabash plant has its own pay roll,
the money to meet this pay roll is transferred from Marion to Wabash
once a week.
The Employer and the Intervenor have been in contractual relation-
ship concerning these operations since 1940 . On October 18 of that
year, pursuant to a cross-check agreement, the Intervenor was desig-
nated as the bargaining agent for all production and maintenance
employees at the Employer's Marion, Indiana, plants; and on No-
vember 5 of that same year, pursuant to a second cross-check agree-
ment, it was designated as the bargaining representative for all
production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Wabash,
Indiana, plant. On November 14, 1940, the Employer and the Inter-
venor executed separate collective bargaining agreements , one covering
the employees at the two Marion plants and the other covering the
employees at the Wabash plant. On December 7, 1940, the Intervenor
notified the Employer, by letter, that it would thereafter represent only
the employees at the Marion plants and that Local 314 , a sister local,
had been chartered for the purpose of representing the employees at
the Wabash plant.
On January 7, 1942, the contract covering the Marion plants was
renewed in the name of the Intervenor, and . the contract covering
the Wabash plant was renewed in the name of Local 314 . Subse-
quently, on January 15, 1942, the Employer was notified of a resolu-
tion, adopted by Local 314 , relinquishing its representation of the
Wabash plant to the Intervenor , and on March 9, 1942 , the Inter-
venor informed the Employer that it had accepted the transfer of the
Wabash plant employees. An agreement effecting wage increases for
the employees at the three plants was reached by the Employer and
the Intervenor on June 25, 1942. On November 25, 1942, the Inter-
venor executed a single contract for the year 1943, covering the em-
ployees at all three plants . Successive renewal contracts on this
basis were thereafter executed by the same parties in 1944, 1945, and
1946.
The current contract between the Employer and the Intervenor
was executed on January 1, 1947, and embraced only the employees
at the Marion plants . With respect to the exclusion of the Wabash
plant employees from its coverage, the contract stated :
SPENCER CARDINAL CORPORATION 531
The said production and maintenance employees of the Com-
pany at its plant at Wabash, Indiana, are not included in the
bargaining unit under the terms of this contract, for the reason
that the Upholsterers International Union of North America,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, has filed with
the National Labor Relations-Board a petition for certification
of representatives for said employees ... which petition is still
pending before said National Labor Relations Board .. .
The contract also stated that the Intervenor did not waive its claim
to have the Wabash plant employees included within the bargaining
unit for the Marion plants, but was holding its claim to these employees
in abeyance pending the disposition of the petition filed by the
Petitioner.2
In support of its unit position, the Petitioner contends that the
Intervenor has abandoned its representation of the employees at the
Wabash plant and that, with respect to them, it has ceased to func-
. tion as a labor organization. The Petitioner argues further that the
Intervenor, under the terms of its current contract with the Employer
has, "specifically and unmistakably excepted the employees of the
Wabash plant from the purview of its collective bargaining agree-
ment . . . thereby cutting off the employees from coverage un-
der that contract."
With respect to the first contention it asserts that from 1943 until
September 1946, union activity at the Wabash plant was virtually at
a standstill; that notices of meetings were not posted and regular
meetings were not held at the Wabash plant; that Wabash employees
had no opportunity to vote for officers of the Intervenor unless they
happened to attend meetings at Marion; that some Wabash employees
did not know of the existence of the Intervenor at the Wabash plant;
and that many employees at that plant revoked check-off authoriza-
tions which they had granted to the Intervenor. We are not unmind-
ful of the fact that there is evidence tending to support some of the
Petitioner's assertions. However, the record discloses countervailing
factors which show the existence of the Intervenor as a vital incumbent
at the Wabash plant. Thus it indicates that, although attendance at
union meetings, admittedly, was low and interest by the Wabash
plant employees in the Intervenor seemed to be lacking, some em-
2
The Petitioner filed its petition on November 8, 1946, requesting a unit of production
and maintenance employees at the Wabash plant On January 7, 1947, the petition was
dismissed by the Board's Regional Office on the ground that the unit sought was inappro-
priate Thereafter, on January 13, 1947, the Petitioner filed a second petition requesting
a production and maintenance unit at all three plants ; an amended petition was then
filed on February 10, 1947, which requested a unit consisting of only the employees at the
Wabash plant, and which is the subject of this proceeding.
532 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees at the Wabash plant, including the shop stewards and the
shop chairman, did attend meetings; that in September 1946, Wabash
employees were invited to attend a special meeting at Marion; that
about the same time the Intervenor undertook a campaign to revive
union interest among the Wabash employees and that these efforts
continued until the early part of November 1946, at which time the
Intervenor had signed up 52 members, a number representing an all
time high in membership at the Wabash plant. The evidence also
chows that negotiations between the Employer and the Intervenor
resulted in wage increases and other benefits which were applicable
to the Wabash employees as well as to those at Marion, and that, as
recently as November 6, 1946, the Intervenor, through its shop
stewards, participated in the settlement of grievances for 5 employees
at the Wabash plant. Under these circumstances, we are unable td
,conclude, as the Petitioner contends, that the Intervenor is defunct
ras to the employees at the Wabash plant or is otherwise incapable of
representing them.3
Nor do we attach any significance to the contention directed at
the exclusion of Wabash plant employees from the coverage of the
contract of January 1, 1947. We are persuaded that the provision,
excluding the Wabash employees, was prompted merely by the fact
that there was then pending before the Board the petition of November
8^ 1946, which affected these employees, and that it should conse-
quently not operate to the disadvantage of the Intervenor.
The real question with which we are confronted, therefore, is
whether the employees at the Wabash plant may, in the light of the
;bargaining history affecting the three plants involved herein, con-
.stitute an appropriate unit separate and apart from the Employer's
Marion plants. It is our opinion that the record does not-warrant
such a conclusion. As previously noted, the Employer and the Inter-
venor have bargained collectively on the basis of a three-plant unit
since 1942, and during this period the Intervenor has functioned
effectively as such bargaining representative. Thus it has secured
wage increases and other benefits which have applied uniformly to
employees at all three plants, and, through its shop stewards at each
plant, including the Wabash plant, it has processed grievances for
each plant's employees. It is evident that • throughout this entire
period the Intervenor has extended its facilities to the employees at
all three plants, and that such employees, including those at the
Wabash plant, have never lacked adequate and effective representa-
tion by the Intervenor. And we have frequently held that where, as
$Matter of Miller Meters , Inc., 71 N. L. R. B. 1331; Matter of Connnecticut Cabinet
Corp, 72 N. L . R. B. 1016.
SPENCER CARDINAL CORPORATION 533
here, there has been actual bargaining on the basis of a multiple-plant
unit, stabilized by agreement, a unit composed only of employees in
one of such plants is not appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining.' Under these circumstances we shall not disturb the
bargaining pattern of a three-plant unit which has developed among
the Employer's employees as the result of their contracts with the
Employer.5 We conclude, therefore, that the unit sought by the
Petitioner herein is inappropriate and that its petition should be
dismissed.
ORDER
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition for investigation and certifica-
.tion of representatives of employees of Spencer Cardinal Corporation,
at its Wabash, Indiana, plant, filed by Upholsterers' International
Union of North America, Local 325, AFL, be, and it hereby is, dis-
missed.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Order.
4 Matter of Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Incorporated, 58 N. L. R B. 579; Matter of
Clarksburg Paper"Company, 64 N. L. R B. 1319; Matter of Marhoefer Division of Kuhner
Packing Company, 73 N. L. R. B. 1272.
The Petitioner relies in support of its position on the Board's decision in Matter of
Standard Brands, Inc, 72 N L. R B 181. It is clear, however, that the cited case and
the instant case are distinguishable on their facts.
5 Matter of West Vcrganaa Pulp and Paper Company, 53 N. L. R. B. 814.