Sheffield Steel Corp. of Texas

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Sep 4, 1942

43 N.L.R.B. 956 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of SHEFFIELD STEEL CORP. OF TEXAS and UNITED STEEL-
WORKERS OF AMERICA, LOCAL No. 2708
In the Matter Of SHEFFIELD STEEL CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL
UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS, LOCAL UNION #450
Cases iYos. R-4085 and R-4080, respectively.-Decided September If,
Ig.I^N •
Jurisdiction : steel manufacturing industry.
Investigation and Certification of Representatives : existence of questions. re-
fusal to accord petitioners recognition ; expired contract held no bar ; election
necessary.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : production and maintenance em-
ployees with specified inclusions and exclusions ; separate unit comprising crane
operators and boiler tenders held inappropriate in view of the history of collec-
tive bargaining, the functional coherence of the processes involved in the pro-
duction of steel', and evidence indicating that such employees did not comprise a
highly skilled craft having interests apart from the other production employees.
Practice and Procedure : petition of craft union dismissed where there was no,
appropriate unit within its scope.
Mr. Jack Rinion and Cllr. George Rice, of Houston,. Tex., for the
Company.
Mr. Philip M. Curran., of Pittsburgh, Pa., and Mr. Frank A. Har-
desty, of Houston, Tex., for the U. S. A.
Mr. Jack C. Frost and Mr. A. L. Mugnier, of Houston, Tex., for the
Operating Engineers.
.Mr. Robe"t E. Tillman, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE,
Upon petitions duly filed by United Steelworkers of America. T•ocal
No. 2708, herein called the U. S. A., and by International Union of
Operating Engineers, Local Union #450, herein called the Operating
43 N. L R. B., 2No. 167.
956
SHEFFIELD STEEL' CORP. OF TEXAS 957
Engineers, alleging that questions affecting commerce had arisen con-
cerning the representation of employees of Sheffield Steel Corporation
of Texas, Greens Bayou, Texas, herein called the Company, the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board provided for an appropriate hearing
upon due notice before Elmer Davis, Trial Examiner. Said hearing
was held at Houston, Texas, on July 30, 1942. The Company, the
U. S. A., and the Operating Engineers appeared,.participated, and
were afforded full opportunity to be heard, tot examine and cross-
examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues.
The Trial' Examiner's, rulings made at the hearing are free from
prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
On August 14, 1942, the Company filed a brief which the Board
has-considered.
Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following :
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
Sheffield Steel Corporation of Texas is a Texas corporation engaged
in the business of manufacturing steel. It is a wholly owned sub-
sidiary of American' Rolling Mill Company, of Middletown, Ohio,
and an affiliate of Sheffield Steel Corporation of Ohio, an Ohio'cor-
poration. The three corporations have officers in common. The
latter two are admittedly engaged in interstate commerce throughout
the Middle Western-States. Scrap iron and steel comprise the prin-
cipal raw materials used by the Company. Less than 10 percent of
the scrap is procured from outside the State of Texas. Metal alloys
are also used*by the Company, of which not over 25 percent originates
outside the State of Texas. During June 1942, the Company pro-
duced approximately 9,000 tons of steel, all of which went to jobbers
or shipbuilding corporations within the State of Texas. Of the steel
produced by the Company, 90.percent is used directly in war projects.
The Company does not challenge the jurisdiction of the Board, and
admits that, if it is not already engaged in interstate commerce, it
will, be so engaged once peak production is attained.
IT. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
0
United Steelworkers of America, Local No. 2708, is a labor organiza-
tion affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. It
admits to membership employees of the Company.
International Union of Operating Engineers, Local Union #450,
is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of
Labor. It admits to membership crane operators and boiler tenders
employed by the Company.
958 DECISIONS OF' NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
III. TI-IE QUESTIONS CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
On or about June 11, 1942, the Operating Engineers requested the
Company to enter into, a collective bargaining contract. The Com-
pany replied that it already had a contract with the Amalgamated
Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers, herein. called the Amal-
gamated, and did not wish to deal with craft unions. On or about
the same date, the U. S. A. met with the°Company, and was refused
recognition until certified by the Board.
The Company's contract with the Amalgamated, discussed more
fully in Section IV, below, expired on June'30, 1942. Before that
date, the Amalgamated became affiliated with the U. S. A. We find
that the contract is no bar to a, present determination of the question
concerning representation.
A statement of the Regional Director, introduced into evidence at
the hearing, indicates that each of the labor-organizations represents
a substantial number of employees in the unit it claims to be
appropriate. -
We find that questions affecting commerce have arisen concerning
the representation of employees of the Company, within the meaning
of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 -(6) and°(7) of the National Labor
Relations Act.
IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT
The U. S. A. requests a unit of all production and maintenance em-
ployees, including shipping clerks, but excluding superintendents and
assistant superintendents, all turn foremen and non-working foremen,
melters, all rollers except plate mill rollers, general office employees,
general and turn inspectors, timekeepers, laboratory employees, and
watchmen. The Company approves *of this unit, differing with the
U. S. A. only to the extent that it contends that shipping clerks should
be excluded from the unit.'
The Operating Engineers petitions for a unit "of all employees en-
gaged in the operation of ingot cranes, mill cranes, finish-end cranes,
ladle cranes, pit cranes, gantry cranes, link-belt cranes, link-belt
helpers, warehouse and storage cranes, bridge cranes, boilers, air com-
pressors, and oilers.2
0
"The Regional Director stated that the U S A submitted to him 554 authorization
cards, all of which bore apparently genuine original signatures. Of the signatures, 388
wen e names of persons whose names appeared on the Company's pav roll for June 15, 1942,
which listed appioximately 800 production and maintenance employees
The Operating Engineers submitted '22 authorization cards, all bearing apparently
genuine original signatures Of the signatures, 13 were names of-persons whose names
appeared on the above-mentioned pay roll, which listed 48 crane operators , Of the cards
which the U' S A submitted, 21 bore names of persons whose names appeared on the
same pay roll as crane operators
2 The parties stipulated that "boilers, air compressors, and oilers" had reference only
to boiler tenders in the boilerroom.
SHEFFIELD STEEL CORP . OF TEXAS 9,59
The plant, not yet fully completed, is a typical open-hearth steel
mill. Actual production of steel began in April'of this year.' At the
time of the hearing the Company employed approximately 800 pro-'
duction and maintenance workers, of whom approximately 60 were
crane operators and 4 were boiler tenders (the 2 groups claimed by the
Operating Engineers to constitute a separate appropriate unit). Be-
cause of the probability that the Company will'lease from the Federal
Government a nearby blast furnace plant now undergoing construc-
tion, the Company anticipates increasing its employment rolls by ap-
proximately 1,500 in the 12 months following the date of the hearing.
Some of the production employees are paid a straight hourly ravage,
but the wages of the great majority vary with the tonnage of steel
produced. , Each department has a scale of pay. According to H. O.
McAninch, assistant to the president of the Company,. crane operators
are paid in the same manner and on the same scale as the bulk of the
other production employees in their departments.
The plant is set up with a single production line` Operations begin
upon the arrival of railway carloads of iron and steel scrap. ' Gantry
cranes unload this scrap into stock piles. Charging cranes pick Lip,
the scrap from the stock piles and dump it into charging boxes, which
are moved to open hearths, where other charging cranes dumpthe scrap
from the boxes into furnaces full of molten lead. The molten steel
is then tapped into ladles; the ladles are picked up by ladle cranes and
the contents poured into nmolds. After the steel sets, twister cranes'
pick up the 'molds, spin them around, and remove the. ingots. The
ingots are then lifted on to transfer cars and pulled Tinder ingot yard
cranes,,which pile the ingots in racks. After stacking, the ingots are
charged into mill furnaces to be reheated, and are then rolled into
structural billets or slabs.
Altogether, there are 15 to 16 cranes in the plant, most of them in,
operation 24 hours n day on a basis of 3 or 4 shifts a clay. As a rule,
4 nien are assigned to each crane. The Company points to the strategic
position of the cranes in the line of production and the essential part
they play in production Is evidence of how the few cranemen, if in a
separate unit, could close the entire plant by striking, or reduce the
wages of the bulk of-other employees by staging a slowdown.
The Cohipany contends further that crane operators do'not comprise
a peculiarly skilled, craft. Charles Powell, a crane operator, testified
that crane operators undergo' no apprenticeship. Other witnesses
testified that the Company is continuously engaged in training crane
operators, since few, if any, are to be found in the State of Texas, and
none can be hired by calling upon the Operating Engineers. Accord-
ing to these witnesses , if a man is ever to make a good crane operator
be will become a fair operator within 21/2 weeks to 3 months, depend-
ing upon his abilities. At the present time prospective crane operators
960 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
are taken from almost every section of- the production employees.
Furthermore, the Company trains some of its laborers as cranemen, to
act as a reserve for the regular crane operators in the event of emer-
gencies. When not occupied as crane operators, these laborers, are
engaged in other work.
The Company employs four boiler tenders, one for each shift.
Because the boilers are gas-fired, the principal work of the tenders is
to watch over steam pressure and water gauges. They are also in
charge of air compressors located in the engine room.
The plant, since it is so new, has had little collective bargaining
history. However, among the first employees of the Company were
156 men transferred from the 3 steel mills of Sheffield Steel Corpora-
tion of Ohio, where the Amalgamated had exclusive collective bargain-
ing contracts. These employees established an Amalgamated local-at
the Company's plant and asked'for bargaining rights. The Company
replied by letter, dated April 22, 1942, in which it agreed to observe in
its plant the provisions of Amalgamated contracts at the plants of its
affiliate until after June 30, 1942, when these contracts would expire,
at which time a formal contract would be negotiated. In the meantime,
the Amalgamated became affiliated with the U. S. A. McAninch testi-
fied that the Company and its affiliate had never bargained with any
labor organization other than the Amalgamated.
In view of the history of collective bargaining at the plants of the
-Company and its affiliate, the functional coherence of the processes
involved in the production of steel, and the abundance of evidence
indicating that crane operators and boiler tenders do not comprise a
highly skilled craft having interests apart from those of other produc-
tion employees, we find that the unit proposed by the Operating En-,
gineers is inappropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We
shall therefore dismiss the petition in Case No. R-4086.
As stated heretofore, the Company's sole objection to the unit pro-
posed by the U. S. A. is that the U. S. A. would include shipping
clerks in the unit. Shipping clerks are stationed in the shipping
department of the main plant. They keeps perpetual inventories on
production, the amount of stock on hand, and shipments, make out
shipping lists to be used by the accounting department in, preparing
invoices, send reports to the general office, and are responsible for
the correct loading of shipments. We find that, because 'of their
.location in the plant and the nature of their functions, shipping clerks
have interests in common with the production and maintenance em-
ployees, and we shall include them in the appropriate unit.
We find that all production.and'maintenance employees of the Com-
pany, including shipping clerks, but excluding superintendents and
.assistant superintendents, all turn foremen and non-working foremen,
melters, all rollers except plate mill rollers, general office employees,
SHEFFIELD STEEL CORP. OF TEXAS 961
general and turn inspectors, timekeepers, laboratory employees, and
watchmen, constitute a unit appropriate for'the purposes of collective
bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. -
V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES
We shall direct that the question concerning representation which
has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the em-
ployees in the'appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-
roll period immediately preceding the date of our Direction of Elec-
tion, subject to the limitations and additions set forth therein.
DIRECTION OF ELECTION
By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor.
Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations
Act, 49 Stat. 449, and pursuant to Article' III, Section 8, of National
Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 2, as amended,
it is hereby
-DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representa-
tives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Sheffield Steel
Corporation of Texas, Greens Bayou, Texas, 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 of Election, under the direc-
tion and supervigion 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, Section 9, of said Rules and Regulations,
among all employees of the Company in the unit found appropriate
in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period
immediately preceding the elate of this Direction, including employees
who did not work during such pay-roll period because they, were ill
or on vacation or in the active military service or training of the
United States, or temporarily laid off, but excluding any who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine'whether or not
they desire to be represented by United Steelworkers of America,
Local No. 2708, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
ORDER I
Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, the NationalLabor
Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and
certification of representatives of employees of Sheffield Steel Cor-
poration of texas, Greens Bayou, Texas, filed by International Union
of Operating Engineers, Local Union #450, be, and it hereby is, dis-
missed.
CHAIRMAN MILLIS took no part in the consideration of the abo e
Decision, Direction of Election and Order.-
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