Crucible Steel Co. of America

In the Matter Of CRUCIBLE STEEL COMPANY OF AMERICA and UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA, C. I. O. Case No. 2-R-5453.-Decided June 7, 1945 Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay, by Mr. Seward H. French, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the Company. Rothbard, Harris & Talisman, by Mr. Bernard Cherney, of Newark, N. J.,,and Mr. Fred Schnitzer, of Newark, N. J., for the Union. 11MIr. Joseph D. IVlanders, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION STATEMENT OF THE CASE Upon an amended petition duly filed by United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, herein called the Union, alleging that a question affecting commerce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Crucible Steel Company of America, Harrison, New Jersey, herein called the Company, the National Labor Re- lations Board provided for an appropriate hearing upon due notice before Jerome I. Macht, Trial Examiner. Said hearing was held at Harrison, New Jersey, on April 24, 1945. The Company and the Union appeared and par- ticipated. All parties were afforded full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues. At the hearing, the Company moved to dismiss the petition on the ground that the unit sought by the C. 1. 0. is inappropriate, and that the evi- dence submitted by the C. 1. 0. is insufficient to prove its position. The Trial Examiner reserved ruling on this motion. For reasons stated hereinafter, said motion is hereby denied. The Trial Examiner's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. All parties were afforded an opportunity to file briefs with the Board. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : 62 N. L. R. B., No. 30. -186 CRUCIBLE STEEL COMPANY OF AMERICA FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY 187 Crucible Steel Company of America, a New Jersey corporation , operates plants at Midland, Pittsburgh , and McKees Rock, Pennsylvania , Syracuse, New York, and Harrison and Jersey City. New Jersey. We are here con- cerned solely with the Harrison plant, called the Atha Works, at which the Company is engaged in the manufacture , sale, and distribution of steel, shells, rockets, bombs, and other ordnance items. During 1944 , the Com- pany used raw materials at its Atha Works plant, valued in excess of $1,000,000, of which aprpoximately 90 percent was shipped from points outside the State of New Jersey. During that same period, approximately 90 percent of the products manufactured at the Atha Works plant, valued in excess of $1,000,000, was shipped to points outside the State of New Jersey. The Company admits that its operations affect commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and we so find. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED United Steelworkers of America, affiliated with the Congress of Indus- trial Organizations, is a labor organization admitting to membership employees of the Company. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Company has refused to grant recognition to the Union as the exchi- sive bargaining representative of the employees in the alleged appropriate unit until the Union has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit A statement of a Board agent, introduced into evidence at the hearing, indicates that the Union represents a substantial number of employees in the unit hereinafter found appropriate.' We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Company. within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Union contends that all employees in the Timekeeping Department? hereinafter referred to as timekeepers, at the Atha Works plant of the Company. including working supervisors, but excluding confidential and supervisory employees, constitute an appropriate unit. The Company 1 The Field Examiner reported that the Union submitted a total of 35 authorizations and authoriza- tion -applications , 30 of which bore apparently genuine original signatures of persons listed on the Company's pay roll of April 3, 1945, which contained the names of 78 employees in the alleged appropriate unit, and that all the cards were dated in December 1944, and January 1945 The American Federation of Labor was requested to submit representation evidence but failed to do so 2 The C. I. O.'s petition refers to such employees as "all time clerks, who may also he described as timekeepers " 188 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD objects to such a unit on the ground that all clerical employees in the Works Accounting Division, including timekeepers, compose the only appropriate unit.' There are approximately 80 timekeepers in the Works Accounting Divi- sion, which is comprised of approximately 341 office and clerical employees.` The timekeepers are grouped in a separate department,' and are physically separated from the general clerical employees? The timekeepers are pri- marily concerned with the maintenance of an accurate record of the work- time of other employees.' At the end of the week, all types of data are entered into a "seventh clay book," and subsequently these records are sub- mitted to another department to compute the pay roll. In general; the time- keepers devote approximately 5 percent of their time to the acquisition of various types of data in the plant ; the remainder of their duties, collating and posting, are performed in the offices provided for their use, throughout the plant. A 2-week training period is a prerequisite for each employee entering the timekeeping department. There is no interchange of employees between the timekeeping department and other clerical departments. It is thus apparent that the timekeepers constitute a distinct and functionally 'coherent group. There is no history of collective bargaining for the clerical employees of the Company,' and the Union has thus far limited its organizational activi- ties to the timekeepers. The Board has approved units of timekeepers, sepa- rate and apart from other types of employees, without regard to organiza- tional factors.'° Accordingly, we find that the proposed 'unit consisting of timekeepers is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining. We find that all employees in the Timekeeping Department of the Accounting Works Division at the Company's Atha Works, Harrison, New Jersey, including working supervisors," but excluding the timekeeping s The Company also refers to such group of employees as "tine clei ks 4 The Company alleges that in consent elections conducted at its Midland Park, and Syracuse plants , timekeepers are included in units of office and clerical employees ; it further relies upon the fact that the Union hopes to organize the remaining clericals in the Works Accounting Division, at some future date. These employees consist priniarily of accountants , stenographers, telephone operatoi s, and pay- ioll clerks All the clerical employees , including the timekeepers, are under the supervision of the Works Accountant. 8 A company exhibit reveals that such department is denominated Department 86, and is composed of time clerks , general shop -clerk, gate house clerk, production checkers , and production recorders 7 Except for approximately six timekeepers , who are stationed in the central office buildings, and 'check the time of the office employees , the timekeepers are dispersed throughout the production departments of the plant, and housed in offices created for their specific functions 8 The parties are in agreement that the timekeepers are not confidential or managerial employees B The production and maintenance employees at the Atha Works plant are presently represented by the Union m° Matter of Chrysler Corporation, 56 N L R B 1302, Mattel of Bethlelem-Fairfield Shspyard, Incorporated, 59 N L R B 602, Matter of America,, Brass Company, 58 N L R B 1331, Sup- plemental Decision , 59 N L R B 634 See Matter of Sullivan Dr ydock and Repair Corp , 56 N. 7. R B. 582 ; Matter of Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation , 55 N. L R B 629, Matter of Spcriy Gyro- scope Company, Inc , 55 N. L R B 997 11 The parties are in agreement that such employees do not exercise supervisory authority. CRUCIBLE STEEL COMPANY OF AMERICA 189 department supervisor," the assistant regional supervisors," and all other employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or other- wise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES We shall direct that the question concerning representation which has arisen be resolved by an election by secret ballot among the employees in the appropriate unit who were employed during the pay-roll period imme- diately preceding the date of the Direction of Election herein, subject to the limitations and additions set forth in the Direction. DIRECTION OF ELECTION By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 9, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 3, as amended, it is hereby DIRECTED that, as part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Crucible Steel Company of America, Harrison, New Jersey, an election by secret ballot shall be con- ducted as early as possible, but not later than thirty (30) clays from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Second Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Article III, Sections 10 and 11, of said Rules and Regulations, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay-Poll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during the said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or temporarily laid off, and including employees in the armed forces of the United States who present themselves in person at the polls, but excluding any who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated prior to the date of the elec- tion, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by United Steelworkers of America, C. I. 0., for the purposes of collective bargaining The parties are in agreement that such employees exercise supervisory authority. is See footnote 12, supra