The Kendall Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 10, 1970

184 N.L.R.B. 847 (N.L.R.B. 1970)

THE KENDALL COMPANY
The Kendall Company and District 53, of the Inter-
national Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 9-RC-8407
August 10, 1970
DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER
BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN , AND JENKINS
On March 20, 1970 , the Regional Director for
Region 9 issued a Decision and Direction of Elec-
tion in the above-entitled proceeding in which he
found appropriate a unit of all production and
maintenance employees at the Employer 's Polyken
plant in Franklin , Kentucky . Thereafter, in ac-
cordance with Section 102.67 of the National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Se-
ries 8, as amended , the Employer filed a timely
request for review of the Regional Director 's deci-
sion ,' contending that a unit limited to the Polyken
plant is inappropriate , that the only appropriate
unit for the employees involved must include its
Adhesive plant also located in Franklin , and that
the petition therefore should be dismissed.
On April 28 , 1970, the National Labor Relations
Board by telegraphic order granted the request for
review and stayed the election pending decision on
review.
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.
The Board has reviewed the entire record in this
case with respect to the issues under review and
makes the following findings:
As above indicated , the Employer contends that
the only appropriate unit herein must encompass
production and maintenance employees at both of
its Franklin plants. We agree.
The Employer 's Polyken plant, established in
1957, presently employs approximately 130
production and maintenance employees who are
engaged principally in the production of industrial
pressure sensitive adhesive products . The Em-
ployer 's Adhesive plant , established in 1962,
presently employs approximately 435 production
and maintenance employees who are engaged prin-
cipally in the production of surgical pressure sensi-
tive adhesive products. Both plants are on
Louisville Road , located on a 76 -acre tract of land
and are approximately 200 feet apart . There are
three roadways on to that tract, two of which pro-
' The Textile Workers Union of America , AFL-CIO, was permitted to
intervene at the hearing on the basis of a card showing.
' The record indicates that a rail siding was recently constructed at the
847
vide access to both plants . The manufacturing
process and the machinery and equipment utilized
in the manufacturing process is substantially the
same at both plants . Ninety-five percent of the job
classifications employed at the Polyken plant are
also employed at the Adhesive plant . The raw
materials used in the manufacturing process are es-
sentially the same for both plants and the same
code system is followed at both plants to identify
these raw materials.
As found by the Regional Director there is a sub-
stantial degree of integration of production at the
two plants . "Banbury mixing " and "mass mixing"
are performed at the Adhesive plant for the
Polyken plant , as well as certain operations, such as
"slitting," "die cutting of labels," "cutting of
parchment separators ," and some "precision core
cutting ." The Polyken plant manufactures a
product known as film interliner which is used to
separate layers of pressure sensitive adhesives
manufactured in the Adhesive plant . Three Polyken
plant employees are engaged in the manufacture of
this film interliner and 16 Adhesive plant em-
ployees use the film interliner in their operation.
Four employees at the Polyken plant and eight em-
ployees at the Adhesive plant are engaged in vari-
ous operations resulting in a finished product
known as Kappa Wetproof Surgical Tape . Approxi-
mately 15 percent of the Polyken plant 's produc-
tion consists of the manufacture of a patented
"plastic facing film," a component of the finished
products produced in the Curad Department of the
Adhesive plant , which has approximately 135 em-
ployees . The Polyken plant is the sole source of
supply of this product for the Adhesive plant.
Of the production and maintenance employees
currently employed , 67 have been involved in 84
permanent transfers between the plants and over a
period of about 2 years there have been approxi-
mately 100 temporary transfers between the two
plants, varying from I to 5 days in duration. In ad-
dition , two or three of the eight shipping and
receiving employees at the Polyken plant spend 25
to 30 percent of their time at the Adhesive plant
shipping dock assisting shipping and receiving em-
ployees of Adhesive in the preparation of con-
solidated shipments of products of both plants.2
Between April and October, the number of Polyken
employees and the amount of time they spend at
the Adhesive plant increases . Carpenters from each
plant also engage in shoring up these consolidated
shipments. There is also another Polyken employee
who spends 50 percent of his time at the Adhesive
Polyken , however there is no showing, as to the effect , if any , this will have
on consolidated shipments or the receipt of bulk raw materials, most of
which are used at both plants
184 NLRB No. 98
848 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
plant dock unloading polyethylene, a material used
at both plants. While these Polyken employees are
working at the Adhesive plant dock, they are under
the immediate supervision of the Adhesive plant
shipping and receiving foreman. Polyken plant fork-
lift drivers enter the production area at the Adhe-
sive plant in order to transport materials to and
from the Adhesive plant. Maintenance employees
from Polyken plant go to the Adhesive plant's
maintenance shop daily to borrow equipment, and
its quality control technicians use equipment
located in the laboratory at the Adhesive plant on a
daily basis. The Company provides its salesmen and
customers with sample kits of the products of both
plants which are made up at the Polyken plant and
employees engaged in this activity go to the Adhe-
sive plant two or three times a week to pick up tape
to be used for making up these kits.
Each plant has its own plant manager, production
superintendent, shift foremen, and supervisors who
are responsible for the day-to-day operations of
their respective plants. However, joint supervisory
meetings are held in the conference room at the
Adhesive plant. Although each plant has its own
personnel manager who reports directly to the
director of personnel in the Employer's Chicago of-
fice, they prepare joint annual wage and benefit
surveys which, after review by the respective plant
managers and plant superintendents , result in a sin-
gle recommendation for submission to the director
of personnel. The wage and benefit increases are
the same at both plants and are implemented on the
same date . Personnel forms are the same for both
plants and job applicants may be interviewed by
either personnel manager for openings at either
plant. For purposes of layoff and rehire, depart-
mental seniority is controlling. The Polyken plant
itself is considered as Department 17. Seniority
dates from the original date of hire and in the cases
of transferred employees, their seniority remains in
the department from which they transferred for a
period of 45 days after which their seniority is car-
ried over to their new department.
' See The Kendall Company , 181 NLRB 1130; and Halstead & Mitchell
Co , 151 NLRB 1460. The cases of Dixie Belle Mills, Inc., 139 NLRB 629;
Duluth Avionics , Guidance & Control Systems, Division of Litton Systems,
The dispatch clerk at the Adhesive plant arranges
all rail transportation for both plants, the yard work-
ers at the Adhesive plant cut the grass and clear
roadways for both plants, the purchasing depart-
ment at the Adhesive plant does all the purchasing
for both plants and the industrial engineering de-
partment at the Adhesive plant establishes the in-
centive standards for piecework which are the same
for both plants. The payrolls for both plants are
prepared by data processing employees at the Ad-
hesive plant, the switchboard and teletype facilities
for both plants are located in the Adhesive plant,
and all mail distribution is performed by the mail-
boy at the Adhesive plant.
Upon the foregoing, we conclude that a unit
limited to the Polyken plant sought is inappropriate
and that the only appropriate unit herein is one
which includes the production and maintenance
employees of both the, plants involved. In so con-
cluding, we rely especially on the facts that em-
ployees of plants are engaged essentially in the
same kind of production and utilize the same skills,
that the two plants are on the same tract of land
only 200 feet apart, and that there is a substantial
amount of employee interchange. In addition, as
above noted, working conditions, labor relations
policy, and employee benefits are the same for both
plants, and each plant provides various services for
the other. We find, therefore, contrary to the Re-
gional Director, that the community of interest
shared by employees at both plants is so close as to
overcome the presumption favoring a single-plant
unit.3. Accordingly, as the requested single-plant
unit is inappropriate and the Petitioner has not in-
dicated a desire to proceed to an election in a two
plant unit which would be more than four times
larger than that sought, we shall dismiss the petition
herein.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
Inc, 156 NLRB 1319; and The Black and Decker Manufacturing Com-
pany, 147 NLRB 825, relied on by Regional Director, are factually
distinguishable. ,