American Cyanamid and Chemical Corp.

In the Matter of AMERICAN CYANAMID AND CHEMICAL CORPORATION and LOCAL 12119, GAS COKE AND CHEMICAL WORKERS UNION DISTRICT No. 50 UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA Case No. R-1165.-Decided February 28, 1939 Chemical Manufacturing Industry-Investigation of Representatives: con- troversy concerning representation of employees : refusal by employer to recognize union as exclusive representative of employees until certified by the Board- Unit Appropriate for Collective Bargaining: production and maintenance em- ployees, excluding foremen, supervisors , laboratory assistants, and office workers- Representatives: proof of choice: comparison of pay roll with membership cards-Certification of Representatives: upon proof of majority representation. Mr. Jack G. Evans, for the Board. Barr c& Barr, by Mr. James W. Barr, of Joliet, Ill., for the Company. Mr. Louis Weiner, of Evergreen Park, Ill., for the United. Mr. William M. Garvey, of Lockport, Ill., for the Federal Local. Mr. Ralph Winkler, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES STATEMENT OF THE CASE On November 19,1938, Local 12119, Gas Coke and Chemical Workers Union District No. 50 United Mine Workers of America, herein called the United, filed with the Regional Director for the Thirteenth Region (Chicago, Illinois) a petition alleging that a question affecting com- merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Airier- ican Cyanamid and Chemical Corporation, Joliet, Illinois, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On December 23, 1938, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the Act and Article III, Section 3, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, ordered an investigation and authorized the Regional Director to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. 11 N. L. R. B., No. 61. 803 804 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD On December 27, 1938, the Regional Director issued a notice of hear- ing, copies of which were duly served on the Company, the United, and Chemical Workers Union, Federal Local No. 18760, herein called Federal Local, a labor organization claiming to represent employees directly affected by the investigation. Pursuant to an Order of Con- tinuance which was issued on December 29, 1938, a hearing was held in Joliet, Illinois, on January 5 and 13, 1939, before Herbert Wenzel, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, the United, and the Federal Local were represented by counsel and participated in the hearing. Full opportunity to be heard, to examine and cross-examine witnesses, and to introduce evidence bearing on the issues was afforded all parties. During the course of the hearing the Trial Examiner made several rulings on motions and on objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were committed. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT I. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The Company, a subsidiary of the American Cyanamid Company, is engaged in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of chemical products at Joliet, Illinois, where it employs approximately 150 employees. The raw materials used at the Joliet plant consist principally of sul- phur, bauxite, chlorate, salt, and coal. The Company receives from points outside the State of Illinois approximately 75 per cent of all the raw materials used at the Joliet plant, and ships outside the State approximately 50 per cent of the finished products. The total sales for the first 6 months of 1938 were valued at approximately $700,000. II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED Local 12119, Gas Coke and Chemical Workers Union District No. 50 United Mine Workers of America is a labor organization affiliated with the Committee for Industrial Organization. It admits to mem- bership all the production and maintenance employees of the Company. Chemical Workers Union, Federal Local No. 18760, is a labor organ- ization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. The limits of its jurisdiction do not appear in the record. III. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION The organizational activities of the United were initiated in October 1938. In the early part of November the United, claiming to represent AMERICAN CYANAMID AND CHEMICAL CORPORATION ET AL. 805 a majority of the Company's employees, called on the Company for the purpose of obtaining recognition as the bargaining agency for its employees. There followed a series of conferences during the course of which the Company negotiated with the United as the representa- tive for its members but refused to recognize it as the exclusive bar- gaining agency until it was so certified by the Board. We find that a question concerning representation of employees of the Company has arisen. IV. THE EFFECT OF THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION UPON COMMERCE We find that the question concerning representation which has arisen, occurring in connection with the operations of the Company described in Section I above, has a close, intimate, and substantial rela- tion to trade, traffic, and commerce among the several States, and tends to lead to labor disputes burdening and obstructing commerce and the free flow of commerce. V. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT All parties agreed at the hearing that the hourly paid production and maintenance employees of the Company, with the exception of foremen, supervisors, and office workers, constitute a unit appropri- ate for the purposes of collective bargaining. The United would exclude from the appropriate unit two employees, William King and Howard Wolf, who are engaged as laboratory assistants. Since the work of these two men is substantially different from that of the other employees within the appropriate unit, we shall exclude them from the unit.' The United would also exclude, as supervisory employees, Michael Legerski and Donald Grabill. Legerski is employed as a shipping clerk and has under him one or two other employees when he has need for their services. It appears, however, that he is under the super- vision of two other foremen, and that he has no real supervisory authority. We find that Legerski is not employed in a supervisory capacity. Grabill is employed in the potash and ammonia alum de- partment where he supervises the work of three or four other em- ployees. The plant manager testified that he considered Grabill as the head of his department, and the pay roll which was introduced in evidence so listed him. We find that Grabill is employed in a supervisory capacity. We find that the production and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding foremen, supervisors, laboratory assistants, and 1 See Matter of Hoffman Beverage Company and Joint Local Executive Board of Inter- national Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, and Soft Drink Workers of America, 3 N L R B. 584; Matter of Arbuckle Bros. and Committee for Industrial Organization on behalf of employees of Arbuckle Bros., 7 N. L. R. B. 1247. 164275-39-vol. xi-52 806 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD office workers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of col- lective bargaining and that said unit will insure to employees of the Company the full benefit of their right to self-organization and to collective bargaining and otherwise effectuate the policies of the Act. VI. THE DETERMINATION OF REPRESENTATIVES The Company's pay roll of December 15, 1938, was introduced into evidence. It was stipulated by all the parties at the hearing that 139 of the 150 employees whose names are listed on the first three pages of this pay roll should be considered in resolving the question of repre- sentation. There remained in controversy 11 employees, including the 4 concerning whom we have made findings in Section V above. Of the 150 employees named on the December 15 pay roll, we find that there are 144 hourly paid production and maintenance employees in the appropriate unit. In reaching this figure we include the follow- ing, in addition to the afore-mentioned 139 employees : Fred Wick- strom, on 60 days' temporary leave since December 15, 1938; Floyd Kettwig and Edward Nelsen, production employees temporarily work- ing for the Company in Mobile, Alabama, but expected back *within approximately 2 weeks after the' hearing date; Curtis Hester, who is presently employed at the Joliet plant although he desires a trans- fer to Arkansas; and Michael Legerski whom we have found is not a supervisory employee. We have excluded the following persons: Donald Grabill whom we have found to be a supervisory employee; William King and Howard Wolf, the laboratory assistants; John Belasick who has left for Italy for an indefinite stay; Archie Marsh who has been discharged for inefficiency and is not now an employee of the Company; and Angelo Clavenna, who was injured in February 1938 when he suffered a broken neck and a broken arm. With respect to Clavenna, there was testimony that he was awarded compensation for a 50-per cent total disability and that he was considered an employee only for the purposes of compensation claims. The United introduced into evidence 77 2 membership cards, which were compared with the Company's pay roll. The parties at the hear- ing stipulated that the signatures thereon, which were compared with the Company's records, were genuine. With the exception of two cards, one of which was signed on December 3, 1938, and the other on December 16, 1938, all the cards were signed between January 2 and January 5, 1939. Counsel for the Board introduced a petition that he had received at the hearing. The petition, which the evidence shows was circulated 2 The United also offered the card of Archie Marsh , but the Trial Examiner excluded it because he is not an employee of the Company. AMERICAN CYANAMID AND CHEMICAL CORPORATION ET AL. 807 on or about December, 28 and 29, 1938, bears the signatures of 33 em- ployees in the appropriate unit and reads as follows : We, the undersigned employees of the American Cyanamid & Chemical Corporation, Joliet, Illinois, wish to withdraw our membership and sever all our relations in Local No. 12119, District No. 50, United Mine Workers of America, affiliated with the C. I. O. Of the 33 employees who signed the petition, 17 had also signed mem- bership cards in the United. The Federal Local therefore objected to the admission in evidence of the cards signed by these 17 employees.8 With the exception of the 2 employees who signed the cards for the United in December, the remaining 15 all signed cards subsequent to signing the petition for revocation of their United membership .4 It is therefore apparent that the objection of the Federal Local with respect to these 15 cards is without merit. Thus, at least 75 employees in the appropriate unit have designated the United as their collective bargaining representative. The Federal Local made no offer of proof of membership among the Company's employees. We find that the United has been designated and selected by a majority of the employees in the appropriate unit as their representa- tive for the purposes of collective bargaining. It is, therefore, the exclusive representative of all the employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining, and we will so certify. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following: CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. A question affecting commerce has arisen concerning the repre- sentation of employees of American Cyanamid and Chemical Corpo- ration, Joliet, Illinois, within the meaning of Section 2 (6) and (7) of the National Labor Relations Act. 2. The production and maintenance employees of the Company, excluding foremen, supervisors, laboratory assistants, and office work- ers, constitute a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bar- gaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the National Labor Relations Act. s Although the Federal Local objected to 18 cards on this ground , it appears that only 17 of this group signed United membership cards. * It had been testified generally that the petition was circulated on or about December 27, 28 and 29, 1938. Of the 15 employees in question , 7 testified that they signed United membership cards after having signed the petition . The other eight employees whose cards were all signed on January 4, 1939, signed the petition at some date prior to January 3, 1939, since that is the date of a letter which was enclosed with the petition and which refers to the petition and contains a list of the names thereon. 808 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 3. Local 12119, Gas Coke and Chemical Workers Union District No. 50 United Mine Workers of America, is the exclusive representa- tive of all the employees in such unit'for the purposes of collective bargaining, within the meaning of Section 9 (a) of the National Labor Relations Act. CERTIFICATION OF REPRESENTATIVES By virtue of and pursuant to the power vested in the National Labor Relations Board by Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act, and pursuant to Article III, Section 8, of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 1, as amended, IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that Local 12119, Gas Coke and Chemical Workers Union District No. 50 United Mine Workers of America, has been designated and selected by a majority of the production and maintenance employees of American Cyanamid and Chemical Corpo- ration, excluding foremen, supervisors, laboratory assistants, and office workers, as their representative for the purposes of collective bargain- ing and that, pursuant to the provisions of Section 9 (a) of the Act, Local 12119, Gas Coke and Chemical Workers Union District No. 50 United Mine Workers of America, is the exclusive representative of all such employees for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditions of employment.