Metro Glass Bottle Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 19, 1951

96 N.L.R.B. 1008 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

1008 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL -LABOR RELATIONS $0ARD
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the
Employer at its First Avenue, Evansville, Indiana, plant, including
truck drivers, plant clerical employees, firemen-watchmen,s and relief
foremen, but excluding office clerical employees, cafeteria employees,
professional employees, laboratory employees, truck grain purchasing
employees, student trainees, seasonal employees, guards, and super-
visors as defined in the Act, constitute an appropriate unit for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of
the Act.
5. The determination of representatives :
The Employer would include among those eligible to vote, and the
Petitioner would exclude, the approximately six probationary em-
ployees.
The record indicates that the Employer considers new employees to
be in a probationary status for almost 6 months, after which they are
deemed regular employees. About 90 percent of the probationary
employees become regular employees. We find that the probationary
employees have a reasonable expectation of permanent employment
and are eligible to vote.10
At the hearing, a further question was raised as to the voting eligi-
bility of Alta Miller, who, although laid off from the plant approxi-
mately 1 year ago, retains her seniority. It appears that she is
presently working for the Employer on a part-time basis as a cafeteria
employee, an excluded category. While the Employer indicated that
it may recall this individual as a plant employee at some time in the
future, no fixed date for such recall has been established. We find,
that Alta Miller is ineligible to vote.:",
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
"Included as firemen-watchmen are those employees who spend no more than 50 percent
of their time as guards . Those who spend more than 50 percent of their time as guards
are excluded.
10 Gerber Products Company, 93 NLRB 1668.
" Cf. Standard Oil Company of California, 93 NLRB No. 112.
METRO GLASS BOTTLE Co. and FEDERATION OF GLASS, CERAMIC AND,
SILICA SAND WORKERS OF AMERICA , CIO, PETITIONER. Case No.
2-RC-3684. October 19,19b1
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 I. L. Broadwin, hearing of-
ficer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
.prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
96 NLRB No. 150.
METRO GLASS BOTTLE CO. 1009
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 Houston, 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 organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. The Employer and Glass Bottle Blowers Association of the
United States and Canada, Local 45, AFL, herein called the Inter-
venor, contend that their existing contract constitutes a bar to this
proceeding. On August 19, 1949, the Employer and the Intervenor
executed a contract extending from September 1, 1949, to August 31,
1951, and covering the employees involved herein. ' Pursuant to a
wage-reopening provision, the contract was modified on September 15,
1950, to adjust wages and related matters. On May 5, 1951, the con-
tracting parties further amended the agreement to provide for a wage
increase and the adjustment of working conditions, and to extend the
term of the contract to August 31, 1952. The petition herein was
filed on May 17,1951. As the petition was timely filed with respect to
the original agreement, such agreement, as prematurely extended on
May 5, 1951, clearly cannot operate as a bar to a present determination
of representatives.,'
We find, therefore, that a question affecting commerce exists con-
cerning 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. The appropriate unit :
The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Jersey City, New Jersey, plant, excluding
machine operators and machine up-keep men, apprentices, learners,
employees of the mold making department, office, clerical, and profes-
sional employees, watchmen, guards, and supervisors. The Employer
and the Intervenor, while agreeing as to the composition of the unit,2
contend that a unit limited to the employees of the Employer is inap-
propriate and that the appropriate unit should include the employees
of all members of the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute.
The Employer is engaged in manufacturing glass bottles and jars.
It is a member of the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute, and
its plant employees, like those of other companies in the industry, fall
generally into two groups, namely, the machine workers, and most of
'National Cash Register Company, 95 NLRB 27 ; Consolidated Western Steel Corpora-
tion, 93 NLRB 1199.
In view of our determination above , we find it unnecessary to pass upon the Petitioner's
contention that the contract is not a bar because it contains an invalid union -security
clause.
2 The composition of the unit conforms to that covered by past contracts between the
Employer and the Intervenor.
1010 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the remaining production and maintenance employees, commonly re-
ferred to as miscellaneous employees, who are alone involved in this;
case.
For many years , bargaining with regard to the machine workers
has been on an Institute-wide basis with the Glass Bottle Blowers
Association of the United States and Canada, AFL. As to the mis-
cellaneous employees, the Employer bargained with the Intervenor
on a single-employer basis from 1936 until at least April 1951. The
record indicates that at the latter time the Institute and the Association
negotiated on a multiemployer basis concerning the miscellaneous
employees, as well as the machine workers. Thereafter, the Institute
and the Association jointly petitioned the Wage Stabilization Board
for wage increases for all employees, including the miscellaneous em-
ployees. Following the April 1951 conference, current contracts of
individual members of the Institute, including the Employer, were
amended and modified to conform to the conditions decided upon at
the conference. However, the amendment to the Employer's contract
makes no reference to the April conference or to any change in the
method of bargaining.
Even assuming that the results of the joint conference in April
1951 were sufficient to establish a pattern of bargaining on a multi-
employer basis for the employees here sought, the history of such
bargaining was of less than 2 months' duration prior to the filing of
the petition. As this history of bargaining on a multiemployer basis
is of such short duration, not based on a Board unit finding, and
preceded by approximately 15 years of bargaining on a single-employer
basis, we believe that it is insufficient to warrant a conclusion that only
a multiemployer unit of the miscellaneous employees is appropriate.s
And, contrary to the contentions of the Intervenor and Employer,
the multiemployer bargaining pattern for the-machine workers is not
controlling in the face of the long period of single-employer bargain-
'ing with respect to the miscellaneous employees.4
Accordingly, we find that all production and maintenance employees
of the Employer at its Jersey City, New Jersey, plant, excluding
machine operators and machine up-keep men, apprentices, learners,
employees of the mold making department, office, clerical, and pro-
fessional employees, watchmen, guards, and supervisors as defined in
the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
[Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this
volume.]
The Van Iderstine Company, 95 NLRB 966 ; Jerry Fairbanks , Inc, 93 NLRB 898.
* Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company , et al., 93 NLRB 738; Rainbo Bread Co., 92 NLRB
,181*