Volney Felt Mills, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 17, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 386 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of VOLNEY FELT MILLS, INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF PAPER MAKERS, AFL, LOCAL 540,
PETITIONER
Case No. 11-R-1119.-Decided October 17, 1946
Mr. P. K. McGaffigan, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer.
Mr. Luther E. Janney, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Petitioner.
Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Brook-
ville, Indiana, on August 27, 1946, before Arthur R. Donovan, 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 the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Volney Felt Mills, Incorporated, a Delaware corporation licensed
to do business in Indiana, has its main office in Chicago, Illinois. At
its plant at Brookville, Indiana, it is engaged in the manufacture of
dry felt. The Employer annually uses at this plant raw materials
having an approximate value of $200,000, about 75 percent of which
is received from points outside the State of Indiana. Virtually all
the finished products of the Brookville plant, having an annual value
of approximately $300,000, are shipped to points outside the State
of Indiana.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The, Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Em-
ployer.
71 N L R B, No. 55
386
VOLNEY FELT MILLS, INCORPORATED
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
387
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
I\'. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties agree that a unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Brookville, Indiana, plant, excluding office
clerical employees, would constitute an appropriate unit. They fur-
ther agree that the following salaried employees should properly be
excluded from such a unit: general manager, general superintendent,
tour bosses, and shipping clerk, all of whom are admittedly super-
visory employees. But the Petitioner would include and the Employer
exclude the following hourly paid categories : rag room foreman,
beater room foreman, machine tenders, shipping clerk, receiving
clerk, boiler engineer, firemen, master mechanic, carpenter, electrician,
watchmen. The Employer contends, contrary to the Petitioner's
position, that the watchmen are managerial employees, and that the
remaining categories in dispute are supervisory.
Rag room, foremen, beater room foremen, machine tenders, shipping
clerk, receiving clerk, boiler engineer, firemen, master mechanic,
carpenter, electrician
The Employer's vice president testified that the employees in the
above categories have the power effectively to recommend changes
in the status of other workers, and that, consequently, they are
supervisory personnel. Beyond this bare statement, however, there
is no specific evidence to show that these employees have any super-
visory authority. On the other hand, there is uncontradicted testi-
mony to the effect that similarly classified employees engaged in
plants in the same area and industry are not supervisory employees
within the meaning of the Board's customary definition. Here, more-
over, the alleged supervisory employees punch the same clocks and
have the same washroom facilities as admittedly non-supervisory work-
ers. Furthermore, they, like ordinary production and maintenance
employees, receive no paid vacations, and, in most Instances, work
side by side with such workers. Of the approximately 55 employees
whom the Petitioner seeks to represent, the Employer would exclude
388 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
18 as having supervisory powers.' We are convinced that the em-
ployees in these disputed categories have authority which is more
like that a journeyman exercises with respect to his helpers than a
supervisor exercises with respect to his subordinates.' We shall, there-
fore, include them within the unit hereinafter found appropriate.
Watchmen
These employees are custodians of company property during the
time they are on duty, having charge of fire prevention and protec-
tion. They also watch for trespassing and employee infractions of
company rules such as that against smoking. Although they are not
uniformed, deputized, militarized, or armed, they apparently have the
monitorial power to report as well as watch for such infractions.
As monitorial employees, they will be excluded from the unit here-
inafter found appropriate.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Employer's Brookville, Indiana, plant, including rag room foremen,
beater room foremen, machine tenders, the hourly paid shipping
clerk, receiving clerk, boiler engineer, firemen, master mechanic, car-
penter, and electrician, but excluding the office clerical employees,
general manager, general superintendent, tour bosses, the salaried
shipping clerk, and all other supervisory employees with authority to
-hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the
status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute
a unit appropriate for the purposes 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 Volney Felt Mills, Incor-
porated, Brookville, Indiana, an election by secret ballot shall be con-
ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days from
the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the
Regional Director for the Eleventh Region, acting in this matter as
agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sec-
tions 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
I On each shift the rac room foreman has one helper, the beater foreman has three
helpers ; the machine tender has either one of two helpers ; the master mechanic, the car-
penter, and the electrician draw upon a single pool of three helpers , and the fireman has
one coal passer assisting him The boiler engineer is in charge of three firemen and three
coal passers on all three shifts ; and the shipping and receiving clerks draw upon a single
pool of six hand truckers and one motor trucker
2 See Matter of Dallas Power & Light Company, 59 N. L R B 1460 , Matter of Victor
Chemical Works , 52 N. L. R. B. 194.
VOLNEY FELT MILLS, INCORPORATED 389
Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appro-
priate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including
employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because
.they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including
employees in the armed forces of the United States who present them-
selves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or
reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether
or not they desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of
Paper Makers, AFL, Local 540, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.
CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.