Utah Copper Co.

National Labor Relations Board - Board Decisions

Aug 22, 1938

8 N.L.R.B. 968 (N.L.R.B. 1938)

In the Mattel' Of UTAI3 COPPER COMPANY, A CORPORATION, AND KENNE-
COTT COPPER CORPORATION, A CORPORATION and INTERNATIONAL UNION
OF MINE, MILL, AND SMELTER WORKERS, LOCAL No. 392
Cases Nos. C-399 and R-273
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
AMENDED DIRECTION OF ELECTION
August 22, 1938
On June 16, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein
called the Board, issued its Decision, Order, and Direction of Elec-
tion -1 in the above-entitled proceedings. The Direction of Election
provided that an election be conducted, at such time as the Board
.would thereafter direct, among all production workers employed by
Utah Copper Company and Kennecott Copper Corporation, herein
called the respondents, at their Arthur and Magna mills, Salt Lake
County, Utah, within a period to be determined by the Board in the
future, excluding clerical employees and employees of the rank of
foreman and above, to determine whether or not they desired to be
represented by International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter
WWorkers, Local No. 392, herein called the Union, affiliated with the
Committee for Industrial Organization, for the purpose of collective
bargaining.
On August 19, 1938, the respondents, the Union, and Independent
Association of Mill Workers, herein called the Association, a labor
organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by
the investigation of representatives, executed and filed in the above-
entitled proceedings a stipulation providing for the participation of
the Association in the election by inclusion of-its name on the ballot.
By the terms of the stipulation the Association consented to the bar-
gaining unit of employees found appropriate by the Board in its
Decision of June 16, 1938, and waived all its rights to object to the
prior proceedings herein. The parties to the stipulation further
agreed that the election be held on August 24, 1938, and that the
present pay roll be used in determining eligibility.
The Board sees no reason to deviate from the expressed desires of
the parties. Accordingly, the Board,hereby amends its Direction of
Election of June 16, 1938, to read as follows :
17 N. L. R B. 928.
8 N. L. R. B., No. 118.
968
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 969
AMENDED 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 1,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation directed by the
Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective
bargaining with Utah Copper Company and Kennecott Copper
Corporation, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within
fifteen (15) days from the date of this Amended Direction, under
the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the
Twenty-second Region, acting in this matter as agent for the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Section 9,
of said Rules and Regulations, among all production workers em-
ployed by Utah Copper Company and Kennecott Copper Corpora-
tion at their Arthur and Magna mills, Salt Lake County, Utah,
during the pay-roll period including August 19, 1938, excluding cler-
ical employees and employees of the rank of foreman and above, and
excluding those who have since quit or been discharged for cause,
to determine whether they desire to be represented, for the purposes
of collective bargaining, by International Union of Mine, Mill, and
Smelter Workers, Local No. 392, affiliated with the Committee for
Industrial Organization, or by Independent Association of Mill
Workers, or by neither.
MR. EDWIN S. S-IIITrr took no part in the consideration of the above
Supplemental Decision and Amended Direction of Election.
[ SAME-TITLE]
SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION
AND
SECOND DIRECTION OF ELECTION
September 12, 1938
On June 16, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called
the Board, issued a Decision, Order, and Direction of Election in
the above-entitled .proceedings. On August 22, 1938, the Board issued
a Supplemental Decision and Amended Direction of Election. The
Amended Direction of Election provided that an election be con-
ducted among all production workers employed by Utah Copper Com-
pany and Kennecott Copper Corporation, herein called the respond-
970 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
eats, at their Arthur and Magna mills, Salt Lake County, Utah,
during the pay-roll period including August 19, 1938, excluding cleri-
cal employees and employees of the rank of foreman and above, and
excluding those who had since quit or been discharged for cause, to
determine whether they desired to be represented, for the purposes of
collective bargaining, by International Union of Mine, Mill, and
Smelter Workers, Local No. 392, herein called the Union, affiliated
with the Committee for Industrial Organization, or by Independent
Association of Mill Workers, herein called the Association, or by
neither.
Pursuant to the Amended Direction, an election by secret ballot
was conducted on August 24, 1938, at Magna, Utah, under the direc-
tion and supervision of the Regional Director for the Twenty-second
Region (Denver, Colorado). Full opportunity was accorded to all
parties to this investigation to participate in the conduct of the ballot
and to make challenges. Thereafter, the Regional Director, acting
pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board
Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, issued and duly served
upon the parties his Intermediate Report on the secret ballot, dated
August 25, 1938, and his Amended Intermediate Report on the secret
ballot, dated August 27, 1938.
As to the balloting and its results, the Regional Director, in his
Amended Intermediate Report, reported as follows :
Total of employees eligible to vote------------------------- 1.005
Total number of ballots cast------------------------------ 970
Ballots cast for International Union of Mine, Mill and
Smelter Workers, Local 392----------------------------- 481
Ballots cast for the independent Association of Mill
Workers ----------------------------------------------- 454
Ballots cast for neither union----------------------------- 29
Challenged ballots---------------------------------------- 0
Blank Ballots -------------------------------------------- 1
Void ballots---------------------------------------------- 5
On September 2, 1938, the Association filed with the Regional
Director objections to the ballot and to the Amended Intermediate
Report on the grounds, inter alia, (1) that the five ballots reported
as void by the Regional Director should have been counted for the
Association, (2) that no provision should have been made for the
casting of ballots for neither union, and (3) that the voting was un-
lawfully, influenced and dominated by reason of certain statements
appearing in handbills circulated by the Union on the day and night
before the election among the employees at the Arthur and Magna
mills.
The Board has considered the objections of the Association and
finds them to be without merit. With respect to the first ground
DECISIONS AND ORDERS 971
mentioned above, the Board notes that, even if all five ballots re-
ported as void by the Regional Director were counted for the Asso-
ciation, the ultimate results of the election would not be affected.
Regarding the second ground, an express provision that the em-
ployees should be permitted to vote for the Association, the Union,
or neither, was included in the stipulation, to which the Association
was a party, which preceded the Board's issuance of its Amended
Direction of August 22, 1938; moreover, no objections to the pro-
visions in the Board's Direction of June 16, 1938, and its Amended
Direction of August 22, 1938, for the casting of ballots for neither
union were filed with the Board by the Association until after the
election had been held; and, furthermore, the provision by the Board
for the casting of ballots for neither union was in accordance with
the Board's established practice.3 As for the third ground, the
Board is of the opinion that the allegations of the Association con-
cerning the circulation of handbills by the Union are insufficient to
raise any material or substantial issues with respect to the ballot.
Neither of the rival unions received a majority of the ballots cast,
although the combined vote for the Union and the Association indi-
cates that an overwhelming majority of the employees in the appro-
priate unit desire to bargain collectively with the respondents. On
August 29, 1938, the Union, which received a plurality of the votes,
requested, by letter addressed to the Regional Director, that a run-
off election be held. On September 6, 1938, the Association filed
with the Board a petition requesting that it be considered in the
holding of another election, and that its name be placed upon the
ballot with that of the Union. For reasons appearing below, the
petition of the Association is hereby denied.
It has been the practice of the Board, in cases where neither of
two labor organizations participating in an election receives a ma-
jority of the votes cast, but their combined vote does constitute a
majority, to provide for the conduct of a second election among the
employees in the appropriate unit, to determine whether or not they
desire to be represented by the organization which received the
greater number of votes in the first election, provided that the or-
ganization indicates its willingness to participate in such an election.4
The Board sees no reason to depart from that practice in this case.
Accordingly, the Board finds that the question concerning repre-
sentation can best be resolved by a second election to determine
whether or not the employees in the appropriate unit desire to be
represented by the Union, and will so direct.
8Matter of Interlake Iron Corporation and Amalgamated Associattan of Iron, Steel, and
Tin Workers of North America, Local No. 1657, 4 N L. R. B 55, 58.
4 Matter of Interlake Iron Corporation, supra ; Matter of Fedders Manufacturing Co and
Lodge No. 1753, Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers of North America,
through the Steel Workers Organizing Committee , 4 N. L. R . B. 770, 7 N. L It. B. 817.
972 NATIONAL, LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
The Board will direct that the second election be conducted among
the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during
the pay-roll period including August 19, 1938, including those who
have since been laid off, but excluding those who have since quit, or
been discharged for cause.
SECOND 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 1,
as amended, it is hereby
DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation authorized by the
Board to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collec-
tive bargaining with Utah Copper Company and Kennecott Cop-
per Corporation, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted within
twenty (20) days from the date of this Second Direction, under the
direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Twenty-
second 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 production workers employed by Utah
,Copper Company and Kennecott Copper Corporation at their
Arthur and Magna mills, Salt Lake County, Utah, during the pay-
roll period including August 19, 1938, including those who have
since been laid off, but excluding clerical employees and employees
of the rank of foreman and above, and excluding those who have
since quit or been discharged for cause, to determine whether or not
they desire to be represented by International Union of Mine, Mill,
and Smelter Workers, Local No. 392, affiliated with the Committee
for Industrial Organization, for the purposes of collective bargaining.
MR. EDWIN S. SMITH took no part in the consideration of the above
Second Supplemental Decision and Second Direction of Election.
8 N. L. R. B., No. 118a