Whippany Paper Board Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 12, 1945

61 N.L.R.B. 516 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter' of WHIPPANY PAPER BOARD COMPANY, INC., and PAPER
WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, C. I. O.
Case No. 4-R-16,52.-Decided April 12, 1945
Mr. Nicholas R. Fiore, of Newark, N. J., for the Company.
Rothbard & Talisman, by Mr. Bernard Cherry, of Newark, N. J.,
for the CIO.
Mr. Roy Dugan, of Newark, N. J., for District 50.
Miss Ruth Rusch, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Paper Workers Organizing Committee,
C. I. 0., herein called the CIO, alleging that a question affecting com-
merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Whip-
pany Paper Board Company, Inc., Whippany, New Jersey, herein
called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for
an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Eugene M. Purver,
Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Passaic, New Jersey, on
March 23, 1945. The Company, the CIO, and District 50, United Mine
Workers of America, herein called District 50, appeared and partici-
pated.' All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to exam-
ine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on
the issues. At the hearing, District 50 moved to dismiss the CIO's peti-
tion on the ground that its contract with the Company and a pending
proceeding before the National War Labor Board constitute bars to the
present proceeding. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling on District
50's motion for the Board's determination. For reasons stated in Sec-
tion III,,infra, the motion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's
rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file
briefs with the board.
1 At the hearing , the Trial Examiner granted a motion to intervene made by District 50.
61 N. L. R. B., No. 69.
516
WHIPPANY PAPER BOARD COMPANY, INC. 517
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Company is a New Jersey corporation engaged in the manu-
facture of paper board which is used in packing and shipping. During
the past year, the Company purchased raw materials consisting of
various grades of waste paper and chemicals and amounting to more
than $835,000 in value, of which 60 percent came from sources outside
the State of New Jersey. In the same period, the Company sold fin-
ished products amounting to more than $1,800,000 in value, of which
70 percent was shipped to points outside the State of New Jersey.
The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Paper Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization af-
filiated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to
membership employees of the" Company.
District 50 is a labor organization affiliated with the United Mine
Workers of America, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the CIO as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its production and maintenance
employees until the CIO has been certified by the Board in an appro-
priate unit.
The Company and District 50 executed a collective bargaining con-
tract which became effective on April 12, 1944, for a period of 1 year
and which contains the usual 30 day automatic renewal clause. The
agreement also provides that the question of wage rates may be opened
for negotiation at any time during the term of the contract, on 30
days notice from District 50. The CIO's request for recognition and
its petition herein antedated the automatic renewal date of the con-
tract. The contract, therefore, does not operate to bar an investigation
of representatives.
In September 1944, District 50 requested a meeting to discuss wage
negotiations. The Company rejected District 50's proposals for wage
increases at a conference which was then held. Thereafter, a hearing
was held on November 13, 1944, under the auspices of the National
War Labor Board. The hearing officer subsequently denied the wage
518 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
increases and on January 10, 1945, the Regional War Labor Board
upheld the hearing officer's recommendations in an Interim Directive
Order. • District 50 appealed the decision on January 23, 1945, and it
urges that this proceeding, which is now pending before the National
Board, bars a present determination of representatives. We find no
-merit in this contention. The pendency of proceedings before the
War Labor Board does not per se constitute a bar to a determination
of representatives, nor do the facts here presented warrant applica-
tion of the doctrine enunciated in Matter of Allis Chalmers Manu f ac-
turing Company and similar cases.2
A statement of a Field Examiner introduced into evidence at the
hearing, indicates that the CIO represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.3
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accordance with the stipulation of the parties, that all
the Company's employees at its plant located at Whippany, New
Jersey, excluding office and clerical employees, teamsters,4 foremen,
superintendents, assistant superintendents, supervisors, and all other
supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, dis-
cipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effec-
tively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.'
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll
period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election
2 Matter of The Morrow Manufacturing C6mpany, Division of the Wacker Corporation, 59
N. L. It. B. 90; Matter of MacClatchue Manufacturing Company, 53 N. L It. B. 1268 ;
see also Matter of Thompson Products , Inc., 60 N L. R . B. 885 ; cf. Allis Chalmers
Manufacturing Company, 50 N. L. It. B. 306; Taylor Forge if Pipe Works, 58 N. L R B
1375.
3 The Field Examiner reported that the CIO submitted 65 authorization cards, all of
which bore the names of persons listed on the Company ' s pay roll , which contained the
names of 70 employees in the appropriate unit . The cards were dated : 41 in November
1944, 10 in December 1944, and 14 in February 1945.
District 50 presented no evidence, but relies on its contract as proof of its interest in this
proceeding.
4 The parties agreed that by teamsters , they mean over-the-road drivers.
6 This is the same unit which is covered by the contract between the Company and
District 50.
WHIPPANY PAPER BOARD COMPANY, INC. 519
herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the
Direction.
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 Relations Act,
and pursuant to Article III, -Section 9, of National Labor Relations
Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Whippany Paper
Board Company, Inc., Whippany, New Jersey, 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 Fourth Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section
IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of the 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 themselves 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 they desire to be represented by
Paper Workers Organizing Committee, C. I. 0., or by District 50,
United Mine Workers of America, for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by neither.
CHAIRMAN MII,ris took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.