The Barber-Webb Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 30, 1951

92 N.L.R.B. 1750 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

In the Matter of THE BARBER -WEBB COIIPANY , INC., EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL HOD CARRIERS BUILDIIdo AND COMMON LABORERS'
UNION or AMERICA, LOCAL No. 300 AFFILIATED WITH THE SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA DISTRICT COUNCIL OF LABORERS , AMERICAN FEDERATION
OF LABOR , PETITIONER
Case No. 91-RC-1340.Decided January 30, 1951
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Jerome
smith, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel [Members Houston, Murdock,
and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The question affecting commerce :
The Employer is a California corporation, engaged in the manu-
facture and application of liquid and sheet plastic materials. Dur-
ing the 12-month period ending November 30, 1949, the value of its
purchases was $112,000. Approximately 75 percent of these purchases
having a value of $84,000, was shipped directly to the Employer from
outside the State. During the same period, the Employer's sales and
services amounted to approximately $182,000. All these sales were
made and all these services performed within the State, but approxi-
mately 25 percent of these sales and services having a value of
$42,635.38, was made to or performed for organizations engaged in
interstate commerce over whom the Board would assert jurisdiction.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the Act. The Employer however contends that it would not
effectuate the policies of the Act for the Board to assert jurisdiction in
the instant case. We do not agree. It is true that the value of ma-
terials received annually by the Employer through interstate channels
is less than $500,000, and that the value of the Employer's sales and
services to organizations over whom the Board would assert jurisdic-
tion amount to less than $50,000, alternative minimum requirements
adopted recently by the Board in determining whether jurisdiction
should be asserted.' However, the Employer's total out-of-State pur-
1 Federal Dairy Co., Inc., 91 NLRB 638 (direct inflow ) ; Hollow Tree Lumber Com-
pany, 91 NLRB 635 (indirect outflow).
92 NLRB No. 250.
1750
THE BARBER-WEBB COMPANY, INC. 1751
chases combined with its total sales and services to customers engaged
in interstate commerce over whom the Board would assert jurisdiction
exceeds the 100 percent of the minimum required in these categories
combined 2 Under those circumstances, the Employer's activities,
in our opinion, affect commerce to the same extent as the activities of
either of the employers in the yardstick cases referred to above.' Ac-
cordingly, we find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act, and we shall assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees 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.
4. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit composed of all the Employer's produc-
tion and maintenance workers, excluding office and clerical employees
and supervisors. The Employer contends that the office and clerical
employees should be included in the unit, and the Petitioner indicated
that it would accept such a unit in the alternative.
The Employer employs a total of 13 employees, of whom 2, 1 man
and 1 woman, perform most of the clerical work of the Employer.
While the office work is done in a separate room, both of these em-
ployees, the man to a greater extent than the woman, leave the office
on frequent occasions to help with the loading and shipping operations
of the Employer. Similarly, the production and maintenance em-
ployees help with the office work whenever necessary. Under these
circumstances, we find that the employees described as office clerical
employees in the instant case also function as plant clerical employees
whom we customarily include in a unit with production and main-
tenance employees.4 We shall therefore include the office clerical
employees in the unit.
Accordingly, we find that all the production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Los Angeles, California, plant, including
clerical employees, but excluding supervisors, constitute a unit 'ap-
propriate for the purposes of collective'bargaining within' the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
2 The Employer 's sales ' and services to customers over whom the Board would assert juris-
diction of $42,635.38 is 85.2 percent of the minimum indirect outflow figure of $50,000.
The approximate inflow of $84,000 is 16 . 8 percent of the minimum ' inflow . figure of $500,000.
The total of the two percentages is in excess of 100 percent.
3 Rutledge Paper Products Inc., 91 NLRB 625.
4 Elastic Stop Nut Corporation of America , 87 NLRB 1532.