Berkeley Steel Construction Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Oct 10, 1938

9 N.L.R.B. 130 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Matter of BERKELEY STEEL CONSTRUCTION CO., A CORPORATION
and STEEL WORKERS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, LOCAL 1649
Case No. R-944.-Decided October. 10, 1938
Steel Construction Industry-Investigation of Representatives: controversy
concerning representation of employees : rival organizations-Unit Appropriate
for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance employees , excluding
supervisory employees, clerical emplo3 ees , truck drivers, and riggers ; no con-
troversy as to-Representatives : proof of choice : comparison of pay rolls and
union designation cards-Certification of Representatives : upon proof of major-
ity representation.
Mr. Leslie Lubliner, for the Board.
Mr. J. Marcus Hardin, of Oakland, Calif., for the Company.
Gladstein, Grossman, and Margolis, by Mr. Richard Gladstein, of
San Francisco, Calif., for the S. W. O. C.
Mr. Fred Davis, of Oakland, Calif., for Boilermakers Local 39.
Cllr. I. J. Ironside, of Oakland, Calif., for Boilermakers Local 681.
Mr. E. Rainbow, of San Francisco, Calif., for Boilermakers Local 6.
Mr. Guy Farmer, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On February 25, 1938, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, Local
1649, herein called the S. W. O. C., filed with the Regional Director
for the Twentieth Region (Sin Francisco, California) a petition
alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning
the representation of employees of Berkeley Steel Construction Co.,
Berkeley, California, herein called the Company, 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 April 19, 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
investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it
9 N. L. R. B, No. 21.
130
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 131
and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On
July 2, 1938, the S. W. O. C. filed an amended petition for the pur-
pose of clarifying and correcting the original petition.
On July 2, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing,
copies of which were duly served upon the Company and upon the
S. W. O. C. Copies of said notice were also served upon Bridge,
Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforced Iron Workers, Riggers and
Sheeters Union, No. 378, upon Alameda, County Building Trades.
Council, and upon Boilermakers Union, Local No. 37, labor organi-
zations claiming to represent employees directly affected by the in-
vestigation. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on July 11,.
1938, at San Francisco, California, before Dwight W. Stephenson, the
Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board.
At the hearing, Boilermakers Local 39; International Brotherhood-
of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America, Weld-
ers Local 681; and International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Local
6, herein collectively called the Boilermakers, appeared and moved
for leave to intervene, alleging that they represented employees.
directly affected by the investigation.' The motions were granted by
the Trial Examiner.
The Board, the Company, and the S. W. O. C. were represented
by counsel, and the Boilermakers by their business representatives,,
and all participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard,
to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence
bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of
the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and
on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed:
the rulings and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The
rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Berkeley Steel Construction Company, a California corporation,,
with its office and principal place of business at Berkeley, California,.
is engaged in the manufacture of steel tanks, pipe lines, and similar
steel products. In 1937 the Company purchased raw materials
amounting to $209,564.06, of which $67,479.60 represented purchases-
outside the State of California. In the same year the Company sold'
steel products valued at $368,158.76. The value of such products
transported to States other than California was $83,572.04.
The Company normally employs about 50 production and main-
tenance workers.
134068-39-vol ix-10
132 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Steel Workers Organizing Committee, Local 1649, is a labor or-
ganization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization.
It admits to membership production and maintenance employees of
the Company, excluding supervisory employees, clerical employees,
truck drivers, and riggers.
Boilermakers Local 39; International Brotherhood of Boiler-
makers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America, Welders Local
4681; and International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Local 6, are
labor organizations, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor;
claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation.
They presented no evidence, however, concerning their membership
or jurisdiction.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Between December 1937 and June 1938, David Hipolito, repre-
sentative of the S. W. O. C., held several conferences with Thomas
Neilson, president of the Company, in order to secure recognition for
the S. W. O. C. and a collective agreement. In June, after the Com-
pany questioned the majority representation of the S. W. O. C., the
parties agreed to submit the determination of the question to the
Regional Director for the Twentieth Region. The Company further
agreed to recognize the S. W. O. C. as exclusive bargaining agency
should the Regional Director find that it represented a majority of
the Company's employees. Prior to the submission of the contro-
versy to the Regional Director, however, Building Trades Council
4_4 Alameda County intervened in the negotiations, claimed to repre-
sent employees directly affected, and refused to consent to such deter-
mination. The Company accordingly withdrew from the agreement.
We find that a question has arisen concerning the representation
of employees of the Company.
IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCAtRNING 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 com-
merce and the free flow of commerce.
V. TI-IE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Company and the S. W. O. C. agreed at the hearing that the
production and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding
DECISIONS AND O1tDEIta 133
clerical employees, supervisory employees, truck drivers, and riggers,
constitute a unit appropriate for collective bargaining. The produc-
tion and maintenance employees include lay-out men, plate workers,
shearmen, punchmen, roll operators, blacksmiths, welders, drill press
operators, and miscellaneous helpers. These employees are all eli-
gible to membership in the S. W. 0. C. and may reasonably consti-
tute an appropriate bargaining unit. Both the riggers and truck
drivers are employed outside the plant and may properly be excluded
from the unit. -
The Boilermakers did not deny that the unit agreed upon be-
tween the S. W. 0. C. and the Company is appropriate, and we see
no reason to depart from the desires of the S. W. 0. C. in this
regard.
We find that the production and maintenance employees of the
Company, including lay-out men, plate workers, shearmen, punch-
men, roll operators, blacksmiths, welders, drill press operators, and
miscellaneous helpers, and excluding supervisory employees, clerical
employees, truck drivers, and riggers, constitute a unit appropriate
for collective bargaining, and that said-unit will insure to employees
of the Company the full benefit of the right to self-organization and
collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the
Act.
VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
At the hearing, a list of the Company's employees for the pay-roll
period ending December 31, 1937, was furnished by counsel for the
Company and introduced in evidence. In accordance with a stipu-
lation entered into at the hearing, the Company later supplied a
second list of employees for the pay-roll period ending July 15,
1938. These lists contain the names of 70 employees in the appro-
priate unit in December 1937 and 41 in July 1938. The S. W. 0. C.
then introduced in evidence signed cards each of which contained
a statement designating the S. W. 0. C. as the exclusive bargaining
representative of the person signing the card. The genuineness of
the signatures appearing on these designation cards was verified by
the undisputed testimony of a number of witnesses. All of these
cards were signed in June and July 1938. A comparison of these
designation cards with the pay rolls in evidence reveals that 39 of the
70 employees within the appropriate unit in December and 25 of the
41 within said unit in July have designated the United as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining. The Boiler-
makers offered no proof of their membership at the hearing. It thus
appears that the S. W. 0. C. represents a majority of the employees
in the appropriate unit on the basis of both pay-roll lists used for
134 NATIONAL LABOR RELATION S BOARD
such determination. In addition, the S. W. O. C. claimed and the
Boilermakers denied at the hearing that six other employees of the
Company have selected the S. W. O. C. as their bargaining agent.
Since clear evidence shows that a majority have designated the
S. W. O. C. as their representative, it is not here necessary to deter-
mine the true status of the disputed membership.
We find that the S. W. O. C. has been designated and selected
by a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their repre-
sentative for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore,
the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the
purposes 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 Berkeley Steel Construction Co., within
the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the
National Labor Relations Act.
2. The production and maintenance employees of the Company,
including lay-out men , plate workers , shearmen, punchmen, roll op-
erators, blacksmiths , welders, drill press operators , and miscellane-
ous helpers , and excluding supervisory employees, clerical employees,
truck drivers , and riggers , constitute a unit appropriate for the
purposes of collective bargaining , within the meaning of Section
9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act.
3. Steel Workers Organizing Committee , Local 1649 , is the exclu-
sive representative of all the 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 Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended,
IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Steel Workers Organizing Committee,
Local 1649, has been designated and selected by a majority of the
production and maintenance employees of Berkeley Steel Construc-
tion Co., Berkeley, California, including lay-out men, plate workers,
shearmen, punchmen, roll operators, and miscellaneous helpers, and
excluding supervisory employees, clerical employees, truck drivers,
and riggers, as their representative for the purposes of collective
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 135
bargaining and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of
the Act, Steel Workers Organizing Committee, Local 1649, is the
exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of
collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of em-
ployment, and other conditions of employment.
MR. DONALD WAKEFIELD SMITH took no part in the consideration
of the above Decision and Certification of Representatives.