American Cyanamid & Chemical Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 21, 1940

21 N.L.R.B. 844 (N.L.R.B. 1940)

In the Matter of AMERICAN CYANAMID & CHEMICAL CORPORATION
(AMERICAN POWDER DIVISION) ands UNITED MINE WORKERS OF
AMERICA, GAS, BY-PRODUCT COKE & CHEMICAL W ORKERS, DISTRICT
No. 50, LOCAL UNION No. 12132, (C. I. 0.)
Case No. B-1750.-Decided March 01, 1940
Chemical Manufacturing Industry-Investtgation of Representatives: contro-
versy concerning representation of employees. refusal of Company to recognize
Union in the absence of certification-U.4 Appropriate for Collective Bargain-
mg: all production and maintenance employees and truck drivers, excluding
clerical and supervisory employees and laboratory technicians; no controversy
as to-Representatives: proof of choice: cards authorizing,Union as bargaining.
agency compared with signatures of employees in the appropriate unit-Certif-
cation of Representatives: upon Company's admission of Union's majority rep-
resentation.
Mr. Edward Schneider, for-the Board.
Mr. Henry C. Little, of New York City, for the Company.
Mr. Wayne Brafleld, of Boston, Mass., for the United.
Mr. Gilbert V. Rosenberg, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
. AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On January 3, 1940, United Mine Workers of America, Gas, By-
Product Coke & Chemical Workers, District No. 50, Local Union No.
12132, (C. I. 0.), herein called the United,' filed with the Regional
Director for the First Region (Boston, Massachusetts) a petition,
and on January 8, 1940, an amended petition alleging that a question
affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em-
ployees of American Cyanamid & Chemical Corporation (American
Powder Division), Maynard, Massachusetts, herein called the Com-
pany, and requesting an investigation and certification of represent-
atives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On January 16, 1940, the
'The original petition incorrectly designated the United as "United Mine Workers of
America. Local 12132."
21 N. L R . B, No. 86.
844
AMERICAN CYANAMID & CHEMICAL CORPORATION 845
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 2,
issued an order, and on January 20, 1940, an amended order, directing
an investigation and authorizing the Regional Director to conduct it
and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice.
On January 22, 1940, the Regional Director issued a notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company and the
United. Pursuant to notice, after a postponement, a hearing was
held on February 5, 1940, at Maynard, Massachusetts, before Mapes
Davidson, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The
Board-and the Company were represented by counsel and the United
by a representative; all participated in the hearing. Full oppor-
tunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to
introduce evidence bearing upon the issues was afforded all parties.
No motions or objections to the admission of evidence were made
by the parties.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
American Cyanamid & Chemical Corporation is a Delaware cor-
poration authorized to do business in Massachusetts. The Company
'is--..engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of chemical
products.
The Company has approximately 20 plants located in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia,
and California, and has salesmen covering many of these States.
These proceedings involve only the Company's plant at Maynard,
Massachusetts, commonly known and referred to as the American
Powder Division. The plant is divided into the black-powder
division and the nitro-cellulose division, situated about a mile apart
in separate buildings on the Company's property. During the first
9 months of 1939, the Company purchased raw materials for the
American Powder Division, consisting principally of sulphuric acid,
cotton linters, nitric acid, sulphur, saltpeter, and charcoal, valued
at approximately $100,000, of which approximately 50 per cent was
purchased outside the State of Massachusetts. During the same
period the Company sold finished products, saltpeter powder and
nitro-cellulose, manufactured at the American Powder Division valued
at approximately $350,000, of which approximately 75 per cent was
shipped to points outside the State of Massachusetts.
846 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Mine Workers of America, Gas, By-Product Coke & Chem-
ical Workers, District No. 50, Local Union No. 12132, is a labor organ-
ization affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It
admits to membership all production and maintenance employees and
truck drivers employed by the Company at its American Powder
Division.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has recently declined on request to recognize the
United as the exclusive representative of its employees unless the
Board should formally certify the United as such representative. We
find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the
representation of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON
COMMERCE
We find that the question concerning representation which has
arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company
described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial
relation to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States and
tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce
and the free flow of commerce.
V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The United contends that all production and maintenance employees
and truck drivers employed in both divisions of the Company 's plant
at Maynard , Massachusetts, excluding clerical and supervisory em-
ployees and laboratory technicians , constitute an appropriate unit.
The Company makes no contention as to the appropriate unit. We see
no reason to deviate from the unit requested by the United.
We find that all the production and maintenance employees and
truck drivers at the American Powder Division of the Company,
excluding clerical and supervisory employees and laboratory tech-
nicians, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining and that this unit will insure to employees of the Company
at its American Powder Division the full benefit of their right to
self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate
the policies of the Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
On January 20, 1940, there were 57 employees in the unit which
we have found to be appropriate. The United claims to represent 45
AMERICAN CYANAMID & CHEMICAL CORPORATION 847
such employees. In support of its claim the United permitted the
Board's attorney to compare the signatures on 45 application cards
dated between December 23, 1938, and December 28, 1939, with the
signatures, supplied by the Company, of the above-mentioned 57 em-
ployees. After the Board's attorney reported on the authenticity of
the signatures, the Company stipulated that a majority of the 57
employees had signed membership applications designating the United
as their exclusive representative for purposes of collective bargaining.
The United requested certification on the record and the Company
offered no objection. We are satisfied, under the circumstances of this
case, that a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit have
designated the United.
We find that the United has been designated and selected by a
majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representa-
tive for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the
exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, and we will so certify.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following :
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre-
sentation of employees of American Cyanamid & Chemical Corpora-
tion at its American Powder Division, Maynard, Massachusetts, within
the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
2. All production and maintenance employees and truck drivers of
the Company at its American Powder Division, excluding clerical and
supervisory employees and laboratory technicians, constitute a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the
meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3. United Mine Workers of America, Gas, By-Product Coke &
Chemical Workers, District No. 50, Local Union No. 12132, affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is the exclusive repre-
sentative of all employees in such unit for the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National
Labor Relations Act.
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
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 8, of National Labor Rela-
tions Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
848 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that United Mine Workers of America, Gas,,
By-Product Coke & Chemical Workers, District No. 50, Local Union
No. 12132, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
has been designated and selected by a majority of the production and
maintenance employees and truck drivers of American Cyanamid &
Chemical Corporation at its American Powder Division, Maynard,
Massachusetts, excluding clerical and supervisory employees and
laboratory technicians, as their representatives for the purposes of
collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to the provisions of Sec-
tion 9 (a) of the Act, United Mine Workers of America, Gas, By-
Product Coke & Chemical Workers, District No. 50, Local Union
No. 12132, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations,
is the exclusive representative' of all such employees for the purposes
of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of
employment, and other conditions of employment.