Koppers Company-Minnesota Division

In the Matter of KOPPERS COMPANY-MINNESOTA DIVISION and INTER- NATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS , LOCAL No. 36 (A. F. L.) Case No. R-1410--Decided August 26, 1939 Coke and Byproducts Industry-Investigation of Representatives : petition for, dismissed, where no question concerning the representation of employees in a unit which could be found appropriate has arisen. Mr. Lester Asher, for the Board. Kellogg, Morgan, Chase, Carter c6 Headley, by Mr. G. W. Morgan, of St. Paul, Minn., for the Company. M. John A. Goldie of Minneapolis, Minn., for the Operating Engineers. Mr. Ralph L. Helstein, of St. Paul, Minn., for the Coke Workers. Mr. Robert D. Allen, of counsel to the Board. DECISION AND ORDER STATEMENT OF THE CASE On March 11, 1939, International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 36 (A. F. L.), herein called the Operating Engineers, filed with the Regional Director for the Eighteenth Region (Mixine- apolis, Minnesota) a petition alleging that a question affecting com- merce had arisen concerning the representation of employees of Kop- pers Company-Minnesota Division, St. Paul, Minnesota, herein called the Company, and requesting an investigation and certification of representatives pursuant to Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Re- lations Act, 49 Stat. 449, herein called the Act. On May 24, 1939, the National Labor Relations Board, herein called the Board, acting pur- suant 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 Di- rector to conduct it and to provide for an appropriate hearing upon due notice. On May 31, 1939, the Regional Director issued a notice of hearing, copies of which were duly served upon the Company, upon the 14 N. L. R. B., No. 87. 1148 KOPPERS COMPANY-MINNESOTA DIVISION 1149 Operating Engineers, and upon Gas and By-Products Coke Workers, Local No. 12016, District 50, United Mine Workers of America, herein called the Coke Workers, a labor organization representing employees directly affected by the investigation. On June 15, 1939, the Coke Workers filed with the Regional Director its petition for intervention, which was granted. Pursuant to the notice, a hearing was held on June 19, 20, and 21, 1939, at St. Paul, Minnesota, before Gustaf B. Erickson, the Trial Examiner duly designated by the Board. The Board, the Company, the Operating Engineers, and the Coke Workers were represented by counsel and all 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 objections to the admission of evidence. The Board has reviewed the rulings of the Trial Examiner and finds that no prejudicial errors were com- mitted. The rulings are hereby affirmed. Pursuant to notice duly served upon all parties, oral argument was held before the Board on August 1, 1939. The Operating Engineers and the Coke Workers were represented 'by counsel, participated in the argument,. and filed briefs, to which the Board has given due consideration. Upon the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : FINDINGS OF FACT 1. THE BUSINESS OF THE COMPANY The company is a Delaware corporation with' its principal office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is engaged in a variety of business and manufacturing activities in several States in the eastern part of the United States. Its net sales for 1938 exceeded $38,000,000. Its Min- nesota Division (to which the term "Company" is limited hereafter) operates a by-product coke plant in St. Paul, Minnesota, consisting principally of byproduct coke ovens with complete byproduct re- ,covery and gas purification apparatus, boiler plants, coal and coke handling and storing equipment, auxiliary apparatus, laboratories, and office buildings. It produces coke, gas, ammonium sulphate, tar ,tnd other coke byproducts. Its sales in 1937 exceeded $3,000,000 and approximated that figure in 1938. Of this amount more than $20,000 represented sales to purchasers in States other than Minnesota. Its total production of gas is sold to Northern States Power Co. for pub- lic consumption in the city of St. Paul. The raw materials used by the Company are coal and acids most if not all of which originate outside Minnesota. The Company annually expends approximately $2,550,000 for such raw materials. 1150 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR' RELATIONS BOARD II. THE ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 36 (A. F. L.), is a labor organization affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. It admits to membership engineers and firemen regularly engaged in the operation of stationary engines and boilers in the Company's boiler house and byproducts department. Gas and By-Products Coke Workers, Local 12016, District 50, United Mine Workers of America, is a labor organization affiliated. with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, admitting to mem- bership all hourly, paid employees of the Company, except super- visors and clerical employees. III. THE APPROPRIATE UNIT The Operating Engineers contends that 17 employees engaged as engineers and firemen on stationary engines and boilers in the boiler house and byproducts department, constitute an appropriate unit for the purpose of collective bargaining, separate and apart from the other production employees of the Company. Prior to 1936, no effort had been made to bargain with the Com- pany on behalf of any of its employees. In that year a Federal Labor Union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor was organized in the plant. It admitted to membership all employees except supervisors and clerical workers and had as members some who also maintained membership in the Operating Engineers. In December 1936, this organization voted to withdraw from the Amer- ican Federation of Labor and to affiliate with the Committee for Industrial Organization. The result was the establishment and chartering of the Coke Workers, which claims as members a great majority of workers in the plant. Thereafter negotiations were com- menced which culminated on September 18, 1937, in a contract with the Company, whereby the Coke Workers was recognized as the exclusive representative of all the hourly paid production workers in the Company's employ. A substantially similar contract, dated July 30, 1938, was in effect at the date of the hearing. The Company employs some 51 engineers and firemen having State licenses of various types and qualified to operate engines and boilers under varying circumstances. As stated, the- Operating Engineers. requests a unit comprising only 17 of these engineers and firemen.. Of the 34 not included in the proposed unit, some are employed on locomotives, cranes, and hoists, others do regular "relief" work in the boilerhouse, and still others operate stationary pumps, engines,. and saturators in the byproducts department. Those included in the proposed unit at times do the work of other men employed in the KOPPERS COMPANY-MINNESOTA DIVISION 1151 boilerhouse. Frequent transfer of employees among the several de- partments in the plant is necessitated by the use of relief men in the several departments and in furtherance of the Company's estab- lished inter-departmental seniority rule, and policy of promotion from the ranks. It thus appears that the unit for which the Operating Engineers contends excludes not only portable engineers, but also certain sta- tionary engineers employed in the Company's boilerhouse and the byproducts department. We believe that such a unit, constituting only a fragment of a traditional craft group, is not appropriate.' IV. THE QUESTION CONCERNING REPRESENTATION Since, as stated in Section III above, we are unable to find an ap- propriate unit within the scope of the petition filed in this case, we find that no question has arisen concerning representation of em- ployees of the Company in an appropriate bargaining unit. Upon the basis of the above findings of fact and the entire record in the case, the Board makes the following : CONCLUSION OF LAW No question concerning representation of employees of Koppers. Company-Minnesota Division, St. Paul, Minnesota, in a unit which is appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining has arisen within the meaning of Section 9 (c) of the National Labor Relations Act. ORDER Upon the basis of the foregoing findings of fact and conclusion of law, the National Labor Relations Board hereby dismisses the petition for investigation and certification filed by International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 36 (A. F. L.). MR. EDWIN S . SMITH took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Order. ' See Matter of Rembrandt Lamp Corporation and Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Helpers International Union, Local No. 6, 13 N. L . R. B. 945; Matter of Climax Machinery Company and Metal Polishers, Buffers, Platers and Helpers, Local Union No. 171, affiliated with the A. F. of L., 14 N. L. R. B. 252.