United States Gypsum Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 26, 1949

81 N.L.R.B. 310 (N.L.R.B. 1949)

In the Matter of UNITED STATES Gypsum COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
UNITED PAPER WORKERS OF AMERICA , CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 6-RC-193.Decided January 26, 1949
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer
of the National Labor Relations Board . 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, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
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 is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer'
*Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Murdock
1 In 1940, the Employer granted recognition to Local Union No 70 of the Petitioner and
entered into a contract with it. When their latest contract expired by its terms in July
1948, the Employer required Local Union No. 70 to obtain certification by the Board prior
to further contract negotiations . Thereafter the Petitioner filed the instant petition. At
the opening of the hearing herein on October 15 , 1948, the Employer contended that the
Petitioner was not an autonomous union, but was "fronting" for the Congress of Industrial
Organizations , a non-complying labor organization . At the request of the Petitioner, and
without objection by the Employer , the hearing was adjourned until October 25 , 1948, in
order to give the Petitioner an opportunity to present evidence with respect to its
autonomy . From October 18 to 21, 1948, the Petitioner held a convention at which a
constitution was adopted and officers were elected . Prior to this convention , the Petitioner
had been governed by officers appointed by the C. I. 0., and had been operating under a
"provisional constitution ." The Petitioner is now an autonomous body ; it is , therefore,
irrelevant here that the Congress of Industrial Organizations is not in compliance. See
Matter of McGraw-Curran Lumber Co., Inc , 79 N. L . R. B. 705.
In its brief , filed after the close of the hearing, the Employer moved that the petition
herein be dismissed on the following grounds : ( 1) the Petitioner is not the real party in
interest in that it is fronting for its Local Union No. 70; and ( 2) the Petitioner has not
alleged in its petition that it requested recognition , and, in fact , has not requested recogni-
tion. With regard to ( 1) we are administratively advised that the Local , as well as the
Petitioner, is in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and ( h) of the Act ; therefore , we deny
81 N. L . R. B., No. 52.
310
UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY 311
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 production and main-
tenance employees at the Employer's Oakmont, Pennsylvania, plant,
excluding office clerical employees, professional employees, guards,
and supervisors as defined in the Act. The parties are in general
agreement as to the composition of the unit. The Petitioner, how-
ever, would include, and the Employer would exclude, head beatermen,2
head loaders, bottomer operators, tuber operators, machine tenders, in-
spectors, and testers.-9
The Employer employs three head beatermen, three head loaders,
six bottomer operators, four tuber operators, and three machine tend-
ers. Each one has from one to six employees continuously under his
supervision, and spends from 30 to 70 percent of his time in the super-
vision and direction of his subordinates. The remainder of his time is
spent in manual work. Each one is hourly paid, and receives from 15
to 37 cents more per hour than the next highest paid man in his crew.
The record shows that the head beatermen, the head loader in the paper
mill, the head loader on the day shift in the bag plant,' the bottomer
operators, the tuber operators and the machine tenders make effective
recommendations with respect to the promotion, transfer, discipline,
and discharge of the employees under them. We find that the head
beatermen, the head loaders, the bottomer operators, the tuber opera-
tors and the machine tenders are supervisors within the meaning of the
Act, and we shall, therefore, exclude them from the unit.
There are two inspectors in the bag plant, one on each of two shifts.
They are hourly paid, and work under the supervision of the quality
supervisor. Their primary function is to inspect the quality of bags,
tubes, and other products of the bag plant. In addition, they train
new female employees, and they have been trained to administer first
this portion of the Employer's motion. Matter of Lane Wells Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 252.
With regard to (2), the record shows that a question concerning the representation of the
Employer' s employees in an appropriate unit existed at the close of the hearing herein ;
therefore, we shall deny the second portion of the Employer 's motion. Matter of Advance
Pattern Company , 80 N. L. R. B 29.
2 These men are sometimes referred to in the record as beater engineers.
All these categories were included in the bargaining unit in contracts previously existing
between the Petitioner's Local Union No. 70 and the Employer.
4 There is a head loader on the afternoon shift in the bag plant who has substantially
the same duties and receives the same wages as the other head loaders , but who, at the
time of the hearing, temporarily had no employees working under his supervision . It is not
clear from the record whether or not the head loaders in the bag plant rotate shifts. If
they do, the one on the afternoon shift will have employees under his supervision part of
the time, and will be excluded from the unit ; if they do not, he will be included in the
unit until such time as he again has employees working under his supervision. See Matter
of United States Gypsum Company, 79 N. L. R. B. 536.
312 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
aid. The inspectors do not have authority to discharge any employee
or effectively to recommend such action, nor do they have authority to
reprimand the operators. Although the department heads consult the
inspectors from time to time with regard to the quality of work pro-
duced by employees being considered for promotion, this seems to in-
volve only the furnishing of information and not the making of effec-
tive recommendations. We find that the inspectors are not supervisors
within the meaning of the Act, and we shall therefore include them in
the unit.'
There are three testers employed in the quality control department,
who work under the supervision of the quality supervisor. The testers
perform no production work. They work in the laboratory, which is
physically separated from the production departments, where they
perform certain tests upon the paper produced by the paper machine.
In view of the technical nature of their work, and the fact that they
work under separate supervision in a separate location, we find that the
testers have different interests, duties, and working conditions from
the production and maintenance workers, and, accordingly, we shall
exclude them from the unit."
We find that all the production and maintenance employees 7 at the
Employer's Oakmont, Pennsylvania, plant, including inspectors, but
excluding testers, office clerical employees, professional employees,
guards, and supervisors," constitute a unit appropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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 super-
vision of the Regional Director for the Sixth Region, and subject to
Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules
and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the
unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were
employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date
5 Matter of United States Gypsum Company , supra.
6 Matter of United States Gypsum Company, supra
4 The Employer employs four "watchmen " in its engineering department who spend 90
percent of their time as firemen and 10 percent as watchmen . The parties agreed to include
these employees in the unit . In accordance with previous Board decisions with respect
to part-time watchmen who are engaged predominantly in other work , we shall include
these four employees in the production and maintenance unit as maintenance employees.
Matter of Radio Corporation of America , 76 N L. R. B 826.
6 The term "supervisors " herein includes head beatermen , head loaders, bottomer operators,
tuber operators and machine tenders.
UNITED STATES GYPSUM COMPANY 313
of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work
during said pay-roll 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
or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain-
ing, by United Paper Workers of America, CIO.