Lincoln Casket Co.

0 In the Matter of LINCOLN CASKET COMPANY and CASKET AND ALLIED PRODUCTS WORKERS UNION, LOCAL 118, AFFILIATED WITH UPHOL- STERERS INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, A. F. OF L. Case No. 13-R-3173.-Decided January 5, 1946 Currie cfi Gherman, by Mr. John Patterson Currie, of Chicago, Ill.; and Mr. L. W. Dowling, of Lincoln, Ill., for the Company. Mr. Leonard Shaw, of Chicago, Ill., for the Union. Mrs. Augusta Spaulding, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon petition duly filed by Casket and Allied Products Workers Union, Local 188, affiliated with Upholsterers International Union of North America, A. F. of L.,1 herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Lincoln Casket Company, Lincoln, Illinois, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before John R. Hill, Trial Examiner. The hearing was held at Lincoln, Illinois, on August 9, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared, participated, and were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS of FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY Lincoln Casket Company is a corporation having its office and place of business at Lincoln, Illinois, where it is engaged in the manufac- ' The petition filed originally by Upholsterers International Union of North America was amended at the hearing to show as petitioner the name of the local union recently chartered for employees of the Company. 65 N. L R. B., No. 36. 182 LINCOLN CASKET COMPANY 183 ture of caskets. During 1944, the Company purchased raw materials consisting principally of lumber, textiles, and metals, valued in excess of $35,000, approximately 35 percent of which came to its plant from points outside Illinois. During the same period, the Company sold caskets finished at its plant, valued in excess of $100,000, of which more than 50 percent was shipped to points outside Illinois. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED Casket and Allied Products Workers Union, Local 188, is a labor organization affiliated with Upholsterers International Union of North America and the American Federation of Labor, admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION On or about June 21, 1945, the Union, claiming to represent a ma- jority of the Company's employees, asked the Company for recogni- tion as their exclusive bargaining representative. On June 28, 1945, the Company, through its attorney, requested that the Union secure the certification of the Board. A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear- ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em- ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Company and the Union agree that production and mainte- nance employees at the Company's plant, including the fireman-engi- neer, box maker, janitor, truck drivers, and watchmen; should be in- cluded in the bargaining unit and that office clerical employees and the superintendent should be excluded from the unit. The parties disagree (1) as to the supervisory status of employees classified as foremen and forelady and (2) as to the inclusion of the shipping and receiving clerk in the unit. The Company's plant consists of four adjoining production build- ing units in which caskets are manufactured, and several storage and warehouse buildings, where lumber is stored and tempered. The 2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 19 authorization cards dated in June 1945. There are approximately 33 employees in the appropriate unit. 184 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD manufacturing operation follows a routine process. After drying and' tempering, lumber passes into the milling department, where it is' cut into parts for caskets. These parts are assembled into casket' shells in the cabinet department. Casket shells go either to the cloth room, to be covered with textiles, or to the finishing department for the application of paints and varnishes. Both painted shells and cloth-' covered shells are sent to the cloth room for the insertion of interior linings, which are made in the sewing room. The finished caskets then` pass to the shipping room, where they are packed and shipped. The plant superintendent has general charge of all plant operations and, under normal conditions, foremen are in charge of the milling, cabinet and metal, cloth, and finishing departments, and a forelady supervises girls in the sewing room. Curtailment of supplies due to war conditions limits the Company's output to eight coffins per day, and the limitation put on the use of metal has closed the metal depart- ment. A fire in September 1944 and the death of the foreman of the milling department resulted in the further reduction of the working force and a shift in the work of foremen. Specifically, the president of the Company took over the general supervision of the milling and cabinet and metal departments; Herman Rentschler, for many years foreman in charge of the cabinet and metal department, was trans- ferred to the milling department as a skilled workman; 3 the two or three employees then remaining in the finishing department were laid zn in off, and Foreman Nuckols of that department was directed to perform all the painting and varnishing work; and the number of employees in the other departments was reduced. The parties agree that Rentschler, now serving as a production worker in the milling department, where, though accorded deference for his good judgment and skill, he is delegated no specific authority over other workmen, and Nuckols, painting and varnishing in the fin- ishing department with no staff of employees under him, are perform- ing ordinary production work and, as non-supervisory employees, are to be deemed included in the bargaining unit as production employees. The Union contends, however, that the foremen of the several depart- ments, as such, and the forelady of the sewing room are essentially production employees and should therefore be included in the unit. Admitting that the foremen and forelady perform some skilled work in their several departments, the Company contends that their author- ity to recommend hire, discharge, promotion, and lay-off makes these employees supervisory and that the foremen and the forelady are thus to be excluded from the unit. S Rentschler expects to resume his position as foreman of the cabinet and metal depart- ment when the Company is able to resume normal operations. LINCOLN CASKET COMPANY 185 Foremen and the forelady reprimand careless work, settle griev- ances, and make recommendations which are followed for the hire, discharge, promotion, and lay-off of employees within their depart- ments. The current manpower shortage has made it necessary for the Company to require greater and varying amounts of production work of its foremen and forelady than at normal times. While their present status is not free of doubt, we believe that the Company's foremen and forelady, notwithstanding their production work, are supervisory employees under our definition of the term, and we will exclude them from the bargaining unit. The shipping and receiving clerk, with his work station in the office unit, as distinguished from the factory departments, is an hourly paid employee, directly responsible to the main office for the performance of his duties. Approximately 50 percent of his time is devoted to purely clerical work.4 During the remainder of his time, he directs and assists truck drivers in packing goods for shipment and loading coal on trucks. Although he has authority to recommend the hire and discharge of truck drivers, he has not had any occasion to exercise it. Inasmuch as the shipping and receiving clerk is primarily a clerical employee assigned to the office unit rather than to production areas of the plant, and has been delegated supervisory authority in his de- partment, we will exclude him from the bargaining unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees of the Company,-5 including the fireman-engineer, truck drivers, the box maker, janitor, and watchmen, but excluding office clerical employees, the shipping and receiving clerk, the superintendent, foremen, fore- lady, and all other supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro- mote, 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 mean- ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot. Two girls in the sewing room were laid off in July 1945 as a result of limitations placed on the Company's use of textiles by the War Production Board. If and when the limitation is lifted and materials again become plentiful, the Company will increase its present staff. * We find no merit in the Company's contention that the clerk' s access to business cost records in the office requires his exclusion from the bargaining unit as a "confidential" employee. See Matter of Chrysler Corporation, 58 N. L. R. B. 239. 5 Including Rentschler and Nuckols while they are functioning as nonsupervisory pro- duction employees. 186 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Company's policy is to recall laid-off employees before new em- ployees are hired. The Union contends that the girls laid off in July 1945 should be eligible to vote. The Company contends that they should not be eligible to vote (1) because they were probationary em- ployees only and (2) because there is no immediate expectancy of their recall. Since the limitation and scarcity of raw materials continues, we question whether the employees laid off in July have any reasonable expectancy of employment at the Company's plant in the near future. The girls laid off in July will, therefore, be deemed ineligible to vote 'in the election. Those eligible to vote in the election shall be all employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period im- mediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, sub- ject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa- tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Lincoln Casket Company, Lincoln, Illinois, 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 Thirteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations; among em- ployees in the unit found appropriate 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 themselves 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 Casket and Allied Products Workers Union, Local 188, affiliated with the Upholsterers International Union of North America, A. F. of L., for the purposes of collective bargaining. MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.