International Paper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 16, 1948

79 N.L.R.B. 747 (N.L.R.B. 1948)

In the Matter Of INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY, SOUTHERN
KRAFT DIvisiwT, EMPLOYER and UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOUR-
NEYMEN AND APPRENTICES OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPE FITTING
INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, LOCAL UNION 706,
PETITIONER
Case No. 1.5-RC-88.-Decided September 16, 1948
DECISION
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing
officer of the National Labor Relations Board. 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 National Labor
Relations Act, the. Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board
Members.*
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1'. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the National Labor Relations Act.
2. The labor organizations named below claim 'to represent em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds that no
question of representation exists concerning the representation 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 requested a unit composed of all the employees
engaged in pipe-fitting work, including welders permanently assigned
to work with this group, at the Employer's Camden, Arkansas, plant,
which is the only plant involved herein. The International Asso-
ciation of Machinists and Local Lodge No. 1365 of the International
Association of Machinists, herein collectively called the Machinists,
and Local 380 of International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, are
'Houston , Murdock, and Gray.
79 N. L . R. B., No. 100.
747
748 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Intervenors. All three Intervenors are parties to a collective bar-
gaining agreement with the Employer.
The collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time of the filing
of the petition 1 was a master agreement between the Employer and
the International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, the International
Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers, the Inter-
national Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the International Asso-
ciation of Machinists;' and the' United' Association of Journeymen;
Plumbers and Steam Fitters. The agreement provided in Section 2,
as follows:
The Southern Kraft Division of International Paper Company,
in mills having locals signatory hereto, recognizes International
Brotherhood of Paper Makers, International Brotherhood of
Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers, International Brother-
hood of Electrical Workers, International Association of Ma-
chinists, and the United Association of Journeymen, Plumbers
and Steam Fitters of the United States and Canada as the sole
agencies representing their employees, for the purposes of col-
lective bargaining.
The two intervening locals are signatories to this agreement at the
'Camden mill. The Petitioner is not a signatory at the Camden mill,
but it appears that locals of its. international are bargaining repre-
sentatives at other mills of the Employer. Most of the maintenance
group at the Camden mill is represented by the Machinists. The
Paper Makers represent the remaining maintenance employees, in-
'cluding the pipe fitters.
The Machinists moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that
severance of the unit sought would disrupt the industrial relations of
the Employer, and also on the ground that the unit is inappropriate
in that it includes welders. The Paper Makers moved to dismiss on
the ground that the unit sought is not a craft group, and is inappro-
priate functionally because of the close integration between the work
performed by the pipe-'fitters and the entire paper production process
The Employer took the same position in regard to the proposed unit
as did the Paper Makers. The motions to,dismiss, which were referred
to the Board, are granted for the reasons set forth below.
It appears that the process of paper making involves the use of an
extensive system of piping which requires constant maintenance. This
maintenance is the responsibility of a group of about 30 , employees,
,classified as pipe fitters, who work out of their own shop and under
1 This agreement was replaced on June 1, 1948 , by another agreement which is apparently
substantially the sauce None of the parties raised the agreements as a bar to this
proceeding
INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY 749
their own foreman. They work only on the replacement and main-
ten ance of pipes. Two welders and 2 welder helpers are permanently
assigned to this group of pipe fitters, and are supervised by the pipe
fitters' foreman.
The record contains no evidence as to the precise nature of the work
performed by the pipe fitters, as to the degree of skill required of
them, or as to whether or not they serve a formal apprenticeship.
Furthermore, 95 percent of the Employer's production process in-
volves use of the-pipes which these employees service. The pipe serv-
icing operation is performed throughout the production area. Work--
ing conditions and pay are substantially the same for the employees
in question as for other maintenance workers, and they are under the
general supervision of the master mechanic, who supervises the entire
maintenance department. The Employer's operations are highly in-
tegrated and ^iterdependent. In the absence of evidence that the
employees in question possess the requisite skill for craft classifica-
tion, or that they constitute on any other basis a separate appropriate
unit, we shall order that the petition be dismissed.'
ORDER
Upon the basis of the entire record in this case, the National Labor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition filed in the instant
matter be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
'See Matter of Monsanto Chemical Company, 78 N. L. R B. 1249, issued August
20, 1948.