Standard Slag Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board DecisionsAug 13, 1945

63 N.L.R.B. 313 (N.L.R.B. 1945)

In the Matter of STANDARD SLAG COMPANY and UNITED CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, AFFILIATED WITH UMWA Case No. 9-R-1776.-Decided August 13, 1945 Mr. R. D. Cline, of Youngstown, Ohio, and Mr. B. F. Rankin, of Jackson, Ohio, for the Company. Mr. Carl C. Schmidt, of Columbus, Ohio, for the UMWA. Mr. Angelo Verdu, of East St. Louis, Ill., and Mr. Elman Haynes, of Jackson, Ohio, for the Smelter Workers. Miss Katharine Loomis, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ORDER STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon a petition duly filed by United Construction Workers, affil- iated with UMWA, herein called the UMWA, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of em- ployees of Standard Slag Company, Jackson, Ohio, herein called the Company, the National Labor Relations Board provided for an ap- propriate hearing upon due notice before Herbert J. Nester, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Jackson, Ohio, on May 18, 1945. The Company, the UMWA, and International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local Union 170, C. I. 0., herein called the Smelter Workers, appeared and participated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to 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. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The Standard Slag Company has plants in various States. We are here concerned solely with its plant at Jackson, Ohio, which is 63 N. L . R. B., No. 45. 313 314 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD engaged in the manufacture of crushed slag aggregates . The raw material used at this operation consists entirely of slag, all of which is purchased locally. The finished products of the Company 's Jackson, Ohio, plant are sold to State , county, and township highway depart- ments for road-building purposes and to individuals for agricultural purposes . During the past year , 20 to 30 percent of its finished prod- ucts was sold to the State of West Virginia and was shipped by the Company to points in West Virginia. The Company admits that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED United Construction Workers, affiliated with the United Mine Workers of America, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local Union 170, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Com- pany. III. THE ALLEGED APPROPRIATE UNIT The UMWA seeks a separate unit of the production and maintenance employees and watchmen of the Company's Jackson plant, excluding the superintendent, the assistant superintendent, and all clerical em- ployees. Neither the Smelter Workers nor the Company disputes the categories requested for inclusion or exclusion from the claimed ap- propriate unit. However, the Smelter Workers, which now represents in one unit the employees of the Jackson Iron and Steel Company and of the Globe Iron Company in addition to those of the Company, con- tends that the history of collective bargaining between it and the three 'companies has established that the unit it now represents is the only unit appropriate for the Company's employees. The UMWA, on the other hand, contends that these workers, as employees of an independ- ent employer, may properly constitute a unit separate from the em- ployees of the other two companies. The Company appears to take no position on this issue. The three companies are separate corporations, all located in Jack- son, Ohio. The Jackson Iron and Steel Company and the Globe Iron Company are engaged in the manufacture of iron and the Company in the manufacture of slag aggregates. Slag, the sole raw material used by the Company, is a byproduct of the manufacture of iron which is cast into pits during the production process. The Company pur- chases all of its slag from the other two companies. Employees of the Company extract the slag from the pits of the Jackson Iron and Steel Company, whereas the Globe Iron Company's employees extract the STANDARD SLAG COMPANY 315 slag from that company's pits. The Company returns to each of the other companies iron that is reclaimed from the slag in the manufac- ture of the slag aggregates. The Company is entirely dependent-upon the other two companies for its slag as there are no other iron manufac- turers in the vicinity and it would not be feasible to transport slag from more distant sources. Moreover, the Jackson Iron and Steel Company and the Globe Iron Company sell all of their slag to the Company and they would be put to inconvenience and suffer financial loss if they had to find other means of disposing of it. The Smelter Workers entered into its first collective bargaining contract with the three companies in 1919. Under it and successive agreements which have been entered into at 5-year intervals since then, the Smelter Workers has always represented the employees of all three companies in one unit. The last contract between the parties is an agreement which provided for termination on June 4, 1944, but which has been extended by a supplemental contract of indefinite duration. The companies, in negotiating collective bargaining agree- ments with the Smelter Workers, have never been represented by an employer association. The last contract, as were the others, was signed by each company individually. The record indicates that the usual manner of negotiating contracts between the Smelter Workers and the three companies has been for representatives of the Smelter Work- ers and of each of the three companies to discuss the terms of the con- tract, reach an agreement, and sign the contract at a single meeting. Our decision in Matter of Dolese d Shepard Company 7 makes clear that the absence of an employer association does not preclude the estab- lishment of a multiple-employer unit.2 In the Dolese d Shepard case, as in this, the companies concerned were not represented by an em- ployer association. Moreover, the method of negotiating contracts be- tween the Smelter Workers and the three companies here concerned closely parallels that of the unions and companies concerned in the Dolese & Shepard case. There the Board's decision described the con- duct of negotiations as follows : Representatives of each of these four companies 3 have cus- tomarily met over a long period of time with representatives of 1 56 N. L. R. B. 532. 2 In Matter of Rayonier Incorporated, Grays Harbor Division, 52 N. L. R. B. 1269, the Board was not asked to pass on this question since the employer whose employees were being sought in a separate grouping had bargained through an employer association of which it was a member. However , the Board there found a single -employer unit inappro- priate, and indicated that a multiple -employer unit was appropriate despite the fact that the association - did not have the power to bind its members to collective bargaining agree- ments. We considered as determinative the facts that, "the employers in question [had] established a practiee of joint action In regard to labor relations by negotiation with ,an effective employee association , and [had ] by their customary adherence to the uniform labor agreements resulting therefrom , demonstrated their desire to be bound by group rather than by individual action." 8 Only three of these companies were parties to the proceedings , three single-employer units having been requested by the petitioning union. 316 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD the Laborers and the Operating Engineers for the purpose of nego- tiating hours, wages, and other,conditions of employment covering employees of these companies in units represented by these labor organizations. . . . The customary procedure of these companies was to have representatives from each meet together as a group, decide upon a common course of action, and then enter into nego- tiations with the Operating Engineers and the Laborers. Upon completion of the negotiations, the Committee members then exe- cuted either identical contracts or a single contract with these labor organizations. We there held that the four companies had, without combining them- selves into a formal association, "conducted negotiations with the Operating Engineers and Laborers covering their respective produc- tion and maintenance employees upon a joint basis, and that these em- ployees [could] be more properly represented in a single multiple- employer unit." Consequently, we dismissed the petitions seeking three single-employer units. Viewing the facts in evidence in this case in the light of the principles established in the Rayonier and the Dole.se cC Shepard cases, we are of the opinion that the history of collective bargaining for a quarter of a century between the Smelter Workers and the Company, the Jackson Iron and Steel Company, and the Globe Iron Company demonstrates that the employees of all three companies can be more properly repre- sented in a single multiple-employer unit. Accordingly, we find that the unit sought by the UMWA is inappropriate. IV. THE ALLEGED QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION Since the bargaining unit sought to be established by the petition is inappropriate as stated in Section III, above, we find that no ques- tion has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Com- pany in an appropriate unit. ORDER Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact, the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition for investigation and certification of representatives of employees of Standard Slag Com- pany, Jackson, Ohio, filed by United Construction Workers, affiliated with UMWA, be, and it hereby is, dismissed. MR. GERARD D. REILLY took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Order.