Volney Felt Mills, Inc.

In the Matter Of VOLNEY FELT MILLS, INCORPORATED, EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF PAPER MAKERS, AFL, LOCAL 540, PETITIONER Case No. 11-R-1119.-Decided October 17, 1946 Mr. P. K. McGaffigan, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer. Mr. Luther E. Janney, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Petitioner. Mr. Herbert C. Kane, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Brook- ville, Indiana, on August 27, 1946, before Arthur R. Donovan, 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 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER Volney Felt Mills, Incorporated, a Delaware corporation licensed to do business in Indiana, has its main office in Chicago, Illinois. At its plant at Brookville, Indiana, it is engaged in the manufacture of dry felt. The Employer annually uses at this plant raw materials having an approximate value of $200,000, about 75 percent of which is received from points outside the State of Indiana. Virtually all the finished products of the Brookville plant, having an annual value of approximately $300,000, are shipped to points outside the State of Indiana. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The, Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Em- ployer. 71 N L R B, No. 55 386 VOLNEY FELT MILLS, INCORPORATED III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION 387 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. I\'. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The parties agree that a unit of production and maintenance em- ployees at the Employer's Brookville, Indiana, plant, excluding office clerical employees, would constitute an appropriate unit. They fur- ther agree that the following salaried employees should properly be excluded from such a unit: general manager, general superintendent, tour bosses, and shipping clerk, all of whom are admittedly super- visory employees. But the Petitioner would include and the Employer exclude the following hourly paid categories : rag room foreman, beater room foreman, machine tenders, shipping clerk, receiving clerk, boiler engineer, firemen, master mechanic, carpenter, electrician, watchmen. The Employer contends, contrary to the Petitioner's position, that the watchmen are managerial employees, and that the remaining categories in dispute are supervisory. Rag room, foremen, beater room foremen, machine tenders, shipping clerk, receiving clerk, boiler engineer, firemen, master mechanic, carpenter, electrician The Employer's vice president testified that the employees in the above categories have the power effectively to recommend changes in the status of other workers, and that, consequently, they are supervisory personnel. Beyond this bare statement, however, there is no specific evidence to show that these employees have any super- visory authority. On the other hand, there is uncontradicted testi- mony to the effect that similarly classified employees engaged in plants in the same area and industry are not supervisory employees within the meaning of the Board's customary definition. Here, more- over, the alleged supervisory employees punch the same clocks and have the same washroom facilities as admittedly non-supervisory work- ers. Furthermore, they, like ordinary production and maintenance employees, receive no paid vacations, and, in most Instances, work side by side with such workers. Of the approximately 55 employees whom the Petitioner seeks to represent, the Employer would exclude 388 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 18 as having supervisory powers.' We are convinced that the em- ployees in these disputed categories have authority which is more like that a journeyman exercises with respect to his helpers than a supervisor exercises with respect to his subordinates.' We shall, there- fore, include them within the unit hereinafter found appropriate. Watchmen These employees are custodians of company property during the time they are on duty, having charge of fire prevention and protec- tion. They also watch for trespassing and employee infractions of company rules such as that against smoking. Although they are not uniformed, deputized, militarized, or armed, they apparently have the monitorial power to report as well as watch for such infractions. As monitorial employees, they will be excluded from the unit here- inafter found appropriate. We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Employer's Brookville, Indiana, plant, including rag room foremen, beater room foremen, machine tenders, the hourly paid shipping clerk, receiving clerk, boiler engineer, firemen, master mechanic, car- penter, and electrician, but excluding the office clerical employees, general manager, general superintendent, tour bosses, the salaried shipping clerk, and all 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 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 Volney Felt Mills, Incor- porated, Brookville, Indiana, an election by secret ballot shall be con- ducted 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 Eleventh Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sec- tions 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and I On each shift the rac room foreman has one helper, the beater foreman has three helpers ; the machine tender has either one of two helpers ; the master mechanic, the car- penter, and the electrician draw upon a single pool of three helpers , and the fireman has one coal passer assisting him The boiler engineer is in charge of three firemen and three coal passers on all three shifts ; and the shipping and receiving clerks draw upon a single pool of six hand truckers and one motor trucker 2 See Matter of Dallas Power & Light Company, 59 N. L R B 1460 , Matter of Victor Chemical Works, 52 N. L. R. B. 194. VOLNEY FELT MILLS, INCORPORATED 389 Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appro- priate 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 temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present them- selves in person at the polls, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by International Brotherhood of Paper Makers, AFL, Local 540, for the purposes of collective bargaining. CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.