Aluminum Co. of America

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 11, 1938

6 N.L.R.B. 550 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of ALUMINUM COMPANY OF AMERICA, AND ITS WHOLLY
OWNED SUBSIDIARY, THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER POWER COMPANY and
INTERNATIONAL UNION, ALUMINUM WORKERS OF AMERICA
Case No. R-631-Decided April 11, 1938
Aluminum Manufacturing Industry-Electric Power Industry-Investiga-
tion of Representatives : controversy concerning representation of employees:
stipulation as to, including agreement for election-Unit Appropriate for Col-
lective Bargaining: production and maintenance employees of local plants of
parent company and subsidiary, excluding supervisory and office employees ;
stipulation as to-Election Ordered: pursuant to stipulation.
Mr. John H. Dorsey, for the Board.
Mr. Andrew J. Hamner, of Massena, N . Y., and Franchot, Runals,
Cohen, Taylor c Rickert, by Mr. T. G. Rickert, of Niagara Falls,
N. Y., for the Companies.
Mr. J. Alfred Wilner, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the A.W.A.
Mr. Charlton Ogburn, by Mr. Arthur H. Reyman, of New York
City, for Local No. 19256.
Mr. Abraham L. Kaminstein, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 3, 1938, International Union, Aluminum Workers of
America, affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization,
herein called A. W. A., filed with the Regional Director for the Third
Region (Buffalo, New York) a petition alleging that a question af-
fecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of the Aluminum Company of America and its wholly owned
subsidiary, St. Lawrence River Power Company, herein called the
Companies, at their Massena, New York, plants, and requesting an
investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section
9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called
the Act. On February 14, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board,
herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the
Act, and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investiga-
550
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 551
tion and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to
provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
Thereafter , the Regional Director issued and duly served notice
and amended notice of hearing upon the Companies, the A. W. A.,
and Aluminum Workers Union, Federal Local No. 19256, affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, herein called Local No.
19256, a labor organization named in the petition as claiming mem-
bers among the employees of the Companies. By virtue of Article
III, Section 3, of said Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
Local No. 19256 had become a party to the proceedings. Pursuant
to the notice, a hearing was held on March 14, 1938, at Massena, New
York, before Louis L. Jaffe, the Trial Examiner duly designated by
the Board. All parties were represented by counsel and participated
in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard , to examine and to
cross-examine witnesses , and to introduce evidence bearing on the
issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing, all
parties agreed upon various stipulations which were introduced into
the record.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
Aluminum Company of America, herein called Aluminum Com-
pany, a Pennsylvania corporation, was originally incorporated as the
Pittsburgh Reduction Company in 1888, and reincorporated in 1925.
The present name was assumed in 1907. St. Lawrence River Power
Company, a subsidiary of Aluminum Company, was incorporated in
1902 in New York. The principal office and place of business of
Aluminum Company is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and that of St.
Lawrence River Power Company is Massena, New York.
The principal business of Aluminum Company at its Massena, New
York, plant is the reduction of aluminum oxide into metallic alu-
minum and the fabrication of metallic aluminum into ingots, cables,
cable accessories, wires, rods, bars, merchant mill, and structural mill
shapes. The raw materials used in this plant, during 1937, aggre-
gated approximately 213,633 tons of refined ore, coke, coal, fuel oil,
lumber, iron, steel, steel wire, pitch, electrolytic bath materials, alloy
materials, and cable insulating materials. Of these raw materials,
"upwards of 91 per cent" came from points outside the State of New
York. During 1937, the Massena plant of Aluminum Company pro-
duced and shipped approximately 62,981 tons of aluminum products,
of which approximately 93.6 per cent was shipped to points outside
New York.
The business of St. Lawrence River Power Company is the genera-
tion of hydroelectric energy by the use of water diverted from the
80618-38-von. VI-36
552 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
St. Lawrence River. During 1937, St. Lawrence River Power Com-
pany produced an average of 79,000 H. P. of electrical energy, none
of which was transmitted outside New York.
Aluminum Company maintains sales offices in cities in 17 States,
and advertises in various magazines of national circulation. The
principal customers for the products manufactured by Aluminum
Company at its Massena plant are public utilities and public power
projects, users of aluminum cable located throughout the United
States, manufacturers engaged in the production of light weight
transportation and other equipment, and concerns which fabricate
aluminum into various products. St. Lawrence River Power Com-
pany supplies power to Aluminum Company at its Massena plant.
It was stipulated that there now exists a question of representation
affecting commerce; that the parties agree that the Board may direct
an election among the production and maintenance employees of the
Companies at Massena as the appropriate unit; that all classes of
maintenance and production employees on the payrolls of the Com-
panies and working as of the pay-roll date of February 2, 1938, and
such of their regular employees who may not have been on the pay
rolls on such date but who may have been reemployed up to the date
of the election, shall be eligible to vote at the election.
The Companies request that the form of the election ballot provide
an opportunity for unaffiliated employees to express their wishes.
Counsel for Local No. 19256 objected to the provision for a third
place on the ballot. In accordance with our usual practice, we will
allow employees to vote for either of the two labor organizations or
for neither.'
Upon the basis of the record and the stipulations, we find that a
question has arisen concerning representation of employees of the
Companies; that such question, occurring in connection with the op-
erations of the Companies described above, has a close, intimate, and
substantial relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several
States and with foreign countries, and tends to lead to labor disputes
burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce;
and that the production and maintenance employees of the Com-
panies, excluding supervisory and office employees, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining and that said
unit will insure to employees of the Companies the full benefit of
their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and other-
wise effectuate the policies of the Act.
Upon the basis of the above findings and stipulations, the Board
will order an election to determine whether the production and main-
1 Matter of Interlake Iron Corporation and Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel,
and Tin Workers of North America, Local No. 1657, 4 N. L. K. B., 55.
DECISIONS AND OIIDEI{S 553
tenance employees desire to be represented by International Union,
Aluminum Workers of America, or by Aluminum Workers Union,
Federal Local No. 19256 , affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor, or by neither.
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, 49 Stat . 449, and pursuant to Article III, Sec-
tion 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-
Series 1, as amended, it is
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation directed by the Board
to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining
with Aluminum Company of America, and its subsidiary, St. Law-
rence River Power Company, at their Massena, New York, plants, an
election by secret ballot shall be conducted within twenty (20) days
from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision
of the Regional Director for the Third Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations , and in accord-
ance with the stipulations entered into in this case, among the pro-
duction and maintenance employees on the pay rolls of the Com-
panies and working as of the pay-roll date of February 2, 1938, and
such of their regular employees who may not have been on the pay
rolls on such date, but who may have been reemployed up to the date
of the election, exclusive of supervisory and office employees, to de-
termine whether they desire to be represented by International Union,
Aluminum Workers of America, or Aluminum Workers Union, Fed-
eral Local No. 19256, for the purposes of collective bargaining, or
by neither.
[SAME TITLE ]
AMENDMENT TO DECISION AND DIRECTION OF
ELECTION
April 25, 1938
On April 11 , 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, issued a Decision and Direction of Election in
the above -entitled proceeding , the election to be held within twenty
(20) days from the date of the Direction under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Third Region (Buffalo,
New York ) to determine whether the employees of Aluminum Com-
pany of America and its wholly owned subsidiary, St. Lawrence
554 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
River Power Company, desire to be represented by International
Union, Aluminum Workers of America, herein called A. W. A., or by
Aluminum Workers Union, Federal Local No. 19256, affiliated with
the American Federation of Labor, herein called Local No. 19256,
or by neither.
On April 22, 1938, A. W. A. filed a petition with the Board request-
ing that the election be deferred indefinitely, or that it be allowed
to withdraw its petition, or that it be permitted to withdraw its name
from the ballot. Upon consideration of this petition the Board
denies the request to postpone the election or to revoke its Direction
of Election. In accordance with the last request of A. W. A.
the Board believes that the Direction of Election should be amended
to provide that employees will decide merely whether or not they
desire to be represented by Local No. 19256. The Board hereby
amends the Direction of Election issued on April 11, 1938, by strik-
ing therefrom the words "to determine whether they desire to be
represented by International Union, Aluminum Workers of America,
or Aluminum Workers Union, Federal Local No. 19256, for the
purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither", and substituting
therefor the words "to determine whether or not they desire to be
represented by Aluminum Workers Union, Federal Local No. 19256,
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, for the purposes
of collective bargaining".