Wheeling Corrugating Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 15, 1941

34 N.L.R.B. 309 (N.L.R.B. 1941)

In the Matter of WHEELING CORRUGATING COMPANY and INTERNA-
TIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN
AND HELPERS, LOCAL UNION No. 541, AFFILIATED WITH THE AMER-
ICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR
Case No. R-2825.-Decided August 15,1941
Jurisdiction : metal products warehousing and selling industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question: Com-
pany refused to accord union recognition until certified by the Board; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : all manual labor warehouse em-
ployees and truck drivers, excluding office, clerical, and supervisory em-
ployees, salesmen, watchmen, and janitors ; stipulation as to.
Mr. George A. Neal, of Wheeling, W. Va., and Mr. W. Wamsley,
of Kansas City, Mo., for the Company.
Mr. J. M. Joyce, of Kansas City, Mo., for the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On June 12 and 21, 1941, respectively, International Brotherhood
of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local Union
No. 541, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, herein
called the Union, filed with the Regional Director for the Seventeenth
Region (Kansas City, Missouri) a petition and an amended petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the
representation of employees of Wheeling Corrugating Company,
Kansas City, Missouri, herein called the Company, and requesting
an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Sec-
tion 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein
called the Act. On July 11, 1941, the National Labor Relations
Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of
the Act and Article III, Section 3, of Notional Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, ordered an in-
vestigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and
to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
34N.L R B,No.51
309
451269-42-vol. 34--21
310 . DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
On July 23, 1941, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the Union.
Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on July 30, 1941, at Kansas
City, Missouri, before Clarence D. Musser, the Trial Examiner duly
designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Company and the
Union were represented and participated in thb hearing. Full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties.
During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several
rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evdience.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and
finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are
hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Wheeling Corrugating Company is a West Virginia corporation
with its principal office at Wheeling, West Virginia. This proceeding
is concerned solely with one of its warehouses located at North Kansas
City, Missouri, where it is engaged in the warehousing, selling, and
distributing of sheet metal, sheet metal products, wire, and wire
products.
During the first 6 months of 1941, the Company shipped to its North
Kansas City, Missouri, warehouse products valued in excess of
$450,000, over 80 per cent of which were shipped from points outside
the State of Missouri. During the same period, merchandise valued
in excess of $500,000, constituting about 90 per cent of the Company's
total sales from its North Kansas City warehouse, were shipped from
the North Kansas City warehouse to points outside the State of
Missouri. The Company admits that it is engaged in interstate corn-
merce within the meaning of the Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse-
men and Helpers, Local Union No. 541, is a labor organization
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to mem-
bership employees at the North Kansas City warehouse of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On June 11, 1941, the Union, claiming to represent a majority
of the employees at the North Kansas City warehouse of the Com-
pany, requested the Company to recognize it as the exclusive repre-
WHEELING CORRUGATING COMPANY 311
sentative of such employees. The Company denied this request until
such time as the Union was certified by the Board. A statement of
a Field Examiner, introduced in evidence at the hearing, shows that
the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit
alleged to be appropriate.'
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce,
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the Union stipulated at the hearing, and we
find, that all manual labor warehouse employees and truck drivers
at the North Kansas City warehouse of the Company, excluding office,
clerical, and supervisory employees, salesmen, watchmen, and janitors,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing. We further find that such unit will insure to employees of the
Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to
collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen can best be resolved by the holding of an election by secret
ballot. We shall direct that all employees in the appropriate unit
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to such limita-
tions and additions as are set forth in the Direction, shall be eligible
to vote.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Wheeling Corrugating Company, Kansas
1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union presented 16 application for membership
cards bearing the names of persons who appear on the Company 's pay roll of June 21, 1941.
There are 22 employees on this pay roll who are in the alleged appropriate unit.
312 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
City, Missouri, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2
( 6) and ( 7) of the National Labor Relations Act.
2. All manual labor warehouse employees and truck drivers.at the
North Kansas City warehouse of the Company, excluding office,
clerical , and supervisory employees , salesmen , watchmen, and janitors,
constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargain-
ing, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor
Relations Act:
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National
Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor
Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Wheeling Corrugating Company, Kansas City, Missouri, an
election by secret ballot shall be conducted 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 Seven-
teenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor
Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9, of said Rules
and Regulations, among all manual labor warehouse employees and
truck drivers at the North Kansas City warehouse of the Company
who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding
the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work
during such pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or
in the active military service or training of the United -States, or
temporarily laid off, but excluding office, clerical, and supervisory
employees, salesmen, watchmen, janitors, and employees who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of Team-
sters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers, Local Union No. 541,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
Mu. EDWIN S. SDIITH took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.