Pennsylvania Coal and Coke Corp.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 5, 1946

70 N.L.R.B. 1182 (N.L.R.B. 1946)

In the Matter of PENNSYLVANIA COAL AND COKE CORPORATION, EM-
PLOYER, and LOCAL UNIONS No. 85 AND No. 280, UNITED CLERICAL,
TECHNICAL AND SUPERVISORY E1%IPLOYEES OF THE MINING INDUSTRY,
DIVISION OF DISTRICT 50, U. M. W. A., PETITIONER
Case No. 6-R-1411.Decided September 5,1946
Mr. Frank G. Smith, of Clearfield, Pa., for the Employer.
Messrs. Samuel Krimsly and Charles Ferguson, of Pittsburgh, Pa.,
for the Petitioner.
Mr. Nathan Saks, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
Upon a petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at Johns-
town, Pennsylvania, on July 11, 1946, before Henry Shore, Trial Ex-
aminer. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free
from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
At the outset of the hearing, the Employer stated that it was appear-
ing specially for the limited purpose of setting forth its position with
respect to the present proceeding. It asserted, in effect, that because
of the seizure and operation of its mines by the government, it was
not then the employer of the employees involved and requested that
the hearing be postponed until the mines have been restored to its
possession. The contention that the private owner of the mines is not
the employer of the mine employees during the present period of gov-
ernmental operation was considered and rejected in the Ford Collieries
case.2 Accordingly, the Trial Examiner properly denied the request
for a postponement of the hearing.
I Executive Order No. 9728 , dated May 21, 1946, authorized the Secretary of the Interior
to take possession of and to operate certain coal mines whose operations were interrupted or
threatened by interruption as a result of existing or threatened strikes and other labor
disturbances . Pursuant to the authority thus vested in him, the . Secretary of the Interior,
by order dated May 22, 1946 , delegated to the Coal Mines Administrator the authority to
supervise and direct the operation of the mines affected.
2 Matter of Ford Collieries Company, 70 N L. R. B 842; see also N L. R. B. v. West
Kentucky Coal Company. 152 F ( 2d) 198 ( C C A 6 ), cert denied June 10, 1946.
The 'attorney for the Employer announced at the beginning of the hearing that the
Employer would not participate He also stated, however , that the Federal Operating
Manager had received instructions from the Coal Mines Administrator to supply the Board
with all needful information in connection with this proceeding and that the Federal
Operating Manager would comply with these instructions Thereafter , the general manager
of the mines was sworn as a witness and gave testimony as to mine operations,
70 N. L. R. B., No. 102.
1182
PENNSYLVANIA COAL AND COKE CORPORATION 1183
Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations
Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER
Pennsylvania Coal and Coke Corporation, a Pennsylvania corpora-
tion having its principal office in Cresson, Pennsylvania, is engaged
in mining coal at six mines in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
During the year 1945, the Employer mined 1,721,633 tons of coal, ap-
proximately 95 percent of which was shipped to points outside the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. During the same period, it pur-
chased, for use in its mines, supplies and equipment valued at approxi-
mately $755,000, approximately 20 percent of which was shipped to
the mines from points outside the Commonwealth.
We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce vithin the mean-
ing of the National Labor Relations Act.
II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED
The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Employer.
III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive
bargaining representative of the supervisory employees of the Em-
ployer.
We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section2 (6) and (7) of the Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The Petitioner seeks a unit consisting of all assistant mine foremen,
fire bosses, outside foremen, repair foremeli, carpenter foremen or
house bosses, shop foremen, motor barn foremen, transportation engi-
neer or motor boss, weigh bosses, safety inspectors, and coal inspectors
at the Employer's Ehrenfeld No. 3 Mine, Ehrenfeld No. 8 Mine, and
Marsteller No. 22 Mine, excluding mine foremen, superintendents,
general superintendents, chief engineer, general manager, chief coal
inspector, supervisor of face preparation, superintendent of tipple
maintenance, chief and assistant chief electrician at the Cresson office,
chief clerk and assistant controller, head clerk, coal shipper, all clerical
and technical supervisors, and all other employees.8 The Employer
takes no position with respect to the unit.
8 The Employer has a contract with the United Mine Workers of America covering all
non-superN isory production and maintenance employees at its mines. All of the categories
in the Petitioner's proposed unit are excluded from the coverage of that contract.
1184 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Employer operates six mines known respectively as Ehrenfeld
No. 3, Ehrenfeld No. 8, Marsteller No. 22, Cresson No. 9, Gallitzin
No. 10, and Windburn No. 46. All the mines are located within a
radius of 48 miles from the Employer's general offices at Cresson, Penn-
sylvania. The mines are under the general supervision of officials who
operate out of the Cresson office. These officials formulate general
policies, including personnel policies, for all the mines. However, the
individual mine is treated for some purposes as a separate and distinct
unit. Thus, each mine is headed by a separate superintendent, ships
its own coal, and does its own hiring.' Further, _the general office
maintains separate pay-roll and cost accounting records for each of the
mines. There is no interchange of employees among the various mines
except on a permanent basis.
The Petitioner has limited its organizational activities to the Ehren-
feld No. 8 Mine, Ehrenfeld No. 22 Mine, and Marsteller No. 22 Mine.
Under all the circumstances, we are of the opinion that at the present
time a unit limited to supervisory employees in these three mines is
appropriate.'
The Company has raised no question of improper grouping. The
evidence reveals, however, that weigh bosses, coal inspectors, and
safety inspectors, whom the Petitioner would include in the unit, are
not supervisors within the Board's definition, because they have no
subordinates. Accordingly, we shall exclude them from the unit. We
shall also exclude outside foremen, who have authority and responsi-
bility equivalent to that of mine foremen, whom the Petitioner would
exclude."' We shall include assistant mine foremen, fire bosses, repair
foremen, 7 carpenter foremen ,8 and the transportation engineer,9 as we
have in previous similar cases.10 We shall also include shop foremen,
who are in charge of the machine shops outside the mines, and the
motor barn foreman, who is in charge of the maintenance and repair of
mine locomotives, since they occupy a supervisory status substantially
equivalent to that of the other supervisors included in the unit.
'The two Ehrenfeld Mines are only 500 feet apart at their portals , and are treated
for many purposes as a single operation . They are supervised by the same superintendent
and use the same tipple and cleaning plant. X
6 Cf. N. L R . B v West Kentucky Coal Company, 152 F ( 2d) 198 (C. C. A 6), enforc-
ing as modified 57 N. L. R. B. 89; Matter of West Kentucky Coal Company , 58 N. L R. B.
607, and 54 N. L R. B. 358. -
6 See Matter of Ford Collieries Company, supra, where outside foremen were excluded
from a similar unit.
4 The repair foremen are like the master mechanics whom we included in a similar unit
in Matter of Ford Collieries Company, supra.
s The carpenter foremen are like the house bosses whom we included in Matter of Ford
Collieries Company, supra.
U The transportation engineer is like the motor bosses whom we included in Matter of
Ford Collieies Company, supra.
10 See Matter of Jones d Laughlin Steel Corporation , Vesta-Shannopin Coal Division,
66 N. L. R B 386 , Matter of Ford Collieries Company, supra.
PENNSYLVANIA COAL AND COKE CORPORATION 1185
We find that all assistant mine foremen,ll fire bosses, repair fore-
men '12 carpenter foremen, shop foremen, transportation engineer, and
motor barn foremen at the Employer's Ehrenfeld No. 3 Mine, Ehren-
feld No. 8 Mine, and Marsteller No. 22 Mine, excluding weigh bosses,
coal inspectors, safety inspectors, outside foremen, mine foremen, mine
superintendents, general superintendent, general manager, chief engi-
neer, chief clerk and assistant controller, head clerk, purchasing agent,
coal shipper, superintendent of tipple maintenance, supervisor of face
preparation, chief coal inspector, chief and assistant chief electrician
at the Cresson office, clerical and technical supervisors, and all other
employees, constituth a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective
bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.13
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the
purposes of collective bargaining with Pennsylvania Coal and Coke
Corporation, Cresson, Pennsylvania, 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 Sixth Region, acting in this matter
as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to
Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, among the employees
in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were em-
ployed 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 tempo-
rarily 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 repre-
sented by Local Unions No. 85 and No. 280, United Clerical, Tech-
nical and Supervisory Employees of the Mining Industry, Division
of District 50, U. M. W. A., for the purposes of collective bargaining.
1MIR. JAMES J. REYNOLDS, JR., took no part in the consideration of
the above Decision and Direction of Election. -
11 This includes face bosses who are in charge of mechanical loading crews.
12 This includes the chief mine electrician at the Marsteller No. 22 Mine.
_ 13 The non-supervisory production and maintenance employees of the Employer are
included within the coverage of an Association -wide unit represented by the United Mine
Workers No contention was made in the present proceeding that the proper unit for
the supervisors should similarly be Association -wide. Accordingly, we need not pass on
this question.
T