Kennecott Copper Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 6, 1946

69 N.L.R.B. 1257 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MINE, MILL AND SMELTER WORKERS,
C. I. 0., PETITIONER
Case No. 16-R-1738.-Decided, August 6, 1946
Mr. J. F. Woodbury, of Silver City, N. Mex., for the Employer.
Mr. Verne Curtis, of Silver City, N. Mex., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Cotton Murray, of Phoenix, Ariz., for the Boilermakers.
Mr. B. E. Tiller, of Fort Worth, Tex., for the Operating Engineers.
Mr. Paul M. Peterson, of Phoenix, Ariz., for the Boilermakers and
the Operating Engineers.
Mr. Robert J. Freehling, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Silver
City, New Mexico, on June 21, 1946, before Elmer Davis, Trial
Examiner. At the hearing, the Boilermakers and the Operating
Engineers jointly moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds that
their continual contractual relationship with the Employer bars an
election at this time and that the Petitioner does not represent a sub-
stantial number of employees in the appropriate units. Ruling on the
motion was reserved for the Board. For the reasons stated in Section
III, infra, the motion is denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made
at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Kennecott Copper Corporation, a New York corporation, has
divided its operations into several divisions. Its Chino Mines Di-
vision, with which we are solely concerned, operates an open pit copper
mine at Santa Rita, New Mexico, and a mine and smelter at Hurley,
New Mexico. Copper ore produced at the Santa Rita mine is proc-
69 N. L. R. B., No. 149.
1257
1258 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
essed for shipment at the Hurley mine and smelter. The Employer
receives annually at its Chino Mines Division approximately $3,000,-
000 worth of materials and supplies from sources outside the State of
New Mexico. All the Employer's annual production at its Santa Rita
mine, consisting of copper and derivative products and valued at ap-
proximately $17,000,000, is ultimately shipped to points outside the
State.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders and
Helpers of America, Lodge No. 632, and International Union of
Operating Engineers, Local No. 870, herein called the Boilermakers
and the Operating Engineers, respectively, are labor organizations
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to repre-
sent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On April 22, 1946, the Petitioner requested recognition from the
Employer as the exclusive bargaining representative of certain of
its employees. The Employer refused to grant such recognition, con-
tending that these employees were represented by either the Boiler-
makers or the Operating Engineers in accordance with outstand-
ing Board certifications. The Petitioner filed its petition on April 24,
1946.
The Boilermakers and the Operating Engineers were separately
certified by the Board as exclusive bargaining representatives of
employees at this operation, within their respective jurisdictions, on
July 2, 1942, and May 12, 1944, respectively. Thereafter, on February
10, 1945, the Boilermakers and the Operating Engineers, and other
constituents of the Chino Metal Trades Council, entered into a main-
tenance-of-membership contract with the Employer for an initial
period of 2 years, effective retroactively to June 12, 1944, and covering,
among others, the employees in the units sought herein. The agree-
ment was renewable automatically from year to year after June 12,
1946, in the absence of notice of desired changes within 30 days before
June 12, 1946, or any anniversary date thereafter. Although no such
notice of desired changes in the substantive terms of the contract
appears to have been served by any of the contracting parties, it is clear
KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION . 1259
that between May 12 and June 12, 1946, the parties were actively nego-
tiating concerning such provisions as wages, reclassifications, seniority
rights, and grievance procedures. As a result of these negotiations,
the signatories to the 1944 contract executed on June 18, 1946, a new
agreement for an initial period of 2 years, effective retroactively to
June 12, 1946. The latter instrument is complete in itself and em-
bodies terms concerning wages, hours, conditions of employment,
and maintenance-of-membership.
The Employer, the Boilermarkers, and the Operating Engineers
urge the continual contractual relationship described above as a bar to
this proceeding.' We find no merit in this contention. The contract of
June 12, 1944, clearly cannot operate as a bar, inasmuch as it has
expired. With respect to the contract executed on June 18, 1946, the
Petitioner gave notice of its rival claim and filed its petition in ad-
vance of the execution date, and, therefore, under well established
principles of the Board, this agreement cannot operate to stay elec-
tions at this time.'
The Boilermakers and the Operating Engineers also contend in
their motion to dismiss that no elections should be conducted at this
time, because the Petitioner does not have a substantial interest in the
appropriate units. Inasmuch as we are administratively satisfied
that the Petitioner has such an interest, we shall, for the reasons stated
in Matter of O. 1). Jeneings c Company,3 reject this contention.
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 UNITS
In accord with the agreement of the parties, we find that the follow-
ing groups of employees at the Chino Mines Division of the Employer
constitute units appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining
within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.4
1. All boilermakers, helpers of the shovel repair department and
the boilermakers, helpers, and welders of the boiler shop at Santa
Rita; and boilermakers , boilermakers layer-out men, boilermaker
1 The contracting parties take the position that no break in the contractual relationship
occurred between June 12 and June 18, 1946 , and appear to attach some significance
thereto. However, in our view of the case, we find it unnecessary to determine whether,
as asserted by these parties , the contract of June 12 , 1944, was automatically renewed on
June 12 , 1946, and remained in effect until the execution of the new agreement on June 18,
1946.
2 Matter of General Electric X-Ray Corporation, 67 N. L. R. B. 997.
3 68 N. L. R. B. 516.
4 The units are substantially identical with those found appropriate by the Board in
Matter of Kennecott Copper Corporation, 40 N. L. R. B. 986, and Matter of.Kennecott Copper
Corporation, 55 N. L. R . B. 929, respectively.
1260 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
helpers, boilermaker apprentices, welders, and the car repairmen em-
ployed in the Hurley boiler shop, including the Santa Rita car repair-
men and the triple valve man, but excluding clean-up men, clerical
employees, supervisors, assistant supervisors, all foremen having au-
thority to recommend discharge.
2. All prospect drillers, prospect driller helpers, churn drillers,
churn driller helpers, electric shovel engineers and oilers, pitmen,
track-shifter operators and helpers, compressormen, pumpmen, loco-
motive crane engineers and operators and helpers, bulldozer operators;
head operators, operators, helpers, and assistants in the crushing, fine
grinding, and flotation departments; line operators and helpers; oil-
ing department employees, including head oilers, operators and
helpers and assistants in the reverberatory department. the converter
department, the refinery, and the. casting and loading department;
the symons crusher operator, the cottrell plan helper, utility man in
the conveyor department; the cranemen in the foundry : brown hoist
operator and helpers of the machine shop, shovel operator and oiler
of the truck department; catskinner and blademan: craneman of the
general mill repair department and the hoistman of the construction
department; but excluding laborers, copper loaders, smelter tripper-
men, oiler clean-up men, clerical employees, supervisors, assistant
supervisors, and all foremen having authority to recommend
lischarge.
DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining with Kennecott Copper Corporation,
Hurley, New Mexico , elections 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 Sixteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for
the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sec-
tions 10 and 11, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regula-
tions-Series 3, as amended , among the employees in the units 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 in-
cluding employees in the armed forces of the United States who pre-
sent 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 elections , to determine :
(a) whether the employees described in group (1) of Section IV
desire to be represented by International Union of Mine, Mill and
KENNECOTT COPPER CORPORATION 1261
Smelter Workers, C. I. 0., or by International Brotherhood of Boiler-
makers, Iron Ship Builders and Helpers of America, Lodge No. 632,
A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bargaining, or by neither; and
(b) whether the employees described in group (2) of Section IV
desire to be represented by International Union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers. C. I. 0., or by International Union of Operating
Engineers, Local No. 870. A. F. L., for the purposes of collective bar-
gaining, or by neither.
MR. JOHN M. HOUSTON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Direction of Elections.