Sonoco Products Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 29, 1971

192 N.L.R.B. 310 (N.L.R.B. 1971)

310 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Downingtown Paper Co., A Division of Sonoco
Products Company i and Local 384, International
Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Ware-
housemen and Helpers of America , Petitioner. Case
4-RC-8959
July 29, 1971
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
BY MEMBERS FANNING , JENKINS, AND
KENNEDY
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing
was held before Hearing Officer Joan F. Homer.
Following the hearing, this case was transferred to the
National Labor Relations Board in Washington,
D.C., for decision, pursuant to Section 102.67 of the
National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions and Statements of Procedure, Series 8, as
amended. Thereafter, the Petitioner, the Employer,
and the Intervenor2 filed briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
National Labor Relations Board has delegated its
powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel.
The Hearing Officer's rulings made at the hearing
are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, including the
briefs, 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 employees of the Employer
within the meaning of Section 9(c)(1) and Section 2(6)
and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks to sever from the existing
production and maintenance unit, currently repre-
sented by the Intervenor, a unit of all over-the-road
truckdrivers, excluding production and maintenance
employees, utility and waste truck drivers, and relief
drivers.3 Alternatively, the Petitioner would represent
all truckdrivers if the Board finds such unit appropri-
ate. The Employer and the Intervenor oppose the
requested severance, on the grounds that the only
1 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing.
2 United Papermakers and Paperworkers, AFL-CIO, and United
Papermakers and Paperworkers, Local 414, AFL-CIO, herein called the
Intervenor, was permitted to intervene on the basis of a current contract
with the Employer There is no claim that this contract constitutes a bar.
appropriate unit is -the- existing unit composed of all
production and maintenance employees, and iriclud-
ing•the,trucking.department employees.,
The Employer, located' in Downingtown, Pennsyl-
vania, is engaged in the manufacture of paperboard
and is a division of Sonoco Products Company, a
South Carolina corporation engaged in the manufac-
ture of paper and plastic products.
The Employer employs approximately 250 employ-
ees plus several categories of truckdrivers. There are
approximately 14 over-the-road drivers who drive
tractor-trailers and haul finished products from the
Employer's plant to customer locations. They also
back-haul raw materials, machinery, and equipment
that are used in the production process, and they
deliver to, and back-haul from, other Sonoco-owned
paper plants. Approximately 90 percent of the trips
made by the over-the-road drivers are nonlayover
trips. On occasion, an over-the-road driver may make
more than one trip in a day. There are two over-the-
road drivers who are engaged in hauling fuel oil from
a distributor to the plant. The Employer currently
employs one relief driver who performs as a temporary
fill-in for the over-the-road driver when needed, but
routinely performs essentially the same duties as the
drivers classified as utility drivers. There are four
utility drivers who are engaged in the hauling of
various materials between the various parts of the
Employer's plants including warehouses. They also
haul to and from customers' plants, suppliers, freight
stations, and dumping areas . There is one employee in
the classification of waste driver, who hauls rubbish
and waste materials from the plant to the dump 4
All drivers, except for the over-the-road drivers,
punch timeclocks and are paid on an hourly basis, as
are the production and maintenance employees.
Over-the-road drivers are paid on a mileage or trip
rate, they are not paid for overtime, they are paid for
"waiting time" and are given a motel allowance when
necessary, and holiday pay for the over-the-road
drivers is based on an average trip pay income unlike
the holiday pay for other drivers and employees which
is based on an hourly rate. Over-the-road drivers work
no particular shift and average 50 to 55 hours a week,
whereas the other drivers and employees work regular
shifts averaging 48 to 54 hours per week. Unlike the
other drivers and employees, the over-the-road
drivers are required, by the United States Department
of Transportation, to keep a logbook of their trips and
their worktime, which cannot exceed a maximum of 60
hours in any 7-consecutive-day period. Although the
3 Petitioner amended its petition at the hearing.
4 The Employer states that when the present waste driver, an employee
for approximately 42 years, retires , the classification of waste driver will be
eliminated and the utility drivers will assume the duties formerly performed
by the waste driver.
192 NLRB No. 42
DOWNINGTOWM PAPER CO. 311
Employer requires all of its employees to take physical
examinations,, only the over-the-road drivers are
required to meet the Department of Transportation
requirements with-respect to physical examinations.
The Employer makes a contribution on behalf of each
employee to the pension fund,,according to a formula
based on their hourly rate - of pay, whereas the
contribution for the over-the-road drivers is based on
an "hourly waiting time" rate.
All drivers are assigned to the trucking department,
which is a part of, a larger section called transportation
and purchasing and includes, storeroom employees
and skid lot personnel: The drivers and employees are
supervised by a' manager, traffic manager, and
dispatch supervisor. In view of the irregularity of their
working hours, the over-the-road drivers often pick up
their assignments in there individual lockers. The,
orders are placed their by the dispatcher before he
goes home at 5 p.m. Although other drivers may be
supervised by a production or maintenance supervi-
sor when they are temporarily assigned to those
sections, the over-the-road driver is never supervised
by other supervisors during his'normal tour of duty.
There have been approximately four permanent job
transfers from the production and maintenance
section to the over-the-road driver positions. And
some of these men permanently transferred back into
the production and maintenance section after becom-
ing disenchanted with the over-the-road driving. The
over-the-road drivers do not load or unload their
trailers at the plant but are called upon at times to
help load or unload at their destinations. However,
the other drivers load and unload their trucks at the
plant.
Although other drivers are assigned to production
and maintenance- jobs when they are not performing
driving functions, the over-the-road drivers are not
assigned such jobs except during plant shutdown
periods during the months of July and December.
Other drivers in the trucking department are permit-
ted to sign up for weekend overtime assignments in
other departments. However, over-the-road truckdri-
vers are not permitted to sign up for weekend
overtime work, primarily because of the 'Department
of Transportation regulation which limits their
working time to a maximum of 60 on-the-job hours in
any 7-consecutive-day period.
The relief driver is the only driver qualified to
replace an over-the-road driver, all other drivers are
not qualified to fill in for the over-the-road drivers.
However, as the job of replacement for the over-the-
road driver occurs only sporadically, the relief driver
also shuttles trailers all over the plant.
Seniority is figured for each employee on a
plantwide basis, department basis such as trucking
department, and on a job classification basis. As a
result of plantwide seniority, there have been in-
stances wherein over-the-road drivers have "bumped"
into a production and maintenance position based on
seniority. There is evidence that on one occasion
during the July 1970 shutdown, there was reduced
work in the trucking department and an individual
did use_ his plant seniority to work in the maintenance
department. However, over-the-road vacancies are
filled in the order of progression first by the relief
driver, even though he is less senior than someone in
the plant, and then by the utility driver, if qualified,
and then by other employees throughout the plant, if
qualified. Openings for oil truck drivers are offered
first to the other over-the-road drivers and seniority in
that group prevails. Clearly, plantwide seniority is not
controlling in filling the over-the-road job openings or,
in filling the oil truck driver classification.
Although transfers have occurred from the pro-
duction and maintenance departments to the trucking
department, most of the transfers have-been on a
permanent basis to the trucking department, with a
dearth of transfers from the over-the-road classifica-
tion to production and maintenance jobs. The special
qualifications required by over-the-road drivers nec-
essarily limits the amount of interchange with other
drivers and with production and maintenance jobs.
After an election at the plant in September-1943, the
Board certified the United Paper Novelty and Toy
Workers as representative of all of Employer's
employees in a production and maintenance unit,
including truckdrivers. In 1945, the union changed its
name to United Papermakers and Paperworkers, the
Intervenor herein.5 The Intervenor has continued to
bargain for all employees including, _truckdrivers.
Prior to 1955, the drivers were classified as heavy
truck driver, tractor-trailer driver, and light truck
driver. After 1955, the plant established new driver
classifications; i.e., utility truck driver and waste truck
driver.
Prior to the fall of 1968, the Downingtown Paper
Company had contracted out all of its long-distance
hauling. All of its short-distance hauling of finished
products to customers was performed by its utility
drivers. When Sonoco Products Company purchased
Downingtown, Downingtown adopted Sonoco's poli-
cy of employing its over-the-road drivers, and
Downingtown created an employee classification of
over-the-road driver. The Downingtown plant is' but
one of several paper plants owned "and operated by
Sonoco. There are two plants in Massachusetts, one
plant in New Jersey, two plants in Pennsylvania, one
in Virginia, and one in California. These plants are
3 The number of the local, 414, was retained . Huston Matson, who is a 414 in 1943, and has continued in that position, except for a period of
millwright in the maintenance department , was elected president of local illness, until the present time.
312 DECISIONS OF NATIONALL,LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
operated as -part of_an interconnected chain in that 'a
large' . amount of ..the deliveries of finished, paper
products, by the Downingtown over=the -road drivers
are to other Sonora plants ; and, a significant amount '
of, back-hauls of raw, material 's are made from these`
plants.
'Rather than employ, drivers from the outside to-fill'
its overthe-road,classification, Downingtown fo1=_
lowed ' a,policy `of promoting employees from existing
positions' ithin -th'e plant .' New employees were to be
hired 'to fill the over the-road job classification only as
a last resort. A'lsocreated at this tune was ^ the new
classification of relief driver This job was created, as
an intermediate°step"between` utility, driver and over-
the-road driver. oThe relief driver was to perform as, a
temporary , fill-in .for the 'over-the-road , driver when
needed, but asI a, matter of routine would perform
esseǹtially 'the same duties as_the utility. driver. The
over-the-road driver classification and the relief
driver classification were placed within the- already
existing .trucking department ,, which included the -
waste driver and the utility drivers.
The, Inter-venor , was- notified of Downingtown',s
decision and-,it commenced bargaining on behalf of
the, employees who, would,fill the new classifications.
On ,November , 13, 1968 , , the negotiations resulted in
the execution of a supplemental agreement covering
the over-the-road ' drivers and ' relief 'drivers. This
supplemental , agreement was incorporated- into the,
terms'of the then current labor, agreement covering
the, other drivers and, production' and maintenance
employees.
Follwing the execution of the supplemental agree-
ment, the Employer notified employees of 'their
opportunity, to bid ' on openings ; in the'over-the=road
classification . The openings were offered first to the
drivers in the trucking department ' and then to
employees plantwide . Many employees with jobs in
the plant ' bid - on ' the openings . Of the first five
employees selected for the new classification, four
were promoted `fromproduction jobs within the plant.,
When the Employer's need for'over-the-'road drivers'
increased additional openings were posted , and when
possible these openings were filled by promoting
incumbent employees from other driver positions or
production jobs within the plant . On at least two,
occasions, ,the ,openings , were advertised prior, to the
Employer's obtaining ,a vehicle for the employee e to
drive .' When this, '.occurred, thek job applicant was
offered. a,production job in the plant or in another
driving ,Ì‚ capacityy until the truck was acquired. Atthe
time it established . classifications , the Employer
assertedly put into operation a plan of progression
6 Wright City Display Manufacturing Company, 183 NLRB 'No. 86.
whereby ' employees in 'the trucking department would
advance from utility driver to over-the=road driver.-,
,While ,the record does - indicate that there is a long
bargaining history , between the Employer; and the
Intervenor covering the employees and then drivers,
except for , over-the-road drivers who were not;
employed until ` January ' 1'969, and jthat the 'over-the '
road drivers do share'similar benefits , and they , have
been represented by the 'Intervenor, these ' factors
alone do not , preclude ' severing the'' over-the-road
truckdrivers from the existing unit, where, as here, the
over-the-road drivers share=a:community- of interests
separate and apart from' the
'
other drivers 'and
employees.
A careful .evaluation of the evidence ,convinces; us
that ' the over-the-road ' drivers - spend most of their
working time away from the plant , do no plant work,
do not load or unload their trucks at the plant, and` do
not interchange with 'other drivers or production and
maintenance employees . , Thee basis for compensation
for over-the-'road drivers differs from-that of other
employees;` and they work different ,hours and are not
permitted, to.,perform the -overtime Work which is
available to other drivers and production and mainte-
nance employees . Over-the-road drivers do not work
in other departments or for supervisors other than
those in the transportation, and purchasing ; depart-
ment, , unlike ,other drivers ,, and production ' and
maintenance employees , and therefore their contact
with the plant employees is minimal :, Over-the-road
drivers musts undergo more stringent physical exami-
nations in order to meet the health requirements^of
the Department of Transportation . And the Employer
concedes that presently, only the relief .driver is
qualified too become an over-the-road-,driver.
In view of ;the above , we find that the 14 over-the-
road drivers, constitute a homogeneous, functionally
distinct group such as the Board has traditionally,
accorded the, right of self-determination , notwith-
standing a, history of bargaining onta broaden basis.6
In, addition , the,parties stipulated ,- and.we find; that
the. Petitioner is a union which has , historically
represented truckdrivers . We, find, therefore ,-.that , the
Employer's over-the-road , truckdriversmay, if they so
desire, constitute a, separate appropriate unit for the
purposes of collective bargaining, and we shall
therefore direct,an election among, the employees in
the following voting group: . ,
Allover-the-road truckdriver-s'of the Employer at
-its,-,plant at Downingtown, Pennsylvania,, but
excluding all other , drivers,. employees, and super-
visors as defined by the Act. "
We shall make no final unit 'determination "at this
time, but shall be guided in part by the desires of the
DOWNINGTOW,M PAPER CO. 313
employees as expressed in the election hereinafter
directed. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will
be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a
separate bargaining unit, and the Regional Director
conducting the election will issue a Certification of
Representatives -to the Petitioner for the employees in
the group described above, which the Board, in such
circumstances, finds to be appropriatefor the purpos-
7 In order to assure that all eligible voters may have the oportumty to
be, informed of the issues in the exercise of their statutory right to vote, all
parties to the election should have access to a list of voters and their
addresses which, may be used to communicate with them. Excelsior
Underwear Inc., 156 NLRB 1236; N-LR.B_v. Wyman-Gordon Co, 394 U.S
759. Accordingly, it is hereby- directed that an election eligibility list,
containing the names and addresses of all the eligible voters , must be filed
es, of collective bargaining .,., In _the event that a
majority do not vote for the-Petitioner, these employ-
ees shall remain a part of the existing; ,unit and the
Regional Director will issue a Certification of Results
of Election to such effect.
[Direction of Election7 omitted
from publication.]
by the Employer with the Regional Director for Region 4 within 7 days of
the date of this Decision and Direction of Election . The Regional Director
shall make the list available to all parties to the election . No extension of
time to file this list shall be granted by the Regional Director except in
extraordinary circumstances . Failure to comply with this ' requirement shall
be grounds for setting,aside the election whenever proper objections are
filed. -