Kaiser Steel Corp.

In the Matter of KAISER STEEL CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and BROTHERHOOD OF RAILROAD TRAINMEN, PETITIONER Case No. 21-RC-889.-Decided December 15, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Ben Grodsky, 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-member panel [Chairman Herzog and Members Houston and Gray]. 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 organizations involved claim to represent certain 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 Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, herein called the Peti- tioner, seeks to sever a unit of all railroad engineers, firemen, conductors, and brakemen employed by the Employer at its Eagle Mountain Mine in Riverside County, California. The Employer and Building Trades Council of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, herein called the Intervenor, contend that because of the integrated operations at the mine, the community of interest between the railroad employees andall other employees at the mine, and the past history of collective bargaining, only a unit of all employees at the mine, includ- ing the railroad employees, is appropriate.' 1 The hearing officer referred to the Board . the Employer's motion to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the requested unit is inappropriate and that no question concerning representation exists. For the reasons stated herein , this motion is hereby denied. 2 At the hearing the Employer also took the position that the Eagle Mountain Mine operation is so closely integrated with its Fontana steel plant, that it is in fact part of the basic steel industry . The record does not support the Employer' s position . Moreover, the steel plant is treated as a separate bargaining unit by the Employer . We find no merit in this contention. 87 NLRB No. 9G. 877359-50-vol. 8742 643 644 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD The Employer operates a steel plant at Fontana, California, ap- proximately 163 miles from the Eagle Mountain Mine. The Employer owns and operates mines in California and Utah to supply raw ma- terials necessary for the operation of the steel plant .-3 Only the op- erations at the Eagle Mountain Mine are involved in this proceeding.4 The nearest towns are approximately 60 miles distant from the mine, which is located in an isolated desert area. There are about 135 to 140 employees working at the mine, all of whom, except 2 or 3, live in a company-operated camp at the mine site.5 The mine is an open pit type of mining operation. After the ore is drilled and blasted, it is loaded by power shovels into heavy pit trucks and hauled to the crusher which reduces it to the necessary size for blast furnace operations. It is then lifted on a conveyor belt to the stock pile, which will hold approximately 100,000 tons of ore. The ore. is loaded from the stock pile by means of a conveyer belt directly into railroad cars for shipment to Fontana. Railroad crews move two trains a day to take the ore from the mine to the Southern Pacific Railroad junction at Ferrum, approximately 51 miles from the mine. The superintendent of the mine has charge of all activities at the mine, including the railroad operations. The railroad employees, however, work under the immediate supervision of a railroad general foreman. In addition to the operating train crews, the section crews for the maintenance of way and the maintenance of bridges and trestles report directly to the railroad general foreman.b There are two train crews, each consisting of one locomotive en- gineer, one locomotive fireman, two brakemen, and one conductor. One crew works on the day shift, and the other works on the night shift. These employees operate Diesel electric trains which haul the ore-loaded cars over a company-owned standard gauge railroad to the Southern Pacific junction at Ferrum.' There, the loaded cars are a Except for a small amount of blending ore received from a mine in Utah, the Employer obtains all of its iron ore from the hdsgle Mountain Mine. The mine in Utah is not owned or operated by the Employer. 4 The Eagle Mountain Aline was opened in May 1948, but the railroad operations did not start until October 1948. The railroad employees who had been hired in July 1948, were used for other work at the mine until the railroad operations were begun. 5 The camp has houses and dormitories, a dining room and mess hall , a first aid station, a laundry , shower and wash rooms , and recreational facilities for the mine employees. Part of the section crew on the maintenance of way, whose work is away from the mine, do not use the housing facilities at the mine. 6 There are from 12 to 16 men in the section crews. Fcrrum is just a connecting point for the interchange of empty and loaded cars. This junction consists of five tracks, four of which are spur tracks for the storage of empty and loaded cars, a Y track for turning locomotives, and a freight office. The office is un- occupied, but has a telephone so that the conductor of the ore train may communicate with the Southern Pacific dispatcher to advise him that an ore train has been left at Ferrum. KAISER STEEL CORPORATION 645 picked up by the Southern Pacific Railroad, and hauled to. Fontana.. The railroad crews also bring empty cars back from Ferrum to the mine.8 All railroad employees are given an oral examination before being hired by the Employer .9 The Employer has set up operating rules for the operation of the railroad which are similar to those used by other railroads for mountain operations. Except for their hours of employ- ment the working conditions of the railroad employees are the same as those of other employees at the mine 10 There have been tem- porary transfers of other employees to railroad work in cases of emergency, when a vacancy occurred without sufficient advance notice to obtain a regular railroad man " In July 1948, the Intervenor won a consent election conducted by a representative of the California'State Employment Service. The con- tract now in effect between the Employer and the Intervenor covers all employees at the mine, including the railroad men.12 The Employer contends that because the stock-piling facilities at the mine and at the Fontana steel plant are limited, any interruption of the railroad operations would cause a shut-down of all mining activities in the pit area. It alleges that the mine operation is a highly integrated enterprise which would be disrupted if severance of the railroad employees is permitted. The Petitioner argues that the em- ployees involved herein .are qualified trainmen, and that 'the qualifica- tion requirements and operations of the Eagle Mountain railroad are identical with those of train service employees on other railroads. The railroad employees whom the Petitioner seeks to represent per- form work which is distinguishable from that of the other mine em- •ployees. The temporary emergency transfers revealed in the record do not destroy the identity of these employees as a distinct and homo- geneous group. The Board has found that such railroad employees are a craft group which may constitute a separate appropriate unit, even where there has been a histgry of collective bargaining on a broader basis.13 In the present case, there is nothing in the record to 9 The only incoming freight that is hauled to the mine in the railroad cars is heavy ma- chinery and equipment . All consumable supplies are delivered to the mine by trucks. 0 The Employer ' s labor relations director testified that the passing of the oral examina- tion is not necessarily a condition of employment ; that the Employer tries to hire men who can be transferred to other work in the event of a curtailment of operations. 10 Because of the difference in their working hours, the railroad employees are not able to use all the facilities maintained at the mine camp by the Employer. 11 The Employer does not maintain an "extra board " of railroad employees at the mine. It has a policy to transfer qualified men to railroad work from other parts of the mine operations. li This contract is not urged as a bar to the present proceedings. 13 Southland Paper Hills, Inc., 81 NLRB 330 (although Board Member Gray dissented in this case , he feels bound by the decision of the majority) ; Eagle-Picher Mining & Smelt- ing Company , 71 NLRB 1337 ; General Motors Corporation, 64 NLRB 688 ; E. I. du Pont do Nemours & Company, 54 NLRB 1543. 646 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD indicate that the employees sought herein differ substantially from the usual group of trainmen to whom the Board has customarily accorded.. the opportunity of separate representation. The duties of the railroad employees are not so integrated with those of other mine employees as to preclude their severance from the larger unit. We find that the employees requested by the Petitioner may, if .they so desire, constitute a separate appropriate unit. However, we shall not make any unit determination at this time, but shall first ascertain the desires of these employees as expressed in the election which we shall direct be conducted among all railroad engineers, firemen, con- ductors, and brakemen employed at the Employer's Eagle Mountain Mine, excluding all other employees and supervisors. If a majority vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit. If they vote for the Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to remain part of the larger unit represented by the Intervenor. DIRECTION OF ELECTION 14 As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses 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 supervision 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, among the employees in the voting group described 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 excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be represented, for purposes -of collective bargaining, by Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, or by Building Trades Council of San Ber- nardino and Riverside Counties, or by neither. "Either participant in the election herein directed may, upon its prompt request to, ands approval thereof by , the Regional Director, have its name removed from the ballot.