Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Inc.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Apr 5, 1946

67 N.L.R.B. 88 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of JOSEPH T. RYERSON & SON, INC. and UNITED STEEL-
woRKERs OF AMERICA, CIO
Case No.1-R-2850.Decided April 5,1946
Cravath, Swaine, and Moore, by Mr. John H. Morse, of New York
City, for the Company.
Grant and Angoff, by Mr. Harold B. Roitman, of Boston, Mass., for
the Union.
Mr. Emil C. Farkas, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Upon a petition duly filed by United Steelworkers of America, CIO,
herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce
had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Joseph T.
Ryerson & Son, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, herein called the
Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an appro-
priate hearing upon due notice before Leo J. Halloran, Trial Exam-
iner. The hearing was held at Boston, Massachusetts, on February
13, 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. All parties were
afforded opportunity to file briefs with the Board.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Inc., is a Delaware corporation, having
places of business in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan, Penn-
sylvania, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, where it
is engaged in the purchase, sale, and distribution of steel products.
More than 90 percent of the materials purchased by the Company for
67 N. L R. B., No. 8.
88
JOSEPH T. RYERSON & SON, INC. 89
resale at its Cambridge, Massachusetts, plant, with which we are solely
concerned in this proceeding, is purchased outside the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, and approximately 20 percent of its sales is made
to customers outside the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Com-
pany's Cambridge warehouse annually sells and distributes steel prod-
ucts valued at more than $100,000. The Company has warehouses in
certain other States from which it carries on the same general type of
business that it does from its Cambridge warehouse.
We find that the Company is engaged in commerce within the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act'
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
United Steelworkers of America is a labor organization affiliated
with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to mem-
bership employees of the Company.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On January 14, 1946, the Union, by letter, advised the Company
that it represented a majority of the Company's employees and re-
quested a conference. On the same day, the Union filed its petition
in this case. The Company refuses to recognize the Union as the rep-
resentative of its employees.
A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hear-
ing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of
employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate 2
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 requests a unit composed of all production and main-
tenance employees of the Company, but excluding executives, watch-
men, office clerical employees, and all supervisory employees with
authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect
changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such
action. The Company agrees, but would define the unit as restricted
to hourly paid employees.' For the purpose of determining appro-
Matter of Joseph T. Ryerson it Son, Inc, 65 N. L R B 921.
The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted 59 cards bearing the names of
58 employees, and that the cards are dated in January 1946, one being undated. There are
approximately 77 emplovees in the appropriate unit
The Company's position regarding probationary and part-time employees is not one
which relates to occupational categories of employment, but rather to voting eligibility,
and will , therefore , be discussed under the heading of "determination of representatives."
90 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
priate bargaining units, we do not differentiate between employees paid
on a salary basis and those paid on an hourly basis, solely on the ground
of difference in mode of payment 4 We, therefore, reject the Com-
pany's contention.
We find that all production and maintenance employees at the
Company's Cambridge, Massachusetts, plant, excluding executives,
watchmen, office clerical employees, and all supervisory employees
with authority to hire, promote, diseharge, 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.
V. THE DETERMINATON OF REPRESENTATIVES
Employees of the Company who are on the regular pay roll but have
worked for less than 6 months are regarded as probationary employees.
The Company also hires a number of part-time employees. The parties
are in disagreement concerning the participation in the election of
both probationary and part-time employees. They agree that "casual"
employees should not be eligible, and we so find.
The record shows that the probationary employees have the same
substantial interest in the terms and conditions of employment as
have regular employees and are hired with the expectation that they
will be permanent if their work is satisfactory. We shall, therefore,
permit them to vote in the election.5 Similarly, the part-time em-
ployees work a regular schedule of hours each week, though lesser
in number than regular employees, and have a sufficient interest to
entitle them to vote in the election e
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 Rela-
tions 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 Joseph T. Ryer-
4 Matter of Edgewater Steel Company, 56 N. L. R. B. 1778.
rs Matter of Ideal Roller & Manufacturing Company, 60 N. L. R. B. 1105.
n Matter of Avery, Elton R . at al., 44 N. L. R. B. 801.
JOSEPH T. RYERSON & SON, INC. 91
son & Son, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 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 supervi-
sion of the Regional Director for the First 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 Regulations,
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 represented
by United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the CIO, for the
purposes of collective bargaining.