Wyeth Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 30, 1947

73 N.L.R.B. 684 (N.L.R.B. 1947)

In the Matter of_WYETn , INCORPORATED , EMPLOYER and DRUG TRADE:
ALESMEN^6 =UNION, CIO, PETITIONER
Case No. 2-R-7070.-Decided April 30, 1947
Cullen & Dyknian , by Mr. Harry,G. Hill, of Brooklyn , N. Y., for
the Employer.
Messrs. Leonard H. 117acker and Peter J. Stein, of Bronx; N. Y., for
the Petitioner.
Mr. A. Sumner Lhwreiwe. of counsel to the Board.
DECISION•
AND
ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at New Yoric
City, on November 7, 1946, before George Turitz, hearing officer.. The
hearing officer 's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
0
FINDINGS OF FACT
I! THE BUSI NESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Wyeth,' Incorporated. a Delaware corporation and wholly owned.
subsidiary of American Products, Inc., has its principal office iii Phil-
adelphia, Pennsylvania, and is engaged in the manufacture, sale-and
distribution of pharmaceutical, biological, and, nutritional products
throughout the United States.-in various sections of which it maintains
plants, warehouses, and sales offices. During the past year, the Em-
ployer purchased for use in its operations, drugs and chemicals valued
in excess of $1,000,000, of which 75 percent represented materials
shipped to the Employer's plants and warehouses from points outside
the States in which such plants and warehouses are located. During
the same period, the Employer sold finished products valued in excess
of $1,000,000, of which 75 percent represented products shipped by the
Employer to purchasers located outside-the States in which the plants
and-warehouses inaniifacturing and storing the products were located.
73 N. L. R. B, No. 130.
684
WYETH, INCORPORATED 685
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged' in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization; affiliated with, the..Cohgress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Employer's sales organization'is divided into 8 divisions con-
in District 1, Division 1, of the Employer's sales organization, ex-
cluding supervisory employees. The Employer opposes the unit
sought by the Petitioner upon the ground that the unit sought is not
sufficiently extensive to be appropriate for purposes of collective
bargaining.
The Employer's sales organization is divided into 8 divisions con-
taining in all 390 sales employees, each division averaging between
32 and 68 employees distributed among 3 or more districts. 'The
Employer contends that the similarity in working conditions and
the integration in the supervision and the earning'' of the sales em-
ployees involved herein,' require a finding that a unit less than
Nation-wide in scope is inappropriate. The Employer `further con-
tends that in any event a unit limited in extent to a district, the
smallest subdivision in the Employer's sales organization, is clearly
inappropriate.
With respect to the Employer's first contention, we do not agree,
in view of the wide geographical separation of employees in the E'm-
ployer's sales organization and the attendant difficulties of organizing
and representing such a group over a Nation-wide area, that a unit of
lesser scope is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.2
On the other hand, there would appear to be merit in the Employer's
contention that in any event a unit confined to a single district is
too small to be appropriate.
The record discloses that none of the districts which make up the
divisions in the Employer's sales organization have more than 13
employees in any one district, and, as indicated above, there are no
more than 68 employees in any of the divisions.3 Moreover, although
both districts and divisions are under the supervision of individual
' A degree of integration exists unth respect to commissions paid for sales to wholesale
houses and chain stores The Employer sets up a pool for sales to each customer of this
type and allocates commissions on a percentage basis'to^those sales territories , which, as
indicated by studies, receive the Employer's products through that customer These pools
ci oss both division and district lines.
2 See Matter of Wtnth,op Chemical Company, Inc, 59 N L. R B 1550
-'The district upon which the Petitioner bases its present petition hab only 13 employees
from among a total of 58 employees in the division , of which it is a part
686 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
managers, district managers have no established offices ' and transact -
business from their homes. Division managers , on the other hand, have
established divisional offices for use in the promotion of the Employer's
business . Upon all the evidence adduced , we are of the opinion that
a unit less than division-wide which, as here, is restricted to a single
district , is too--limited in scope and not sufficiently autonomous in rela-
tion to the Employer's sales organization as a whole to be appropriate
for the purposes of collective bargaining . Accordingly, we shall dis-
miss the petition.4
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record
in the case, the Board hereby orders that the petition for investiga-
tion and certification of employees of Wyeth, Incorporated; Phila-
delphia, Pennsylvania, filed by Drug Trade Salesmen's Union, CIO,
be, and it hereby is, dismissed.
4 The Petitioner also indicated at the hearing that it would accept in the alternative a
unit coextensive with its present organizational efforts and comprising the employees of
two districts ( District 1, Division 1, and District 1 , Division 2). We find, in view of the
crossing of divisional lines in the Employer's organization that a unit comprised of these
two districts would be inappropriate.