Lone Star Cement Corp.

In the Matter of LONE STAR CEMENT CORPORATION, EMPLOYER and LOCAL UNION 59, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS A. F. OF L., PETITIONER Case No. 16-RC-445.-Decided January 31, 1950 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Charles Y. Latimer, 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 Reynolds]. 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 appropriate unit : The Petitioner seeks a unit of all maintenance electricians, switch- board operators, power department helpers, and apprentices. in. the power plant at the Employer's Dallas, Texas, plant, excluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. The Employer and the Intervenor, Local 142 United Stone and Allied Products Workers of America, C. I. 0., object to the severance of this group from the production and maintenance unit, which has been the bargaining unit at this plant for more than 12 years and which is currently represented by the Intervenor. They both contend that plant operations are so integrated as to make severance of any craft unit inappropriate. The Employer's Dallas plant manufactures Portland cement from gypsum which is mined at the Employer's quarries located on the 88 NLRB No. 91. 408 LONE STAR CEMENT CORPORATION 409 plant property. Its processes include the mining of gypsum, grinding, processing in heated kilns, regrinding of the cement, and packaging for shipment. The Dallas plant employs approximately 200 em- ployees, including the employees sought by the Petitioner. The plant is in continuous operation on a 24-hour, 3 shift basis and all plant operations are under the supervision of a plant superintendent. The 3 daily production shifts are directly supervised by 3 shift foremen and the various maintenance departments are directly supervised by department foremen. The maintenance electricians, switchboard operators, a powerhouse helper, and a plumber not sought by the Petitioner, constitute the power department at the Employer's plant. They are under the su- pervision of the chief electrician, who is the department foreman. Production machinery is for the most part operated by electric motors, and the maintenance electricians are required to keep these electric motors operating properly and to repair them when breakdowns occur.,' The switchboard operators man the switchboards in the power department through which the electric power used to run the plant machinery is brought from outside sources. The powerhouse helper acts as a relief switchboard operator and assists the electricians and plumber in the power department. At the hearing, the plant superintendent stated that employees from the power department were frequently called upon to assist other employees in the plant in performing nonelectrical duties. However, three of the Employer's power department employees testified, without contradiction, that the only times they were called upon to perform such duties were during emergencies, when all of the plant employees worked together to remedy the difficulties. . Although the Employer has no apprentice training program for electricians, maintenance electricians are either employed as fully trained electricians, or have become electricians after serving as helpers or switchboard operators in the power department. Usually power- house helpers have been employed in other departments and have ap- plied for such'work in order eventually to become skilled electrical workers. Employees in the power department have departmental sen- iority as well as plant-wide seniority, and upgrading based on skills and experience acquired through on-the-job training in the department is customary when vacancies occur. 'Although the record Indicates that some major repair work is done outside the plant, the maintenance electricians themselves rewind some of the motors used at the plant. ` work on the Employer 's electrical equipment involves hazards peculiar to the work of electricians and not common to the work of the other employees ' at the Employer 's plant. The record Indicates that at least one maintenance electrician' 'suffered severe burns while working : on the Employer's' electrical equipment. ' . 410 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Maintenance electricians are regularly assigned to work on two of .the three daily shifts at the Employer's plant, but they are not assigned to specific machines and work throughout the plant wherever electrical equipment repairs are necessary. The shift foremen tell them where repairs are needed, but the chief electrician is responsible for the quality of their work. Shift foremen may take disciplinary action against these employees in cases of indolence or insubordination while on shift duty, but -the chief electrician is consulted when other work deficiencies occur. The record as a whole reveals that the employees sought herein are an identifiable, skilled, and homogeneous craft group. Therefore, we find that these employees may constitute a separate unit, if they so .desire notwithstanding their previous inclusion in a broader 'unit.' However, the Board will notmake any unit determination until it has first ascertained the desires of the employees involved. We shall direct that an election be held among all maintenance elec- tricians, switchboard operators, and power department helpers 8 in the power department at the Employer's Dallas, Texas, plant exclud- ing all other employees, the chief electrician, and all other supervisors .as defined in the Act. If in this election, a majority of the employees voting elect the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate bargaining unit. If, however, a ma- jority of such employees select the Intervenor, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to continue to be represented by the Inter- venor as part of the production and maintenance unit. 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, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the payroll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction of Election, including employees who did not work during said payroll period because they were ill or on vacation or e United States Gypsum Company, 79 NLRB 1282 ; cf. Reed Roller Bit Company, S7 NLRB No. 45 (the employees there involved did no motor or transformer rewinding and were subject to assignment to production or maintenance jobs outside the electrical department). 8 As the Employer has no employees classified as apprentices in the unit requested, we shall make no determination as to the inclusion of this category in the unit found appropriate herein. LONE STAR CEMENT CORPORATION 411 temporarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or re- instated 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 Local Union 59, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, A. F. L., or by Local 142, United Stone & Allied Products Workers of America, C. I. 0., or by neither.