Riegel Paper Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 11, 1951

96 N.L.R.B. 779 (N.L.R.B. 1951)

RIEGEL PAPER CORPORATION 779
manner in which the meeting was announced. There were no public
notices in the way in which meetings of Local 78 were customarily
announced ; instead notices were sent to a group of about 80 or 90
persons, constituting a little more than one-half of the then existing
membership of the Union. When to this is added the fact that only
23 members of the Union were present at the meeting, and that most
of these had left before the disaffiliation vote was taken, the conclusion
that the disaffiliation vote was not a valid expression of the desires of
the membership is inescapable.
We conclude, on the record before us, that there has been no such
schism in Local 78 as would warrant the conclusion that the current
contract may not operate as a bar. Accordingly, we shall,dismiss
the petition.
Order
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, and upon the entire
record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders
that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
RIEGEL PAPER CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF
PAPER MAKERS, AFL, PETITIONER . Case No. 4-RC-1203. October
11,1951
Decision and Order
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, a hearing was held before Harold Kowal, 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 Murdock 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 involved claims 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 a unit of all production and maintenance
employees, including truck drivers, at the Employer's Warren Glen
plant, excluding guards, watchmen, professional and clerical em-
96 NLRB No. 113.
780 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR -RELATIONS BOARD
ployees, and supervisors as defined by the Act. The Employer agrees
that these categories of employees constitute an appropriate unit, but
contends that the unit should include such employees in all four of
its plants.
The Employer's four plants are all engaged in the manufacture of
paper and paper products, and are all situated in the Delaware Valley
of New Jersey in a 3-mile area.' Compositely they comprise seven
major operational departments of the Company; each of the three
smaller plants is operated as a department, and Milford, the largest
plant, is divided into four departments. In addition, three depart-
ments at Milford finish some of the products made at the smaller mills,
and there is considerable exchange of raw materials among all four
plants.
Responsibility for the over-all operation of the four plants is cen-
tered in the vice president in charge of production, who is located
at Milford, and to whom the various immediate supervisors at the
plants report. The vice president also has under him the following
staff : (1) Technical director, who is in charge of quality control and
research for all four plants; (2) manager of engineering, who in turn
has under him a design section which draws up the designs for the
paper making equipment at all plants, a plant development section
for all four plants, and a construction section and electrical section
which construct and install new equipment at all four plants; 2 (3)
purchasing agent, who purchases mill supplies, equipment, and ma-
Ichinery for all four plants; 3 (4) traffic manager, who handles traffic
-problems at all four plants; (5) accounting department, which does
all cost and general accounting, and in which is centralized all finan-
-cial and accounting data,4 and which also prepares the payroll for all
four plants; 5 and (6) personnel director, who handles labor relations
for all four plants, including the investigation and clearance of all
.applicants for employment, the investigation of discharges to ascertain
whether they conform to company policy," the maintenance of all
personnel records, the supervision of a uniform group insurance and
pension plan for the employees at all four plants, and the direction of
a medical department and plant-protection department, which service
all four plants.
'The plants are located at Warren Glen, Milford , Hughesville , and Riegelsville, New
Jersey.
2 Each plant has its own maintenance crew for day-to-day maintenance and service of
-equipment.
3 Fibrous materials are bought by a purchasing department in the Employer's New York
-office.
4 Each plant and department keeps its own accounting data respecting the cost and
character of its operations and sends such data to the accounting department at Milford.
5 The pay checks are then distributed to employees at the individual mills.
The actual hiring and firing of employees appears to be done at the individual plants,
however.
ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA 781
There are 55 production and maintenance job classifications at War-
ren Glen, out of a total of 67, which are common to the other mills,'
and the Employer has a single job evaluation plan for all 4 mills. In
the past 6 years, there have been 9 general wage increases covering all 4
plants; and also uniform at all plants are holidays, vacations, bonuses,
shift differentials, overtime and Sunday pay, leaves of absence, and
grievance procedure.
Finally, the record shows that many employees live closer to a
plant other than the one in which they work, that many members
of the same family work at different plants, and that there is an ex-
tensive recreational program for employees of all four plants which
is carried on at a company recreation center.
It. thus appears that the Employer's four plants are in close prox-
imity to each other, that their organization and operation is highly
centralized and integrated, that there is considerable similarity of
work and working conditions at all four plants, and that the employees
of all four plants otherwise enjoy a close community of interest.
Under such circumstances, we find that a unit confined to the Warren
Glen plant, as sought by the Petitioner, is not appropriate for purposes
of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the
Act, and we shall therefore dismiss the petition."
Order
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition in the above-entitled case be,.
and it hereby is, dismissed.
7 As a result , a substantial number of permanent transfers are made each year among
all four plants.
8 See Farrington Manufacturing Company, 87 NLRB 1051 ; Hass Wholesale, Inc., 92
NLRB 408. Cf . Nashville Wire Products Manufacturing Co., Inc ., 89, NLRB 135.
Under the original Act, the Board did find appropriate a unit confined to the Milford
plant ( 55 NLRB 358 ; 63 NLRB 538 ). Those findings , however , were based primarily on
the fact that there had been no attempt to organize any but the Milford plant . The record
here indicates that the Petitioner has attempted to organize all four plants , and in any
event Section 9 (c) (5) of the amended Act now precludes the Board from using "extent
of organization " as a controlling factor in unit determinations.
ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA and DISTRICT #47 OF INTERNATIONAL.
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, PETITIONER. Case No. 2-RC-3511.
October 12, 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 James IT. Altieri, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from.
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
96 NLRB No. 119.