Monsanto Chemical Co.

In the Matter of MONSANTO CHEMICAL COMPANY, EMPLOYER, and INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION 7 AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 10-RC-368.-Decided February 11, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.,' Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-man panel consisting of the undersigned Board Members.* Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organization named below claims to represent em- ployees of the Employer. 3. A question affecting commerce exists concerning the representa- tion of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The appropriate unit : The Employer operates approximately 17 plants located in 13 States. At its Monsanto, Tennessee, plant, with which we are solely concerned herein, the Employer is engaged in the mining and process- IAt the hearing the Employer moved to dismiss the petition on the grounds that (a) no fair and impartial investigation of the question concerning representation was made, (b) the petition was defective on its face in that it made no numerical showing of substantial interest, and (e ) employees in the unit proposed have shown no interest in the Petitioner. The hearing officer overruled this motion , and permitted the Petitioner to amend its petition to show the number of employees supporting the petition to be "approximately 180" in place of the word "substantial ." Section 203 .57 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, requires that all motions to dismiss petitions be referred by the hearing officer to the Board . However, inasmuch as we have consistently held that the question of whether or not a Petitioner has made a sufficient prima facie showing of interest is solely a matter of administrative procedure and is not subject to direct or collateral attack, we find that the hearing officer 's ruling was not prejudicial, and hereby affirm it. Matter of Amos Molded Plastics, Division of Amos Thompson Corporation, 79 N. L. R. B., 201. *Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray. 81 N. L. R. B., No. 109. 625 626 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ing of phosphate matrix. Its mining operations are carried on in 2 mines known as the Estes Bend Mine and the Dark's Mill Mine, lo- cated approximately 11/2 miles and 121/2 miles, respectively, from the plant. The Employer also owns several thousand acres of mineral reserves and carries on prospecting operations in areas located 25 to 30 miles from the plant. The Employer employs approximately 480 employees in its mining and processing operations, including approximately 22 employees engaged in prospecting work. There is no history of collective bargaining to bear upon the appropriateness of the unit sought herein. The parties are generally agreed that all production and main- tenance employees engaged in the mining and processing of phosphate at the Employer's plant and mines, situated at or near Monsanto, Tennessee, excluding office and clerical employees, guards, profes- sional employees, and all supervisors, constitute an appropriate unit. They disagree, however, with respect to the inclusion of prospecting employees; they also disagree as to the supervisory status of pro- duction leadmen, yard leadmen,2 maintenance leadmen, electrician leadmen, prospecting leadmen, and the mine foreman. Prospecting employees.-These employees are engaged, under the supervision of prospecting leadmen, in prospecting for phosphate. They do not report to the plant but are picked up in town and are transported by bus or truck to the particular area where prospecting operations are to be carried on. They are governed by the same personnel policy, and participate in employee benefits on the same basis, as the Employer's other mine employees, although they do not generally use any of the plant facilities used by the other employees in the proposed unit. They are paid on the same basis as the pro- duction and maintenance employees, but, unlike the latter group who are paid in the plant, prospecting employees receive their pay checks from their leadmen due to the fact that they may be away from the plant for long periods of time. On occasions prospecting employees are promoted from the prospecting crews into the mines or plant. Under all the circumstances, we believe that the interests of the pros- pecting employees are sufficiently identifiable with those of the Em- ployer's production and maintenance employees to warrant their inclusion in a unit already wide in geographical scope. Moreover, no other union seeks to represent these employees. We shall, there- fore, include them in the unit. Leadmen.-The Employer contends that production leadmen, yard leadmen, maintenance leadmen, and electrician leadmen are supervisors 2 The record shows that there are three yard leadmen, two of whom are classified on the Employer's pay roll as service leadmen. MONSANTO CHEMICAL COMPANY 627 and should be excluded from the unit. The record shows that the leadmen in question are under the immediate supervision of foremen who, in turn, report to department supervisors. They are paid on an hourly basis, and are in charge of crews consisting of approximately 10 to 20 men depending upon the particular job to which they are assigned. These leadmen responsibly direct the work of the members of their crews, making and changing assignments as they see fit in order to complete a particular job, training new men, and reporting on the ability of their crewmen for purposes of possible reclassification to higher rated jobs. They make recommendations with respect to hiring, discharging, disciplining, or changing the status of men in their crews, and, although their recommendations are subject to an independent investigation by their supervisors, we are satisfied from the record that these leadmen have an effective voice in personnel matters affecting their crews. Upon the basis of the foregoing and upon the entire record in the case, we find that the powers and duties of these leadmen are such that they come within the Act's definition of a supervisor. Accordingly, we shall exclude them from the unit. The Employer would also exclude as supervisors the prospecting leadmen and mine foremen. The prospecting leadmen 3 are classified on the Employer's pay roll as lay-out metal welder and bulldozer operator. They are in charge of prospecting crews numbering ap- proximately 10 to 20 men and have complete authority to discharge or discipline employees working under them. The mine foreman 4 is employed at the Estes Mine. He is under the supervision of the assistant mine supervisor and is in charge of one of the mine shifts. He has approximately 12 to 15 men permanently assigned to him and has essentially the same authority over his crew members as do the prospecting leadmen. Upon the basis of the foregoing facts, we find that the afore-mentioned prospecting leadmen and mine foremen are supervisors within the meaning of the Act, and we shall exclude them from the unit. We find that all production and maintenance employees engaged in the mining and processing of phosphate at the Employer's plant and mines, situated at or near Monsanto, Tennessee, including pros- pecting employees, but excluding office and clerical employees, guards, professional employees, production leadmen, yard leadmen, main- tenance leadmen, electrician leadmen, prospecting leadmen, mine foremen, and all other supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. 3 The employees referred to are named Hanson and Brooks. * The record shows that the employee referred to is named Roland and although classified as a mine foreman is actually a leadman 829595-50-vol 81-41 628 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Region in which this case was heard, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations - Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the election, and also ex- cluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented, for pur- poses of collective bargaining, by International Chemical Workers Union, AFL.