The Kendall Co.

THE KENDALL COMPANY The Kendall Company and District 53, of the Inter- national Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner. Case 9-RC-8407 August 10, 1970 DECISION ON REVIEW AND ORDER BY MEMBERS FANNING, BROWN, AND JENKINS On March 20, 1970 , the Regional Director for Region 9 issued a Decision and Direction of Elec- tion in the above-entitled proceeding in which he found appropriate a unit of all production and maintenance employees at the Employer 's Polyken plant in Franklin, Kentucky . Thereafter, in ac- cordance with Section 102.67 of the National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations, Se- ries 8, as amended , the Employer filed a timely request for review of the Regional Director 's deci- sion,' contending that a unit limited to the Polyken plant is inappropriate , that the only appropriate unit for the employees involved must include its Adhesive plant also located in Franklin , and that the petition therefore should be dismissed. On April 28 , 1970, the National Labor Relations Board by telegraphic order granted the request for review and stayed the election pending decision on review. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the entire record in this case with respect to the issues under review and makes the following findings: As above indicated , the Employer contends that the only appropriate unit herein must encompass production and maintenance employees at both of its Franklin plants. We agree. The Employer's Polyken plant, established in 1957, presently employs approximately 130 production and maintenance employees who are engaged principally in the production of industrial pressure sensitive adhesive products . The Em- ployer's Adhesive plant, established in 1962, presently employs approximately 435 production and maintenance employees who are engaged prin- cipally in the production of surgical pressure sensi- tive adhesive products. Both plants are on Louisville Road , located on a 76-acre tract of land and are approximately 200 feet apart . There are three roadways on to that tract, two of which pro- ' The Textile Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, was permitted to intervene at the hearing on the basis of a card showing. ' The record indicates that a rail siding was recently constructed at the 847 vide access to both plants . The manufacturing process and the machinery and equipment utilized in the manufacturing process is substantially the same at both plants . Ninety-five percent of the job classifications employed at the Polyken plant are also employed at the Adhesive plant. The raw materials used in the manufacturing process are es- sentially the same for both plants and the same code system is followed at both plants to identify these raw materials. As found by the Regional Director there is a sub- stantial degree of integration of production at the two plants . "Banbury mixing" and "mass mixing" are performed at the Adhesive plant for the Polyken plant , as well as certain operations, such as "slitting," "die cutting of labels," "cutting of parchment separators ," and some "precision core cutting." The Polyken plant manufactures a product known as film interliner which is used to separate layers of pressure sensitive adhesives manufactured in the Adhesive plant . Three Polyken plant employees are engaged in the manufacture of this film interliner and 16 Adhesive plant em- ployees use the film interliner in their operation. Four employees at the Polyken plant and eight em- ployees at the Adhesive plant are engaged in vari- ous operations resulting in a finished product known as Kappa Wetproof Surgical Tape . Approxi- mately 15 percent of the Polyken plant's produc- tion consists of the manufacture of a patented "plastic facing film," a component of the finished products produced in the Curad Department of the Adhesive plant, which has approximately 135 em- ployees. The Polyken plant is the sole source of supply of this product for the Adhesive plant. Of the production and maintenance employees currently employed , 67 have been involved in 84 permanent transfers between the plants and over a period of about 2 years there have been approxi- mately 100 temporary transfers between the two plants, varying from I to 5 days in duration. In ad- dition, two or three of the eight shipping and receiving employees at the Polyken plant spend 25 to 30 percent of their time at the Adhesive plant shipping dock assisting shipping and receiving em- ployees of Adhesive in the preparation of con- solidated shipments of products of both plants.2 Between April and October, the number of Polyken employees and the amount of time they spend at the Adhesive plant increases . Carpenters from each plant also engage in shoring up these consolidated shipments. There is also another Polyken employee who spends 50 percent of his time at the Adhesive Polyken , however there is no showing, as to the effect, if any, this will have on consolidated shipments or the receipt of bulk raw materials, most of which are used at both plants 184 NLRB No. 98 848 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD plant dock unloading polyethylene, a material used at both plants. While these Polyken employees are working at the Adhesive plant dock, they are under the immediate supervision of the Adhesive plant shipping and receiving foreman. Polyken plant fork- lift drivers enter the production area at the Adhe- sive plant in order to transport materials to and from the Adhesive plant. Maintenance employees from Polyken plant go to the Adhesive plant's maintenance shop daily to borrow equipment, and its quality control technicians use equipment located in the laboratory at the Adhesive plant on a daily basis. The Company provides its salesmen and customers with sample kits of the products of both plants which are made up at the Polyken plant and employees engaged in this activity go to the Adhe- sive plant two or three times a week to pick up tape to be used for making up these kits. Each plant has its own plant manager, production superintendent, shift foremen, and supervisors who are responsible for the day-to-day operations of their respective plants. However, joint supervisory meetings are held in the conference room at the Adhesive plant. Although each plant has its own personnel manager who reports directly to the director of personnel in the Employer's Chicago of- fice, they prepare joint annual wage and benefit surveys which, after review by the respective plant managers and plant superintendents , result in a sin- gle recommendation for submission to the director of personnel. The wage and benefit increases are the same at both plants and are implemented on the same date. Personnel forms are the same for both plants and job applicants may be interviewed by either personnel manager for openings at either plant. For purposes of layoff and rehire, depart- mental seniority is controlling. The Polyken plant itself is considered as Department 17. Seniority dates from the original date of hire and in the cases of transferred employees, their seniority remains in the department from which they transferred for a period of 45 days after which their seniority is car- ried over to their new department. ' See The Kendall Company , 181 NLRB 1130; and Halstead & Mitchell Co , 151 NLRB 1460. The cases of Dixie Belle Mills, Inc., 139 NLRB 629; Duluth Avionics, Guidance & Control Systems, Division of Litton Systems, The dispatch clerk at the Adhesive plant arranges all rail transportation for both plants, the yard work- ers at the Adhesive plant cut the grass and clear roadways for both plants, the purchasing depart- ment at the Adhesive plant does all the purchasing for both plants and the industrial engineering de- partment at the Adhesive plant establishes the in- centive standards for piecework which are the same for both plants. The payrolls for both plants are prepared by data processing employees at the Ad- hesive plant, the switchboard and teletype facilities for both plants are located in the Adhesive plant, and all mail distribution is performed by the mail- boy at the Adhesive plant. Upon the foregoing, we conclude that a unit limited to the Polyken plant sought is inappropriate and that the only appropriate unit herein is one which includes the production and maintenance employees of both the, plants involved. In so con- cluding, we rely especially on the facts that em- ployees of plants are engaged essentially in the same kind of production and utilize the same skills, that the two plants are on the same tract of land only 200 feet apart, and that there is a substantial amount of employee interchange. In addition, as above noted, working conditions, labor relations policy, and employee benefits are the same for both plants, and each plant provides various services for the other. We find, therefore, contrary to the Re- gional Director, that the community of interest shared by employees at both plants is so close as to overcome the presumption favoring a single-plant unit.3. Accordingly, as the requested single-plant unit is inappropriate and the Petitioner has not in- dicated a desire to proceed to an election in a two plant unit which would be more than four times larger than that sought, we shall dismiss the petition herein. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the petition filed herein be, and it hereby is, dismissed. Inc, 156 NLRB 1319; and The Black and Decker Manufacturing Com- pany, 147 NLRB 825, relied on by Regional Director, are factually distinguishable. ,