Bemis Bro. Bag Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 10, 1951

95 N.L.R.B. 44 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

44 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ence of union-security provisions in a contract unauthorized by any
election acts as a restraint upon those employees desiring to refrain
from union activities within the meaning of Section 7 of the Act.
We find that neither the oral agreement nor the Union's letter ef-
fectively eradicated the restraint upon the employees imposed by the
unauthorized union-security provision.2 Accordingly, we find that
the contract herein is not a bar to a present determination of
representatives.
We find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the
representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of
,Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. In accordance with the agreement of the parties, we find that all
the office employees employed at the New York, New York, plants of
the Employer which are located at 50 Vandam Street and 54 Fulton
.Street, respectively, excluding confidential secretaries and all super-
visors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b)
of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
2 Eagle Lock Company, 8S NLRB 970 ; Tyee Plywood Company, 88 NLRB 858 ; Pacific
,Gas and Electric Company, 87 NLRB 257; Roosevelt Oil and Refining Corporation, 85
NLRB 965.
BEMIS BRO. BAG COMPANY 1 AND/ /OR BEMISTON VILLAGE COUNCIL FOUN-
DATION and UNITED TEXTILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, A. F. OF L.,
PETITIONER. Case No. 10-I?C-1279. July 10, 1951
Decision and Direction of Election
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before John S. Patton, hearing offi-
cer. 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Murdock and Styles].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Bemis Bro. Bag Company, hereinafter called the Company,
is a Missouri corporation with its principal office at St. Louis, Missouri.
Th% Company operates approximately 32 manufacturing plants in
various States of the United States. In the course of its operations
1 The name of the Company appears as amended at the hearing.
95 NLRB No. 12.
BEMIS BRO. BAG COMPANY 45
at Talladega, Alabama, the Company formed. the Bemiston Village
,Council Foundation, hereinafter called the Foundation. The in-
stant proceeding involves the employees employed by the Foundation.
During the year ending December 31, 1950, the purchases of raw
materials for the Talladega plant were in excess of one million dol-.
lars, approximately 90 percent of which was shipped to the plant from
,out of State. During the same period the Talladega plant produced
goods valued in excess of two million dollars, approximately 90 percent
.of which was shipped out of State.
Upon these facts we find that the operations of the Company af-
fect commerce within the meaning of the Act and, further, that it
will effectuate the purposes of the Act for the Board to assert juris-
diction over this Company.2
The Bemiston Village Council Foundation is a nonprofit voluntary
association, organized by the Company for the purpose of furnishing
recreational and other services to the employees of the Company, in-
cluding at the present, the maintenance of Bemiston Village, the op-
eration of a dairy farm, service station, community center, and the
publication of a weekly newspaper. The.membership of the Foun-
dation is composed primarily of the employees of the Company. The
office manager of the Company, is by virtue of the constitution and
bylaws of the Foundation one of its vice presidents and chief ac-
counting officer having supervision over the accounts of the. Founda-
tion. All personnel policies of the Company, i. e., holidays, group
insurance plans, are applicable to the employees of the Foundation.
Statements of charges for services rendered by the Foundation to
company employees are issued from the company offices. The land
on which Bemiston Village and the other facilities provided for the
employees are situated is owned by the Company and guarded by
company guards. It is evident from the above facts, and the Company
does not urge otherwise, that there is a substantial degree of identity
between the Company and the Foundation. We are persuaded there-
fore that the Company and the Foundation can be properly considered
as a single employer for the purposes of the National Labor Relations
Act as amended.
2. The labor organization involved claims to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the repre-
sentation of employees-of the Employer within the meaning of Sec-
tion 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of what may be termed maintenance
and operating employees ' of the Foundation .3 The Employer and
2 Stanislaus Implement and Hardware Company, Limited, 91 NLRB 80.
a The Petitioner now represents the production and maintenance employees of the
Company and the employees employed in the company cafeteria.
46 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Petitioner agree"that the following'classifications of employees should'
be'included`in the unit: The handymen, land improvement employees,.
painter, landscaper,' janitor of the school building, auto mechanic and
assistants, counter attendants, and janitors of the community building..
There is disagreement as to the inclusion or exclusion of the following
employees
Dairy farm workers.-These employees tend, feed, and care for the
animals on the dairy farm. The same employees also process and
deliver the milk to customers of the dairy farm g They work 7 days
a week, 10 hours a day, as distinguished from the majority of the
other Foundation employees who.are on a 40-hour week. As the rec-
ord discloses that these employees devote the major portion of their
time to clearly agricultural activities, and also lack a community of
interest with the other Foundation employees, we will exclude them
from the unit found appropriate herein.
Storeroom clerks.-The village storeroom is used to store lumber,
cement, sand, nails, and other building materials. The storeroom
clerks check out to employees of the Foundation such materials,, as
might be needed; in addition they maintain records of the supplies.
These clerks are hourly paid and work under the supervision of the
foreman in charge of the laborers. We are persuaded that the store-
room clerks occupy a position in relation to the maintenance employees
of the Foundation similar to that occupied by plant clericals in rela-
tion to production and maintenance employees whom we include in a
production and maintenance unit. We therefore shall include,them
in the unit found appropriate herein.
Filling station and garage clerk.e-The Foundation, maintains and
operates a filling station and garage which services the automobiles
and trucks of the Foundation, the Company's employees, and the gen-
eral public. The clerk employed 'at the filling station and garage
maintains the records of the work done at the garage and the time.
cards of the garage employees, issues automobile parts to the mechan-
ic and his assistants, and sells the various products of the filling
station to the public. For at least 21/2 hours of each working day
she is the only attendant available at the filling station. The Em-
ployer and Petitioner have agreed to include the auto mechanic and
two assistants employed at the filling station and garage in the unit.
We find that the duties and interests of the filling station and garage
clerk are closely allied and related to those of'the auto mechanic and
assistants and therefore shall include her in the unit.
0
4 The parties are in agreement and we find that the landscaper is not a supervisor
within the meaning of the Act. The landscaper is occasionally assisted in his work by
laborers over whom he has no authority as a supervisor.
The dairy farm also sells milk to an independent retail store operating under a
concession in the company village.
6 A stipulation, agreed upon by the parties, in respect to the duties of the filling station
clerk was received after the close of the hearing and made a part of the record herein.
J. I. CASE COMPANY 1 47
Ogee clerks employed at Foundation community building.-These
clerks maintain the time records of the Foundation employees and
prepare the payroll checks; they maintain records of supplies used
on the various work projects. They record the moneys received from
the operations of the various Foundation facilities, e. g., dairy farm,
filling station; they also record the charges for light, heat, and coal
supplied to the company employees. On occasion these clerks come
into contact with the operating and maintenance employees of the
Foundation, but on the whole it appears that their relationship to
those employees is analogous to that of office clerical employees to
production and maintenance employees. We find lacking here the
considerations which would justify the inclusion of these clerical
employees in the unit and therefore shall exclude them.
Editor of the Foundation weekly newspaper, photographer, play-
ground leader, and assistant playground leader.-In the instant case
the titles are descriptive of the duties that these employees perform.
We find it unnecessary to determine whether or not these employees
are professional employees within the meaning of the Act but will
exclude them from the unit herein found appropriate because .their
duties and interests are dissimilar to thole of the maintenance and
operating employees included in the unit.
We find, therefore, a single unit composed of the following erin-
ployees employed by the Employer in connection with the Bemiston
Village Council Foundation to be the appropriate unit for collective
bargaining purposes within the meaning of Section 9 '(b) of the Act:
Handymen, land improvement employees, the painter, landscaper,
janitors of the community building and school, auto mechanics and
assistants, counter attendants, filling station and garage clerk, and
storeroom clerks, but excluding dairy farm workers, office clerks, the
editor of the weekly newspaper, photographer, playground leader and
assistant playground leader, village superintendent, and all foremen
and supervisors as defined in the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
J. I. CASE COMPANY, BETTENDORF WORKS and LOCAL 1008 , INTERNA-
TIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE , AIRCRAFT & AGRICULTURAL
IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0. Case No. 18-CA-228.
July 10, 1951
Decision and Order
On April 6, 1951, Trial Examiner Lloyd Buchanan issued his Inter-
mediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the
95 NLRB No. 14.