American Shuffleboard Co.

In the Matter Of PAUL CISANO, LouIs CIISANO, ARMAND CUSANO AND TERESA CUSANO D/B/A AMERICAN SHUFFLEBOARD COMPANY, AMER- ICAN CABINET COMPANY, AMERICAN CABINET AND BILLBOARD COM- PANY,' EMPLOYER, and LOCAL 1478, MARINE WAREHOUSEMEN OF NEW JERSEY, ILA, AFL, AD:D LOCAL 1718, UNITED BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS AND JOINER.: OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONERS Cases Nos. 2-RC-1038 and 2-RC-1117.-Decided July 7, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon separate petitions duly filed ,2 a hearing was held before Herbert C. Kane, hearing officer. 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 [Chairman Herzog and Members Reynolds and Gray]. 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 involved claim 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 Act. 4. The Petitioners and the Employer agree that the unit appro- priate for purposes of collective bargaining shall include all produc- tion, maintenance, stock and shipping employees, including helpers, leadmen, working foremen, and material handlers, but excluding office, clerical, and professional employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act. They disagree as to whether one unit should be established for the Employer's two plants. The Petitioners seek x The Employer , a partnership , uses the three trade names in the one business of manu- facturing and selling shuffleboards. 2 The two unions first filed separate petitions . At the hearing they filed joint amended petitions for each of the Employer 's two plants. 85 N. L. R. B., No. 10. 51 857829-50--vol. 85-5 52 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD to represent two separate single-plant units. The Employer con- tends that only one unit for both of its plants is appropriate. In order to provide for its increased business in the manufacture and sale of two types of shuffieboards, the Employer opened in August 1948, a new plant in Union Township, New Jersey, 131/2 miles from its.old plant in Union City, New Jersey. At its opening the Em- ployer transferred a number of employees from the old plant to train and. work with newly hired employees in the new plant. The Em- ployer produced only the tops of shuffleboards at the new plant, which are carried by trucks to the old plant where they are assembled with parts `manufactured in the old plant into a finished product. The work in both plants is managed and directed from the Employer's offices in the Union City plant, where all the personnel, pay-roll, and other records are kept, under the general supervision of Paul Cusano, the general manager. There is one policy for both plants as to hours of work, wages, and other conditions of employment. There is also considerable interchange, on a temporary basis, between the employ- ees of the two plants. In view of the integration of the two plants in the manufacture of a single product, the substantial employee interchange and the uni- fied control of management policies and labor relations, we believe that a single unit, including both plants, is appropriate .3 We find that all production, maintenance, stock and shipping em- ployees at the Employer's plants in Union City and Union Township, New Jersey, including helpers, leadmen, working foremen, and mate- rial handlers, but excluding office, clerical, and professional em-. ployees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 5. The parties stipulated at the hearing that the eligibility date should be fixed as of April 28, 1949, the date of the hearing. No rea- son was given for departure from the Board's usual practice of deter- mining eligibility to vote by reference to the pay-roll period immedi- ately proceding the issuance of the Direction .of Election. We shall adhere to the usual provision for determining voting eligibility in this proceeding.4 8 Matter of North Memphis Lumber Company, 81 N. L. R. B. 745; Matter of Tinnerman Products, Inc., 80 N. L. R. B. 1445 ; Matter of Bar-tack Manufacturing Co., Ltd., 77 N. L. R. B. 203. Cf., however, Matter of Waldensinn Hosiery Mills, Inc., 83 N. L. R. B. 742 and Matter of The Clark Thread Company, 79 N. L . R. B. 542. 4 Cf. Matter of Limerick Yarn Mills, 76 N. L. R. B. 433. AMERICAN SHUFFLEBOARD COMPANY, ET AL. 53 DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses 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 Second 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 unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, 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 for cause and have not been rehired or rein stated prior to the date of the election, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargain- ing, by Local 1478, Marine Warehousemen of New Jersey, ILA, AFL, and Local 1718, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, AFL, jointly.5 6 Matter of Southern Paperboard Corporation , 80 N. L. R. B. 1456.