Mathieson Chemical Corp.

In the Matter Of MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION,' EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF FIREMEN AND OILERS , A. F. OF L, PETITIONER In the Matter of MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION , EMPLOYER and INTERNATIONAL CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION, A. F. L., PETITIONER Cases Nos. 5-RC-2720 and o-R-2331, respectively.- Decided March 01, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed, a hearing in these consolidated cases 2 was held in Marion, Virginia, on January 27 and 28, 1949, before Harold G. Biermann, hearing officer. 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 Act. 2. The Petitioners and the Intervenor, Saltville Mathieson Em- ployees Association, are labor organizations claiming to represent employees of the Employer. 3. A question of representation 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 determination of representatives: The Firemen seek a unit consisting of all employees in the Steam and Power Department, excluding supervisors as defined in the Act. ' The Employer' s name appears as amended at the hearing. 2 Cases Nos . 5-RC-220 and 5-RC-231 were consolidated by order of the Regional Director on December 21, 1948. * Reynolds , Murdock, and Gray. 82 N. L. R. B., No. 29. 250 MATHIE SON CHEMICAL CORPORATION 251 The Chemical Workers asks for a unit consisting of all production and maintenance employees, excluding employees in the Steam and Power Department, clerical employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.' The Intervenor and the Employer contend that the plant-wide unit found appropriate by the Board in a prior repre- sentation proceeding,4 which is the unit presently covered by their contract, is appropriate in this case. The principal function of the Steam and Power Department is the production of steam, and most of the 56 employees in the department 5 are so engaged. A few employees in the department operate the water supply equipment that is used to pump water, primarily for cooling purposes, throughout the plant. Steam is used at the Salt- ville plant for two primary purposes-to generate power, and supply heat and steam as such as required in the various productive processes. Ninety percent of all the steam produced is used in processing opera- tions from which finished products result. Some of this steam is first used for motive power, such as is needed in the production of electricity. The other 10 percent of the steam is used for heating purposes. Although Steam and Power employees work in a number of different areas throughout the plant, they have relatively little contact with the rest of the production and maintenance employees. Steam and Power employees are designated as a separate department by the Employer and are separately supervised. The Employer ad- heres very closely to a strict departmental seniority system, and there is relatively little interchange of employees between departments. The Steam and Power employees do no work other than that required in the performance of their duties in the Steam and Power Department. We believe that the Steam and Power Department employees in- volved herein do not differ substantially from the powerhouse em- ployees whom the Board has repeatedly found to constitute a readily identifiable and functionally coherent group appropriate for purposes 8 Exclusive of the Steam and Power employees , the production and maintenance unit requested by the Chemical Workers differs somewhat from the unit claimed to be ap- propriate by the Employer and the Intervenor . As indicated below, the latter unit has previously been found appropriate by the Board and has served as the basis of contractual relations between the Employer and the Intervenor. 4 Matter of the Methieson Alkali Works , 55 N. L. R B 1100 . The appropriate unit was there found to be all production employees and employees engaged in the maintenance of production properties and equipment at the Employer 's Saltville operations, including labor test employees , water tenders , caustic finishers , and quarry watchmen , but excluding com- munity service employees , all other watchmen , guards, patrolmen, general office and salaried plant clerks, all other laboratory employees, and supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline , or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action 5 There are approximately 1,400 employees at the Saltville plant of the Employer, which is the only one involved in this case. 252 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD of collective bargaining." Accordingly, we find that the Steam and Power Department employees may appropriately constitute a sep- arate unit or be included in a larger unit of production and mainte- nance employees. We shall not, however, make any unit determina- tion at this time, but shall be guided in part by the desires of the employees as expressed in the elections hereinafter directed. We shall direct that the questions concerning representation shall be resolved by separate elections by secret ballot among employees at the Saltville plant of the Employer within the voting groups described below : 1. All employees in the Steam and Power Department excluding supervisors as defined in the Act. 2. All remaining production and maintenance employees,? includ- ing laboratory test employees and caustic finishers, but excluding com- munity service employees, watchmen," guards, patrolmen, general office and salaried plant clerks, all other laboratory employees, and supervisors as defined in the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with the Employer, elections 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 voting groups described in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Elections, 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 elections, and also ex- cluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine : 8 Matter of Wilson & Company, Inc., 80 N. L. R. B. 1463 ; Matter of Crocker, Burbank J Company, Ass'n, 80 N. L. R. B. 774; Matter of Worthy Paper Company Association, 80 N. L. R. B. 19 ; Matter of B. W. Bliss Company 76 N. L. R. B. 475. 7 Since there was no evidence introduced at the hearing which would lead us to make any change in the residual production and maintenance group, we establish a voting group of production and maintenance employees, excluding the Steam and Power employees, substantially the same as the unit previously found appropriate by the Board. s Although quarry watchmen were included in the prior production and maintenance unit found appropriate by the Board, they are here excluded as guards under the pro- visions of Section 8 (b) (3) of the Act. See Matter of C. V. Hill & Co, Inc., 76 N. L. R. B. 158. MATHIESON CHEMICAL CORPORATION 253 (1) Whether the employees in Voting Group 1 desire to be repre- sented, for the purposes of collective bargaining, by International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers, A. F. of L., or by Saltville Mathie- son Employees Association, or by neither; (2) Whether the employees in Voting Group 2 desire to be repre- sented for the purposes of collective bargaining by International Chemical Workers Union, A. F. of L., or by Saltville Mathieson Employees Association, or by neither.