Seiberling Latex Products

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 13, 1943

52 N.L.R.B. 562 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of SEIBERLING LATEx PRODUCTS and UNITED Ru z
WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 16, C. I. O.
Case No. R-5927. Decided September 13, 1943
Mr. Francis Seiberling, of Akron, Ohio, for the Company.
Mr. H. R. Lloyd, of Akron, Ohio, for the Union.
Mr. Louis Cokin, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by United Rubber Workers of America,
Local 16, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of Seiberling Latex Products Company, Barberton, Ohio,
herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board pro-
vided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Claude H.
Eads, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Akron, Ohio, on
August 27,1943. The Company and the Union appeared, participated,
and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
During the course of the hearing counsel for the Company moved to
dismiss the petition. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling. The mo-
tion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hear-
ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Seiberling Latex Products Company is an Ohio corporation with
its principal place of business at Barberton, Ohio, where it is engaged
in the manufacture of miscellaneous molded, extruded, and sponge
rubber articles. The Company uses approximately 50,000 pounds of
raw materials monthly, about 60 percent of which is shipped to it from
points outside the State of Ohio. The Company produces finished
52 N. L. R. B., No. 93.
562
0
SEIBERLING LATEX PRODUCTS 563
products valued at about $120,000 monthly, approximately 50 per-
cent of which is shipped to points outside the State of Ohio. The
Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning
of the National Labor Relations Act.
U. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Rubber Workers of America, Local 16, is a labor organiza-
tion affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
M. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
During July 1943 the Union requested the Company to recognize it
as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of the Company's
clerical employees. The Company refused this request.
A statement of a Field Examiner of the Board, introduced into
evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a sub-
stantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found to be ap-
propriate. '
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union urges that all office employees of the Company, exclud-
ing private-confidential secretaries and supervisory employees, con-
stitute an appropriate unit. The Company contends that office em-
ployees should not be permitted to constitute a collective bargaining
unit because such employees perform confidential functions. The
Company further contends that to permit the office employees to align
themselves with the Union would inevitably result in the dissemina-
tion of confidential information. It points out in this connection that
the Union at the present time represents the Company's production
and maintenance employees.
The record discloses that, with the exception of the private-con-
fidential secretaries, none of the employees sought by the Union possess
confidential information concerning labor relations. The office work-
ers are clearly employees within the meaning of the Act and we see no
reason to deprive them of the right to self-organization and collective
bargaining as guaranteed to employees in the Act.' While office em-
i The Field Examiner reported that the Union presented 10 membership application
cards bearing apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names appear on the Com-
pany's pay roll of May 18, 1943. There are approximately 16 employees in the appro-
priate unit.
2 See Matter of Yellow Truck & Coach Manufacturing Company, General Motors Truck
& Coach. Division, 36 N. L. R. B. 876; Matter of New England Shipbuilding Corporation,
51 N L R B. 1101.
549875-44-vol. 52--37
564 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
ployees are excluded from the production and maintenance unit pro-
vided ' for in the contract between the Company and the Union, the
contract clearly does not preclude the Union from seeking to repre-
sent office employees in a separate unit. We find, accordingly, that
office employes of the Company may constitute a separate appropriate
bargaining unit.
We find that all office employees of the Company, excluding private-
confidential secretaries and all supervisory employees with authority
to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in
the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, con-
stitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining,
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
'We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the
pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of the Direction of
Election herein, subject to the lin%itations and additions set forth in
the Direction.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is
hereby
DIREarED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Seiberling Latex
Products Company, Barberton, Ohio, an election by secret ballot shall
be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Eighth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Ar-
ticle III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the
employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who
were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the
date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during
said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tempo-
rarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the
United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United
Rubber Workers of America, Local 16, affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations , for the purposes of collective bargaining.