Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 29, 1952

99 N.L.R.B. 403 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

BROWN AND WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORPORATION 403
BROWN AND WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORPORATION and TRUCK DRIVERS
UNION LOCAL #89, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS,
CHAUFFEURS , WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA , A. F. of L.,
PETrrI;ONER . Case No. 9-I?C-15fd3. May 29, 195
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Richard C. Curry, 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson].
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 employees of
the Employer.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9
(c), (1) and Section 2 (6), and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
The Petitioner seeks to sever from a plant-wide unit employees in
the storage, supply, and shipping departments at the Employer's Louis-
ville,. Kentucky, tobacco plant, excluding from its proposed unit all
other employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act. The
Employer and the Intervenor contend that the only unit appropriate
at the plant for bargaining purposes is the existing plant-wide unit,
including the employees sought by the Petitioner, which the Intervenor
has represented for over 18 years?
The Employer operates, in the United States, three plants for the
manufacture of cigarettes and smoking tobacco. Its Louisville, Ken-
tucky, plant is the only plant involved in this proceeding. The plant
consists of a group of adjacent buildings connected by doors and
bridges'and called the manufacturing building; a warehouse for the
storage of supplies; and five other buildings for storage of tobacco
and tobacco products. Tobacco and supplies are forwarded from the
s At the hearing, the Employer and Local Union 185 of the Tobacco Workers Interna-
tional Union, the Intervenor herein, jointly moved to dismiss the petition in this case.
For the reasons expressed in paragraph 3, infra, this motion is granted.
2 At the time of the hearing, March 21, 1952, employees at the plant were covered by
a contract executed by the Employer and the Intervenor in effect until April 1, 1952. On
March 12; 1952, the Employer and the Intervenor executed a new 2-year contract, effective
from April 1, 1952, to March 31, 1954, covering the same plant unit.
99 NLRB No. 78.
404 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
buildings where they are stored to the manufacturing areas by railroad
cars, located on a railroad siding at the plant, and by trucks of an
independent contractor.
Storage employees: There are approximately 30 hourly paid storage
department employees, supervised by a foreman and an assistsnt°fore-
man. These employees work in the tobacco warehouses, loading and
unloading trucks of tobacco delivered to the warehouses. They store
tobacco, and prepare and maintain inventory records. They fill
requisitions for tobacco needed at the manufacturing building.
Supply employees: There are approximately 25 hourly paid em-
ployees in the supply department, supervised by a foreman and an
assistant foreman. Some of these employees are located in the factory
supplies storage building, and some in the manufacturing building.
They store supplies, maintain inventory records, and fill requisitions
for supplies used in the manufacture and packaging of cigarettes; and
smoking tobacco.
Shipping employees: There are approximately 31 employees in the
shipping department, located in the first floor of the manufacturing
building, under the supervision of a foreman. They fill orders for
customers, check and label packages, and load cigarettes and smoking
tobacco on railroad cars and trucks.
Employees in the storage, supply, and shipping department, like
other plant employees, are hourly paid on the basis- of job evaluation
ratings. Under the contracts negotiated by the Intervenor, they are,
like all plant employees, subject to plant-wide seniority in regard to
layoff and promotion, and they receive common employee benefits.
They are not a craft group, nor is their work particularly distinguish-
able from that of other plant employees, many, of whom. do' similar
tasks. There are frequent transfers between the storage, shipping, and
supply departments and manufacturing departments during the
tobacco processing seasons. Such transfers also occur on a daily basis
throughout the year to regulate the work in cases of employee absences.
Free transfer is possible because none of the jobs require any high
degree of skill or training. Storage, supply, and shipping employees
are thus closely integrated with employees in the manufacturing
departments.
Although we have upon occasion and under other circumstances
found appropriate units of employees in storage and shipping depart-
ments, there seems to be no occasion at this time to set up a separate
bargaining unit for employees sought by the Petitioner. In ,the ab-
sence of craft skill or other cogent reason, we see no occasion to sever
8 Liggett & Myer8 Tobacco Company, 91 NLRB 1145 ( where the Board found that the
bargaining history was not controlling because it was based on a "members-only " contract).
THE GLIDDEN COMPANY, VEGETABLE OIL DIVISION 405
these employees from the existing plant-wide unit of which they have
formed a part for over 18 years 4
Accordingly, we find that the unit requested by the Petitioner is
inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, and we shall
dismiss the petition herein.
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
4 The American News Company, 93 NLRB 1566 ; Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, Inc.,
89 NLRB 799.
THE GLIDDEN COMPANY, VEGETABLE OIL DIVISION and JOHN WALTER
LEQUEA, JR., PETITIONER and INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL WORKERS
UNION, LOCAL No. 1, A. F. of L. Case No. 21-RD-149. May 29,
1952
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before George H. O'Brien, 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson].
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 Petitioner, an employee of the Employer, asserts that the
Union is no longer a representative, as defined in Section 9 (a) of
the Act, of the employees designated in the petition.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen-
tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following
reasons:
Following a consent election conducted on June 11, 1951, Inter-
national Chemical Workers' Union, A. F. of L., was certified, on
June 19, 1951, as the exclusive bargaining representative of the em-
a The Union moved to dismiss this proceeding on the grounds ( a) that its current con-
tract with the Employer is a bar , and (b ) that some of the signatures which constituted
the Petitioner 's showing of interest were secured by a nephew of the plant superintendent.
As we are dismissing the petition for the reasons set forth in paragraph numbered 3,
infra, we find it unnecessary to rule on this motion.
99 NLRB No. 76.
215233-53-27