Robert Gair Co., Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jan 14, 1943

46 N.L.R.B. 1102 (N.L.R.B. 1943)

In the Matter of ROBERT GAIR Co., INC. (TONAWANDA. BOxBOAlu s DIvI-
sIoN ) and UNITED PAPER , NOVELTY AND Toy WORKERS INTERNATIONAL
UNION, C. I. 0.
Case No. B-41621.-Decided January 14,1943
Jurisdiction : boxboard manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question . refusal
to accord recognition ; year to year contract which expired . at end of its first
.yearly term when contracting union prior to redewal date gave notice of its
desire to negotiate a new agreement , held no bar ; new agreement held no bar
when petitioner gave notice before its consummation ; election necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : determination of unit dependent
upon election to be conducted among production and maintenance employees of
one of Company 's paper mills to determine whether they desire a single bargain-
ing unit or to be allied with two other plants in a multiple -bargaining unit.
Mr. Francis V. Cole, of Buffalo, N. Y., for the Board.
Mr. T. R. Iserman, of New York City, for the Company.
Mesos. John J. Maurillo and Joseph Lovas, both of -Buffalo, N. Y.,
for the United.
Messrs. E. B. Lamb ton, of Albany, N. Y., and Neil Cunningham, of
Buffalo; N. Y., for the Paper Makers.
Mr. David V. Easton, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION.
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon petition duly filed by United Paper, Novelty and Toy Work-,
ers International Union, C. I. 0., herein called the United, alleging
that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of Robert Gair C'o., Inc. (Tonawanda Box-
boards Division), Tonawanda, New York, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hear-
ing upon due notice before Charles E. Persons, Trial Examiner. Said
hearing was held at Buffalo, New York, on December 3, 1942. The
Company, the United, and International Brotherhood of Paper
Makers, herein called the Paper Makers, appeared, participated, and
46 N. L. R. B. No. 128.
1102
ROBERT GAIR CO., INC.'-' 1103
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross=
sxamine witnesses, and to introduce' evidence bearing. on the issues.
The Trial Examiner's rulings made- at the hearing are free from
prejudicial 'error and are hereby affirmed. _ `
Upon the entire, record in the case, the Board makes the following:,
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. TILE BUSINESS OF T11E COMPANY
Robert Gair Co., Inc., a Delaware corporation, is engaged iri the
manufacture of paperboard and cardboard stock, and in fabricating
boxes and cases. It operates 15 plants at various points in the United
States, of which 3, located at Tonawanda and Piermont, New York,
and Haverhill, Massachusetts, are engaged in the production of box-
board. This proceeding primarily concerns the Tonawanda plant.
For the year preceding December 1, 1942, the Company used at the
Tonawanda plant raw materials valued at approximately $1,100,000,
of which approximately 80 percent was shipped to it,from points out-
side the State of New York. During the same period, the Company
mina Factnred at this plant finished products of the approximate
walue^o,f-$2;500,000, 20 percent of which was shipped to points outside
the State of New York.
We find that-the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
inL, of the National Labor Relations Act.
11. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
United Paper, Novelty and Toy Workers International Union,
Local` 137, is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of
Industrial Organizations, admitting to membership, employees of the
Company.
International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, and its Local 188, are
-labor-organizations affiliated with the American Federation of Labor,
admitting to membership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
A contract be the Company and the Paper Makers, covering
employees' at the Tonawanda, Piermont, and Haverhill plants, was
entered,into on,April 1, 1941. It'provided that it should remain in
effect until December 1, 1942, with automatic renewal from year to
year thereafter, unless either party gave 60 days' notice of a desire
to amend or abrogate any .or all of its provisions, in which event the.
1104 , DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
"agreement shall terminate" on the following December 1. By letter
dated September 25, 1942, the Paper Makers. notified the Company of
its desire, to negotiate a new, agreement, and pursuant thereto the
Company and the Paper Makers held several conferences in November'
1942. Representatives of the, Paper Makers local at the Tonawanda
plant were not present at these conferences, but negotiations were
concluded in their absence.1 At the time of the hearing, a new agree-
ment, the'terms of which are not 'disclosed by the record, had been
submitted to the Paper Makers locals for acceptance or rejection.. Al-
though the Paper Makers asserted that the absence of representatives
of , the, Tonawanda, local did not exclude the employees of that plant
from the scope of the negotiationsi a representative of the Company
testified that the negotiations of November 1942 affected only em-
ployees at Piermont and Haverhill.
We find that the contract which expired December 1, 1942; or any
new agreement resulting from the negotiations referred to above,
does not constitute a bar to this proceeding, since the Paper Makers
precluded the April 1941 contract'from being automatically renewed
by its timely request for negotiations of a new agreement, and since
the United requested recognition prior to the consummation of a new
contract:
A statement of the Acting Regional Director, introduced into evi-
dence at the hearing, indicates that the United represents a substantial
number of employees in the unit it claims to be appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce ha,s--arisen concei=iiing'
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 DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
The sole dispute as to the appropriate unit is whether it should be
limited to the employees at.the Tonawanda plant, as contended by the
United, or whether it should also include employees at the Piermont
and Haverhill plants as urged by the Paper Makers.' The parties are
agreed that the unit should include production and maintenance em-
With respect to the Tonawanda, Piermont, and Haverhill plants, since 1940 representa-
tives of the Paper Makers International, and all the local unions at the 3 plants have met in
\annual conference with the Company at New Yoik The practice has been to submit the
new agreement to the locals for acceptance or rejection, and it appears that the action of a
majority of the locals was binding upon all involved. Between 1937 and 1940, a similar
procedure had been followed with respect to all 15 plants of the Company, with the Inter-
national Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers and its constituent locals
iepresenting the 12 plants herein involved.
The Acting Regional Director reported. that the United had, submitted 187, application-
cards, of which 186 bore apparently genuine original signatures; 167 of these signatures
were the names of persons appearing on the Company's pay roll of November 15, 1942, which '
pay roll contained 211 names in the unit contended for by the United. The Paper Makers
relies upon the contract dated April 1, 1941, to establish its interest.
a
ROBERT GAIR CO., INC. 1105
ployees, including engineers, firemen, truck drivers, carpenters, paint-
ers, blacksmiths, and pipe fitters, but excluding superintendents, fore-'
men, the working foreman (Charles Edin), and employees engaged
in administrative, sales, research, accounting, clerical, 'stenographic,
or other office work.
The three plants are widely separated; the Tonawanda plant is
about 450 miles from both the Piermont and Haverhill plants, and the
latter are about 250 miles apart. The.' roducts are similar, and the
employees in each,have substantially the same qualifications and skills,
and, receive the same rate of pay in similar classifications, except for
minor variations. Each plant has its own supervisory organization
with authority to hire and discharge; although general matters relating
Ito personnel are subject to the control of the central office of the Com-
pany. Employees are seldom transferred from one plant to another.
The Paper Makers bases its contention that the unit sought by the
United is inappropriate upon the history of bargaining between the
Companyand'the'Paper Makers. As statedhabove,,the'Paper-Makers
has bargained with the Company since 1937; since 1940 the negotiations
between these parties have been limited to the 3 plants here involved,
whereas between 1937 and,1940 they were conducted jointly with those
relating to the other 12 plants, in which the International Brotherhood
of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers acted as the representative
of the employees. The 1941 contract is a single docrunent, covering
the 3 plants in question. ' However, the record shows that the admin-
istration`•of the 'contracts negotiated by"the'foregoing method.has,been
conducted by the local at the plant involved, and that the locals have
enjoyed a large degree of autonomy. Thus, grievances have been
handled locally, and the 1941 contract provides in effect that matters
affecting the relations between the Company and its employees at any
of the 3 plants shall be considered aild acted'upon at a meeting limited
to employees at the plant involved. The fact'that the contract pro-
vides that it shall terminate "when the [Paper Makers] shall cease to
represent a-majority of all 'employees in the Board' Mill of Gair
Cartons Division [Piermont plant], Tonawanda Boxboards Division,
or Haverhill Boxboards Division," 8 also indicates that the nature of
the bargaining was not such as to preclude the establishment of a unit
limited to 1 plant. Moreover, the November 1942 negotiations are
persuasive of the feasibility of,a single plant unit.
Under these circumstances, and in,view of the fact that there has
been no prior determination of appropriate unit by the Board, we
find that the employees at the Tonawanda plant could function 'as .a
separate unit or as part of a three-plant unit. Accordingly; :we ,shall'
direct an election among the employees of the Tonawanda plant of
S Emphasis supplied.
504086-43-vol 46--70
1106 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL. LABOR, RELATIONS BOARD
the Company, to determine whet her they wish to be represented by
the United, the Paper Makers, or by neither. If the employees of the
Tonawanda plant select the United as their bargaining representative
they will constitute a separate and distinct appropriate unit. If they
choose the Paper Makers, they will have indicated their desire to be
part of the larger unit with employees of the Piermont and Haverhill
plants. We shall, therefore, make no final determination of the
appropriate unit pending the election we shall direct.
We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen'
can best be resolved by means of an election by secret ballot among
the employees,in the^group described below 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 2, as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part : of the investigation . to',ascertainir •epresenta-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Robert Gair Co.,
Inc., Tonawanda , New York, an election by 'secret ballot shall be con-
ducted 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 Third Region, acting in this matter as agent
for the ` National Lab'o 'r Relations Board, and subject to Article III,
'Section 10 , of said Rules and Regulations , among all production and
maintenance employees of the Company at its Tonawanda plant, in-
cluding engineers, firemen truck drivers , carpenters , painters , black-
smiths, and pipe fitters, 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 temporarily laid off, and employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but
excluding superintendents , foremen , the working foreman ( Charles
Edin )•, employees engaged in administrative , sales, research , account-
ing, clerical , stenographic , or other office work, and those who have
since quit or been discharged for cause , to determine whether they
desire to be represented by United Paper, Novelty and Toy Workers
International Union, Local 137, affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, or by International Brotherhood of Paper, .Makers,
and its Local 188 , both affiliated with the American - Federation of
Labor, for the purposes of collective bargaining , or by neither.