Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Mar 10, 1942

39 N.L.R.B. 626 (N.L.R.B. 1942)

In the Matter of TENNESSEE COAL, IRON AND RAILROAD COMPANY,
OPEN HEARTH DEPT. OF ENSLEY WORKS and BROTHERHOOD OF
LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN AND ENGINEMEN
Case No. R-3344.-Decided March 10, 1942
Jurisdiction : steel manufacturing and fabricating industry.
Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining : unit confined to engineers, firemen,
and hostlers on intra-departmental railway in Open Hearth Department of one
plant of six-plant management unit of steel mills held inappropriate, where
work of such employees identified them closely with production employees;
integrated nature of steel operations and history of industrial organization and
bargaining within the Company and the steel industry generally considered as
persuasive factors.
Practice and Procedure : petition dismissed where no appropriate unit within
scope of petition.
Mr. Borden Burr, of Birmingham, Ala., for the Company.
Mr. William C. Lash, of Cleveland, Ohio, for the Brotherhood.
Mr. C. M. Bloomfield, of Fairfield, Ala., for the United.
Mr. Charles W. Schneider, of counsel to the Board.
DECISION
AND
ORDER
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
On July 3, 1941, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engine-
men, herein called the Brotherhood, filed with the Regional• Director
for the Tenth Region (Atlanta, Georgia) a petition alleging that a
question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation
of employees of Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, Open
Hearth Dept. of Ensley Works, Birmingham, Alabama, herein called
the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of
representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor
Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On November 21,
1941, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board;
acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act, and Article III, Section
3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series
2, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional
39 N. L. R. B., No. 114.
626
TENNESSEE COAL, IRON AND RAIIJROAD COMPANY 627
Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon
due notice. On November 24, 1941, the Regional Director issued a
notice of hearing, and on November 25, 1941, an amended notice of
hearing, copies of which were duly 'served upon the Company, the
Brotherhood, and also upon the following labor organizations claiming
to represent employees directly affected by the investigation: Steel
Workers Organizing Committee, herein called the S. W. O.- C.; and
United Association of Iron, Steel & Mine Workers, herein called the
United. Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held on December 1, 1941,
at Birmingham, Alabama, before Alexander E. Wilson, Jr., the Trial
Examiner duly designated by the Chief Trial Examiner. The Com-
pany, the Brotherhood, and the United were represented by counsel or
by duly authorized representatives and participated in the hearing.'
Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses,
and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties.
During the course of the hearing, the Trial Examiner made several
rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence.
The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds
that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby
affirmed. 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
I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY
The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company is a Tennessee
corporation engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of iron,
steel, and steel products. The Company is a subsidiary of the United
States Steel Corporation. Its principal office is located in Birming-
ham, Alabama, and it maintains sales offices in the principal cities of
the United States. In connection with its business it operates coal,
ore, and limestone mines and a dolomite quarry in the Birmingham,
Alabama, area and maintains a steel Manufacturing Division consist-
ing of six plants. During the year 1940, a negligible percentage of
the raw materials used by the Manufacturing Division, consisting
principally of iron ore, scrap, alloys, coal, and limestone, was received
from sources outside the State of Alabama. During the same year,
78.79 percent of the finished products manufactured and fabricated
by the Company were shipped to points outside the State of Alabama'.
The Company employs a total of approximately 30,000 persons; the
Manufacturing Division employs approximately 17,200.
' The S. W. 0. C did not appear.
628 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen is a labor
organization admitting to membership employees of the Company.
Steel Workers Organizing Committee is a labor organization
affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting
to membership employees of the Company.
United Association of Iron, Steel & Mine Workers is an unaffiliated
labor organization admitting to membership employees of the
Company.
III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT -
The Brotherhood contends that the engineers, firemen, and hostlers
employed in the Open Hearth Department of the Ensley Works of
the Company constitute an appropriate unit. The Compal y and
the United contend that the appropriate unit is industrial and division-
wide, and that the unit proposed by the Brotherhood is not appro-
priate. The United did not request an election within the unit which
it alleges to be appropriate.'
The Ensley Works is one of six steel manufacturing, steel fabri-
cation, power, and byproduct coke plants, located on adjacent land,
and operated as one management unit known as the Manufacturing
Division of the Company.' All the steel, power, and coke used by
the six plants is produced by the Ensley Works and the Fairfield
Steel Works. The other four plants are fabrication mills.4 The
Open Hearth is one of a number of departments of the Ensley Works.5
The entire Works employs 4,200 persons; the Open Hearth, 550.
Of the 550, approximately 36 are engineers, 12 are firemen, and 4
are hostlers.
The engineers, firemen, and hostlers operate locomotives which
transport molten metal, bring up charges for the open hearth, and
carry out slag. Their work is confined entirely within the Open
Hearth Department. Most of the locomotives appear to be special-
ized types. Some are standard, some narrow gauge. Their operation
calls for particular training on the part of the crew, the prime factors
2 The Regional Director reported that the Brotherhood submitted a "certified list of its members " The
list contained 40 names, 36 of which appeared on the Company's July 12, 1941, pay roll. The testimony
indicates that there are 52 employees in the unit which the Brotherhood alleges to be appropriate The
United submitted no evidence of membership, but has a contract with the Company in which it is recog-
nized as collective bargaining representative for its members within the following unit All employees of
the Company 's steel manufacturing and byproduct coke plants, excluding foremen, assistant foremen, or
supervisors in charge of any classes of labor, watchmen, guards, clerical , or salaried employees This agree-
ment has no definite expiration date
3 The division consists of the following plants the Ensley Works, the Fairfield Steel Works , the Fairfield
Wire Works , the Fairfield Sheet Mill, the Fairfield Tin Mill, and the Bessemer Rolling Mills.
4 About 17 percent of the capacity of the Ensley Works is devoted to fabrication ; the remainder to steel
and power production A small amount of the power used by the Manufacturing Division is supplied by a
public utility
$ The plant comprises the following departments : Blast Furnaces , Open Hearth , Mills , Shell Department,
Brass-Iron Foundry, Yard , and various auxiliary and maintenance units
T'ENNESSE-E COAL, IRON,_ AND RAILROAD COMPANY, 629
being timing, speed, and knowledge of Open Hearth operations.
Close coordination with the other employees in the department is
necessary. Firemen are drawn from the Open Hearth labor gang as
needed. The engineers, firemen, and hostlers are under the same
supervision as the remainder of the Open Hearth employees. Pay,
seniority, and working conditions are uniform throughout the Open
Hearth Department and the Manufacturing Division. An incentive
plan providing bonuses is department-wide and is based on the pro-
ductive output of the whole group.
Interplant transportation, and plant-mine hauling 6 are handled by
a separate group of railway employees operating standard types of
locomotives over standard gauge tracks.? This interplant road is
known as the Transportation Department of the Company. It is a
distinct management unit from the steel plants, and has its own
operating set-up, pay rates, seniority rules, and working conditions.
The Company has a similar contract with the S. W. O. C.
In the Manufacturing Division, the Company has by contract
recognized the United and the S. W. O. C. as collective bargaining
representatives of their members on an industrial and division-wide
basis since 1937. Up to February 1941, no labor organizations appear
to have sought to represent employees of the Company in the Manu-
facturing Division on any other basis.' In the Transportation De-
partment the Company has by contract recognized the S. W. O. C. as
collective bargaining representative of its members in the shops and
on the roadway, the Brotherhood for its membership among firemen
and enginemen, and the Federal Shop Crafts,' for its members among
shopmen in the department. It has also recognized the Switchmens
Union for its members in that department, but without contract.
The engineers, firemen, and hostlers in the Open Hearth Depart-
ment are an essential part of the production force. Their employ-
ment is more closely associated to the production of steel than to
railway transportation. In view of the integrated nature of steel
operations, the close relationship between the plants in the division,
the interdependence of the various component groups of employees of
the Open Hearth Department, the industrial and division-wide history
of collective bargaining within the Company, and- the history of
bargaining in the steel industry generally, we are of the opinion that
the engineers, firemen, and hostlers in the Open Hearth Department
6 The Company mines are operated separately from the Manufacturing Division See Matter of Tennessee
Coal, Iron and Railroad Company and Local B287 , International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 39 N L.
R B. 617, (Case No R-3190)
7 Some interplant transportation is carried by the Birmingham & Southern Railway
8 See Matter of Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company and Local B887 , International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers, footnote 6, supra.
6 Not further identified
630 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
of the Ensley Works do not constitute an appropriate bargaining
unit.'°
IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION
Since, as pointed out in Section III above, the bargaining unit
sought to be established by the petition is inappropriate for the pur-
poses of collective bargaining, we find that no question has been
raised concerning the representation of employees in an appropriate
bargaining unit.
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire
record in the case, the Board makes the following:
CONCLUSION OF LAW
No question concerning the representation of employees of Ten-
nessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company, Open Hearth Department
of. the Ensley Works, Birmingham, Alabama, has arisen in a unit
appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean-
ing of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act.
ORDER
Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and conclusion of law,
the National Labor Relations Board hereby orders that the petition
for investigation and certification of representatives filed by Brother-
hood of, Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen be, and it hereby is,
dismissed.
MR. WM. M. LEISERSON took no part in the consideration of the
above Decision and Order.
10 Matter of Wheeling Steel Corporation , Steubenville , Ohio, and Order of Railway Conductors of America,
8 N L R B. 102, Cf. Matter of Sloss-Sheffield Steel & Iron Company and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen,
et al , 14 N ' L R. B. 186 , Matter of Great Lakes Steel Corporation and Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, et
al , 14 N. L. R. B 197, see Matter of Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company and Local B887, Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, supra , Matter of The National Tube Company, Subsidiary of United
States Steel Corporation , and Local 1640, International Longshoremen 's Association (A F of L.) 33 N. L. R B
1248 , Matter of Carnegie -Illinois Steel Corporation , Engineering Division Naval Ordnance Plant, and Local
Union 466 I B E W 34 N L R B , 40, Matter of Inland Steel Company and International Association
of Machinists, Local 1226 , affiliated with the A F of L., et at 34 N L R. B 1294