Whippany Paper Board Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Feb 13, 1958

119 N.L.R.B. 1615 (N.L.R.B. 1958)

WHIPPANY PAPER BOARD COMPANY, INC. 1615
Whippany Paper Board Company, Inc . and Local 68, Interna-
tional Union of Operating Engineers , AFL-CIO , Petitioner.
Cases Nos. 22-RC-10 and 22-RC-18. February 13, 1958
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Clement P. Cull, hearing
officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Members Rodgers, Bean, and Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of the employees of the Employer within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to sever from existing units of production
and maintenance employees a single unit of licensed engineers and
firemen employed in the powerhouses at the Employer's four plants.
The Petitioner has taken various alternate positions which include a
single unit of all powerhouse employees, whether licensed or
unlicensed, and separate p.lantwide units of some or all powerhouse
employees. The Employer and the Intervenor (United Papermakers
and Paperworkers, AFL-CIO, and its Locals 297, 300, and 301)
oppose severance on any basis for the reason that for several years
these parties have been bargaining for all powerhouse employees as
part of the production and maintenance units. The Employer and
the Intervenor contend, however, that any severance of powerhouse
employees permitted by the Board should include all such employees,
whether licensed or unlicensed, and should be coextensive in scope with
the past bargaining history of the production and maintenance
employees.
The Employer is engaged in manufacturing paper board at 4 plants,
3 of which are located in Whippany, New Jersey, with the remaining
plant located in Clifton, New Jersey. The three plants in Whippany
are known as the Hanover, Stony Brook, and Eden plants. The
Clifton plant is at least 20 miles from the 3 other plants, which in
turn are located about 1 mile from each other. Among all four plants,
each of which has a powerhouse, the only interchange of any employees
119 NLRB No. 200..
1616 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
occurs between the Stony Brook and Eden employees. For many
years, a series of 3 separate bargaining contracts have existed between
the Employer and the Intervenor covering 3 separate units of pro-
duction and maintenance employees, including all powerhouse
employees : 1 unit for the Clifton employees, 1 for the Hanover
employees, and 1 for the combined Stony Brook and Eden employees.
All powerhouse employees in each of the plants are under separate
supervision and are located apart from the main production areas.
Their primary function is to operate and maintain boilers and other
equipment necessary for the production of steam and power. In
addition to licensed engineers and firemen, the powerhouses also have
water treat employees, ash and coal handlers, and millwrights,' all
of whom are under the same supervision at each powerhouse and all
of whom perform powerhouse duties. As the Board's establishment
of powerhouse units is not based on a showing of craft skills, but
rather upon a showing that they comprise functionally distinct
departments, such as here, we shall include all powerhouse employees
in the voting groups hereinafter found appropriate. As the Peti-
tioner is a union which traditionally represents powerhouse employees
and as the Board customarily permits the severance of such groupings
from existing production and maintenance units, we find that the
powerhouse employees may, if they so desire, constitute separate
appropriate units.2
In view of the past bargaining history among the Employer's
production and maintenance employees on a three-unit basis and the
lack of interchange of employees among these units, we find that the
severance of powerhouse employees should be coextensive therewith.'
Accordingly, we shall direct separate elections in the following
voting groups of employees, excluding all other employees, office
clerical employees, professional employees, guards, and supervisors
as defined in the Act :
(a) All powerhouse employees at the Employer's Clifton, New
Jersey, plant.
(b) All powerhouse employees at the Employer's Hanover plant
located at Whippany, New Jersey.
(c) All powerhouse employees at the Employer's Stony Brook and
Eden plants located in Whippany, New Jersey.
We shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall
be guided in part by the desires of the employees as expressed in the
elections hereinafter directed. If a majority of employees in any
1 The Employer has other millwrights who perform general plant maintenance duties
and are included in the established production and maintenance units.
2 North American Aviation; Inc., 115 NLRB 1090, 1094-5; American Potash and Chemi-
cal Corp ., 107 NLRB 1418.
3 North American Aviation, Inc., 113 NLRB 1049, 1.050-51 ; cf.. St. Regis Paper Com-
pany, 105 NLRB 371, 372.
MIXERMOBILE MANUFACTURERS, INC. 1617
voting group votes for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have
indicated a desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit, and the
Regional Director conducting the elections herein is instructed to
issue as to each group a certification of representatives to the Peti-
tioner. In the event a majority of employees in any voting group
votes for the Intervenor, the Board finds their inclusion in the respec-
tive, existing production and maintenance units to be appropriate and
the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election,
as to each group, to such effect.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
Mixermobile Manufacturers , Inc. and Local No. 11, Office Em-
ployees International Union, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case No.
36-RC-1304. February 13,1958
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before E. G. Strumpf, hear-
ing officer. 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 Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
member panel [Members Rodgers, Bean, and Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.'
2. 'The labor organization involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer.
4. Petitioner originally sought a unit of all office and clerical
employees. At the hearing, Petitioner stated as its alternative posi-
tion that it would represent a residual unit of all "time-clock" em-
ployees 1 not represented by any other labor organization,or any unit
which the Board finds appropriate. The Employer's-position is that
the ' only appropriate unit is one consisting of clerical employees
housed in the main office of one of its buildings:'
The Employer is engaged in the manufacture of mobile cement
mixers in Portland, Oregon, where its plant consists of several build-
1 As the record fails to show which employees, if any, are currently represented by any
bargaining .agent we find no basis for considering the Petitioner's alternative residual unit.
119 NLRB:No. 201.
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