Bethlehem Steel Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 14, 1946

67 N.L.R.B. 1392 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of BETHLEHEM STEEL Co., Si IIPBUILDING DIVISION and
INDUSTRIAL UNION OF MARINE & SHIPBUILDING WORKERS OF AMER-
ICA, LoCAL 12, C. I. O.
Case No. 2-R-62741.-Decided May 14, 1946
Messrs. E. E. Kirwan and W. F. Barwick, of New York City, for
the Company.
Messrs. William McCaffrey and Syd Rose, of New York City, for
the Union.
Mr. Conrad J. Wickham,, Jr., of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF TIIE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by Industrial Union of Marine & Ship-
building Workers of America, Local 12, C. I. 0., herein called the
Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Bethlehem Steel Co.,
Shipbuilding Division, New York City, herein called the Company,
the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate
hearing upon due notice before Sidney Reitman, Trial Examiner.
The hearing was held at New York City, on April 2, 1946. The
Company and the Union appeared and participated. All parties were
afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine
witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. The
Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial
error and are hereby affirmed. The Company's motion to dismiss the
petition is hereby denied for the reasons stated in Section IV, infra.
All parties were afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS or FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF TIIE COMPANY
Bethlehem Steel Co., Shipbuilding Division, is a Pennsylvania
corporation having its principal office in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,
67 N. L. R. B., No. 189.
1392
BETHLEHEM STEEL CO. 1393
but maintaining offices for its shipbuilding division at 25 Broadway,
New York City. It is engaged in reparing, reconditioning and con-
structing ships at its shipyard located at Mariners' Harbor, Staten
Island, New York (hereinafter called the Staten Island Yard).
Other shipyards operated by the Company in the New York harbor
area are located at Hoboken, New Jersey, and at Brooklyn, New York.
During the calendar year 1945, the Staten Island Yard used materials
valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which over 60 percent was shipped to
the Yard from points outside the State of New York. During the same
period the Company's gross income from its work at the Staten Island
Yard was in excess of $2,000,000, more than 90 percent of which was
in payment for work performed on vessels destined for use in interstate
and foreign commerce or for the United States Navy, the United States'
Maritime Commission or the War Shipping Administration.
The Company admits, for the purpose of this proceeding, that it is
engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Rela-
tions Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
Industrial Union of Marine & Shipbuilding Workers of America,
Local 12, is a labor organization, affiliated with the Congress of Indus-
trial Organizations, admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the
exclusive bargaining representative of its plant protection personnel
until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of em-
ployees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.'
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Union seeks to represent in a single bargaining unit all of the
Company's guards, watchmen , and receptionists , exclusive of super-
2 The Field Examiner reported that the Union had submitted authorization and author-
ization -application cards, bearing the names of 57 employees , and that the cards are dated
from January 23 to February 25, 1946.
The report also states that there are approximately 62 employees in the appropriate
unit.
692148-46-vol. 67-89
1394 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
visory employees, employed at the Company's Staten Island Yard.2
While the Union currently represents the Company's production and
maintenance employees, and its timekeepers, janitors and others in
separate units, there has been no previous bargaining history at this
yard concerning the unit presently sought. The Company has moved
to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the employees in the unit
requested are not "employees" within the meaning of the National
Labor Relations Act, and that their duties are so identified with the
interests of management that to permit their organization into a bar-
gaining unit would defeat, rather than effectuate, the purposes of the
Act.
The employees involved include 18 guards, 36 watchmen, 2 reception-
ists and 1 guard-receptionist. None of them is militarized or deputized
at the present time. Although the guards are uniformed, it is not
clear from the record whether the watchmen and receptionists are uni-
formed or not, although all wear identifying badges. None of these
employees is armed, with the exception of 3 of the guards. All are on a
salary basis, with a slight differentiation between the watchmen and
the guards, and a greater one between the guards and receptionists.
They all work under the general supervision of the captain-of-the-
guards and 4 sergeants-of-the-guards.
The guards work in and about the yard, their principal duty be-
ing to protect life and company property, enforce company rules
among the employees and guard against theft and sabotage. They
have authority, in the enforcement of company rules, to order eln-
ployees to refrain from violation, and to take violators either to the
captain-of-the-guards or their foremen, or merely report the violation.
On the basis of the guard's report, which is purely factual and either
written or oral, proper disciplinary action is determined. The guards
have a grouping room where they meet at the changing of shifts for
assignment by the sergeant-of-the-guard.
The watchmen work in and about the buildings, gates and entrances
to the yard. In addition to the duties outlined for the guards, their
duties also include the maintenance of fires, inspection of drydocks,
the punching of the detex clocks in connection with fire prevention,
and the maintenance of the Company's gates and entrances, the latter
duty including the denial of entry to unauthorized personnel and
vehicles, and the keeping of records concerning all entries and exists.
They also report to the grouping room at shift time for assignment by
the sergeant-of-the-guard.
'While the Union initially requested the inclusion of the sergeants -of-the-guard in the
unit, it later withdrew this request with the plea that its action be without prejudice
to a possible future petition to include them therein. We consider the Union's action as
taken without prejudice to such a future determination.
BETHLEHEM STEEL CO. 1395
The receptionists work in assigned buildings in the yard, their duty
being to greet and record the entry and exit of all people to and from
their building, issuing and collecting identification badges on such
occasions.
The Company's plant-protection employees discussed above have
no authority to hire, discipline or discharge, or effectively recommend
changes in the status of other employees. Although part of the In-
dustrial Relations department of the Company and under its super-
vision, they take no part in the fprmulation of company policy nor
in the negotiation of contracts as management representatives. Though
they occasionally participate in the handling of grievance matters,
they only do so in the capacity of witnesses to a violation of company
regulations.
We have previously ruled that employees acting in the same capacity
as those in the case before us are employees within the meaning of the
Act.' We have also found that their duties are essentially monitorial
in nature, rather than supervisory or managerial, and that the policies
of the Act are effected by permitting them to organize and bargain on
a collective basis 4 Representatives of other yards of the Company
here involved, acting in essentially the same capacity and performing
the same functions, have been certified by us in separate bargaining
linlts.s We fail to note any distinction between the present case and
those which have previously been before us concerning this matter,
nor can we conceive of any reason which renders a departure from
the established rule necessary at this time.e
We find that all guards, watchmen and receptionists of the Company
employed at its Staten Island Yard, excluding sergeants,-, the captain-
of-the-guards, and all or any other supervisory employees with au-
thority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.
3 See Matter of Cudahy Packing Company, 67 N L R B 150, Matter of Armour and
Company , 66 N L R B 279 ; Matter of Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation , 64 N L. R. B.
1055,Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company , 61 N. L R B 892, Matter of Plankinton
Packing Company, 59 N. L R B 35
4 Ibid
5 See Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company, 64 N. L R B 1292 , Matter of Bethlehem
Fairfield Shipyard . Inc, 61 N . L. R B 901 ; Matter of Bethlehem Steel Company, Ship-
building Division, 56th Street yard, 55 N L. R. B 316 , Matter of Bethlehem Steel
Company, Shipbuilding Division, Hoboken Yard, 52 N. L. R B. 1265i
"The Company has introduced into evidence its cbntract with the Union , and pointed
out that the employees sought herein were excluded from the production and maintenance
unit These is nothing in the excluding provision , however , which commits the Union
not to seek representation of the present unit See Matter of Cudahy Packing Company,
67 N L R B 150, Matter of Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corporation, 64 N L. R. B. 825;
and Matter of Plankinton Packing Company , 59 N. L R B 35.
7 See footnote 2, supra.
1396 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among employees
in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein,
subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction.
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, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Re-
lations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is
hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Bethlehem Steel
Co., Shipbuilding Division, New York City, an election by secret
ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty
(30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and
supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region, acting
in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and
subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regula-
tions, among employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV,
above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately
preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not
work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation
or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces
of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls,
but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged
for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date
of the election, to determine whether or not they desire to be repre-
sented by Industrial Union of Marine & Shipbuilding Workers of
America, Local 12, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining.