Mountain Ice and Fuel Corp.

In the Matter Of MOUNTAIN ICE AND FUEL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and UNITED PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. 0., PETITIONER Cases Nos. 2-X6373 and 2-R-6374.-Decided October 3, 1946 Mr. Harold L. Luxemburg, of New York City, for the Employer. Mr. Lemuel Ward, of New York City, for the Petitioner. Mr. Jacob Friedland, of Jersey City, N. J., for the Teamsters. Mr. A. Sumner Lawrence, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in these cases was held at Jersey City, New Jersey, on July 17, 1946, before William T. Little, 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 : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF TIIE EMPLOYER Mountain Ice and Fuel Corporation, a New Jersey corporation, is engaged in the purchase, sale, and distribution of coal and fuel oil, and in the manufacture and sale of ice, for which it maintains 10 operating plants and 7 warehouses located at various points in northern New Jersey. In connection with its coal and fuel oil business, the Employer purchases annually coal and fuel oil valued in excess of $500,000, of which more than 60 percent is shipped to the Employer's New Jersey plants from points outside the State of New Jersey. In the operation of its ice business, the Employer produces annually ice valued in excess of $300,000, of which total approximately $42,000, worth of ice is sold and delivered by the Employer within the State of New Jersey to railroads, steamships, and express companies, en- gaged in the transportation of passengers and freight in interstate and foreign commerce. Approximately $28,000 worth of the ice manu- 71 N. L. R. B., No. 23. 180 MOUNTAIN ICE AND FUEL CORPORATION 181 factured by the Employer at its New Jersey plants is sold and delivered by the Employer to 3 industrial enterprises primarily engaged in the manufacture of industrial chemicals for shipment to points outside the State of New Jersey. The ice purchased by such industrial con- cerns is used as an integral and necessary part in the manufacture of chemicals. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. IL THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the Employer. Local No. 617, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, herein called the Teamsters, is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.' III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNITS Both the Petitioner and the Teamsters contend that the production and maintenance employees of each of two of the Employer's -ice manufacturing plants, located at Central Avenue, Jersey City, and at Lafayette Street, Paterson, New Jersey, respectively, constitute appropriate units. The Employer takes the position that, due to the integration of its operations and personnel, only a single unit includ- ing the employees of all plants and warehouses of the Employer is appropriate. In addition thereto, the Employer objects to the inclu- sion within the proposed units of certain employees hereinafter dis- cussed. The Employer has no history of collective bargaining. As regards the Employer's contention that the integration of its operations and personnel requires that the unit be Employer-wide in scope, the record discloses that, although the various plants and warehouses of the 1 The Teamsters intervened only with respect to Case No . 2-R-6373 involving the Employer's plant at Jersey City, New Jersey. 182 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Employer have certain functional interrelations and are subject to over-all management policies,2 each of the plants- herein concerned constitutes essentially a separate department under primarily local supervision with substantial independent authority. Each plant is under the local supervision of a chief engineer who supervises the work of the plant engineers, and of a sales manager who supervises the remaining employees in the plant. The evidence further discloses that the chief engineer has authority to recommend effectively the hire and discharge of engineers and that the sales manager has authority to hire and discharge all other employees in the plant. At each of its plants, the Employer maintains separate time sheets, pay rolls, and cost accounts with respect to the product manufactured therein. Not- withstanding a limited amount of interchange of employees between these plants and the remaining plants of the Employer,' the great majority of the employees of each plant normally remain in the plant to which they are regularly assigned. In view of the foregoing facts, and in the absence of a history of collective bargaining among the employees of the Employer, we are of the opinion that the Jersey City and Paterson, New Jersey, plants of the Employer may now constitute separate units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.' There remains for consideration the disposition of certain chauf- feurs whose work is not confined to any specific plant and whose names are listed on an over-all pay roll known as "various pay roll." The Employer opposes the contention of the Petitioner and Teamsters that such employees be included within a unit limited to the employees of a single plant. The record discloses that while some of the chauf- feurs, for the sake of convenience, report to the sales manager at the Jersey City plant, their usual duties as truck drivers are for the most part performed, away from such plant and consist of trucking ice between the various plants and warehouses of the Employer. Under the circumstances, we are of the opinion that the chauffeurs have in- sufficient interests in common with the employees in either of the units hereinafter found appropriate to warrant their inclusion therein. Accordingly, we shall exclude them from such units. We find that all production and maintenance employees employed at the Employer's Central Avenue, Jersey City plant, and at the Employer's Lafayette Street, Paterson plant, respectively, including 2 Among the over-all management policies are those establishing uniform wage rates and Employer-wide seniority for all employees 3 The record discloses that , aside from transfers arising at the beginning or end of seasonal operations, employment at the several plants is relatively stable with only occa- sional transfers occurring during periods of normal plant activity. 4 See Matter of May, McJlwen Kaiser Company-May Full Fashion Division , 66 N L R B. 1,141 : Matter of Salant cC Salant, Inc , 69 N L R B 84 ; Matter of Hershey Machine and Foundry Company, 69 N. L Ii B. 1308. MOUNTAIN ICE AND FUEL CORPORATION 183 watch engineers, ice pullers, boxmen, laborers, platform men, mainte- nance mechanics, and watchmen, but excluding chauffeurs, sales man- agers, office employees, supervising engineers, chief engineers, and all or any other supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute separate units' appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Mountain Ice and Fuel Cor- poration, Jersey City and Paterson, New Jersey, elections 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, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed dur- ing the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direc- tion, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off,' and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding those em- ployees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elections, to deter- mine in the case of the Jersey City plant whether they desire to be represented by United Packinghouse Workers of America, C. I. 0., or by Local 617, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen & Helpers of America, A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither; and in the case of the Paterson plant, whether or not they desire to be represented by United Pack- inghouse Workers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining s 5Included as eligible under this provision in accord with the agreement of the parties, are employees who at the date of the election have been laid off because of a seasonal decline in operations, subject to recall upon the basis of seniority. See Matter of Noblitt- Sparks Industries Inc , 64 N L. R B. 1501. See footnote 1, supra.