Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Nov 14, 1951

96 N.L.R.B. 1425 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

COCA-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY 1425
There is no apprenticeship program for cranemen, and the work of
operating a crane may be learned in about 3 months. Other crane-
men in addition to the overhead cranemen in the rigger department
are employed by the Employer-e. g., overhead cranemen in the con-
verted department at the smelter-but the Petitioner does not ask to
represent them.
Under these circumstances we conclude that the Petitioner's unit
requests should not be granted. In Case No. 33-RC-261 the Peti-
tioner seeks to add only part of the Employer's cranemen to its unit.
Nor would we find that the cranemen are craft employees entitled to a
self-determination election if the Petitioner were seeking a separate
unit of cranemen.7
The sheet metal workers, covered by the petition in Case No.
33-RC-260, are skilled employees whom the Board in certain cases
has found may sever from a larger unit and bargain independently."
The Petitioner, however, does not seek to establish a separate unit of
tinners, and its petition embraces only a segment of the employees who
would appropriately come within a craft unit of sheet metal workers.
Accordingly, we shall dismiss both petitions .9
Order
IT Is HEREBY ORDERED that the petitions in Cases Nos. 33-RC-260
and 33-RC-261, filed by the International Association of Machinists,
AFL, Local 1563, be and they hereby are, dismissed.
* See International Paper Company, 94 NLRB 500 ; Phillips Oil Company, 94 NLRB
1438.
e See Tin Processing Corporation , 96 NLRB 300.
° In view of this determination we find it unnecessary to pass upon certain grounds for
dismissal urged by the Intervenor.
COCA-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY and BREWERY & SOFT DRINK WORKERS
LOOAL UNION No. 20, INTERNATIONAL UNION OF UNITED BREwERY,
FLOUR, CEREAL, SOFT DRINK AND DISTILLERY WORKERS OF AMERICA,
CIO, PETITIONER. Case No. 9-RC-1235. November. 14, 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 Leonard S. Kimmel,
96 NLRB No. 209.
1426 DECISIONS OF -NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
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 Reynolds and Styles].
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 2 involved claims to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A 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.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of employees at the Employer's plant,
including workers in the production, sales, advertising, and cooler
maintenance and service departments. The Employer contends that
the appropriate unit should be limited to employees in the production
and sales departments. The parties agree to the exclusion of office
department employees 8 _
The Employer is engaged at its Louisville, Kentucky, plant in the
I At and after the hearing , held on July 17, 1951 , the Employer moved to dismiss the
petition herein on the grounds , in substance : (1) That charges of unfair labor practices
filed by the Petitioner against the Employer and by the Employer against the Petitioner
in Cases Nos . 9-CA-418 and 9-CC-43 , respectively , were still pending; ( 2) that the Peti-
tioner engaged in unfair labor practices against the Employer in violation of Section 8
(b) of the Act; (3) that Local Union No. 20 is "fronting" for International Union of
United Brewery , Flour, Cereal , Soft Drink and Distillery Workers of America and the
CIO; (4) that the petition herein incorrectly sets forth that the Petitioner received no,
answer to its letter to the Employer requesting recognition as the exclusive bargaining rep-
resentative of employees of the Employer, (5) that the Petitioner had not properly evi-
denced an adequate showing of interest and was not in compliance with Section 9 of the
Act.
We consider these objections in order , as follows : (1) Petitioner filed a waiver of
right to protest the results of an election held in this proceeding on the basis of any acts
alleged as unfair labor practices in Case No. 9-CA-418. On September 4, 1951, the Acting
Regional Director refused to issue a complaint in Case No. 9-CC-43. The Employer
appealed from this action. On October 17, 1951, the General Counsel denied the appeal.
Under these circumstances , it is not the Board's practice to dismiss a representation pio-
ceeding. Newport News' Children's Dress Company, 89 NLRB 442. (2) The Board does
not receive evidepce as to unfair labor practices in representation proceedings. Deep
Rock, Inc., 83 NLRB 694. ( 3) There is no merit in this contention . In any event, both
the international union in question and the CIO are in compliance with the filing require-
ments of the Act. (4) This minor misstatement in no way prejudiced the Employer-
Cf. Grocers' Biscuit Company, Inc., 85 NLRB 603. It is clear that the Employer refuses
to recognize the Petitioner . (5) Showing of interest and the fact of compliance by a
labor organization which is required to comply, are matters for administrative determina-
tion and are not litigable by the parties Moreover, the Board is administratively satisfied
that the Petitioner has an adequate showing of interest and is in compliance . See ,Swift &
Company, 94 NLRB 917; cf. Highland Park Manufacturing Company, 71 S. Ct. 489. We
therefore deny the foregoing motion to dismiss.
2 The Petitioner, which has a constitution and bylaws , exists for the purpose of bar-
gaining collectively with employers with respect to wages, hours , and other conditions of
employment . DeMay's, Inc ., 81 NLRB 1374.
8 Office department employees , under the supervision of the office manager, perform
the usual duties of office clerical employees , including, among others , bookkeeping and
billing.
COCA-COLA BOTTLING COMPANY 1427
bottling and sale of soft drinks. The Employer divides its operations
into five departments : Plant or production, sales, advertising, cooler
maintenance and service, and office. Eighty-eight production de-
partment employees,4 the majority of whom work in the Employer's
bottling room, receive materials , bottle soft drinks, and perform the
other usual duties of such employees under the supervision of the plant
superintendent and the foreman. Sixty-five sales department em-
ployees,' under the supervision of the sales manager and five route
managers , take telephone orders for, and sell and deliver, the Em-
ployer's products. Four advertising department employees, under
the supervision of the advertising manager, place and distribute adver-
tising material at customers' places of business and other locations,
spending the greater part of their working time away from the plant.
Eight cooler maintenance and service department employees, under
the supervision of the departmental manager, paint and repair and
maintain coolers dispensing soft drinks at such places as industrial
plants, offices, filling stations, and grocery stores.6 Sales department
employees are salaried ; all the other above employees are hourly paid.
There is nothing in the record to indicate any substantial cleavage in
the interests of employees in the production and sales departments and
those in the advertising and cooler maintenance and service depart-
ments. That employees in the latter departments spend the greater
part of their working time away from the Employer's plant is not a
cogent reason for their exclusion.' There is no history of collective
bargaining at the plant, and no other labor organization seeks to rep-
resent any of the employees involved in this proceeding. Under
these circumstances, we find that employees in the production, sales,
advertising, and cooler maintenance and service departments gen-
erally constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining." In accordance with the agreement of the parties and well-
established Board principles, we shall exclude office department em-
ployees as office clerical employees from the appropriate unit.,,
The Petitioner would include inspectors and the syrup man in the
production department in the bargaining unit, and submits to the
Board the unit placement of the chief automobile mechanic, the re-
ceiving clerk, and the truck dispatcher in the production department.
The Employer would exclude all these categories, except inspectors,
whose unit placement it submits to the Board.
Inspectors, of whom there are six, under the immediate supervision
4 The numbers of employees given herein are approximate.
" Sales department employees are otherwise called route salesmen and route salesmen-
trainees in the record.
6 Some of these coolers are owned by the Employer ; others are owned by the proprietors
of the establishments where they are located.
° Pepsi-Cola, Louisville Bottlers, Inc., 86 NLRB 1299.
s Pepsi-Cola, Louisville Bottlers, Inc., supra ; Riverside Mills, 85 NLRB 969.
Air Metals, Inc , 83 NLRB 945.
1428 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the plant superintendent, work in the Employer's bottling room,
and inspect bottles to see that they are clean and free from defects.
Inspectors have interests, duties, and working conditions closely allied
to those of production employees. We shall include them in the unit 10
The syrup man, under the immediate supervision of the plant super-
intendent, dumps, drains, filters, and keeps in adequate supply, Coca-
Cola syrup. He spends approximately 90 percent of his working time
in the Employer's syrup room and the remainder in its bottling
room. There is no evidence in the record that he exercises any of the
powers of a supervisor as set forth in Section 2 (11) of the Act, or that
he has the qualifications and performs the duties of a professional em-
ployee within the meaning of Section 2 (12). He is not a managerial
or confidential employee within the Board's definitions of those
terms.- We shall therefore include the syrup man in the unit 12
The chief automobile mechanic, the receiving clerk, and the truck
dispatcher effectively recommend the hire and discharge of employees
working under them and are therefore supervisors within the mean-
ing of the Act. We shall exclude them as such from the bargaining
unit.
We find that the following employees of the Employer at its Louis-
ville, Kentucky, plant, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act : All employees in the Employer's production, sales, advertising,
and cooler maintenance and service departments, including the syrup
man and inspectors, but excluding employees in the office department,
watchmen, guards, and the chief automobile mechanic, the receiving
clerk, the truck dispatcher, and other supervisors.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
10 Wm. P. McDonald Corporation, 83 NLRB 427.
' See New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, 90 NLRB 639; Ford Motor
Company ( Chicago Branch ), 66 NLRB 1317.
12 Cf. Roanoke Coca -Cola Bottling Works, Inc., 72 NLRB 733.
WARREN PETROLEUM CORPORATION and C. F. TANNAHILL, PETITIONER
and OIL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION, CIO. Case No. 16-RD--
71. November 14,1951
Decision and Direction
Pursuant to a stipulation for certification upon consent election
executed on April 30, 1951, by the Employer, the Petitioner, and the
Union, an election by secret ballot was conducted on May 8, 1951, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Six-
96 NLRB No. 211.