Continental Can Co., Inc.

210 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD recordist, boom man, set designer , and animation employees, but excluding cameramen, assistant cameramen, film editors, assistant film editors , the truckdriver, office clericals, com- missary employees , sales personnel , producers , directors, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act. Group (b): All cameramen and assistant cameramen, ex- cluding all other employees and all supervisors as defined in the Act. Group (c): All film editors and assistant film editors, ex- cluding all other employees and all supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.] CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC. and AMALGAMATED LITHOGRAPHERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL 36, C.I.O., Peti- tioner. Case No. 36-RC-917. May 29, 1953 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Robert J. Wiener, 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 [Members Murdock, 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 certain employees of the Employer.' 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The Petitioner seeks to sever a unit of lithographic employees employed at the Employer's Portland, Oregon, plant from an existing unit of production and maintenance employees at that plant. The Intervenor, which currently represents the production and maintenance employees, opposes serverance on the ground that the functions and working conditions of the lithographic employees are so closely related to those of other production employees that the proposed unit is inappropriate. The Employer contends that severance should not be per- mitted in view of the small number of persons in the unit, but otherwise takes no position as to its appropriateness. 1 International Association of Machinists, District Lodges Nos. 63 and 1432, AFL, intervened on the basis of a current contractual interest 105 NLRB No. 29 CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY , INC. Z 1 1 The Portland plant is engaged in the manufacture of metal containers . The containers are fabricated from sheets of tin plate. At the outset of the fabrication process the sheets of tin plate are coated with enamel to prevent corrosion, some of these sheets are then lithographed at the same time. These coating and lithographing operations are performed on two adjacent production lines. Each line contains a feeder machine, a coater machine , and an oven through which an endless belt moves. In addition 1 of the lines , hereinafter referred to as the lithographic line , contains a 2-color lithographic press, which is placed between the feeder machine and the coater machine. This line operates on 3 shifts , but the press is used only on the first shift . Hereinafter the operation involving the use of the lithographic press will be called the lithographic operation, the other operation, whether on the same line or the adjacent line, will be referred to as the coating operation. For the coating operation , an employee classified as a coater feeds sheets of tin plate into the feeder machine from which they are carried automatically into the coater machine , also operated by the coater , where they are coated with enamel . From there the sheets move automatically onto an endless belt, which carries them through the oven where they are dried. At the other end of the oven an employee classified as a stripper is stationed whose duty it is to remove the coated sheets from the conveyer belt and stack them. In the lithographic operation , an employee classified as a press feeder operator or an apprentice press feeder operator feeds sheets of tin plate into the feeder machine . The sheets are carried through the press , which is operated by a litho- graphic press operator and which prints the desired impres- sion on the sheet . From the press they are carried through the coater machine , also operated by the lithographic press operator , which covers the printed surface with a protec- tive varnish . The sheets then travel through the oven in the same way as in the coating operation and are taken off and stacked at the other end again by a stripper . During this entire operation the lithographic press operator serves as a group leader for the other 2 employees on the line. The Employer presently employs only 1 press operator and 1 press feeder operator . These are the only 2 employees that the Petitioner seeks to include in its unit, although it indicated in its brief that it would also be willing to represent the stripper who works on the lithographic line should the Board find he belongs in the lithographic unit. The present pressman served 2 years of a4-year apprentice- ship at the Employer's Oakland , California, plant before being transferred to the instant plant and his present job . For the first several months that he was at the Portland plant, a re- tired lithographer was employed to advise him and help him become proficient at his job. As the only employee at the plant possessing lithographic skills, he is responsible for 21Z DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the operation of the press and performs all the usual duties connected with its actual operation.2 The press feeder operator , in addition to supplying the feeder machine, assists the press operator in the performance of his duties . The present feeder operator was selected on the basis of his aptitude for lithographic work . The press operator teaches him the fundamentals of the operation of the press and trains him to perform various tasks relating 'to the operation of the press . The feeder is sufficiently acquainted with the operation of the press so that he can watch it while the press operator is away and shut it off if anything goes wrong. In addition, the feeder assists the press operator in operating the coater machine. All the strippers on both lines are unskilled . They remove tin plate sheets as they come out of the oven and stack them. In addition, they perform various cleanup and maintenance duties around the lines , including, in the case of the stripper on the lithographic line, greasing and oiling the press. Such functions , however , involve no skill or special training. The press operator , press feeder operator , coaters, and strippers are all under the immediate supervision of the foreman and assistant foreman of the production department. However, it appears from the record that neither the foreman nor his assistant is qualified to give the press operator technical supervision , and he reports directly to the plant manager on matters pertaining to the technical operation of the press . The press operator is himself classified as a leadman and in this capacity directs the work of the feeder and stripper who work on his line. However, such direction is merely routine and does not constitute him a supervisor within the meaning of the Act. There is no interchange between the employees engaged in the lithographic operation and the other employees. It is clear from the entire record that this operation is not so closely integrated with the rest of the production process as to preclude the severance of the employees sought by the Petitioner.' The Board has frequently permitted units of lithographic employees to be severed from production and maintenance units in plants in the same industry as the instant plant, where the employees involved had skills and duties similar to those of the employees sought in the instant case." Such units have included press operators and feeders, while ex- cluding coaters and strippers having the same functions as the coaters and strippers in the instant case . We see no reason to depart from this pattern. We reject the Employer's contention that we should not permit severance because of the small number of employees 2 However, he exercises none of the skills assoc,ated with the photographic and platemaking aspects of lithography, nor does the record indicate that he possesses these skills. 3Bond Crown & Cork Co., 83 NLRB 638. 4Heektn Can Company, 89 NLRB 717 and 97 NLRB 783; Continental Can Company, Inc., 91 NLRB 500 CONTINENTAL CAN COMPANY, INC. 213 in the unit. The Board has frequently found that two employees may constitute an appropriate unit.' Accordingly, we find that lithographic press operators and lithographic press feeder operators employed by the Employer at its Portland , Oregon, plant, excluding coaters, strippers, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act, and all other employees , may, if they so desire , constitute an appropriate unit for purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of the Act. If a majority vote for the Petitioner they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the election directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for such unit, which the Board, under such circumstances , finds to be appropriate for purposes of collec- tive bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor, the Board finds the existing unit to be appropriate and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to such effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] Member Peterson , concurring: Under the circumstances of this case , I agree with my colleagues that the press operator and press feeder operator may, if they so desire , constitute a'separate appropriate unit despite the history of bargaining on the more inclusive produc- tion and maintenance unit basis. The plant here involved began operations in June 1950. The first collective-bargaining contract between the Employer and the Intervenor , which won a consent election in September 1950, was executed in December 1950. It was not until April or May 1952 that the first of the two lithographic employees here sought to be severed from the overall units was hired. At that time, the Petitioner filed a decertification petition as to the lithographic workers , which was dismissed by the Regional Director on the ground that the unit was inappropriate, ap- parently because it contained only one employee. In view of the less than 3-year history of bargaining on the broader basis , the fact that no lithographic craft employees were employed until 1952 and therefore had no opportunity to seek separate representation when the overall unit was established, and the fact that at the very outset of their em- ployment they sought to maintain their separate identity by filing a decertification petition , I am of the opinion that these craftsmen should be allowed to form a separate unit if they so desire . I believe the considerations favoring freedom of choice for the craftsmen are sufficiently persuasive here to outweigh the short history of bargaining, and accordingly I concur in directing a self-determination election among them.6 5 Kentucky Synthetic Rubber Corporation , 95 NLRB 453. 6See my dissent in W. C Hamilton and Sons, 104 NLRB 627.