The Diamond Match Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 8, 1954

108 N.L.R.B. 183 (N.L.R.B. 1954)

THE DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY 183
Employer "hereby subscribes to the attached agreement and
wage scales."'
The League agreement, effective from January 1, 1950, until
January 1, 1951 , containing a 60-day automatic renewal clause,
was automatically renewed from year to year thereafter up to
and including the present year 1954 . Although that agreement
specifically covered all types of pressmen , it did not contain a
wage scale for offset pressmen . However, as the League agree-
ment is a detailed bargaining agreement covering, so far as
offset pressmen are concerned , such subjects as vacations,
holidays , overtime shift differentials , and grievance procedure,
we find that the agreement substantially stabilizes labor rela-
tions between the parties as to the offset pressmen , even though
it leaves the wage provisions concerning this category for
future negotiations .' As the Petitioner ' s request to represent
the Employer ' s offset pressmen was made after the automatic
renewal date of the original agreement between the Intervenor
and Employer, we find that that agreement as automatically
renewed constitutes a bar to this proceeding.
[The Board denied the motion for reconsideration.
Members Rodgers and Beeson took no part inthe considera-
tion of the above Order Denying Motion for Reconsideration.
1 Although the instrument signed by the Employer contains no specific employment pro-
visions , its reference to the "attached agreement " is a sufficient incorporation by reference
of the terms of the existing agreement between the League and the Intervenor. See the Car-
borundom Company, 78 NLRB 91, and Armour Company, 66 NLRB 209; cf. Bethlehem Steel
Company, 95 NLRB 1508.
2See Radio Corporation of America, RCA Division, 107 NLRB 993, page 5; Spartan
Aircraft Company, 98 NLRB 75, and cases cited therein.
THE DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY and LOCAL 191, INTER-
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUF-
FEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA,
AFL, Petitioner
THE DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY, d/b/a THE NORWALK
L U MB E R COMPANY and LOCAL 191, INTERNATIONAL
BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE-
HOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner.
Cases Nos. 2-RC-6370 and 2-RC-6371. April 8, 1954
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed ,' under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held
1The petition in Case No . 2-RC-6371 and other formal papers are hereby amended to show
the correct name of the Employer named therein.
108 NLRB No. 46.
184 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
before Julian J. Hoffman, hearing officer. The hearing officer's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error
and are hereby affirmed.'
Upon the entire record in this proceeding , the Board finds:
1. The Employer contends that the operations at its Stam-
ford and Norwalk , Connecticut , lumberyards , which are princi-
pally concerned in this proceeding , have too small an impact
on commerce to warrant the assertion of jurisdiction herein.
The Employer, with headquarters in New York City, is
engaged in the manufacture and sale of matches, pulp and
paper, and lumber on a multistate basis . Its lumber division
includes lumberyards in the New England States and California
and logging and sawmill operations in the northwestern States.
Within the New England area of the lumber division are 36
lumberyards , of which 10, including the Stamford and Norwalk
yards, are situated in Connecticut.
During 1953 the Employer ' s total sales for all of its opera-
tions exceeded $ 96,000,000 . Total purchases for its New
England lumber division area were between $ 10,000,000 and
$12,000,000 , and total sales were $ 14,168,120 . 88. During the
same period , total purchases for the Connecticut operations
were $2,890,992 and total sales were $ 3,581 , 616.47, of which
amount $94 , 066.09 represents sales outside Connecticut.
During 1953, total purchases at the Stamford yard amounted to
$350,414 , of which amount $ 225,206.03 represents purchases
originating outside Connecticut ; and total sales at the Stamford
yard amounted to $422,347 . 59, of which amount $17,423.15
represents sales outside Connecticut . Total purchases at the
Norwalk yard amounted to $ 220,385, of which amount
$ 145,770.31 represents purchases from without Connecticut,
and total sales amounted to $246,579 . 92, all of which were
within Connecticut.
Under the above circumstances, we conclude that the
Employer's Stamford and Norwalk lumberyards , as part of a
multistate enterprise , have an impact on commerce sufficiently
substantial to justify the assertion of jurisdiction inthe instant
proceeding.'
We therefore find that the Employer is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the Act and that it will further the pur-
poses and policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction in the instant
case.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent cer-
tain employees of the Employer.
3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 ( c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and ( 7) of the Act.
2 For reasons set forth below , we deny the Employer 's motion to dismiss the petition for
lack of jurisdiction and the inappropriateness of the unit sought.
3 The Borden Company , Southern Division , 91 NLRB 628.
Chairman Farmer and Board Member Rodgers join in this decision , but are not to be deemed
thereby as agreeing with the Board's present jurisdictional standards.
THE DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY 185
4. The Petitioner seeks to represent in separate collective-
bargaining units employees at the Employer's Stamford and
Norwalk lumberyards , respectively , yardmen, millmen,
drivers, loaders , helpers, tallymen , and laborers , with the
customary exclusions . The Employer , although objecting to the
proposed units on the basis of their limited geographical
scope, declines to take a position as to what , in its opinion,
would be the scope of a more appropriate unit.
The Connecticut lumberyards , including the Stamford and
Norwalk yards , jointly participate in purchases of wholesale
carload lots of materials , whenever available , using to a
limited extent the largest of the Employer ' s Connecticut
lumberyards as central storage areas . All of the Employer's
lumberyards handle essentially the same type of product, with
minor variations .4 Employees have the same working hours.
The several payrolls for the Connecticut lumberyards are for-
warded to the Employer's Biddeford , Maine, office , which cal-
culates the amounts due , including payroll check deductions,
and forwards to each lumberyard its completed payroll and
payroll checks . Labor relations for all of the Employer's
operations are handled through a single labor relations officer.
Each of the Connecticut yards conducts business under a
separate trade name , registered with the Connecticut secretary
of state, and each has its own truck fleet . There is little or no
interchange of employees between yards , and lumberyard
managers, operating within the general framework of the
Employer's overall labor policies , are authorized to hire, dis-
charge, and promote employees . There is no history of collec-
tive bargaining for any of these employees.
Under the above circumstances , including the high degree of
autonomy at the Employer ' s Stamford and Norwalk lumberyards
and the fact that no other labor organization seeks to represent
the Employer ' s employees therein in a unit of larger geo-
graphical scope, we conclude that separate units limited to the
Stamford and Norwalk yards , respectively , are appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining.'
The Employer would exclude the shipper at the Norwalk
yard6 as a supervisor or managerial employee. The shipper,
working at his desk, answers the telephone ; quotes prices;
makes out delivery, charge, and cash slips ; figures quantities
and sizes ; handles some cash in connection with cash sales
and C.O.D. deliveries ; waits on customers and advises them
as to their materials requirements ; and directs loading opera-
tions in the yard. In filling out an order which requires a
small item not at the moment on hand, he may purchase the
4For instance , the Stamford yard, unlike other yards , carries no paint or hardware.
5 V. J. Elmore 5¢, 10¢ and $1.00 Stores , Incorporated ( Store No. 60), 99 NLRB 1505.
6 Although the Petitioner referred to this individual as the "working foreman and shipper,"
the Employer classifies him only as "shipper ." The Stamford yard is temporarily without a
shipper.
186 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
same from a competitor on the Employer's credit. The
Employer's standard procedure, however, is to permit such
purchases only when authorized by the lumberyard manager.
The Employer has not asked the shipper for recommendations
as to the discipline and discharge of employees. The record
does not disclose what weight, if any, might be accorded to his
recommendation if given. Contrary to the Employer's position,
we find that the shipper is not a managerial employee nor a
supervisor as defined in the Act. We shall therefore include
the shipper in the unit herein found. appropriate.
We find that the following employees of the Employe.r con-
stitute separate appropriate units for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act:
(a) All employees at the Employer's Stamford, Connecticut,
lumberyard, including millmen, drivers, loaders, helpers,
tallymen, and laborers, but excluding office clerical employees,
professional employees, sales employees, estimators, guards,
watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
(b) All employees at the Employer's Norwalk, Connecticut,
lumberyard, including yardmen, millmen, drivers, loaders,
helpers, tallymen, laborers, and the shipper, but excluding
office clerical employees, professional employees, sales
employees, estimators, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES
OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY OF THE
UNITED STATES AND CANADA, LOCAL 428, AFL and
RIGGERS AND MACHINERY MOVERS LOCAL UNION 161,
affiliated with INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE,
STRUCTURAL AND ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS, AFL
UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES
OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY OF THE
UNITED STATES AND CANADA, LOCAL 420, AFL; JOHN
SMALL, Business Agent of LOCAL 420 andRIGGERS AND
MACHINERY MOVERS LOCAL UNION 161, affiliated with
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, STRUCTURAL
AND ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS, AFL. Cases Nos. 4-
CD-19 and 4-CD-20. April 9, 1954
DECISION AND DETERMINATION OF DISPUTES
This proceeding arises under Section 10 (k) of the Act, which
provides that "Whenever it is charged that any person has en-
108 NLRB No. 50.