Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co.

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