Red Wing Potteries, Inc.

In the Matter Of RED WING POTTERIES, INC., EMPLOYER and UNITED GAS, COKE & CHEMICAL WORKERS OF AMERICA, CIO, AND ITS LOCAL 430,1 PETITIONER Case No. 18-RC-4&?.-Decided December 16, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon-a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Alan Bruce, 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 Petitioner and the Intervenor, National Brotherhood of Operative Potters, Local 150, A. F. of L., are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. The question affecting representation : The Employer and the Intervenor contend that an existing col- lective bargaining contract is a bar to this proceeding. On February 8, 1948, the Employer and the Intervenor signed a collective-bargaining contract to remain in effect "from year to year." This contract is therefore one of indefinite duration. The Board has held that such a contract is a bar to a new determination of represen- tatives during the initial 2 years of its existence.' However, the 2- year period will end in approximately 2 months. In view of the im- minent termination of this period, we find that the contract is not a bar to a determination of representatives at this time. Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists con- cerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 1 The' name of the Petitioner appears as amended at the hearing. 2 Sanson Hosiery Midis, Inc., 84 NLRB 654 , and cases cited therein. 87 NLRB No. 98. 1095 1096 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 4. The appropriate unit: The Petitioner seeks to represent a unit of production and mainte- nance employees at the Employer's Red Wing, Minnesota, plant, in- cluding retail store salesladies, boiler room employees, warehouse employees, and leadmen, but excluding professional employees, the methods and standards engineer, the chief engineer, the plant engi- neer, the time-study engineer, office and clerical employees, outside salesmen, confidential employees, and supervisors. The Employer and the Intervenor, while agreeing generally with. the proposed unit, would exclude the boiler room employees on the alleged ground that they are members of another union. The boiler room employees fire the boilers and maintain the boiler room equipment. Two of them work on the night shift when they also act as watchmen 25 percent of their time. Although the Employer and the Intervenor assert that the boiler room employees are members of another union, there if no contention that this other union has been or is bargaining for them. Nor has any other union sought to intervene in this proceeding in order to represent the boiler room employees. As no other union is seeking to represent them in a sep- arate unit, we shall include the boiler room employees in the produc- tion and maintenance unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Red Wing, Minnesota, plant, including retail store sales- ladies, boiler room employees, warehouse employees, and leadmen, but excluding professional employees, the methods and standards engi- neer, the chief engineer, the plant engineer, the time-study engineer, office and clerical employees, outside salesmen, confidential employees, 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. 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 Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Re- lations Board Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were em- ployed 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 RED WING POTTERIES, INC. 1097 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 they desire to be represented, for purposes of collective bargaining, by United Gas, Coke & Chemical Workers of America, CIO, and its Local 430 or by National Brotherhood of Operative Potters, Local 150, A F of L, or by neither.