The Diamond Match Co.

THE DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY 183 Employer "hereby subscribes to the attached agreement and wage scales."' The League agreement, effective from January 1, 1950, until January 1, 1951 , containing a 60-day automatic renewal clause, was automatically renewed from year to year thereafter up to and including the present year 1954 . Although that agreement specifically covered all types of pressmen , it did not contain a wage scale for offset pressmen . However, as the League agree- ment is a detailed bargaining agreement covering, so far as offset pressmen are concerned , such subjects as vacations, holidays , overtime shift differentials , and grievance procedure, we find that the agreement substantially stabilizes labor rela- tions between the parties as to the offset pressmen , even though it leaves the wage provisions concerning this category for future negotiations .' As the Petitioner ' s request to represent the Employer ' s offset pressmen was made after the automatic renewal date of the original agreement between the Intervenor and Employer, we find that that agreement as automatically renewed constitutes a bar to this proceeding. [The Board denied the motion for reconsideration. Members Rodgers and Beeson took no part inthe considera- tion of the above Order Denying Motion for Reconsideration. 1 Although the instrument signed by the Employer contains no specific employment pro- visions , its reference to the "attached agreement " is a sufficient incorporation by reference of the terms of the existing agreement between the League and the Intervenor. See the Car- borundom Company, 78 NLRB 91, and Armour Company, 66 NLRB 209; cf. Bethlehem Steel Company, 95 NLRB 1508. 2See Radio Corporation of America, RCA Division, 107 NLRB 993, page 5; Spartan Aircraft Company, 98 NLRB 75, and cases cited therein. THE DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY and LOCAL 191, INTER- NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUF- FEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner THE DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY, d/b/a THE NORWALK L U MB E R COMPANY and LOCAL 191, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WARE- HOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner. Cases Nos. 2-RC-6370 and 2-RC-6371. April 8, 1954 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed ,' under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held 1The petition in Case No. 2-RC-6371 and other formal papers are hereby amended to show the correct name of the Employer named therein. 108 NLRB No. 46. 184 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD before Julian J. Hoffman, 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 this proceeding , the Board finds: 1. The Employer contends that the operations at its Stam- ford and Norwalk , Connecticut , lumberyards , which are princi- pally concerned in this proceeding , have too small an impact on commerce to warrant the assertion of jurisdiction herein. The Employer, with headquarters in New York City, is engaged in the manufacture and sale of matches, pulp and paper, and lumber on a multistate basis . Its lumber division includes lumberyards in the New England States and California and logging and sawmill operations in the northwestern States. Within the New England area of the lumber division are 36 lumberyards , of which 10, including the Stamford and Norwalk yards, are situated in Connecticut. During 1953 the Employer ' s total sales for all of its opera- tions exceeded $ 96,000,000 . Total purchases for its New England lumber division area were between $ 10,000,000 and $12,000,000 , and total sales were $ 14,168,120 . 88. During the same period , total purchases for the Connecticut operations were $2,890,992 and total sales were $ 3,581 ,616.47, of which amount $94 , 066.09 represents sales outside Connecticut. During 1953, total purchases at the Stamford yard amounted to $350,414 , of which amount $ 225,206.03 represents purchases originating outside Connecticut ; and total sales at the Stamford yard amounted to $422,347 . 59, of which amount $17,423.15 represents sales outside Connecticut . Total purchases at the Norwalk yard amounted to $ 220,385, of which amount $ 145,770.31 represents purchases from without Connecticut, and total sales amounted to $246,579 .92, all of which were within Connecticut. Under the above circumstances, we conclude that the Employer's Stamford and Norwalk lumberyards , as part of a multistate enterprise , have an impact on commerce sufficiently substantial to justify the assertion of jurisdiction inthe instant proceeding.' We therefore find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act and that it will further the pur- poses and policies of the Act to assert jurisdiction in the instant case. 2. The labor organization involved claims to represent cer- tain employees of the Employer. 3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the repre- sentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 2 For reasons set forth below , we deny the Employer 's motion to dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction and the inappropriateness of the unit sought. 3 The Borden Company , Southern Division, 91 NLRB 628. Chairman Farmer and Board Member Rodgers join in this decision , but are not to be deemed thereby as agreeing with the Board's present jurisdictional standards. THE DIAMOND MATCH COMPANY 185 4. The Petitioner seeks to represent in separate collective- bargaining units employees at the Employer's Stamford and Norwalk lumberyards , respectively , yardmen, millmen, drivers, loaders , helpers, tallymen , and laborers , with the customary exclusions . The Employer , although objecting to the proposed units on the basis of their limited geographical scope, declines to take a position as to what , in its opinion, would be the scope of a more appropriate unit. The Connecticut lumberyards , including the Stamford and Norwalk yards , jointly participate in purchases of wholesale carload lots of materials , whenever available , using to a limited extent the largest of the Employer ' s Connecticut lumberyards as central storage areas . All of the Employer's lumberyards handle essentially the same type of product, with minor variations .4 Employees have the same working hours. The several payrolls for the Connecticut lumberyards are for- warded to the Employer's Biddeford , Maine, office , which cal- culates the amounts due , including payroll check deductions, and forwards to each lumberyard its completed payroll and payroll checks . Labor relations for all of the Employer's operations are handled through a single labor relations officer. Each of the Connecticut yards conducts business under a separate trade name , registered with the Connecticut secretary of state, and each has its own truck fleet . There is little or no interchange of employees between yards , and lumberyard managers, operating within the general framework of the Employer's overall labor policies , are authorized to hire, dis- charge, and promote employees . There is no history of collec- tive bargaining for any of these employees. Under the above circumstances , including the high degree of autonomy at the Employer ' s Stamford and Norwalk lumberyards and the fact that no other labor organization seeks to represent the Employer ' s employees therein in a unit of larger geo- graphical scope, we conclude that separate units limited to the Stamford and Norwalk yards , respectively , are appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining.' The Employer would exclude the shipper at the Norwalk yard6 as a supervisor or managerial employee. The shipper, working at his desk, answers the telephone ; quotes prices; makes out delivery, charge, and cash slips ; figures quantities and sizes ; handles some cash in connection with cash sales and C.O.D. deliveries ; waits on customers and advises them as to their materials requirements ; and directs loading opera- tions in the yard. In filling out an order which requires a small item not at the moment on hand, he may purchase the 4For instance, the Stamford yard, unlike other yards , carries no paint or hardware. 5 V. J. Elmore 5¢, 10¢ and $1.00 Stores , Incorporated (Store No. 60), 99 NLRB 1505. 6 Although the Petitioner referred to this individual as the "working foreman and shipper," the Employer classifies him only as "shipper." The Stamford yard is temporarily without a shipper. 186 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD same from a competitor on the Employer's credit. The Employer's standard procedure, however, is to permit such purchases only when authorized by the lumberyard manager. The Employer has not asked the shipper for recommendations as to the discipline and discharge of employees. The record does not disclose what weight, if any, might be accorded to his recommendation if given. Contrary to the Employer's position, we find that the shipper is not a managerial employee nor a supervisor as defined in the Act. We shall therefore include the shipper in the unit herein found. appropriate. We find that the following employees of the Employe.r con- stitute separate appropriate units for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: (a) All employees at the Employer's Stamford, Connecticut, lumberyard, including millmen, drivers, loaders, helpers, tallymen, and laborers, but excluding office clerical employees, professional employees, sales employees, estimators, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act. (b) All employees at the Employer's Norwalk, Connecticut, lumberyard, including yardmen, millmen, drivers, loaders, helpers, tallymen, laborers, and the shipper, but excluding office clerical employees, professional employees, sales employees, estimators, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.] UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, LOCAL 428, AFL and RIGGERS AND MACHINERY MOVERS LOCAL UNION 161, affiliated with INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, STRUCTURAL AND ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS, AFL UNITED ASSOCIATION OF JOURNEYMEN AND APPRENTICES OF THE PLUMBING AND PIPEFITTING INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, LOCAL 420, AFL; JOHN SMALL, Business Agent of LOCAL 420 andRIGGERS AND MACHINERY MOVERS LOCAL UNION 161, affiliated with INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BRIDGE, STRUCTURAL AND ORNAMENTAL IRON WORKERS, AFL. Cases Nos. 4- CD-19 and 4-CD-20. April 9, 1954 DECISION AND DETERMINATION OF DISPUTES This proceeding arises under Section 10 (k) of the Act, which provides that "Whenever it is charged that any person has en- 108 NLRB No. 50.