Magma Cooper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Jul 10, 1959

124 N.L.R.B. 41 (N.L.R.B. 1959)

MAGMA COPPER COMPANY 41
merit, these objections are hereby overruled. As the Petitioner has
failed to secure a majority of the valid votes cast, we shall certify the
results of the election.
[The Board certified that a majority of the valid votes was not
cast for Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers Workmen of North
America , AFL-CIO, and that the said organization is not the exclu-
sive representative of the Employer 's employees in the unit herein-
above found appropriate.]
Magma Copper Company and International Association of Ma-
chinists, AFL-CIO, Petitioner
Magma Copper Company and International Brotherhood of
Boilermakers, Blacksmiths, Iron Ship Builders , Forgers and
Helpers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner
Magma Copper Company and International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, Petitioner
Magma Copper Company and International Union of Mine, Mill
and Smelter Workers, Petitioner and International Associa-
tion of Machinists, AFL-CIO. Cases Nos. 31-RC-5434, 21-RC-
5436, 21-RC-5491, and 21-RC-5495. July 10, 1959
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS
Upon separate petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the Na-
tional Labor Relations Act, u consolidated hearing was held before
James W. Cherry, Jr., hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby
affirmed.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with these cases to a three-
member panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Bean and Jenkins].
Upon the entire record in these cases, the Board finds :
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer.
3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa-
tion of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section
9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act.
4. The appropriate units:
The Employer is engaged in deep underground mining, milling,
and smelting of copper ore at its Superior, Arizona, plant, the only
124 NLRB No. 13.
42 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
operation involved in this proceeding . Copper ores from the mine
are concentrated in the Employer 's mill and smelted into blister copper
in the Employer's smelter. The employees of the Employer are or-
ganized into three main divisions, corresponding to the mining, mill-
ing, and smelter operations , and several smaller service departments.
Facilities related to the mining , milling, and smelting processes in-
clude the smelter machine shop, mine repair shop, mill repair shop,
powerhouse, electrical shop, timber framing shop, and the warehouse.
The mine is approximately a mile deep and has more than 85 miles of
tunnels. The smelter, with its adjacent smelter machine shop and
powerhouse, is approximately a mile from the mine yard, which con-
tains the mine repair shop. The mill is located about halfway be-
tween the mine and the smelter.
There is no bargaining history for any of the maintenance or other
employees involved in this proceeding . The production employees
who handle and process ore, as well as the carpenters , painters,
plumbers, and truckdrivers , comprise the employees of the Employer
who have a bargaining history. In an earlier proceeding involving
the plant in question the Board found that separate maintenance and
production units may be appropriate and directed self -determination
elections among such employees to determine whether they desired to
be represented in an overall production and maintenance unit or in
separate units. ' The election in that case did not result in the selec-
tion of a bargaining agent for either unit . In a subsequent consent
election the International Union of Mine , Mill and Smelter Workers,
herein called Mine Mill, was selected and certified as bargaining repre-
sentative of the production employees , and maintenance employees
were left without representation . 2 Thereafter the parties included
carpenters , painters , plumbers, and truckdrivers in the contract unit.
Petitioners here seek to represent the presently unrepresented em-
ployees in five separate units. The Employer contends that the only
appropriate unit would be a single unit of the unrepresented employees
with the exception of employees of the electrical department who, it
concedes , constitute a separate appropriate craft unit . In support of
its contention the Employer relies on the highly integrated nature of
the Employer 's operations and the interchange of personnel of the
various departments . As indicated below, we find that these factors
are insufficient to preclude the establishment of separate voting groups.
The specific unit requests of the Petitioners are as follows :
In Case No. 21-RC-5434, International Association of Machinists,
AFL-CIO , hereinafter called the IAM, petitions for a unit of machin-
ists, machinist repairmen , mechanics , mechanic repairmen , welders,
welder repairmen , refrigerator mechanics, refrigerator operators,
x Magma Copper Company , 115 NLRB 1.
2 Magma Copper Company, Case No. 21-RC-4939 ( unpublished).
MAGMA COPPER COMPANY 43
truck and auto mechanics, handymen, oilers, and rock drill repairmen
employed at the Employer's mine, mill, and smelter. It would ex-
clude from this unit the production employees presently represented
by Mine Mill and the employees whom the other Petitioners seek to
represent in separate units. International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, AFL-CIO, hereinafter called IBEW, the petitioner in Case
No. 21-RC-5491, seeks a unit of all employees of the Employer's
electrical department. In the same petition, as amended at the hear-
ing, the IBEW requests another separate unit of all powerhouse
employees. In Case No. 21-RC-5436, International Brotherhood of
Boilermakers, Blacksmiths, Iron Ship Builders, Forgers and Helpers,
AFL-CIO, herein called the Boilermakers, petitions for a unit of all
boilermakers, blacksmiths, tool sharpeners, welders, their helpers,
handymen, and apprentices employed at the mine and smelter shops
of the Employer. Aline Mill, in Case No. 21-RC-5495, seeks a unit
of all underground and surface pumpmen, small and large hoistmen,
the Brown hoist operator, the Crane Karr operator, and heavy equip-
ment operators.3
Electrical Department Unit
The electrical department employees sought by the IBEW are sepa-
rately located and supervised and do not interchange with other em-
ployees. It appears from the record that the employees of this
department exercise the journeyman skills of their particular craft.
The parties stipulated and we find that they may constitute an appro-
priate craft unit, if they so desire.
Powerhouse Unit
The IBEW also seeks to represent a unit of powerhouse employees.
The powerhouse is separately housed in a centrally located two-story
building which contains a steam turbine, compressors for the mine,
blowers for the smelter, and motor-operated steam pumps. Stationed
in the powerhouse are approximately 13 employees including 4 en-
gineers, 4 firemen, 4 oilers, and a wiper. Powerhouse personnel per-
form the duties customarily 'associated with their job classifications.
Permanently assigned powerhouse employees are recruited from the
smelter shop, usually from among smelter shop employees who have
acquired experience in powerhouse operations through relieving regu-
lar powerhouse employees. Normal progression is from oiler to fire-
man to engineer. Powerhouse employees spend all their working time
in the powerhouse and there is no appreciable interchange between
3 The units sought by the Petitioners herein, with the exception of the unit sought in
Case No. 21-RC-5495, are substantially the same units which the Employer agreed were
separate appropriate units in consent -election agreements entered into in 1957. All
Petitioners in these consent elections were unsuccessful , except Mine Mill, which was
selected as bargaining representative of the Employer's production employees.
44 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
them and other employees. Accordingly, we find, contrary to the
Employer's contention, that the powerhouse employees constitute a
functionally distinct departmental group which the Board has per-
mitted to be separately represented, if these employees so desire 4
Boilermakers Unit
As indicated above, the Boilermakers petitions for a unit of boiler-
makers, blacksmiths, tool sharpeners, welders, their helpers, handy-
men, and apprentices employed at the mine and smelter shops. There
are five or six boilermakers employed in the Employer's smelter shop.
Each has a helper regularly assigned to him. They handle mainte-
nance and repair of four large steam boilers. In addition, they do
plate, sheet and iron work, construct tanks, and fabricate structural
shapes. The Employer and the Boilermakers stipulated that the
boilermakers are skilled craftsmen.
In the same part of the smelter shop in which the boilermakers are
located there is a blacksmith who has a hammer man and a helper
regularly assigned to him. The parties agree that the blacksmith
performs the usual functions of his craft, as does the blacksmith at
the -mine shop, who also has a helper regularly assigned to him.
Boilermakers and blacksmiths work in close proximity, under the
same supervision, and helpers assigned to one group frequently assist
the other. Neither craft has a bargaining history and no union other
than the Boilermakers seeks to represent them. The Employer also
employs welders who spend most of their working time with the boiler-
makers.5 Working with the boilermakers and blacksmiths are tool
sharpeners who temper and repair mine bits and drill steel, using gas
furnaces and pneumatic machines in their operations. There are also
helpers, handymen, and apprentices who are regularly assigned to
work with the boilermakers and blacksmiths. On the basis of the
foregoing we find that boilermakers, blacksmiths, tool sharpeners,
welders and handymen, and helpers and apprentices regularly assigned
to work with boilermakers and blacksmiths may constitute an appro-
priate unit, if they so desire.
Mine Mill Unit
Mine Mill seeks to add hoistmen and other classifications herein-
after discussed to the existing unit which it presently represents.
Mine Mill presently represents the Employer's production employees
4 Olin Mathieson Chemical' Corporation, 117 NLRB 1441, 1443.
5 These welders properly belong in a unit with the boilermakers . Cf. Clayton t Lambert
Manufacturing Company , 111 NLRB 540 , 544. The record shows that employees in other
classifications do minor or incidental welding work in conjunction with their regular
functions. Such welding work does not require the special skills of the welders who work
with the boilermakers and blacksmiths . The former employees are excluded from the
Boilermakers' unit.
MAGMA COPPER COMPANY 45
and certain other classifications contractually included in the unit.
Specifically , it would add to this unit all underground and surface
pumpmen, small and large hoistmen, the Brown hoist operator, the
Crane Karr operator , and heavy equipment operators . The IAM
intervened in this case , indicating a desire to represent these employees,
in addition to those petitioned for in 21-RC-5434. In a previous pro-
ceeding in January 1956,6 the Board included in the production unit
hoistmen and the locomotive crane ( Brown hoist ) operator rather than
in the maintenance unit because they performed no actual mainte-
nance work but devoted their entire time to the operation of their
equipment in the handling of mine cages and mine timbers under the
supervision of production foremen. As there is no evidence indicat-
ing any substantial change in the functions of the hoistmen and the
Brown hoist operator, we find that their interests continue to be closely
allied with production employees so that they may therefore be in-
cluded in the production unit if they so desire. However, they are
also properly includible in the residual unit.
In addition to the Brown hoist, the Employer also operates three
pieces of mobile hoisting apparatus-a Crane Karr hoist , a Speedall,
and a fork lift. It appears from the record that the operators of these
hoists work under the same conditions with respect to supervision and
proximity to production operations as do the hoist operators men-
tioned above and when extra employees are required on any hoisting
equipment they are assigned from the production unit. In these cir-
cumstances , we find that these employees also have a sufficient com-
munity of interest with the production employees presently repre-
sented by the Petitioner to be added to the production unit if they so
desire, and that they may also be included in the residual unit. The
Employer's mine has an underground pumping system with pump
stations at several levels of the mine to lift water from the bottom of
the mine to the surface . Like the hoistmen referred to above, the
pumpmen work in the same area as, and in physical proximity to, the
production employees . Although the underground pumpmen are ex-
pected to pack their pumps and make minor adjustments, they ordi-
narily do not do actual mechanical repairing of their pumps. In
addition to the underground pumps, there are several mine surface
pumps which are manned by regularly assigned surface pumpmen
whose functions and supervision are similar to those of the under-
ground pumpmen . We, therefore , find that, as in the case.of the
hoistmen , underground and surface pumpmen at the mine have suffi-
cient interests in common with production employees to permit them
a choice as to whether they should be added either to the production
unit or to the residual unit.
6 Magma Copper Company, 115 NLRB 1.
46 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
Accordingly, we shall direct an election among the employees in the
fourth voting group described below to determine whether they de-
sire to be added to the existing bargaining unit currently represented
by Mine Mill or to be part of the residual unit.7 Voting group (4)
will comprise all underground and surface pumpmen, small and large
hoistmen, Brown hoist operators, Crane Karr operators, heavy equip-
ment operators, but excluding all other employees and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
Residual Maintenance Unit
In Case No. 21-RC-5434, the IAM is, in effect, seeking part of the
unrepresented employees in the maintenance department. This unit
includes a multicraft group of some, but not all, maintenance em-
ployees and covers all maintenance employees not included in units
sought by the IBEW, Boilermakers, and Mine Mill. In the absence
of any bargaining history on a broader basis, the Board has held that
a maintenance department unit may be appropriate.8 Indeed, in a
previous proceeding involving this plant the Board found that the
maintenance department may constitute an appropriate unit .9 As
previously indicated, however, the IAM does not wish to participate
in any elections involving the units sought by the other petitioners,
except that sought by Mine Mill if those units are found appropriate.
The group sought by the IAM is, therefore, one which the Board
would not ordinarily find appropriate. Accordingly, the IAM's peti-
tion shall be viewed as seeking a residual unit consisting of all un-
represented employees. The IAM, therefore, will be placed on the
ballot in the units sought by the other petitioners. If the majority of
the employees in the IBEW and Boilermakers units vote for separate
representation, and a majority of the employees in the Mine Mill unit
vote to be added to the unit presently represented by Mine Mill, the
remaining employees sought by the IAM will then constitute an
appropriate residual unit. If, however, the employees of any or of
all these voting groups vote against separate representa-tion, or the
employees in the Mine Mill voting group vote against being added to
the unit presently represented by Mine Mill, the employees in the
groups so voting must be included in the residual voting group of
maintenance employees.10
In view of the foregoing, we shall direct elections in the following
voting groups:
(1) All electrical department employees excluding all other em-
ployees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
7 Cf. The Zia Company, 108 NLRB 1134, 1135.
8 Schering Corporation, 107 NLRB 1540, 1541.
8 Magma Copper Company, 115 NLRB 1.
10 Stauffer Chemical Company, 108 NLRB 1037, 1040.
MAGMA COPPER COMPANY 47
(2) All powerhouse employees excluding all other employees and
supervisors as defined in the Act.
(3) All boilermakers, blacksmiths, tool sharpeners, welders and
helpers, handymen, and apprentices regularly assigned to work with
boilermakers and blacksmiths at the mine and smelter shops exclud-
ing all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
(4) All underground and surface pumpmen, small and large hoist-
men, Brown hoist operators, Crane Karr operators, and heavy equip-
ment operators, but excluding all other employees and supervisors as
defined in the Act.
(5) All machinists, machinist repairmen, mechanics, mechanic re-
pairmen, welders, welder repairmen, refrigerator mechanics, refrig-
erator operators, truck and auto mechanics, handymen, oilers, and rock
drill repairmen, but excluding office clerical employees and all other
employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
We have found that the employees of voting group (5) may con-
stitute an appropriate residual maintenance unit only if the employees
in the voting group (4) vote for Mine Mill and if the employees of
the other voting groups vote for separate representation in all other
instances. If, however, the employees of group (1), (2), or (3)
vote against separate representation, or if the employees in voting
group (4) vote for IAM the employees of the group or groups so
voting must be included in any appropriate unit of maintenance
employees. Therefore, we shall provide that if a majority of the
employees in voting groups (1), (2), and (3), or any one of them,
select the labor organization seeking to represent them separately,
those employees will be taken to have indicated their desire to con-
stitute a separate bargaining unit and the Regional Director conduct-
ing the election is instructed to issue a certification of representatives
to the labor organization seeking and selected by the employees in
each group for such unit, which the Board, in such circumstances,
finds to be appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining. Also,
if the employees in voting group (4) vote for the Mine Mill, they will
be deemed to be part of the existing unit represented by Mine Mill.
On the other hand, if a majority of the employees in voting group (1),
(2), or (3), or any of them, do not vote for the labor organization
which is seeking to represent them in a separate unit, or if the em-
ployees in voting group (4) vote for the IAM, the employees in such
group or groups will be included in the residual maintenance unit and
their votes will be pooled with those of voting group (5),11 and the
Regional Director conducting the election is instructed to issue a
n If the votes are pooled , they are to be tallied in the following manner : The votes
for the union seeking a separate unit or to represent the employees in voting group (4)
shall be counted as valid votes , but neither for nor against the union seeking to represent
the more comprehensive unit . All other votes are to be accorded their face value , whether
for representation by the union seeking the comprehensive group or for no union.
48 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
certification of representatives to the labor organization selected by
a majority of the employees in the pooled group, which the Board, in
such circumstances, finds to be a unit appropriate for purposes of
collective bargaining.
[Text of Direction of Elections omitted from publication.]
Miratile Manufacturing Company, Inc. and International Union,
United Automobile , Aircraft & Agricultural Implement Work-
ers of America , affiliated with American Federation of Labor
and Congress of Industrial Organizations , Petitioner. Case
No. 13-RC-6427. July 13, 1959
DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National
Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Jewel G. Maher, hear-
ing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.'
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board
has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member
panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Bean and Fanning].
Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds:
1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of
the Act.
2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain em-
ployees of the Employer?
3. The Petitioner seeks a unit of production and maintenance em-
ployees at the Employer's Elkhart, Indiana, plant. The Employer
and the Intervenor contend that their current contract covering "all
employees" is a bar to the petition. The contract was originally nego-
tiated in 1954, for a 1-year period, and, thereafter, in August 1955
and in September 1956, successively extended, with wage increases,
until September 1958. At the time the original contract and exten-
sions were negotiated, the Employer's only plant was located in
Chicago, Illinois. However, in September 1957 the Employer started
operations at its new plant at Elkhart, which is the subject of the
present petition. The following September a further wage increase
was negotiated and the basic agreement extended to September 1960.
The Elkhart plant, located 120 miles from the Chicago plant has its
The Employer's contention as to the adequacy of the Petitioner 's compliance with
Section 9 ( f), (g), and ( h) involves administrative matters not cognizable in this pro-
ceeding. We are presently administratively satisfied that the Petitioner is in compliance.
See Desaulniers and Company , 115 NLRB 1025, and Standard Cigar Company, 117
NLRB 852.
9 Wallboard & Aluminum Workers Union intervened at the hearing on the basis of a
contract claim.
124 NLRB No. 10.