Waldorf Paper Products Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 14, 1952

100 N.L.R.B. 618 (N.L.R.B. 1952)

618 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
WALDORF PAPER PRODUCTS COMPANY and MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL
PHOTO ENGRAVERS UNION, LOCAL No. 6, INTERNATIONAL PHOTO EN-
GRAVERS UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL AND UNITED ASSOCIATION
OF JOURNEYMEN & APPRENTICES OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING
INDUSTRY OF THE U. S. AND CANADA, LOCAL UNION No. 455, PETI-
TIONERS. Cases Nos. 18-RC-1479 and 18-RC-1505. August 14,
1952
Decision and Direction of Elections
Upon petitions duly filed, a consolidated hearing was held before
Clarence A. Meter, 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 Houston, Murdock, and
Styles].
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 organizations named below claim to represent certain
employees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of
Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
4. Since 1937, Local 264 of the Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Work-
ers, A. F. of L., which was allowed to intervene at the hearing, has
represented the Employer's production and maintenance employees.
The Intervenor opposes only the unit of 11 employees sought by the
Pipefitters, all of whom it has been representing. Of the 5 employees
sought by the Photo Engravers, only 1, a helper, has been represented
by the Intervenor. Apparently the other 4 have been unrepresented.
Case No. 18-RC1479. The photoengraving department of the Em-
ployer, representation of which is sought by the Photo Engravers,
consists of an etcher and a learner or helper, two engravers, and an
artist, who also does finishing, routing, and color separating. These
employees are engaged in the making of plates for imprint on paper
cartons and the touching and retouching of such plates as are made
outside the plant. This work involves strictly photoengraving skills.
Occasionally the helper, who has been represented by the Intervenor,
does overtime work in the plant proper, but the other four employees
do not. An informal apprentice system of 6 years is in effect in this
department. We find that these photoengraving employees, their
100 NLRB No. 101.
WALDORF PAPER PRODUCTS COMPANY 619
helpers and apprentices, constitute a skilled, craft group in an in-
dustry in which the Board has frequently found craft units appro-
priate 1 Accordingly we find that these employees constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
Case No. 18-RC-1505. The Pipefitters seeks to represent a group
of 11 employees who constitute all employees classified as steamfitters,
and who, with the plant's machinists, millwrights, and electricians ,2
make up the maintenance division. The Employer and the Intervenor
contend that these steamfitters are not a craft group within the mean-
ing of the Act, but simply industrial specialists in the work they do
at this plant. The Intervenor moved to dismiss this petition. We
deny this motion.
The employees in question replace, weld, and repair pipes, install
pumps, disconnect motors, work on the air-conditioning and sprinkling
systems, and work on the mill machine and on meters of all types.
Like the machinists, the millwrights, and the electricians, they have
a separate leadman who reports directly to the master mechanic in
charge of all maintenance. Five of these employees are licensed
as steamfitters under State law. Although one of the group spends
almost all his time sewing wire screen to paper machine cylinders
and soldering the screen, he also does typical pipefitter work. Another
employee also does some screen sewing work. Four of the employees
spend 50 percent or more of their time in welding; two employees do
screw pipe work but no welding. All these employees perform the
regular skilled work of pipefitters, and an informal apprentice system
is in effect. We find that the Employer's steamfitters and their helpers
may, if they so desire, constitute a separate appropriate unit .3 If,
in the election hereinafter directed, they select the Pipefitters, they
will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate
bargaining unit.
We direct that the questions concerning representation which have
arisen be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among the
employees in the following voting groups :
1. All employees of the photoengraving department in the Em-
ployer's St. Paul, Minnesota, plant, excluding professional employees,
office and clerical employees, guards, supervisors as defined in the Act,
and all other employees.
2. All steamfitters and steamfitter helpers in the maintenance divi-
sion of the Employer's St. Paul, Minnesota, plant, excluding office
and clerical employees, guards, supervisors as defined in the Act, and
all other employees.
1 National Container Corporation of Wisconsin , 97 NLRB 1009 ; Hudson Pulp and Paper
Corporation, 94 NLRB 1018.
2 The electricians are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
3Hudson Pulp & Paper Corporation, 94 NLRB 1018, 1021.
620 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
If a majority of the employees in group 2 select the Pipefitters, the
Board finds such unit to be appropriate, and the Regional Director
shall certify accordingly. If a majority vote for the Intervenor, the
Board finds the existing production and maintenance unit to be ap-
propriate and the Regional Director shall issue a certificate of results
of election to that effect.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication in this
volume.]
AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC. and NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF BROADCAST ENGINEERS AND TECHNICIANS, CIO, PETITIONER
NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC. and NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF BROADCAST ENGINEERS AND TECHNICIANS, CIO, PETITIONER.
Cases Nos. 13-RC-4679 and 13-RC-2671. August 14,190
Decision and Order
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the
National Labor Relations Act, hearings were held before Virginia M.
McElroy, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the
hearings are free from prejudical error and are hereby affirmed.
These case were consolidated by the Board for purposes of decision,
since they involve an identical issue.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with these cases to a three-
.member panel [Members Houston, Styles, and Peterson].
Upon the entire records in these cases the Board finds :
1. The Employers are engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The Petitioner and Intervenor involved claim to represent the
radio directors and associate radio directors of the Employers.
3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of the radio directors and associate radio directors of the respec-
tive Employers within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section
2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons :
The Petitioner seeks in each case a unit of all radio directors and
associate radio directors 1 employed by the Employers at their respec-
tive operations in Chicago, excluding all other employees. The Inter-
venor, Radio and Television Directors Guild, AFL, in each case
i In Case No. 13-RC-2670 the Employer does not presently employ associate directors.
It is clear from the record in both cases, however, that the duties of directors and associate
directors are similar ; consequently, we shall treat them together.
100 NLRB No. 103.