The Borden Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jun 13, 1958

120 N.L.R.B. 1447 (N.L.R.B. 1958)

THE BORDEN COMPANY 1447
find no merit in this contention. It is well settled that, in order to be
eligible to vote, an individual must be employed and working on the
established eligibility date, unless absent for one of the reasons set
out in the Direction of Election.6 We, therefore, sustain the challenge
to Hyman's ballot.
On April 21, 1958, the Board issued its Decision and Order in Case
No. 2-CA-5182, in which it found that the Employer discriminatorily
discharged or laid off Taliercio, McGee, and Vogel in February 1957'
As these employees would have been employed and working on the
established eligibility date, but for the Employer's discrimination
against them, we overrule the challenges to their ballots.
As we have overruled the challenges to three ballots and, as the
outcome of the election depends on a consideration of these ballots, we
shall direct that they be opened and counted.
[The Board directed that the Regional Director for the Second
Region shall, within ten (10) days from the date of this Direction,
open and count the ballots of Salvatore Taliercio, John McGee, and
Lorenz Vogel, and serve upon the parties a supplemental tally of
ballots.]
6 Schick Incorporated, 114 NLRB 931, 934; Barry Controls, Incorporated, 113 NLRB
26, 27-28.
7 Ra-Rich Manufacturing Corporation, 120 NLRB 503.
The Borden Company ( Borden 's Farm Products, Sunshine
Farms, Inc., and Dairy Sealed, Inc.) and International Union
of Operating Engineers , Local No. 30-A, AFL-CIO, Petitioner
National Dairy Products Corporation (Sealtest Sheffield Farms
and Muller Dairies, Inc.) and International Union of Operat-
ing Engineers, Local No. 30-A , AFL-CIO, Petitioner
Milk Dealers Association of Metropolitan New York , Inc. and
International Union of Operating Engineers , Local No. 30-A,
AFL-CIO , Petitioner. Cases Nos. 2-RC-9228, 2-RC-9206, and
2-RC-9258.1 June 13, 1958
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before
Harry E. Knowlton, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
'At the hearing , Petitioner 's request to withdraw the petition in Case No . 2-RC-9258
was approved.
120 NLRB No. 183.
-1448 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
,has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-
_member panel [Members Rodgers, Jenkins, and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds :
1. The Employers, The Borden Company and the National Dairy
Products Corporation, are engaged in commerce within the mean-'
ing of the Act:
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employers.'
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employers within the meaning of Section
J (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.'
4. The Employers are engaged in the manufacture, processing, and
distribution of milk and milk products in New York and surrounding
States. The Petitioner amended at the hearing its original request for
2 multiplant units, and is now seeking 5 separate units, agreed to by the
unions, and identical with the contract units. The International
Brotherhood of Firemen, Oilers, and Maintenance Mechanics, Local
Union No. 56, AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as Local No. 56,
was permitted to intervene on the basis of its contractual interest.
The Milk Drivers and Dairy Employees Union, Local No. 584, affili-
ated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, hereinafter
referred to as Local No. 584, was permitted to intervene on the basis of
its showing of interest in the units involving Sunshine Farms, Inc.,
and Muller Dairies, Inc. The Employers took no position as to the
unit issue.
For the past 12 to 15 years, Local Union No. 56 has bargained
jointly with the Employer representatives of each unit, but has
executed separate identical contracts for the following units including
all firemen, oilers, and maintenance employees :
a We find without merit the contention of the Intervenor that the petition should be
dismissed because of the "no-raiding" provision of the constitutions of the merged
AFL-CIO. The Board has clearly indicated that the obligations , if found to exist, of a
"no-raiding" convention is insufficient ground under Board policy for a dismissal of a
representation proceeding . North Ame,ican Aviation, Inc., 115 NLRB 1090.
3 At the hearing , the Intervenor , Local Union No. 56, sought to determine whether or
not the chief engineer was a member of the petitioning union, but objections were sus-
tained to this line of questioning as the engineers were not sought as a part of the re-
quested unit . In its brief , the contention is made that Local 30 and Local 30-A, the
Petitioner herein, have the same officers for whom members of Local 30-A cannot vote ;
that the chief engineers are represented by Local 30 and that they exercise complete
authority over the Employer 's powerplants and the employees sought in the instant peti-
tions ; that though technically in separate units, since the' unit, of employees has, no .vote
in the administration of the affairs of Local 30-A, the dominance of the supervisor unit
is contrary to the policy and purpose of the Act. The Board has held that representation
of employees by an organization which also represents supervisors does not constitute a
violation of the purposes and intent of the Act. See The S-P Manufacturing Corporation,
75 NLRB 701, at page 703 , and cases cited therein ; Beaumont Forging Company, 110
NLRB 2200, at page 2201.
THE BORDEN COMPANY 1449
In Case No. 2-RC-9228-The Borden Company
Unit #1: Borden's Farm Products Division with plants located at
3510 Steinway Street, Long Island City, N. Y.
85 Third Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y.
253 Washington Street, Mount Vernon, N. Y.
Unit #2: Sunshine Farms, Inc., plant located at
Exterior and 151st Street, Bronx, N. Y.
Unit #3: Dairy Sealed, Inc., plant located at
102-45 94th Avenue, Ozone Park, N. Y.
In Case No. 2-RC-906-National Dairy Products Corporation
Unit #4: Sealtest Sheffield Farms with plants located at
1055 Webster Avenue, Bronx, N. Y.
1380 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, N. Y.
131-01 Atlantic Avenue, Queens, N. Y.
Unit #5: Muller Dairies, Inc.
536 West 126th Street, Harlem, N. Y.4
The Petitioner made no showing of interest in unit #2, Sunshine
Farms, Inc. For this reason, Petitioner's name will be omitted from
the ballot concerning this unit, but as the showing of interest made
by Local 584 is sufficient to support the petition as Petitioner, we shall
treat its intervention as a cross petition and not dismiss.'
In view of the bargaining history and the agreement of the parties
as to the appropriateness of the units, we shall direct that elections
be conducted in the following units which, under the circumstances,
we find appropriate, for the purposes of collective bargaining within
the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act, excluding in each unit all
office and plant clerical employees, production employees, professional
employees, watchmen, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
Unit #1: All firemen, oilers, and maintenance employees in the
Borden Company's Farm Product Division plants located at 3510
Steinway Street, Long Island City, New York, 85 Third Avenue,
Brooklyn, New York, and 253 Washington Street, Mount Vernon,
New York.
Unit #2: All firemen, oilers, and maintenance employees of Borden
Company's Sunshine Farms, Inc., plant located at Exterior and 151st
Street, Bronx, New York.
Unit #3: All firemen, oilers, and maintenance employees in the
Borden Company's Dairy Sealed, Inc., plant located at 102-45 94th
Avenue, Ozone Park, New York.
+ The petition shows the address as 530 West 126th St.; attorney for Local 584 refers
to it as 530 West 16th St. and 520 West 126th St. The hearing officer refers to it as
536 West 126th St.
6 Carpenter Baking Company, Inc., 112 NLRB 288. See Thiokol Chemical Corporation,.
114 NLRB 21; Celanese Corporation of America , 84 NLRB 207, 212.
1450 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL- LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Unit #4: All firemen, oilers, and maintenance employees at the
National Dairy Products Corporation's Sealtest Sheffield Farms
plants located ' at 1055 Webster Avenue, Bronx, New York, 1380
Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York, 131-01 Atlantic Avenue,
Queens, New York. '
Unit #5: All firemen, oilers, and maintenance employees in the
National Dairy Products Corporation's Muller Dairies, Inc.,'plant
located at 536 West 126th St., Harlem; New York.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
Tri-State Plastic Molding Company 1 and International Chemical
Workers Union, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case ' No. 35-RC-1530.
June 13, 1958
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
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-member panel [Members Rodgers, Jenkins, and
Fanning].
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 organization involved claims to represent employees
of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and
Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The Petitioner seeks a unit of all employees at the Employer's
plants at Henderson, Kentucky. The Employer contends that the
unit sought is inappropriate and that only a unit composed of em-
ployees at all its Henderson plants and Owensboro, Kentucky, plants
is appropriate. The Employer is engaged in the manufacture and
sale of extruded molded,and die cast products. It has 3 plants in
Henderson employing some 150 employees in the unit : the main plant,
which includes the general offices, the plastic molding section, and
the die casting, toolroom, maintenance and engineering departments;
1 The name of the Employer appears as amended at the hearing,
120 NLRB No. 186.