Bernhardt Furniture Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 29, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 666 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter Of BERNHARDT FURNITURE COMPANY, EMPLOYER and
UNITED BROTHE1mooD o P'° CARPEfi1Ti M-S AND JOINERS OF AMrnt ,
A. F. or.,-L., LOCAL No. 3018, PETITIONER
Case No. 5-R--2708.-Decided April 29, 1947
Mr. W. S. Blakeney , of Charlotte , N. C., and Mr. Hunter Martin,
of Lenoir, N. C., for the Employer.
Messrs. Lewis J. Hutton and Clarence R. Whisman, both of Lenoir,
N. C., for the Petitioner.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this ease was held at Ashe-
ville, North Carolina, on January 29, 1947, before Charles B. Slaughter,
hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following : -
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER 1
Bernhardt. Furniture,, Company is- a De aware corporation- with-its
principal office and place of business at Lenoir, North Carolina, where-
its; is= engaged, in the manufacture of wooden furniture. During4t#e
year ending October 10, 1946, the Employer purchased raw materials
valued in excess of $500,000, of which approximately 50 percent was
shipped to the Lenoir plant from points outside the State of North
Carolina. During the same period, the Employer produced finished
products valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which approximately 90
percent was sold and shipped to points outside the State.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
1 The name of the Employer appears in the caption as corrected at the bearing.
73 N. L. R. B., No. 126.
666
BERNHARDT FURNITURE COMPANY .667
U. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner 2 is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE QUESTION C"GERNING REPRESENTATION
The -Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The parties agree that the appropriate unit, should comprise all
production and maintenance employees, including firemen, watchmen,
truck drivers, the yard crew and maintenance men, plant sweepers, and
packing and shipping employees, as well as.the mechanic, electrician,'
saw filer,2 stockroom mans and rub room employee 7 but excluding office
and clerical workers and all supervisory employees. They are in dis-
pute,however, with respect to a sweeper who works exclusively in the
Employer's offices, and a group of "lumber sorters." The Petitioner
would exclude these disputed employees from the appropriate unit,
whereas the Employer desires their inclusion.
Sweeper: This employee sweeps out the Employer's offices after clos-
ing time and works regularly about 2 or 3 hours a day. She does not
go into the plant at all. Her duties, however, appear to be similar to
those of the plant sweepers whom the parties agree to include in the
appropriate, unit, although her hours are fewer and hence her pay is
less. She is, thus, a regular maintenance employee and not a white-
collar or office worker. The fact that she is also regularly employed
elsewhere does not militate against her inclusion in an appropriate
unit with the employees with whom she has common interests. We
shall include this sweeper within the appropriate Unit .8
Lumzber sorters: The so-called lumber sorters are hired by the Em-
ployer on a contract basis to sort a given quantity of lumber among
2 The name of the Petitioner appears in the caption as corrected at the hearing.
3 N. L. Gilliand.
4 Ed Eisenhauer.
5 David Gobel . - - - -
e J. Bowman.
' Carson Watson.
' See Matter of-American Sheet Metal Works, 71 N. L . R. B. 358; Matter of ]dial Roller
A Manufacturing Company, Inc., 60 N. L. R. B. 1105; Matter of Armour and Company of
Delaware , 48 N. L . R. B. 1144.
668 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
different grade and price groups. They are not carried on the regular
pay roll of the Employer because, unlike its other employees, they are
paid on a job basis, and the record shows that their periods of employ-
ment with the Employer are highly irregular. The Employer's hnnber
inspector designates where the lumber sorters are to work and on what
piles;: of lumber, but otherwise- they work under their own supamision
insofar as time and method are concerned. It has been the practice
for one individual to contract with the Employer for the work, he in
turn hiring the number of employees needed for sorting, moving, and
stacking the lumber. These workers constitute a skilled group which
travels over the country and performs similar jobs for other com-
panies. The Employer does not deduct withholding taxes from the
remuneration paid the sorters, nor are they covered by its workmen's
compensation plan. However, as a result of a test case before the
North Carolina Unemployment Compensation Commission, the Em-
ployer does deduct unemployn}ent insurance taxes from the sorters'
income received from the Employer. It appears from all the facts that
the lumber sorters do not have employment conditions or interests in
common with the Employer's production and maintenance workers,
and we shall; therefore, exclude them from the appropriate unit.
We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Em-
ployer's Lenoir, North Carolina, plant, including firemen, watchmen,
truck drivers, yard crew and maintenance men, all sweepers, packing
and shipping employees, the mechanic, electrician, saw filer, stockroom
man, and rub room employee, but excluding lumber sorters, office and
clerical employees, 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, constitute a
unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Bernhardt Furniture Company,
Lenoir, North Carolina, 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 Fifth Region, acting in this matter -as agent for the
National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and
203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 4, 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 vaca-
BERNHARDT FURNITURE COMFANY 669
tion or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed
forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the
polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been dis-
charged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the
date . of the election , to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by United. Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of
America, A. F. of L., Local X o. 3018, for the purposes of collective
bargaining.