Owens-Illinois Glass Co.

In the Matter of OwENS-ILLINoIS GLASS COMPANY, EMPLOYER and FEDERATION OF GLASS, CERAMIC AND SILICA SAND WORKERS OP' AMERICA, CIO, PETITIONER Case No. 13-RC-376.Decided March 17, 1949 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 provision of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board Members.* 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. The Petitioner; District 50, United Mine Workers of America, Local Union 13055, herein called District 50; and Glass Bottle Blowers Association of the United States and Canada, AFL, herein called the Association, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Acts 1 At the hearing, the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the unit sought by the Petitioner is inappropriate. The hearing officer referred the motion to the Board. For the reasons hereinafter stated , the motion is denied. •Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray. District 50 contends that its contract with the Employer bars this proceeding. The record discloses that on September 2, 1948, District 50 and the Employer agreed to the substantive terms of a contract, subject to the approval of District 50's membership. On September 8, 1948, the petition herein was filed, and on September 22, 1948, the contract was executed. Under well-established Board principles, the September 22, 1948, contract is no bar, as it was not signed until after the petition was filed. See Matter of The Linde Air Products Company, 76 N. L. R. B. 1127 ; Matter of National Chair Company, Inc., 74 N. L. R. B. 1014. 82 N. L. R. B., No. 24. 205 206 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 4. The appropriate unit : The Petitioner seeks to represent a single unit composed of all hourly paid employees3 at the Employer's Streator, Illinois, plant, excluding machine operators, machine upkeep men, learners, begin- ners and apprentices, mold makers and moldmaking apprentices, fore- men, assistant foremen, and all other supervisors. District 50 agrees that this is an appropriate unit. The Employer and the Association contend that the unit is inappropriate, asserting that these employees should be included in the existing multi-plant unit consisting of all the Employer's miscellaneous employees in its eastern division. The Employer's glass container division consists of 15 plants located throughout the United States. Ten of these plants, including the Streator plant, are known as the eastern division .4 Each plant in the eastern division manufactures a different type of glass container, but similar machines are used, and there is considerable transfer of equipment and personnel between these plants. The Association represents all the machine operators, machine up- keep men, learners and beginners, and the American Flint Glass Workers Union of North America represents the mold makers and moldmaking apprentices, in all 10 plants of this division. Industry- wide bargaining with these 2 organizations has been carried on for at least 35 years a The Employer and the Association have executed successive multi-plant contracts covering miscellaneous employees since December of 1945.8 The miscellaneous employees at the Em- ployer's Streator plant have not, however, been included in the multi- plant contract. District 50 has represented the miscellaneous employees at the Streator plant in a separate unit since 1945. Under all the circumstances, and in view of the history of collective bargaining on a multi-plant basis, as well as bargaining for the single- plant unit at the Streator plant, we believe that either a single unit confined to the miscellaneous employees at the Streator plant, or a unit composed of all the Employer's miscellaneous employees in its eastern division, including the miscellaneous employees at the Streator plant, would be feasible. Accordingly, we shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of the Hereafter, hourly paid employees will be referred to as miscellaneous employees, which the record indicates is a generic term used to describe the production and maintenance employees, other than machine operators and mold makers, in the glass container industry. 4 The "eastern division" Is composed of plants located in Alton and Streator, Illinois ; ,Gas City and Terre Haute, Indiana ; Waco, Texas ; Bridgeton, New Jersey ; Clarion, Penn- sylvania ; Charleston, Fairmont, and Huntington, West Virginia. 5 Since 1933, the Employer has been a member of the Glass Container Manufacturers Institute, which negotiates industry-wide collective bargaining agreements with these labor organizations e The record discloses that the miscellaneous employees of two of the Employer's prin- cipal competitors are also represented on a multi-plant basis. OWENS-ILLINOIS GLASS COMPANY 207 employees as expressed in the election hereinafter directed. If a majority of these employees vote for the Petitioner, they will be deemed to have expressed a desire to be represented in a single unit. If a majority of these employees vote for the Association, they will be deemed to have expressed a desire to be included in the multi- plant unit.? The parties disagree as to eight watchmen, whom the Association and District 50 would include in the voting group. The Petitioner and the Employer leave the determination of their status to the Board. There are two watchmen assigned to each of three shifts. The major portion of their time is spent on guard at the main gate and making inspection tours with watchmen clocks. In addition, they perform minor maintenance duties such as policing the area around the main gate and washing windows in the watch house. They are not uni- formed or armed. They are responsible to the personnel manager to whom they report any infraction of the plant's rules and regulations. We find that the watchmen are "guards" within the meaning of Sec- tion 9 (b) (3) of the Act and shall exclude them from the vot- ing group." We shall direct that an election be held among the following em- ployees : all hourly paid employees at the Employer's Streator, Illi- nois, plant, excluding machine operators, machine upkeep men, learners, beginners and apprentices, mold makers and moldmaking ap- prentices, watchmen, foremen, assistant foremen, and all supervisors as defined in the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the voting group described above who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged '' As District 50 is not in compliance with Section 9 (f), (g), and (h) of the Act, we shall not place its name on the ballot. 11 Matter of C. V. Hill & Company, Inc., 76 N. L. R. B. 158. 208 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not en- titled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be repre- sented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by Federation of Glass, Ceramic and Silica Sand Workers of America, CIO, or by Glass Bottle Blowers Association of the United States and Canada, AFL, or by neither.