Moretti-Harrah Marble Co., Inc.

In the Matter of MORETTI-HARRAJ MARBLE Co., INc., EMPLOYER and AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR, PETITIONER Case No. 10-R-2033.-Decided October 8, 1946 Mr. J. S. Wilkins, of Sylacauga, Ala., for the Employer. Mr. Walter L. Mitchell, of Birmingham, Ala., for the Petitioner. Mr. Conrad A. Wickham, Jr., of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES Upon a petition duly filed, the National Labor Relations Board on August 8, 1946, conducted a prehearing election among employees of the Employer in the alleged appropriate unit, to determine whether or not they desired to be represented by the Petitioner for the purposes of collective bargaining. At the close of the election a Tally of Ballots was furnished the parties. The Tally shows that there were approximately 103 eligible voters and that 96 of these eligible voters cast ballots, of which 72 were for the Petitioner, 19 were against the Petitioner, and 5 were challenged. Thereafter, a hearing was held at Sylacauga, Alabama, on August 28, 1946, before Albert D. Maynard, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made.at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the National Labor Relations Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE EMPLOYER The Employer, an Alabama corporation, is in the business of quarry- ing and finishing marble, at its plant in Sylacauga, Alabama. All of the marble so quarried originates in the State of Alabama. During the year ending 1945, the Employer purchased steel for sawing, belting, sand drills, machinery parts and other items used in connection with 71 N. L. R. B., No 37. 299 300 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD - marble quarrying valued in excess of $10,000, of which 50 percent repre- sented shipments to the Employer from points outside the State. Dur- ing the same period the Employer sold finished products consisting of monuments, marble for the interior of buildings, and byproducts known as "rip rap" from its Sylacauga plant valued in, excess of $50,000, of which about 60 percent represented shipments to points outside'the State. We find that the Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. THE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization, claiming to represent em- ployees of the Employer. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer has refused to recognize the Petitioner as the ex- clusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer in the alleged appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the mean- ing of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Petitioner and the Employer are agreed that the appropriate unit should consist of all employees of the Employer, including watch- men," but excluding office and clerical employees, draftsmen, and all supervisors 2 and executives with authority to change the status of employees or effectively recommend such action. The only dispute between the parties relates to four of the five employees whose ballots were -challenged at the election.3 The Employer contends that these- individuals are not its employees, but are instead the employees of the Sylacauga Calcium Products Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the "Corporation"). The Corporation has its principal offices with Thompson Neiman Company in Cartersville, Georgia. It is engaged in the crushing of marble into limestone at its independently owned and operated crush- ing plant in Sylacauga, Alabama, where the Employer's plant is ' The watchmen of the Employer perform watchmen duties only on weekends , acting as regular production employees during the week 2At the hearing , the parties agxeed that this description included all foremen and sub- foremen , as well as Lucius Benton, a mechanic's leader, since all these employees have authority to hire and discharge or effectively recommend such action 2 The fifth challenged ballot was that of Lucius Benton, whom the parties agreed at the hearing should be excluded as a supervisor. See footnote 2, supra. MORETTI-HARRAH MARBLE CO., INC. 301 located. The sources of the Corporation's raw material, a marble byproduct known as "rip rap," are the Employer and an individual located in Talledega Springs, Alabama. The employees here in issue are classified as mill workers and constitute the entire complement of rank and file employees of the Corporation. The record reveals the following factors showing an interrelation- ship between the Employer and the Corporation : (1) Both have a common president, a common treasurer, who is also general manager of both entities with authority to hire and discharge, and share the services of a superintendent; (2) the officers of the Employer own one-half of the stock of the Corporation; and (3) the Corporation shares the Employer's offices in Sylacauga and the services of its bookkeeper. The record, however, also reveals the following countervailing fac- tors which establish the separateness of the Employer and the Cor- poration and militate against including the disputed individuals in the appropriate unit: Each employer is a separate entity, manufac- tures different finished products, employs employees in different classi- fications, conducts its operations without commingling or interchang- ing employees and has different immediate supervision for its em- ployees. And although both entities have several officers in common and share the services of certain employees, these individuals receive separate salaries from each company. In addition, the Corporation is billed and makes specific payment for all raw materials obtained from the Employer. It also appears that the Corporation frequently employs outside mechanics for its repair work and maintains its own supply room, and in those instances when the Employer may render mechanical repair services and provide minor supplies to the Corpora- tion, the Corporation is specifically billed for them. Under all the circumstances, we are therefore persuaded that the extent of integration between both entities is insufficient to constitute Moretti-Harrah Marble Co., Inc., an employer of the four mill workers in issue.4 Rather are we convinced that these individuals are solely the employees of the Corporation. We shall, accordingly, exclude them from the unit. We shall also sustain the challenges to their ballots. Accordingly, we find that all employees of the Employer at its quar- ries in Sylacauga, Alabama, including the watchmen, but excluding all office and clerical employees, draftsmen, executives, and all super- visory employees with the rank of subformen and above, and any and all other supervisory employees with the authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of em- '"'t'hese employees, specifically. are David Threet John Hart, Willie Leonard, and Albert Adams 302 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD ployees, or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appro- priate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act. V. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The results of the election held previous to the hearing show that the Petitioner has received a majority of the valid votes cast irrespec- tive of the counting of the challenged ballots. Under these circum- stances we shall certify Petitioner as the collective bargaining repre- sentative of the employees in the appropriate unit. CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that American Federation of Labor has been designated and selected by a majority of all production and main- tenance employees of Moretti-Harrah Marble Co., Inc., Sylacauga, Alabama, excluding executives, office and clerical employees, and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, promote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees, or effectively recommend such action, as their representative for purposes of collective bargaining, and that, pursuant to Section 9 (a) of the Act, the said organization is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining with respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment. CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Certification of Representatives.