Mississippi Lime Co.

884 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD provision, as the contract in no way limits eligibility for insurance benefits to members of the Intervenor. Accordingly, we hold that the Intervenor's contract effectively bars the petition, which was untimely filed subsequent to the contract's execution. We shall therefore dis- miss the petition. [The Board dismissed the petition.] Mississippi Lime Company, Petitioner and Local 829, Interna- tional Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers Union of America, AFL-CIO and Ste. Genevieve Local 169 affiliated with United Glass and Ceramic Workers of North America, AFL-CIO. Cases Nos. 14-RM-193 and 14-RM-192. Septem- ber 4, 1959 DECISION, ORDER, AND CLARIFICATION OF CERTIFICATIONS Upon petitions duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, a consolidated hearing was held before Ray E. Brecken- ridge, hearing officer. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hear- ing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three-member panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Rodgers and Bean]. Upon the entire record in these cases the Board finds : 1. The Employer is engaged in commerce within the meaning of the Act. 2. Local 829, International Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers Union of America, AFL-CIO, referred to herein as Hod Carriers, and -Ste. Genevieve Local 169, affiliated with United Glass and Ceramic Workers of North America, AFL-CIO, referred to herein as Glassworkers, claim to represent certain employees of the Employer. 3. No question affecting commerce exists concerning the repre- sentation of employees of the Employer within the meaning of Section 9(c) (1) and Section 2(6) and (7) of the Act. However, the parties agree that the petitions are tantamount to requests for clarification of certifications held by the Hod Carriers and the Glassworkers. As the Board will consider and decide requests for clarifications of certi- fied units, the following decision is issued even though no questions concerning representation exist.' The Employer is engaged in mining limestone and manufacturing lime and related products at its facilities at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. ' The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, 118 NLRB 371, 373. 124 NLRB No. 114. MISSISSIPPI LIME COMPANY 885 Through a series of consolidations and purchases it has acquired mines, kilns, and processing plants adjacent to the quarries, mines, and plants which it previously owned. Its operations are now organized into three divisions : (1) the Mississippi Division, consisting of the Missis- sippi lime and stone storage facilities and the Mississippi Vertical Plant; (2) Peerless mine and stone storage; and (3) Ste. Genevieve Vertical Plant. In 1937, when the Peerless mine and stone storage and the Ste. Genevieve Vertical Plant were independently operated before acquisi- tion by the Employer, the Hod Carriers was certified as the bargaining representative for production and maintenance units at each facility? In 1948, the Hod Carriers were again certified as bargaining repre- sentative for all hourly paid production and maintenance employees in a combined unit consisting of the Peerless and Ste. Genevieve Divi- sions, following the acquisition of these properties by the Employer. In 1954, Glassworkers was certified as the bargaining representative for a production and maintenance unit at the Mississippi Division, thereby supplanting another union which had been previously certified in 1947 when the Mississippi Division constituted the only operation of the Employer.' Mississippi Division consists of a combined mining and processing operation of the same type engaged in by the two other divisions, Peerless Mine and Ste. Genevieve Vertical Plant. Limestone is mined or quarried and is hauled by truck to stone storage areas adjacent to the kilns. The stone is screened and loaded into hoppers which carry it to the top of the vertical plant or kiln where it is dumped. Waste material is also hauled from the storage areas and hoppers back to the mining area. As the mines and kilns are contiguous and as the job classifications in the Hod Carriers' and Glassworkers' units are similar, the Unions and the Employer have, over the years, followed certain ground rules in making assignments of work which involve crossing the boundary lines between the Mississippi Division and the other two divisions. These rules provide : 1. Materials, supplies or equipment to be transported from one location to another within the geographical confines of one bar- gaining unit will be hauled by employees in that unit. 2. Materials, supplies or equipment to be transported from a plant or mine in one bargaining unit directly to a plant or mine in another bargaining unit is to be hauled by employees of the unit where the material is to be delivered. 010 NLRB 926 and 10 NLRB 933. $ The 1948 certification of the Hod Carriers (Case No. 14-RD-17) and the 1954 certifi- cation of the Glassworkers (Case No. 14-RC-2593) followed consent-election agreements which were unpublished. 886 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 3. Material hauled to a common dump or storage pile is to be hauled by employees in the unit in which the material originates, regardless of the location of the dump. `The purpose and effect of these rules were to make the bargaining units conform in the main to what were previously the legal boundary lines between the separate corporations that have been consolidated into the Mississippi Lime Company. The Employer and the Unions :stipulated that work assignments have historically been made on the basis of these three rules. In the past few years the Employer's requirements for a particular type of stone needed to make a special pure. chemical lime have in- creased. This stone is available only at the Peerless mine. As the kilns in both the Peerless and Ste. Genevieve Divisions were outmoded or otherwise inadequate, the Employer has been engaged in making certain changes which would enable it to use the stone from the Peerless mine in the Vertical plant of the Mississippi Division. At the time of the hearing, it was constructing a new conveyor system for the Mississippi Vertical Plant which would extend from the top of the kilns to a new truck ramp or dump located in the Peerless Mine Division. While the conveyor was under construction truck- ,drivers of the Glassworkers' unit had been hauling stone from the Peerless Division to the Mississippi Vertical. Plant in accordance with rule 2, described above. The same truckdrivers also hauled -waste material from the Mississippi Vertical Plant back to the Peer- less mine in accordance with rule 3. Once the new conveyor system is completed, however, the stone hauled from the Peerless mine for use in the Mississippi Vertical Plant will be transported by truck to the new dump area within the Peerless Mine Division where it will be screened, vibrated and loaded into hoppers of the conveyor system which will then raise it to the top of the Mississippi Vertical Plant. Once the stone is loaded into the hoppers its movement is governed by the control machinery for the conveyor system located in the Mississippi Vertical Plant and operated by employees in the Glassworkers' unit. The instant petitions allege that questions concerning representa- tion have arisen with respect to the employees involved in the new conveyor system and the dump hopper. In Case No. 14-RM-192, the unit is described as production and maintenance employees of the stone conveyor system adjacent to and connected with the Mississippi Vertical Plant. The Employer and the Unions agreed at the hearing that employees performing similar work at the same location are currently represented by the Glassworkers, and are properly included within the Glassworkers' unit, in accord with its certification and con- tract. The Hod Carriers disclaimed any interest in this unit. As MISSISSIPPI LIME COMPANY 887 the operation of the stone conveyor system of the Mississippi Vertical Plant is already part of the work of the Mississippi Division, we grant the Glassworkers motion to dismiss the petition in Case No. 14-RM-192. The petition in Case No. 14-RM-193 described the unit as including all truckdrivers assigned to hauling stone from the Peerless screen house to the new hopper or to the Ste. Genevieve Vertical Plant, and hauling "fines" or scrap from the hopper to the Peerless mine. The Glassworkers contend that the haul from the Peerless Division area to the new dump hopper should remain within its unit since it is a continuation of work now assigned to it under the conditions prevail- ing before construction of the new conveyor system. The Glasswork- ers also argue that its certification covers all work necessary to operate the conveyor system and that the haul to the hopper is a preliminary step in that operation. The Hod Carriers and the Employer contend, however, that the various hauls described in Case No. 14-RM-193 should be assigned to the Hod Carriers' unit in accordance with the ground rules in effect. We agree with the Employer and the Hod Carriers that the truck- drivers who will haul stone from the Peerless Stone Storage area to the rock dump at the foot of the conveyor system and who haul scrap from the same point back to the Peerless Mine are properly part of the Hod Carriers unit. The rock dump is within the legal boundaries of the Peerless mine Division , and it is at that point that the truck haul terminates. The fact that the rock is then conveyed to the M ississippi Vertical Plant by means of the new machinery does not justify a con- tinuation of the past work assignments. The ground rules for assign- ment of work involving movements of employees and material be- tween the various geographical areas, which the parties concede are coextensive with their bargaining units, represent a practical and reasonable approach which has apparently operated to the satisfaction of the Employer and the Unions in the past . The application of these rules to the specific situation of the haul between the Peerless Stone Storage area and the hopper, located in the Peerless Division , requires that the work be assigned to the Hod Carriers. Such a finding is, moreover, not in derogation of the Glassworkers ' certification, since that does not extend beyond the confines of the Mississippi Division. Although the operation of the conveyor itself is properly within the Glassworkers unit, we believe that the haul to and from the rock dump entirely within the Peerless Division is not an integral part of such operation. In view of the foregoing, and as the activities described in Case No. 14-RM-193 properly are part of the Hod Carriers certifica- tion, we shall also dismiss that petition. The certification of the Hod Carriers in Case No. 14-RD-17 is hereby clarified so as to include the work of hauling stone from the 888 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD Peerless storage area to the rock dump and new hopper, to the Ste. Genevieve Vertical Plant, and from the rock dump and hopper to the Peerless mine. The certification of the Glassworkers in 'Case No. 14-RC-2593 is hereby clarified to include the work involved in oper- ating and maintaining the conveyor system of the Mississippi Vertical Plant. [The Board dismissed the petitions in 'Cases Nos. 14-RM-192 and 14-RM-193.] Local Union 49, Sheet Metal Workers International Association, AFL-CIO, and Its Agent, E. D. Brooks and Driver-Miller Plumbing and Heating Corp. Case No. 33-CC-50. Septem- ber 8, 1959 DECISION AND ORDER On June 12, 1959, Trial Examiner William E. Spencer issued his Intermediate Report in the above-entitled proceeding, finding that the Respondents had not engaged in the unfair labor practices alleged in the complaint and recommending that the complaint be dismissed in its entirety, as set forth in the copy of the Intermediate Report at- tached hereto. Thereafter, the General Counsel, the Charging Party and the Respondents filed exceptions to the Intermediate Report and supporting briefs. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3 (b) of the Act, the Board has delegated its powers in connection with this case to a three- member panel [Chairman Leedom and Members Rodgers and Jenkins]. The Board has reviewed the rulings made by the Trial Examiner at the hearing and finds that no prejudicial error was committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. The Board has considered the Intermedi- ate Report, the exceptions and briefs, and the entire record in the case, and hereby adopts the Trial Examiner's findings, conclusions, and recommendations, to the extent consistent herewith. 1. We agree with the Trial Examiner that the General Counsel failed to establish that the Respondents induced or encouraged the employees of Garcia to refuse to install the ductwork fabricated by Anderson. The General Counsel attempted, primarily, to establish unlawful inducement from the statements of Romero, a Garcia em- ployee, whom the General Counsel contends was a shop steward. Al- though Romero had informed Garcia, upon discovering Anderson's fabricated product at the j obsite, that he would not install, or do any work on, such product, for to do so would be in violation of Business Agent Brooks' orders, the record establishes that Romero was espous- 124 NLRB No. 112.