Kennecott Cooper Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

May 21, 1969

176 N.L.R.B. 96 (N.L.R.B. 1969)

96 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Kennecott Copper Corporation , Chino Mines
Division , Petitioner , and United Steelworkers of
America Local 890, AFL-4710 and International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Lodge 1563 , AFL-CIO-CLC. Case 28-UC-28
May 21, 1969
DECISION AND ORDER CLARIFYING
CERTIFICATION
BY MEMBERS BROWN, JENKINS, AND ZAGORIA
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(b) of
the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a
hearing was held on October 10, 1968, before L. L.
Porterfield, a Hearing Officer of the National Labor
Relations Board. On December 2, 1968, the
Regional Director for Region 28 transferred the
case to the Board for decision.
Thereafter, the Employer-Petitioner, herein called
the Employer, and the United Steelworkers of
America Local 890, AFL-CIO, hereinafter called
Steelworkers, filed briefs.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the
National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the
Board has delegated its powers in connection with
this case to a three-member panel.
The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's
rulings made at the hearing and finds that they are
free from prejudicial error. They are hereby
affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board
finds:
The Employer is engaged in the mining, milling
and distribution of ore materials. Its Chino Mines
Division, located in New Mexico, is comprised of
several facilities including an ore mine at Santa Rita
and a reduction plant at Hurley some 8 miles away.
Appended to the reduction plant is a lime quarry.
The petition herein seeks a clarification of the unit
of production employees at the Employer's
reduction plant and the lime quarry operation
currently represented by the Steelworkers.
In September 1968, the Employer established a
new job classification at its lime quarry. Previous to
that time there were two lime quarry employees,
classified respectively as front end loader and
production truck driver. The former employee was
the sole employee at Hurley represented by the
International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers Lodge 1563, AFL-CIO-CLC
(hereinafter called Machinists) and the latter was
represented by the Steelworkers.'
The parties agree that in Cases 33-RC-31 through 35, and 33-RC-39 the
Machinists was certified as bargaining representative of certain Santa Rita
employees , including shovel runners at Hurley. The job description "shovel
runner" was subsequently changed to front end loader when the Employer
introduced new machinery years later ; however the jobs are essentially the
same. In Cases R-3014 and 16•R-1738 the Board certified the Mine, Mill
and Smelter Workers , CIO, as bargaining agent for the production and
Basically, the front end loader's work entailed
loading the trucks and on occasion clearing the
pickup area of loose rubble while the truckdriver
hauled the lime to the nearby reduction plant where
it was used in the copper ore reduction process. On
September 12, 1968, the front end loader was
discharged for cause and the Employer, instead of
assigning a replacement, created a new job
classification of lime quarry equipment operator.
This new job, in effect, combined the jobs previously
performed by the front end loader and truckdriver.
The Employer assigned the lime quarry equipment
operator job to the truckdriver represented by the
Steelworkers and since that time it has recognized
that union as bargaining representative for this
employee. The petition herein requests a
clarification which would find that the work
performed by the lime quarry equipment operator is
production work and that the new classification
should be included in the Steelworkers' production
and maintenance unit. The Steelworkers agrees.
Before the Hearing Officer, the Machinists moved
to dismiss on several grounds' and, in the
alternative, argued that if the petition were not
dismissed the new job classification should be placed
in its unit.
The record shows that all union represented
employees at the reduction plant, which includes the
lime quarry facility, are represented by the
Steelworkers. Within this production and
maintenance unit are bulldozer, grader, front end
loader operators, truckdrivers and other heavy
equipment operators. Likewise, all employees at the
lime quarry operation of the reduction plant are
presently represented by the Steelworkers. Among
this latter group are quarrymen and the lime quarry
equipment operator. Thus, in terms of work related
contacts, all of the lime quarry equipment operator's
union represented coworkers including truckdrivers
and front end loaders, whether at the lime quarry or
at the reduction plant itself, are represented by the
Steelworkers. The nearest employees represented by
the Machinists are employed at the Santa Rita ore
mine located 7 miles from Hurley.
As for the lime quarry equipment operator job, it
appears that the employee assigned to this
classification spends most of his time hauling the
lime stone to the reduction plant and his operation
maintenance employees at Hurley. This certification included the truck
driver at the lime quarry . The Steelworkers, in July 1967, merged with the
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, and has since served as
collective-bargaining representative of those employees covered by the
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers ' certification.
'Machinists argues, Inter alts, as grounds for dismissal, that this matter
raises a question of representation , that there is a possible work assignment
dispute , and that a grievance has been filed . These arguments overlook the
fact that the issue here is one of accretion - the addition of a newly
created job - to an existing collective-bargaining unit . In this stance we
consider McDonnell Company , 173 NLRB No. 31, to be inapposite.
Finally, we perceive no reason for further delaying this matter pending the
outcome of the grievance because the Steelworkers is not a party to it and
would not be bound thereby . Libbey-McNe il and Libbey, 159 NLRB 677.
Accordingly , the Machinists' motions to dismiss the petition are denied.
176 NLRB No. 13
KENNECOTT COPPER DIV.
of the front end loader apparently occupies only a
fraction of his time . In addition , with regard to
supervision , there is a clear administrative
separateness between the Santa Rita mine and the
Hurley reduction plant. The record shows that the
lime quarry equipment operator ' s foreman and
general foreman and the superintendent in charge of
the lime quarry and the lime plant division of the
reduction operation all supervise employees
represented by the Steelworkers and have no
employees represented by the Machinists within
their respective departmental jurisdictions.
Given these circumstances, and in particular, the
integrated production processes at the reduction
plant and lime quarry operations at Hurley, New
Mexico , the close working relationship between the
lime quarry equipment operator and other
production employees represented by the
97
Steelworkers, the common Supervision of all
production workers and the equipment operator, we
find that this newly created classification is an
accretion to, and should be included in, the
production unit at the reduction plant. We therefore
conclude that the lime quarry equipment operator is
an accretion to the Steelworkers' unit and we shall
accordingly clarify its certification to include him.
ORDER
It is hereby ordered that the unit certified in Case
R-3014, heretofore issued to the International Union
of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers CIO, since
merged with the United Steelworkers of America
Local 890, AFL-CIO, be, and hereby is, clarified by
specifically including therein the job classification of
lime quarry equipment operator.