Mississippi Lime Co.

MISSISSIPPI LIME CO. 83 ployee,s sought by the Petitioner constitute but a segmant of a broader group of clerical employees with similar skills, duties, working conditions, and interests. These factors together with the fact that the insurance business is closely regulated by the States and is affected with the public interest in much the same manner as are public utilities all militate against the appropriateness of the unit claimed by the Petitioner. Upon the entire record we find that the unit requested by the Petitioner is inappropriate for purposes of collective bar- gaining and we shall dismiss the petition.6 [The Board dismissed the petition.] Member Beeson took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Order. 6Crowell Collier Publishing Company, 102 NLRB 1236; Sperry Gyroscope Company, 94 NLRB 1725; Boeing Airplane Company, 94 NLRB 344; Consolidated R, Vultee Aircraft Corp., 92 NLRB 1290. MISSISSIPPI LIME CO. and INTERNATIONAL HOD CARRIERS, BUILDING AND COMMON LABORERS UNION OF AMERICA, LOCAL 829, A.F.L., Petitioner. Case No. 14-RC-2470. March 26, 1954 DECISION AND ORDER Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before W.F. Trent, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear- ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, the Board finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. The labor organizations involved claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9 (c) (1) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act, for the following reasons: The Employer is engaged at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of lime and related products. Its business is divided into 3 divisions, namely, the Mississippi division, the Peerless division, and the Ste. Genevieve division, which together employ some 700 employees. The Mississippi division and the Peerless division each has, among other facilities, a lime plant and a chalk plant.[ i These plants are hereinafter referred to as Mississippi Lime and Mississippi Chalk and Peerless Lime and Peerless Chalk, respectively. 108 NLRB No. 18. 84 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Mississippi Lime and Peerless Lime and Chalk have been in operation since 1947. Mississippi Chalk commenced operations in December 1953. The Employees of the Peerless and Ste. Genevieve divisions, including those employed at Peerless Chalk, have been repre- sented by the Petitioner and its parent organizations since 1947.2 The latest contract covering those employees was executed on July 23, 1953, and will terminate on June 1, 1954. The Mississippi division employees, including those at Mississippi Lime, have been represented by International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 883, the Intervenor herein, and its International since 1947. The latest contract covering those employees was executed on July 31, 1953, and will expire on June 30, 1954. That contract was made expressly applicable to Mississippi Chalk. The Petitioner seeks a unit. consisting of all the employees at the Peerless and Mississippi Chalk plants. The Employer and the Intervenor assert that the proposed unit is inappro- priate, contending that Mississippi Chalk is merely an ex- tension of Mississippi Lime's operations, which, as noted above, is represented by the Intervenor under its July 31, 1953, contract with the Employer. Mississippi Chalk was constructed for the purpose of utilizing certain byproducts of Mississippi Lime in the production of chalk. It is adjacent to the Mississippi Lime plant, with which it is physically connected by an overhead pipeline and an iron walkway for employees. Mississippi Lime provides the CO2 gas and steam which are essential to the chalk plant's operations. And once Mississippi Chalk's shakedown operations are completed, Mississippi Lime will also furnish it with the lime needed for its p r o d u c t i o n process.3 Both operations are under the same immediate supervision', and use the same oiler, truckdriver, and elec- trical and maintenance crews. All the employees at the 2 plants are carried on the same seniority list; and in the bar- gaining contract covering them, the 2 plants are considered as constituting a single department. At the time of the hearing, there were 6 "bid-in" employees at work at Mississippi Chalk. The bids for those jobs were posted first in Mississippi Lime and later plantwise. It appears that employees for the other 8 to 14 jobs yet to be filled at Mississippi Chalk will be recruited in a similar fashion. It also appears that from 3 to 6 Mississippi Lime employees are each day assigned to work at Mississippi Chalk and that employees from Mis- 2 It appears that the Petitioner and its International also acted as the bargaining repre- sentative for those employees from 1937 until the Employer acquired the facilities now comprising its Peerless and Ste. Genevieve Divisions. 3During experimental operations , Peerless Lime is providing Mississippi Chalk with its lime requirements. CLINTON FOODS, INC. 85 sissippi Lime will continue to be assigned to the chalk plant, even after it is fully staffed, for the performance of nonrecurring tasks. Peerless Chalk is located about three-eights of a mile from Mississippi Chalk. It is adjacent to Peerless Lime, and its operations are integrated with those of Peerless Lime in virtually the same way as the operations of Mississippi Chalk are integrated with those of Mississippi Lime. Peerless Lime and Chalk are under different immediate supervision than Mississippi Lime and Chalk. While there is an interchange of employees between the Peerless Lime and Chalk plants, there is none between those plants and Mississippi Lime and Chalk. On the basis of all the foregoing, and the entire record, we find that Mississippi Chalk is essentially an extension of Mis- sissippi Lime's operation and that, therefore, the unit of Mississippi Chalk and Peerless Chalk employees4 proposed by the Petitioner is not appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act.5 For that reason, apart from other considerations, we shall dismiss the petition. V [The Board dismissed the petition.] Member Beeson took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Order. 4It is not contended, nor does the record show, that any of the employees involved are craftsmen. 5 Cf. Birdsboro Armorcast, Inc., 101 NLRB 22. 6 We therefore deem it unnecessary to pass upon the contract-bar issue raised by the Employer and the.Intervenor. CLINTON FOODS, INC.and TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS AND HELPERS LOCAL UNION NO. 79, INTERNATIONAL BROTH- ERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSE- MEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, AFL, Petitioner. Case No. 10-RC-2622. March 26, 1954 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a hearing was held before Allen Sinsheimer, Jr., 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 this case, the Boards finds: 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 108 NLRB No. 16.