Sherwin- Williams Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 24, 1968

173 N.L.R.B. 316 (N.L.R.B. 1968)

316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Sherwin-Williams Co. and Chicago Local No. 245,
Lithographers & Photoengravers International
Union, AFL-CIO, Petitioner and United Steel-
workers of America, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Cases
13-RC- 11470 and 13-RC-1 1480
October 24, 1968
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
By MEMBERS BROWN , JENKINS, AND
ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held before Roderick C. MacLeod,
Hearing Officer of the National Labor Relations
Board. The Employer and Petitioners have filed
briefs
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
Act, as amended, the National Labor Relations Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case
to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within
the meaning of the Act and it will effectuate the
purposes of the Act to assert jurisdiction herein.
2. The labor organizations' involved claim to
represent certain employees of the Employer
3. A question affecting commerce exists concern-
ing the representation of the Employer within the
meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6) and (7)
of the Act.
4. The instant cases, which have been consolidated
for hearing involve a new plant of Sherwin-Williams
Company, the Employer, located at Elgin, Ill. Chicago
Local No. 245, Lithographers & Photoengravers Inter-
national Union, AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as
Lithographers, has petitioned for a departmental unit
consisting of a pressman, his feeder, a coater operator,
and two stacker operators. The United Steelworkers
of America, AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as
Steelworkers, petitioned for a production and mainte-
nance unit encompassing all employees including the
lithography department. The Employer favors an
overall unit as well, while the carpenters take no unit
position. There is no history of collective bargaining.
The Employer's Elgin facility is designed as an
integrated partially-automated facility wherein tin
plate in coil form will come in, be cut into plates,
I District No. 122 , Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers,
AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as IAM, and Local 1693 , United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America , AFL-CIO, herein-
lithographed or color coated, formed and assembled
into cans, and shipped out. At the time of the hearing
the plant had 25 hourly employees. The Employer
expected to have 30 employees on a one-line-one
shift basis by June 1, 1968, and 50 on a one-line-two
shift basis by July 1, 1968. Full two line-two shift
operation in about 6 months is expected to involve
107 employees. On these facts we determine that a
representative complement exists.
When the plant becomes fully operative, an output
of 52 million aerosol metal containers is projected, 25
percent for Sherwin-Williams and the rest for sale to
other companies.
The Employer's plant is a new one story building
with the lithography department at one end. It is
walled off from the rest of the building because of the
nature of the lithographic and coating processes in
that drafts and dust may affect the product, special
lighting is used, and there are fumes from the process.
The lithography department has a coating line which
is a one color process, and a lithographic line, which is
a standard wet offset metal decorating type with a
continuous flow The lithography department and the
coil line have a common supervisor who is also
Director of Lithography for all of the Employer's
plants Experienced people were sought for the
lithographic pressman, lithographic feeder, and coater
operator vacancies. The stacker operator classification
requires a lesser amount of skill. One of the five
employees in the department was transferred into the
department in the position of stacker operator There
has been occasional substitution for a stacker due to
absenteeism
The Board has frequently held that employees
engaged in the lithographic process form a cohesive
unit appropriate for collective bargaining.' The re-
cord herein establishes that the employees in the
lithography department utilize standard lithographic
equipment, perform usual lithographic duties, and
exercise the customary skills utilized in the traditional
lithographic process.
The Employer contends that the lithographic unit
is inappropriate because (1) employees frequently
transfer into the lithography department, (2) the
operations of the Employer are highly integrated, and
(3) the lithography department employees have
common working conditions with the other em-
ployees. We find no merit in these contentions. The
record establishes that only one person was trans-
ferred on a permanent basis into the lithography
department, and at the lowest skilled position. There
has been only occasional substitution of a stacker
operator due to absenteeism. We do not believe these
minor instances of transfer constitute sufficient inter-
after referred to as Carpenters , were permitted to intervene.
2 See Lord Baltimore Press, 144 NLRB 1376.
173 NLRB No. 54
SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CO. 317
change so as to deny the employees of the lithogra-
phy department opportunity to acquire the separate
representation to which they would otherwise be
entitled on the basis of their common interests and
duties. The argument that asserted "integration" of
operation such as exists here negates the granting of a
separate unit of lithographic department employees
has been rejected by the Board in many cases 3
Finally with respect to the common working con-
ditions and uniformity of benefits, it is noted that at
the time of the hearing, the plant was not fully
operative. In addition, the terms and conditions of
employment were prepared at a time when no hourly
employees had yet been hired. Therefore, any simi-
lanty of working conditions and benefits cannot be
relied on as a determining factor.
In view of the foregoing, we find that the decision
in Continental Can Co , 171 NLRB No. 99, in which
the Board found that a separate lithographic craft
unit was inappropriate, is distinguishable. There, the
plant was engaged solely in the coating of, and
lithographic printing on, tin plate. The plant had no
can-making facilities. The unit sought consisted of
pressmen, pressmen apprentices, and their feeders.
There, as in the present case, the pressmen spent a
substantial amount of time in nonprinting duties such
as coating. However, in the present case, the unit
sought is a departmental one, and would include
employees working on the coater line, as well as the
stacker operators. Therefore, evidence that pressmen
worked in other areas of the department but not out
of the department, would favor the conclusion that
the lithography department constitutes a distinct
homogeneous unit, appropriate for collective bargain-
ing. It should be noted that the lithographic em-
ployees involved in the Continental Can case per-
formed only dry offset printing, which requires less
skill and which the Board has distinguished from true
lithography printing.
We accordingly find that a separate unit of lithogra-
phy department employees may be appropriate if
these employees desire to be represented separately.'
There remains for determination the unit place-
ment of John Bell, the Employer's maintenance-utili-
ty man. Employer claims that the maintenance-utility
man is a guard within the meaning of Section 9(b)(3)
of the Act. We do not agree. This employee's primary
responsibility is building maintenance . He spends 75
percent of his time cleaning, 20 percent lighting
various ovens so that they will be ready for produc-
tion, and 5 percent doing "guard-type" duties. He
reports to work at 5 a.m., turns off the automatic
detection system, and relocks the door until 7 a.m.
when the other employees arrive. He leaves at 1:30
p.m., and is not replaced by anyone. He is the only
person doing cleaning work now, and no one else is
being sought. He has no responsibility for enforcing
plant rules against employees. He is unarmed and not
in uniform. His fire prevention and "guard" duties,
insofar as unauthorized personnel entering the plant
are concerned, involve reporting such incidents when
they come to his attention while performing his
cleaning and lighting duties. In view of these facts, we
find, therefore that Bell is not a guard and we shall
include him in the production and maintenance unit.
In view of all the. facts previously mentioned, we
find that the requested lithography department unit
may be appropriate. However, we shall make no final
unit determination at this time but shall direct that an
election be conducted in the following voting groups
at the Employer's Elgin plant:
(a) All employees engaged in lithographic produc-
tion work including pressmen, feeders, coater opera-
tors, and stacker operators, excluding all other em-
ployees, office clerical employees, professional em-
ployees, watchmen, guards, and all supervisors as
defined in the Act.
(b) All production and maintenance employees,
excluding the employees in voting group (a) and all
office clerical employees, professional employees,
watchmen, guards, and supervisors as defined in the
Act.
If the majority of the employees in voting group
(a) select the Lithographers, the employees in that
group will be taken to have indicated their desire to
constitute a separate bargaining unit, and the Region-
al Director conducting the elections is hereby in-
structed to issue a certification of representatives to
the Lithographers for such unit, which the Board
under the circumstances finds to be appropriate for
the purposes of collective bargaining. However, if a
majority of the employees in such voting group do
not vote for separate representation, that group will
appropriately be included in the production and
maintenance unit and their ballots shall be pooled
with those for group (b).5
3 See Shumate Incorporated , 131 NLRB 98
4 Since we are ruling that Continental Can is inapposite , we deny the
Employer's motion to reopen the record in order to admit evidence of
the nonprinting duties of the lithographic employees
5 If the votes are pooled , they are to be tallied in the following
manner The votes for the labor organization seeking a separate unit in
group (a) shall be counted as valid votes but neither for nor against the
labor organizations seeking to represent the production and mainte-
nance unit . All other votes are to be accorded their face value.
318 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
If a majority in voting group (b), including any
pooled group, vote for either the Steelworkers,
Machinists, or Carpenters, that labor organization
shall be certified as the representative of employees in
6 Since the record is unclear as to the positions of the Intervenors we
have included them on all ballots because they have shown interest in
employees for an overall unit . They may withdraw however , from either
or both ballots , within 5 days of the date hereof , if they are not
interested in representing these employees.
7 Election eligibility lists , containing the names and addresses of all
the eligible voters , must be filed by the Employer with the Regional
that group, which under the circumstances the Board
finds to be an appropriate unit for purposes of
collective bargaining.'
[Direction of Election? omitted from publication.]
Director for Region 13, within 7 days after the date of this Decision and
Direction of Elections The Regional Director shall make the lists
available to all parties to the elections . No extension of time to file
these lists shall be granted by the Regional Director except in
extraordinary circumstances . Failure to comply with this requirement
shall be grounds for setting aside the elections whenever proper
objections are filed. Excelsior Underwear Inc , 156 NLRB 1236.