Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corp.

BROWN AND WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORPORATION 403 BROWN AND WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORPORATION and TRUCK DRIVERS UNION LOCAL # 89, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA , A. F. of L., PETrrI;ONER. Case No. 9-I?C-15fd3. May 29, 195 Decision and Order Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Richard C. Curry, 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The' labor organizations involved claim to represent employees of the Employer. 3. No 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, for the following reasons: The Petitioner seeks to sever from a plant-wide unit employees in the storage, supply, and shipping departments at the Employer's Louis- ville,. Kentucky, tobacco plant, excluding from its proposed unit all other employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer and the Intervenor contend that the only unit appropriate at the plant for bargaining purposes is the existing plant-wide unit, including the employees sought by the Petitioner, which the Intervenor has represented for over 18 years? The Employer operates, in the United States, three plants for the manufacture of cigarettes and smoking tobacco. Its Louisville, Ken- tucky, plant is the only plant involved in this proceeding. The plant consists of a group of adjacent buildings connected by doors and bridges'and called the manufacturing building; a warehouse for the storage of supplies; and five other buildings for storage of tobacco and tobacco products. Tobacco and supplies are forwarded from the s At the hearing, the Employer and Local Union 185 of the Tobacco Workers Interna- tional Union, the Intervenor herein, jointly moved to dismiss the petition in this case. For the reasons expressed in paragraph 3, infra, this motion is granted. 2 At the time of the hearing, March 21, 1952, employees at the plant were covered by a contract executed by the Employer and the Intervenor in effect until April 1, 1952. On March 12; 1952, the Employer and the Intervenor executed a new 2-year contract, effective from April 1, 1952, to March 31, 1954, covering the same plant unit. 99 NLRB No. 78. 404 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD buildings where they are stored to the manufacturing areas by railroad cars, located on a railroad siding at the plant, and by trucks of an independent contractor. Storage employees: There are approximately 30 hourly paid storage department employees, supervised by a foreman and an assistsnt°fore- man. These employees work in the tobacco warehouses, loading and unloading trucks of tobacco delivered to the warehouses. They store tobacco, and prepare and maintain inventory records. They fill requisitions for tobacco needed at the manufacturing building. Supply employees: There are approximately 25 hourly paid em- ployees in the supply department, supervised by a foreman and an assistant foreman. Some of these employees are located in the factory supplies storage building, and some in the manufacturing building. They store supplies, maintain inventory records, and fill requisitions for supplies used in the manufacture and packaging of cigarettes; and smoking tobacco. Shipping employees: There are approximately 31 employees in the shipping department, located in the first floor of the manufacturing building, under the supervision of a foreman. They fill orders for customers, check and label packages, and load cigarettes and smoking tobacco on railroad cars and trucks. Employees in the storage, supply, and shipping department, like other plant employees, are hourly paid on the basis- of job evaluation ratings. Under the contracts negotiated by the Intervenor, they are, like all plant employees, subject to plant-wide seniority in regard to layoff and promotion, and they receive common employee benefits. They are not a craft group, nor is their work particularly distinguish- able from that of other plant employees, many, of whom. do' similar tasks. There are frequent transfers between the storage, shipping, and supply departments and manufacturing departments during the tobacco processing seasons. Such transfers also occur on a daily basis throughout the year to regulate the work in cases of employee absences. Free transfer is possible because none of the jobs require any high degree of skill or training. Storage, supply, and shipping employees are thus closely integrated with employees in the manufacturing departments. Although we have upon occasion and under other circumstances found appropriate units of employees in storage and shipping depart- ments, there seems to be no occasion at this time to set up a separate bargaining unit for employees sought by the Petitioner. In ,the ab- sence of craft skill or other cogent reason, we see no occasion to sever 8 Liggett & Myer8 Tobacco Company, 91 NLRB 1145 ( where the Board found that the bargaining history was not controlling because it was based on a "members-only" contract). THE GLIDDEN COMPANY, VEGETABLE OIL DIVISION 405 these employees from the existing plant-wide unit of which they have formed a part for over 18 years 4 Accordingly, we find that the unit requested by the Petitioner is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, and we shall dismiss the petition herein. Order IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the petition herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. 4 The American News Company, 93 NLRB 1566 ; Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company, Inc., 89 NLRB 799. THE GLIDDEN COMPANY, VEGETABLE OIL DIVISION and JOHN WALTER LEQUEA, JR., PETITIONER and INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION, LOCAL No. 1, A. F. of L. Case No. 21-RD-149. May 29, 1952 Decision and Order Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before George H. O'Brien, 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 Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Styles and Peterson]. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The Petitioner, an employee of the Employer, asserts that the Union is no longer a representative, as defined in Section 9 (a) of the Act, of the employees designated in the petition. 3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the represen- tation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons: Following a consent election conducted on June 11, 1951, Inter- national Chemical Workers' Union, A. F. of L., was certified, on June 19, 1951, as the exclusive bargaining representative of the em- a The Union moved to dismiss this proceeding on the grounds (a) that its current con- tract with the Employer is a bar, and (b ) that some of the signatures which constituted the Petitioner 's showing of interest were secured by a nephew of the plant superintendent. As we are dismissing the petition for the reasons set forth in paragraph numbered 3, infra, we find it unnecessary to rule on this motion. 99 NLRB No. 76. 215233-53-27