Union Starch and Refining Co.

UNION STARCH AND REFINING COMPANY 567 and their apprentices or full-time helpers at the Employer's South Gate, California, plant, excluding all other employees and supervisors as defined in the Act. If a majority of there vote for the Petitioner, they will be taken to have indicated their desire to constitute a separate appropriate unit, and the Regional Director conducting the election directed herein is instructed to issue a certification of representatives to the Petitioner for this group, which the Board, under such circum- stances, finds to be an appropriate unit for the purposes of collective bargaining. In the event a majority vote for the Intervenor, the Board finds the existing plant unit to be appropriate, and the Regional Director will issue a certification of results of election to that effect. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] UNION STARCH AND REFINING COMPANY and INTERNATIONAL CHEM- ICAL WORKERS UNION, AFL PETITIONER . Case No. 14-RC-1784. August 8,1952 Decision and Direction of Election Upon a petition duly filed, a hearing was held before Benjamin E. Cook, 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 Board finds: I 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The labor organizations named below claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. The Employer and the Intervenor, American Federation of Grain Millers, Local 153, AFL, urge their 3-year contract, now in its last year, as a bar to this proceeding, contending primarily that it is of reasonable duration in the light of an alleged general trend toward longer collective bargaining contracts.2 The Board has reexamined its current contract-bar rule, under which no contract of more than 2 years' duration may serve as a bar I As the record and briefs in this case are sufficient , we hereby deny the Employer's re- quest for oral argument. 2 The Employer also argues that factors other than the custom of contract terms in the industry should be considered in connection with this issue. It points particularly to the special conditions of the Employer' s business and its bargaining with the Intervenor. His- torically, however, the Board has considered the custom of contract duration in a particu- lar industry, rather than special circumstances relating to an individual employer, in deter- mining the reasonableness of contracts for terms longer than those reasonable per Be. Reed Roller Bit Company, 72 NLRB 927. The Board does not believe that special circum- stances, such as those relied upon by the Employer here, warrant a reversal of the Board's normal contract bar policy. 100 NLRB No. 89. 568 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD to an election after the first 2 years unless it is shown that such longer agreements are customary in the industry. In our opinion, revision of this rule is not warranted at this time. No evidence was adduced at the hearing to show that 3-year con- tracts are customary in the Employer's industry. Accordingly, in the absence of such a showing, and as more than 2 years have elapsed in the duration of this contract, we find that it is not a bar to this proceedings We find further that a question affecting commerce exists concerning the representation of certain employees of the Employer, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act 4 4. The parties agree generally that a unit of all production and maintenance employees at the Employer's Granite City, Illinois, plant is appropriate. However, the Petitioner would exclude, and the Intervenor include, the clock carriers. These employees spend almost all their time patrolling the plant premises in the protection of company property. We find that these clock carriers are guards within the meaning of the Act, and therefore we will exclude them from the unit.' We find that the following employees of the Employer constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act : All production and main- tenance employees, including sample carriers and powerhouse em- ployees, at the Employer's Granite City, Illinois, plant, excluding clock carriers, office and clerical employees, professional and technical employees, routine laboratory analysts, printers, guards, watchmen, and supervisors as defined in the Act. [Text of Direction of Election omitted from publication in this volume.] CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. 8 Ballance Manufacturing Company, Inc., 97 NLRB 1019. 4In view of this determination, it is unnecessary to decide the other contract-bar issues. S Manhattan Coil Corporation, 79 NLRB 187. PHOENIX TINWARE COMPANY , INC. and LOCAL 475, UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA , PETITIONER . Case No. 9-RC-4577. August 11, 1952 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 Joseph A. Butler, hearing 100 NLRB No. 91.