Pittsburgh Corning Corp.

In the Matter Of PITTSBURGH CORNING CORPORATION , EMPLOYER and AMERICAN FLINT, GLASS WORKERS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 17-RC-573.-Decided December 15, 1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before William Cassidy, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed .1 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. On August 4, 1947, the Employer and General Drivers, Ware- housemen and Helpers Local Union No. 534, International Brother- hood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL, herein called the Teamsters, one of the two intervening labor organizations herein,2 executed an agreement effective from that date to August 3, 1949, covering employees concerned in the instant petition. On December 7, 1948, the same parties entered into a sup- plemental agreement to continue to August 3, 1949, the terminal date of the original contract. On June 3, 1949, the Teamsters wrote to the Employer, asking for a conference for changes in this contract. The Employer acknowl- edged the letter, agreeing to meet, but questioning the practicability of negotiations at a time when the plant was shut down and the date of ' The petition and other papers were amended at the hearing to show the correct name of the Employer. 2 Federation of Glass, Ceramic & Silica Sand Workers of America , CIO, on the basis of its present showing of interest, was also allowed to intervene. 87 NLRB No. 100. 647 648 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD its renewed operations most uncertain. On August 3, 1949, the Em- ployer, by mail, offered to extend the expiring contract for 1 year with the same wage clause, but subject to a 90-day reopening. On August 19, 1949, the Teamsters, by mail, indicated its agreement with the Employer's proposal and requested that the Employer prepare and execute the proposed agreement and then forward it to the Team- sters' office. On August 25, 1949, the Petitioner asked the Employer for recogni- tion as bargaining representative. The Employer, in reply, indicated that its contract with the Teamsters had been extended to August 3, 1950. On September 2, 1949, the Petitioner filed the petition herein. The Employer and the Teamsters, awaiting the outcome of the instant proceeding, have not formally executed a new contract, the terms of which they had settled in their correspondence noted above. There is a long-established principle that, to serve as a bar to an immediate determination of representatives, the contract urged as a bar must be reduced to writing and be signed by the contracting parties.3 The Teamsters, however, urges that the Employer's written offer of August 3 to extend the contract with the 90-day reopening pro- vision for an additional year and the Teamsters' written acceptance of August 19, 1949, constitute an agreement in writing, fixing upon the parties the explicit terms of a new contract effective to August 3, 1950, and therefore constitutes a bar to a determination of representa- tives ' during that contract term. In support of its contention, the Teamsters urges our findings in Armour and Comzpamy, decided in 1946,4 wherein we found that a stipulation of agreed contract terms submitted jointly by the contracting parties to the War Labor Board for approval constituted a sufficient written signed memorandum of their agreed bargaining terms to constitute a bar to an immediate election, even though no formal contract had been executed by the parties before a new petition for representation was filed with this Board. We do not agree with the Teamsters' contentions. The in- stant case is to be distinguished from the Armour case, where the par- ties suffered delay when they lawfully submitted to the approval of the War Labor Board agreed terms which, they could not, in the absence of such approval, incorporate into a contract at will. At the 'time of the correspondence between the Employer and the Teamsters in this case, the Employer's plant was shut down and the date of its reopen- ing uncertain. The Employer and the Teamsters, however, were en- tirely free to execute a formal agreement, had they desired to do so 3Eicor, Inc., 46 NLRB 1035 ; .The Linde Air Products Company, 76 NLRB 1127; Weston Biscuit Company, Inc., 81 NLRB 407. 4 66 NLRB 209. PITTSBURGH CORNING CORPORATION 649 at this time. Although the Teamsters suggested that the Employer incorporate their later agreed terms in a formal written document to be signed jointly by the contracting parties, the Employer and the Teamsters had not executed the agreement before the Petitioner made its demand for recognition and filed its petition. Under these cir- cumstances, we believe that the letters should not be deemed the equiv- alent of the proposed written contract so as to serve as a bar to a determination of representatives at this time. Accordingly, we find a question affecting commerce exists concern- ing the representation of employees of the Employer within the mean- ing of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. The following employees constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act: All production and maintenance employees (and all employees not excluded hereby), including the storeroom attendant, testers, janitors, watchmen and gatemen at the Employer's glass man- ufacturing plant at Sedalia, Missouri, excluding engineers (chemical, electrical, mechanical, planning), office and clerical employees, labora- tory technicians, chemists, metallurgists, timekeepers, rate setters, assistant melting and mixing foremen, cutting and trimming super- visors, block finishing supervisors, block coating supervisors, quality control laboratory technicians, labor boss, mason, chief electrician, chief mechanic, and all other professional employees, guards, and su= pervisors.5 DIRECTION OF ELECTION 6 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, 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 rein- 5 The parties agree that this unit which was found appropriate by the Board in an earlier proceeding (17-UA-1314), and which has been the unit covered by the contracts between the Employer and the Teamsters , is the appropriate unit for these employees at this time. 6 Any participant in the election herein may , upon its prompt request to and approval thereof by the Regional . Director, have its name removed from the ballot. 650 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD stated 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 American Flint Glass Workers' Union of North America, AFL, or by General Drivers, Warehousemen and Helpers Local Union No. 534, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehouse- men and Helpers of America, AFL, or by Federation of Glass, Ce- ramic & Silica Sand Workers of America, CIO, or by none.