Johns-Manville Products Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 31, 1945

60 N.L.R.B. 293 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of JOHNS-MANVILLE PRODUCTS CORPORATION and CONCORD
LODGE 1173, AFFILIATED WITH DISTRICT LODGE 115, INTERNATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS , A. F. L.
Case No. 20-R-1245.Decided January 31, 1945
Pillsbwry, Madison and Sutro, by Mr. Norbert Korte, of San Fran-
cisco, Calif., and Messrs. Frank V. Galbraith and W. B. Kelley, of
Pittsburg, Calif., for the Company.
Mr. K. C. Apperson, of Stockton, Calif., and Mr. Felix J. Dwrnond,
of Martinez, Calif., for the I. A. M.
Mr. A. W. Hannaford, of Oakland, Calif., for the Paper Makers.
Mr. Sidney Grossman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Concord Lodge 1173, affiliated with
District Lodge 115, International Association of Machinists, A. F. L.,
herein called the I. A. M., alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Johns-
Manville Products Corporation, Pittsburg, California, herein called
the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an
appropriate hearing upon due notice before Wallace E. Royster, Trial
Examiner. Said hearing was held at San Francisco, California, on
December 7, 1944. The Company and the I. A. M. appeared and par-
ticipated.) All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard,-
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues. At the hearing, the Company moved to dismiss
the petition for the reason that the unit petitioned for is inappro-
priate and that no question concerning representation has arisen.
Ruling was reserved for the Board. For the reasons stated in Sec-
tions III and IV, infra, the motion is denied. The Trial, Examiner's
I The International Brotherhood of Paper Makers , Pittsburg Local 329, A. F. L , herein
called the Paper Makers, appeared at the hearing but did not intervene in view of its
disinterest in the employees comprising the unit proposed by the I. A. M.
60 N. L. R. B., No. 60.
293
294 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR- RELATIONS BOARD
rulings made at,the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are
hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an 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
Johns-Manville Products Corporation, a Delaware corporation, is
engaged in the manufacture of building papers, roofing, siding, pipe
covering, gaskets, and commercial asphalt at its Pittsburg, California,
plant, with which this proceeding is concerned. During the past year,
a substantial portion of raw materials and supplies was secured for its
use from sources outside the State of California. During the same
period, finished products manufactured by it exceeded $1,500,000 in
-value, of which approximately 30 percent was shipped to points out-
side the State of California.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the
meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
U. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Concord Lodge 1173, affiliated with District Lodge 115, Interna-
tional Association of Machinists, A. F. L., "is a labor organization
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company and the Paper Makers, since 1937, have entered into
successive yearly contracts, to which the I. A. M. has also been a party
since 1940. Both the I. A. M. and the Paper Makers have been recog-
nized in such contracts as the joint collective bargaining representa-
tive of the Company's production and maintenance employees. On
September 22, 1944, the I. A. M. addressed a letter to the Company,
wherein it stated that it represented a majority of the employees in
the alleged appropriate unit and requested recognition as the exclu-
sive representative thereof. The Company, by letter dated October
2, 1944, refused to grant recognition for the reason that it then rec-
ognized the I. A. M. and the Paper Makers as the joint bargaining
representative of all production and maintenance employees in the
plant.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicated that the I. A. M. represents a substantial- number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.2
2 The Field Examiner reported that the I. A. M. submitted 13 signed authorizations,
of which 8 were dated in September 1944, 4 in October 1944, and 1 was undated, in an
alleged appropriate unit consisting of 20 employees.
JOHNS-MANVILLE PRODUCTS CORPORATION 295
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The I. A. M. requests a separate unit consisting of the maintenance
machinists, their helpers, and apprentices, in the Company's erection
and repair department at its Pittsburg, California, plant, excluding
office and clerical employees, and all supervisory employees. The
Company is opposed to the inclusion' of these employees in a unit
separate from that of the other employees in the plant, while the
Paper Makers has expressed disinterest in the proposed severance.
In support of its contention, the Company refers to the assignment,
of machinists to other departments and their interchange with pro-
duction employees, and to the history of collective bargaining on a
plant-wide basis in which the I. A. M. participated jointly with the
Paper Makers. However, the record discloses that the machinists
consist of a group of employees who possess skills characteristic of
their craft, receive a higher rate of pay than production employees,
and are directly responsible to the plant engineer in the erection and
repair department to which they are officially assigned. ' In addition,
the record does not establish an appreciable interchange of employees.
While we do not minimize the form in which the bargaining relations
between the parties have progressed, a factor which usually plays a
prominent role in our considerations, we are not persuaded that, by its
joint collaboration with the Paper Makers, the I. A. M. has ceased to
represent the group of employees in which it is primarily interested or
that these employees have ceased to function as a separate cohesive
group. Moreover, as stated above, the Paper Makers raises no objec-
tion to the severance of the machinists from the plant-wide unit. In
view of the foregoing considerations, we find that the machinists may
appropriately constitute a' separate unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining.3
We find that all maintenance machinists, their helpers, and appren-
tices, in the Company's erection and repair department at its Pitts-
burg, California, plant,4 excluding office and clerical employees, and
all or any other supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro-
mote, 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 mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3 Cf. Matter of Phelps Dodge Corporation, United Verde Branch, 56 N L. R. B. 1560;
Matter of General Tire and Rubber Company , 55 N. L R. B. 250 ; Matter of Westinghouse
Electric & Manufacturing Company, 49 N. L. R. B. 445.
' These categories do not include firemen, the oiler , and the clerical and storeroom
employee, but includes Charles M. Crooks, machinist.
296 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees 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 limitations 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 3, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tion for the purposes of collective bargaining with Johns-Manville
Products • Corporation, Pittsburg, California, - 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 Twentieth Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, 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 the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on
vacation 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 any who have since quit or been discharged 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
Concord Lodge No. 1173, International Association of Machinists,5
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes of
collective bargaining.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the above
Decision and Direction of Election.
5 The request of the I. A. M. to appear on the ballot as designated above is hereby granted.