Inland Steel Co.

In the Matter Of INLAND STEEL COMPANY, EMPLOYER and DISTRICT 50, UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, AFL, PETITIONER Case No. 14-R-1620.-Decided March 31, 1947 Pope cfi Ballard, by Mr. William F. Price, of Chicago, Ill., for the Employer. Mr. John Belsher, of Herrin, Ill., for the Petitioner. Mr. Stanley Segal, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon an amended petition duly filed, hearing in this case was held at St. Louis, Missouri, on January 22, 1947, before Harry G. Carlson, 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 1. THE BUSINESS OF TILE EMPLOYER Inland Steel Company, a Delaware corporation with its principal office in Chicago, Illinois, owns and operates fluorspar nines at Rosi- clare, Illinois, and Marion, Kentucky, and gravity and flotation mills at Rosiclare, Illinois. Only the operations at Rosiclare are involved in the instant proceeding. The Rosiclare operations include the Hill- side Mine, the Rock Candy Mountain Mine and gravity and flotation mills. During 1945, the Employer mined and shipped in interstate commerce at least 1,000 tons of fluorspar valued in excess of $50,000 and, during the same period, it purchased mining tools and supplies valued in excess of $10,000, 50 percent of which was purchased outside the State of Illinois. The Employer admits and we find that it is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. II. TIIE ORGANIZATION INVOLVED The Petitioner is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, claiming to represent employees of the Em- ployer. 73 N. L. R. B., No. 3. 19" 20 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The Employer refuses to recognize the Petitioner as the exclusive bargaining representative of employees of the Employer until the Petitioner has been certified by the Board in an appropriate unit. We find that a question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the representation of employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. IV. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Petitioner seeks a unit of all production and maintenance em- ployees, including flotation mill operators, sample boy, auto mechanic, and picking belt foreman, but excluding chief electrician, mill me- chanic, carpenter foreman, laboratory workers, chemists, shift leaders, master mechanic janitress, office and clerical employees, and super- visors. The Employer agrees that generally the aforesaid Unit is appropriate. However, it would include the office janitress and ex- clude the picking belt foreman. The Employer urges the inclusion of the office janitress-in the unit on the ground that she is an hourly paid employee. The duties of the janitress are to sweep and clean the Employer's offices. Her work is manual in nature. We are of the opinion that, because of the character of her work, she properly belongs in the same unit with production and maintenance employees. We shall include her in the unit. The Employer states that the picking belt foreman has supervisory authority and should therefore be excluded from the unit. The pick- ing belt foreman is an hourly paid employee whose work is entirely manual. He works in the crushing shed in the gravity mill on a picking belt, picking out waste from the-produce of the mines as it passes over the belt. At the time of the hearing lie was the only employee working on the belt. However, there have been times when other employees worked with him. When this occurred, the picking belt foreman merely transmitted to them instructions received from his own supervisor. He had no authority to hire, discharge, or effec- tively recommend changes in the status of such other employees. We find that the picking belt foreman is not a supervisor within the Board's definition. We shall include him. We find that all production and maintenance employees 1 at the Employer's Hillside and Rock Candy Mountain Mines and the gravity and flotation mills at Rosiclare, Illinois, including office janitress, flotation mill operators, sample boy and auto mechanic, but excluding chief electrician, mill mechanic, carpenter foreman, laboratory work- This includes the picking belt foreman. INLAND STEEL COMPANY 21 ers, chemists, shift leaders, master mechanic , office and clerical em- ployees , and all supervisory employees with authority to hire, pro- mote, discharge, discipline, or otherwise effect changes in the status of employees , or effectively recommend such action, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the mean- ing of Section 9 (b) of the Act. DIRECTION OF ELECTION As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the pur- poses of collective bargaining with Inland Steel Company, Rosiclare, Illinois, an election by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possi- ble, but not later than thirty (30) days from the date of this Direction, under the direction and supervision of the Regional Director for the Fourteenth Region, acting in this matter as agent for the National Labor Relations Board, and subject to Section 203.55 and 203.56, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 4, among the employees in the unit found appropriate in Section IV, above, who were employed during the pay roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work during 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 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, to determine whether or not they desire to be represented by District 50, United Mines Workers of America, AFL, for the purposes of collective bargaining. CHAI ialAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election.