Taunton Pearl Works

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 17, 1950

89 N.L.R.B. 1382 (N.L.R.B. 1950)

In the Matter of TAUNTON PEARL WORKS ,1 EMPLOYER , and INTER--
NATIONAL JEWELRY WORKERS UNION, A. F. L., PETITIONER
Case No. 1-RC-1879.-Deeided May 17, 1950
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Torbert H..
Macdonald, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the:
hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, as amended, the Board has delegated its powers in
connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog.
and Members Reynolds and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The Petitioner, and Playthings, Jewelry and Novelty Worker&
International Union, C. I. 0., herein called the Intervenor, are labor
organizations claiming to represent employees of, the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
(c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner and the Intervenor agree to a unit consisting of
all production and maintenance employees, including shipping roont.
employees, factory clerical employees, the janitress, and the factory-
maintenance men, but excluding toolroom employees, cafeteria and.
casual employees, the truck driver, the sample maker's helper, office
clerical employees, guards, and supervisors. The Employer would.
modify this unit only to the extent of including toolroom employees,,
cafeteria employees, the truck driver, the sample maker's helper, and
casual employees. There has been no history of collective bargaining
among the employees involved.
Toolroom employees: There are 17 employees in the toolroom. They
make and repair tools and set them in the production machines. Al-
1 The Employer' s name appears as amended at the hearing.
89 NLRB No. 169.
1382
TAUNTON PEARL WORKS 1383
though 'these 'employees are a highly skilled group, they work under
conditions .of employment identical to those of the regular production
.and maintenance employees. As we have consistently held that tool-
room employees may be represented either separately or together with
production and maintenance employees , and as no labor organization
presently seeks to represent the toolroom employees here involved in
a separate unit, we shall include them in the unit hereinafter found
.appropriate.2
Cafeteria employees : The two cafeteria employees in dispute work
,exclusively in the cafeteria. They are assisted by several production
workers who leave their production jobs to work a few hours each
-week in the cafeteria. The record shows clearly that the cafeteria
:employees work under similar conditions and have interests similar
,to those of other employees . We have frequently included cafeteria
employees in units of production and maintenance employees, upon
the ground that the interests of both groups are not so dissimilar as
,to preclude their inclusion in a single over-all unit.3 Accordingly, we
shOl include the cafeteria employees in the unit.
Truck Driver: There is one truck driver who, in addition to driving
a truck, for ,general purposes, does odd jobs of a maintenance char-
acter. As he works under the same terms and conditions as all other
employees, and as his exclusion would leave him without representa-
ttion, we :shall include him.4
Sample Maker's Helper: The Employer employs one sample maker's
helper in addition to the designer and the sample maker in the design-
ang department . The latter two employees are salaried employees
who all parties agree should be excluded from the unit . Not highly
skilled, the sample maker 's helper does the rough work for the sample
maker, such as jig-sawing, drilling holes, and filing. As the helper's
:work is comparable to that of the production employees , we believe
that his interests and working conditions are more closely related to
those of the production employees than to those of the sample maker.
RWTe shall therefore include the sample maker 's helper in the unit.
Casual Employees : There remains for consideration a group of
so-called "casuals " whom the Employer would include , and the Peti-
tioner and Intervenor would exclude . These employees are hourly
paid production workers employed during rush periods lasting from
11/2 months to 3 or 4 months at a time. There are normally 2 rush
periods each year, from February to May and from September to
December . At the present time the Employer has 14 "casuals" on
2 Geneva Forge, Inc., 76 NLRB 497.
$ Standard Romper Co ., Inc., 77 NLRB 421, and cases cited therein.
" Grocer's Biscuit Company, Inc., 85 NLRB 603.
1384 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the payroll. All of them have worked for the Employer during other
rush periods. Six of them were first employed in 1949, one in 1946,.
one in 1945, four in 1944, and two in 1943. Although it is not certain
that any one casual employee will be rehired at the next rush period,,
the Employer's practice is to prefer former "casuals." In view of
the recurrent character of their employment, these workers are seasonal
employees of the type we customarily include in the same unit with-
regular production and maintenance employees.5 Accordingly, we
shall include the employees classified by the Employer as "casuals"
in the unit hereinafter found appropriates
Accordingly, we find that the following employees of the Employer
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
All production and maintenance employees at the Employer's plant
in Taunton, Massachusetts, including shipping room employees, fac-
tory clerical employees, factory maintenance men, the janitress, tool-
room, cafeteria, and casual employees, the truck driver and the sample-
maker's helper, but excluding office clerical employees, guards, and-
supervisors as defined in the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION 7
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the,
purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by-
secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later
than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and'
supervision of ti_e Regional Director for the Region in which this case.
was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were-
employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said payroll 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 also excluding employees-
on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether-
they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by
International Jewelry Workers Union, A. F. L., or by Playthings,.
Jewelry and Novelty Workers International Union, C. I. O., or by
neither. '
5 Stokely Foods, Inc., 83 NLRB 795, and cases cited therein.
6 California Spray-Chemical Corp., 86 NLRB 453; Foremost Dairies, Inc ., 86 NLRB 586.
° Any participant in the election. directed herein may, upon its prompt request to and
approval thereof by, the Regional Director , have its name removed from the ballot.