Miami Copper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 25, 1946

71 N.L.R.B. 34 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter Of MIAMI COPPER COMPANY, EMPLOYER and INTER=
NATIONAL UNION OF MINE, MILL AND SMELTER WORKERS, C. I. 0.,
PETITIONER
Case No. 21-R-3400.-Decided September 25,1946
Mr. James R. Malott, of Globe, Ariz., and Mr. B. R. Coil, of Miami,
Ariz., for the Employer.
Mr. Arthur Ashby, of Miami, Ariz., for the Petitioner.
Mr. Cotton Murray, of Phoenix, Ariz., for the Blacksmiths.
Mr. W. D. Taylor, of Tucson, Ariz., for the Metal Trades.
Mr. Martin T. Carzacho , of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Globe,
Arizona, on August 2, 1946, before William T. Whitsett, hearing
officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. At the hearing, the Black-
smiths moved to dismiss the petition. The hearing officer referred the
motion to the Board. For reasons stated, infra, the motion is hereby
denied.
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Miami Copper Company is a Delaware corporation engaged in the
mining and milling of copper-bearing ore at Miami, Arizona. During
1945, it purchased $857,000 worth of supplies and materials, of which
50 percent originated outside the State of Arizona. During the same
period, it produced more than 24,000 tons of blister copper, all of which
was shipped out of the State.
The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce
within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act.
71 N. L. R. B., No. 10.
34
MIAMI COPPER COMPANY
H. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
35
The Petitioner is a, labor organization affiliated with the Congress
of Industrial Organizations, claiming to represent employees of the
Employer.
International Brotherhood of Blacksmiths, Drop Forgers & Help-
ers, Local No. 625, herein called the Blacksmiths, is a labor organiza-
tion affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to
represent employees of the Employer.
Metal Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor,
herein called the Metal Trades, is a labor organization which is a
signatory to a collective bargaining contract between the Employer
and six American Federation of Labor craft unions, including the
Blacksmiths.'
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the
Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit.
On November 24, 1944, the Employer entered into a collective bar-
gaining contract with six American Federation of Labor craft unions,
including the Blacksmiths, for a period of 1 year, renewable auto-
matically from year to year thereafter, "unless on or before the thir-
tieth day next preceding any anniversary date, either party shall
notify the other in writing of a desire to modify or terminate the
same." The contract further provided that in the event the notice
expressed a desire for modification only, the parties were to enter
into immediate negotiations and "pending the outcome of such nego-
tiations this agreement shall continue in effect as written until modi-
fied by mutual agreement." However, if the notice indicated "a desire
to terminate, such termination shall become operative at the close of
the 1 year period."
In October 1945, the contracting parties exchanged notices of a
desire to modify the 1944 agreement. Thereafter, the parties con-
ducted negotiations respecting proposed modifications until on or
about June 9, 1946, when they apparently reached an oral understand-
ing as to the terms to be incorporated in a new written contract which
was not signed, however, until August 2, 1946. Meanwhile, the Peti-
tioner on May 13, 1946, requested recognition from the Employer and
on June 9, 1946, filed its petition with the Board.
The Blacksmiths contends that no question of representation exists
at the present time because (a) the 1944 agreement is a bar inasmuch
as it remained in effect until the 1946 contract was signed, and (b)
' The Metal Trades apparently does not desire to be, and therefore is not, included on
the ballot in the election directed hereinafter.
36 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
the employees in the unit desire to be represented by the Blacksmiths
as evidenced by the fact that each of them signed authorization cards
in behalf of the Blacksmiths subsequent to the filing of the petition
and by the further fact that none of them availed themselves of the
opportunity afforded in November 1945 to 'resign from membership
in the Blacksmiths as permitted by the maintenance of membership
clause in the 1944 agreement. As to the Blacksmiths' initial conten-
tion, the 1944 agreement, after notice of a desire for modification was
served, became one of indefinite duration.2 As such it is not a bar.3
The second contention made by the Blacksmiths is equally without
merit. Whether the employees in the unit desire to be represented by
the Blacksmiths, as asserted by the latter, is to be determined in the
secret election directed hereinafter and not by reference to authoriza-
tion cards or evidence of union membership.'
Iv. TIIE APPROPRIATE UNIT
We find, in accordance with a stipulation of the parties, that all
blacksmiths, blacksmiths' helpers, drill sharpeners, steel temperers, bit
grinders, and bit temperers of the mine surface shops, employed by
the Employer at its Miami, Arizona, mine, excluding supervisory
employees with authority 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.'
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Miami Copper Company,
Miami, Arizona, 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 Twenty-first Region, acting in this matter as agent
for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Sections
203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and
Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appro-
priate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll
2 See Matter of Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co , 63 N L R R 679
3 Matter of Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co, 63 N. L R B 679. The Blacksmiths
did not contend that the 1946 contract is a bar Inasmuch as this agreement was signed
after the Petitioner had filed its petition with the Board, it obviously cannot serve to bar
a present determination of representatives See Matter of Fifth Ave Shoe Corporation, 69
N. L It. B. 400.
4^Matter -of Crucible SteeL Casting'Company, 68- N L R B 14,3.
This is substantially the same unit previously found appropriate in Matter of Miami
Copper Company, 44 N L R B 1300
MIAMI COPPER COMPANY 37
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 rein-
stated prior to the date of the election, to determine whether they
desire to be represented by International Union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers, C. I. 0., or by International Brotherhood of Black-
smiths, Drop Forgers & Helpers, Local No. 625, A. F. L., for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, or by neither.