Kellogg Co.

302 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD KELLOGG COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL PRINTING PRESSMEN AND ASSISTANTS' UNION OF NORTH AMER- ICA, AFL, Petitioner. Case No. 7-RC-2040. April 22, 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 Cecil Pearl, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. 1 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 Houston, Styles, and Peter- son]. Upon the entire record in this case, 2 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. At the hearing, the Employer contended that its current contract with the Intervenor is a bar to this proceeding. The most recent contract between these parties was automatically renewed to April 1, 1953, and provides for further automatic renewal in the absence of 60 days' notice. The petition herein was filed January 23, 1953. Apart from other considerations, as the petition was filed before the automatic renewal notice date, it was timely filed and the contract is not a bar. Accordingly, we find that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Em- ployer 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 all pressmen and helpers in the carton printing department of the Employer's Battle Creek, Michigan, plant. The Employer and Intervenor contend that the unit sought is inappropriate on various grounds, including the history of bargaining in this plant and the industry on a more comprehensive basis, the integrated nature of the Employer's operations, the lack of craft status and separate identifiable interests of the employees concerned, and the fail- ure to include other similar employees. The Employer at its Battle Creek, Michigan, plant,4 is en- gaged in the manufacture and sale of ready-to-eat cereals, dog foods, animal, poultry, and fur feeds, macaroni, and 1 The motions of the Employer and Intervenor (American Federation of Grain Millers, Local #3, AFL) to dismiss the petition on the ground that the requested unit is inappropriate are denied for the reasons set forth in paragraph numbered 4, in fra. 2 The Intervenor requested oral argument. As the record and briefs adequately present the issues and positions of the parties, the request is denied. s The name of the Employer appears in the caption as amended at the hearing. 4In addition to the plant here involved , the Employer operates plants at Omaha. Nebraska; San Leandro, California; Lockport, Illinois; and London, Ontario , Canada. The only other plant of the Employer which manufactures its own cartons is the Canadian plant, where the pressroom employees are represented in the plantwide production and maintenance unit. 104 NLRB No. 49. KELLOGG COMPANY 303 spaghetti . The Employer also processes paper in this plant to provide the wax paper needed for inner bags and outer wax wrappers of cartons , prints the cartons , and makes corrugated paper for shipping containers. The Employer' s manufacturing processes in this plant, com- monly referred to as a dry milling operation, include the pre- liminary preparation of grain by the use of various cleaning processes which remove all foreign matter from the grain and then the actual milling operation . Specifically , for example, in the case of corn, after cleaning, it is moistened and passed through degerminator machines which break the kernel and separate the grits or particles of the starch and sperm from the hull and germ fractions . The starch and sperm particles are further cleaned and stored until needed :'-They are then cooked under steam pressure with certain flavoring agents added, after which they are' dried, rolled, and toasted . After toasting, the particles , called corn flakes, fall onto cooling belts which de- liver them through inspection to conveyors that are directly over the packing lines where they are packaged in cartons, the cartons packed into containers , and the containers delivered to the warehouse to await shipment . The corn flakes are packed within 15 minutes after the toasting operation is completed to preserve their freshness and quality. The manufacturing process is a continuous operation and to avoid spoilage and deterioration in quality, the grain must be kept flowing through the various processing stages and requires the weekly prescheduling of work . However, there are several points of rest in the manufacturing process of at least some products to provide a surge so that interferences in production along the line do not stop the entire operation . This is true 'in the case of corn, which'cannot be purchased at the same rate of speed at which it is used . Another point of rest is provided for finished corn grits , where a supply is kept ahead for pur- poses of curing as well as for purposes of assuring a complete uniform supply for the cereal cooking operation . Although the plant is on a 24-hour production basis , it shuts down on week- ends. As previously indicated, the Employer also manufactures and prints most of the cartons used to package its products.5 Be- cause of the nature of its production process the Employer ties in the schedule of operations of its paper division with that of the production division to insure printed cartons in sufficient quantity in the packingroom at the time cereals scheduled to be packed arrive at that point . Completed cartons for use in packaging are sent to the production line from awarehouse, although it is not feasible to store cartons or carton printing board prior to printing for extended periods because the cartons curl or warp with changes in temperature and carton board loses its natural moisture content and becomes too brittle to process through the presses. 5 The Employer purchases less than 5 percent of its cartons from outside sources. These are either special or novel types of cartons or standard types purchased to permit the shutdown of presses for repair or overhaul or change of carton size. 304 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The carton printing department of the carton and container division includes the paper pit, wax, carton gluing, and press- room sections. The approximately 29 pressmen and 32 helpers sought by the Petitioner work in the pressroom section. The pressroom is in 2 parts, 1 located on the third floor and the other in the basement of building 3 of the Employer's plant.6 There are 7 continuous web presses onthe third floor, some of which have been rebuilt with rotary cutting and creasing dies. There are also 2 rotary multicolored presses of modified de- sign with continuous web-feed and continuous cutting and creasing. The equipment in the basement consists of a sheet feed printing press with a single impression cylinder which can print S colors in 1 pass, and 2 cutting and creasing presses. The sheets printed in the basement must be run through the other presses to be scored and cut, and then are stripped by hand, whereas the presses on the third floor print, crease, cut, and strip in one operation. However the operations on the third floor and in the basement are substantially and basically the same and the operation of the Employer' s presses is similar fo those on like presses in other printing shops. Pressmen set the plates in proper position for printing, constantly observe the operation of the presses, correct defects while the presses are running, and inspect finished cartons as they come off the presses. The helpers tendthe feed end of the presses, apply tension, supply ink to the presses , provide offset eliminating spray powder, remove cartons from the press after printing, and generally assist the pressmen in making plate adjustments on the presses. The Employer has never hired a pressman as such, the helpers being promoted to pressmen jobs. It takes about 2 years to train a helper although there is no apprenticeship program in the plant. As stated above, the pressmen and helpers have been included in the con- tract unit. They have participated in and have received benefits under the contract, and are subject to the same conditions of employment as all other employees. However, the pressmen perform duties completely different and require special skills not posse ssed by other employees; they work in separate areas; and are among the highest paid employees in the plant.? Al- though helpers, under the Employer's plantwide seniority basis, have been transferred to and from other jobs in the plant, the pressmen have never been transferred. We are of the opinion that the pressmen and their helpers, including those in both buildings 3 and 1,6 constitute an identifi- able, functionally coherent craft group having a separate com- munity of interest and who are of a type we have generally held 6 There are also 9 or 10 employees in a printshop operated by the Employer in the base- ment of another building (building 1). While not specifically sought by the Petitioner, some of these employees operate printing presses. 7 The carton printing department is separately supervised on the first shift by a foreman who schedules the entire day's operations . A single foreman supervises the entire carton and container division, including the carton printing department , for each of the remaining three shifts. 6 Although the Petitioner did not request the pressmen in the basement of building 1, its showing of interest in such enlarged group is adequate. KELLOGG COMPANY 305 may, if they so desire, constitute a separate unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining ,9 or remain part of an existing broader unit. Contrary to the Employer's and Intervenor's contentions, the history of bargaining on a plantwide basis since about 1937, in which the pres smen have participated and from which they have received benefits , does not preclude separate representation.'0 Moreover, although the Intervenor ' s president testified that a substantial part of the milling industry is organized on a plant- wide basis, the Board has previously held that separate craft units may be established in the dry milling industry." The Employer's operations are not so integrated as to preclude such separate representation. is Accordingly, we shall direct an election in the following voting group: All pressmen and helpers in the carton printing department and in the printshop of the Employer's Battle Creek, Michigan, plant, excluding all other employees's and supervisors as defined in the Act. However, we shall make no final unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed in the election hereinafter directed. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated that they 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 the unit described above, whichthe Board, under such circumstances, finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor, they may continue to be represented as a part of the existing production and maintenance unit and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to such effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication.] ,Southwest Tablet Manufacturing Company, 83 NLRB 278; Parke. Davis & Co., 85 NLRB 53& The fact that the pressmen , in the printing of cartons , do not necessarily exercise the entire gamut of skills within the pressmen's craft does not prevent them from constituting an appropriate unit. See Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation, 101 NLRB 116. 10 The Reliance Electric & Engineering Company, 98 NLRB 488, 492. tiSee e. g. Charles A. Krause Milling Co., 97 NLRB 536; General Foods Corporation, Corn Mill Division, 54 NLRB 596. Cf. Ralston Purina Company, 86 NLRB 107. ii mid. isAlthough there are other employees , such as carton pilers, carton handymen, and printshop stockmen, in the pressrooms and printshop , theyare not craftsmen or their helpers and accordingly are excluded.