J. - National Labor Relations Board

92 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD.4. MULTIPLE EMPLOYER UNITSIn determining whether or not to group the employees of severalemployers into one bargaining unit, the Board has distinguished,between competing and independently controlled companies andcompanies interrelated through stock ownership and commonly controlledand operated. The Board has treated the latter as a singleemployer and has followed the principles set forth in the precedingsections in determining an appropriate bargaining unit or units.In such cases the Board has refused to reject a unit as inappropriatemerely because the employees of more than one employer are included.77 If only one bona fide labor organization has organizedthe employees of such employers, the Board has found appropriate,the unit desired by this union when this unit corresponds with itsextent of organization, whether employees of all or several of theemployers at all or several of their plants are included. 78 Similarly,.when two rival unions present conflicting views concerning an appropriatebargaining unit or units for employees of such companies,the Board has resolved such conflicts in the same manner as in the_cases discussed in the previous sections. Thus, in Matter of ElliottBay Lumber Co. and Plywood and Veneer Workers Union, Local.No. 26, 79 two commonly owned companies used the same propertiesand there was no functional or craft distinction between the employeesof each. One industrial union had organized the employees.of both companies in a single local union and the other industrialunion had organized the employees of both companies but had establishedseparate locals for each. The Board established a single unitcomprising both companies. Also the Board has designated a system-wideunit, requested by one union which had organized to thatextent, despite the opposition of another union, organized and seekino.separate units in only a relatively small part of the entire.system.8° bcompany - constituted an appropriate bargaining unit, since each of two rival unionsclaimed a majority at each of the plants of each company so that their organizationsoverlapped throughout all the plants of each employer. Board member Edwin S. Smith:dissented on the ground that in each case an employer-wide unit was appropriate.T' In N. L. R. B. v. Christian A. Lund, 103 F. (2d) 815 (C. C. A. 8th, 1939). the courtupheld the finding of the Board in Matter of C. .A. Lund Co. and Novelty Workers Union,Local 1866, 6 N. L. R. B. 423, that the employees of two commonly owned, controlled, and!operated companies constituted an appropriate bargaining unit, saying :"* * * whoever as or in the capacity of an employer controls the employer-employeerelations in an integrated industry is the employer • • * it can make nodifference in determining what constitutes an appropriate unit for collective bargainingwhether there be two employers of one group of employees or one employer of two groupsof employees. Either situation having been established the question of appropriateness.depends upon other factors such as unity of interest, common control, dependent operation,sameness in character of work and unity of labor relations.'78of Royal Warehouse Corp. and Glass Warehouae Workers and Paint HandlersLocal Union No. £06, 8 N. L. R. B. 1218 (employees of two companies managed and controlledby same three individuals) ; Matter of Kling Factories and Locals 12, 13, 14, and15 Organized Furniture Workers, 8 N. L. R. B. 1228 (employees of five companies,all operated and controlled by one management group which formulated all their laborpolicies) ; Matter of The Middle West Corp. and Int. Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,.10 N. L. R. B. 618 (employees of four commonly owned, controlled, and managed corporationsfound to constitute appropriate bargaining unit, excluding employees of a fifthcorporation commonly owned and controlled with the other four, since union had notorganized employees of that corporation) ; Matter of The Ca/co Chemica/ Co., Inc. andThe Calcocraft, 13 N. L. R. B., No. 5 (employees of two companies commonly owned andoperated). Cf. cases cited in footnotes 69, 70, 71 and 72, aurora." 8 N. L. R. B. 753. In Matter of Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills and Int. Woodworkersof Amer., Local No. 46, 8 • N. L. It. B. 230, both unions had organized and bargainedfor the employees of the two commonly controlled companies in a single unit ; the Board'found such a unit appropriate. Cf. cases cited in footnote 67, supra.80 3/atter of Postal Telegraph-Cable Corp. of New York, and Comaseroica Telegraphers'Union, 9 N. L. R. B. 1060. Cf. cases cited in footnote 76, supra.