B. B.Crystal Co.

In the Matter of LEON BROZEN & PROSPER BROZEN, CO-PARTNERS, DOING BUSINESS UNDER THE TRADE AND STYLE NAME OF B. B. CRYSTAL COM- PANY and WHOLESALE AND WAREIIOUSE1 WORKERS UNION, LOCAI, #65, C. I. O. Case No. R-41974.-Decided March 29, 1943 ' Jurisdiction : watch crystals manufacturing industry. Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of question : coin- pany refused to accord the union recognition because it doubted the union's majority and believed the unit sought by the union to be inappropriate ; election necessary. . ' Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production, maintenance, and fac- tory, clerical' employees, excluding all office employees, members of the firm, and all supervisory employees, notwithstanding company's contention that there should be three separate units of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled, employees, when the company's operations were integrated. Mr. Daniel D. Trause, of New York City, for the Company. Messrs. Leo Bernstein. and. Louis Kalb,,of New York City, for the Union. i'. Glenn L. Moller, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE'.CASE Upon petition duly filed by Wholesale and Warehouse Workers Union, Local #65, C. I. 0., herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had-arisen concerning the representation of employees of Leon Brozen and Prosper Brozen, Co-partners, doing 'business under the trade and style name of B. B. Crystal Company; New York City, herein called the Company, the National Labor Rela- tions Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Daniel Baker, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at New York City on March 4, 1943. The Company and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to ex- amine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 48 N. L R. B., No. 88. - 701 702 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Leon Brozen and Prosper Brozen, Co-partners, doing business under the trade and style name of B. B. Crystal Company, are en- gaged, in the manufacture and sale of watch crystals in New York City. The Company's principal raw material consists of sheet glass which is cut, shaped, and polished into the finished product, glass watch crystals. During 1942, the Company purchased raw materials for use in its New York plant exceeding $25,000 in value, of which GO percent was purchased and shipped to the plant from points out- side the State of New York. During the same period, the Company's finished products exceeded $250,000 in value, of which about 90 per- cent was shipped from the plant to points outside the State of New York. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. H. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Wholesale and Warehouse Workers Union,-Local #65, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION In February 1943, the Union requested the Company to accord it recognition as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain employees. The Company 'refused the request for the reason that it doubted the Union's majority and for the- further reason that it believed the unit sought by the Union to be inappropriate. A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at the hearing; indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 1 The Regional Director reported that the Union submitted 161 application -for-member- ship cards which bear the apparently genuine signatures of persons whose names appeared on the Company's pay roll of February 18. 1943. There are approximately 174 employees in the appropriate unit. C --- • B..B1, CRYSTAL-. COMPANY. • ; ,,., . • 703 IV.. THE APPROPRIATE' UNIT The Union'contends that all production, maintenance, and factory clerical employees, including five named supervisory employees, but excluding six other named supervisory employees, and also excluding all office employees and members of the firm, constitute an appropriate unit. - The Company contends that there should be three appropriate units, one of skilled employees, one of semi-skilled employees, and one of unskilled employees. The Company further contends that in any event, the five supervisory employees whom the Union seeks to include in the unit should be excluded. Crystals are cut from sheet glass in the cutting department, after which they are sent to the bending department where they are bent and moulded into the desired shape. The crystals are then glued together in stacks in the pitching department, forming stacks con- sisting of approximately 75 crystals. These stacks are then ground to exact specifications in the grinding department and are thereafter polished in the polishing department. After the polishing operation the stacks are sent to the cooking department where the glue is dis- solved, thereby breaking down.the stacks into the individual crystals. The Company considers the pitching and cooking departments as one since they are adjacent and the employees in each department fre- quently perform both types of work. After the crystals are separated, the surfaces are then smoothed and beveled in the beveling depart- ment and thereafter are cleaned, inspected and placed in stock. Each department is dependent for its continued.operation upon all the de= partments which precede it in processing the crystals. The Company's contention that: there should `be separate units of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled employees is not supported even by the Company's evidence. Prosper Brozen, who testified for the Company, was himself unable to 'decide into which of the proposed units several groups of employees should fall. Nor is there any his- tory of bargaining to indicate the propriety of the units which the Company desires. The employees had begun to organize themselves on the basis of a single industrial unit before they sought affiliation with the Union. We are of the opinion that the units sought by the, Ccmpany are inappropriate, and that the industrial unit sought by the Union is appropriate. The Union desires to include in the unit and the Company to exclude from it 5 supervisory employees.2 The Union contends that. these Frances Olashafsky, forelady of the examining and labeling department ; Fernande Nichols, forelady of the pitching and cooking department; Felice De Cicilio,.foreman of the slant edge department; Charles Eberhart, foreman of the polishing department; and Claire Willers, one of three foreladies in the bevel ung,depirtment. 704 DECISIONS OF: NATIONAL -LABOR, RELATIONS BOARD employees should be included because they are working foremen or foreladies who earn little more than their subordinates. It appears, however, that all-the foremen and foreladies, including the 6 whom the Union agrees should be excluded from the unit, are classified by the Company as working foremen or foreladies. Heinen and Bach, 2 of the foremen excluded by stipulation of the parties, are considered by the employees to be next in authority to the owners of the Company and have some power to hire and-discharge; they, nevertheless, spend- as much as 50 percent of their time in production work. `,Of'the re= maining 9 supervisors, all have complete control over their respective departments; all are consulted by the Brozens before new persons are employed in their departments; all make recommendations as to dis- charges and transfers of employees to other departments ; and all are responsible for making certain that their subordinates do their work properly. It is true that the foremen and foreladies whom the Union seeks to include earn -little more than their subordinates, while .the remaining supervisors earn considerably more than their subordinates. However, we do not regard this fact, standing alone, as determinative of the issue. There is no evidence that any of these 9 supervisors have substantially greater, supervisory authority than the others in the group. We shall exclude all the 11 foremen and foreladies from the unit. We find that, all production, maintenance, and factory clerical em- ployees of the Company, but excluding all office employees, members' of the firm, and all supervisory employees, constitute a unit appro- priate for the,purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the -em- ployees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay- roll period immediately preceding the-date of the Direction of Elec- tion herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Rela- tions Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended, it is hereby ' DIRECTED that, as,part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Leon Brozen and B. B. CRYSTAL COMPANY 705 Prosper Brozen, Co -partners, doing business under the trade and style name of B. B. Crystal Company, New York City, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible , but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction , under the direction, and, supervision:of ,the Regional Director for the Second Region, aotinb in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 10, of said Rules and Regulations, among, the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or -on vacation or temporal.ily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at'the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by Wholesale and Warehouse Workers Union, Local • # 65, affiliated with ,the Congress of Industrial Organizations , for the .purposes of collective bargaining. r